Aussie kombi with the loom from hell

[Rhodierider]

Well, I admit to using this site for months but without contibuting because I'd yet to get my hands on a van. A couple of weeks ago, we finally took delivery of our kombi having waited months for the slowest man in Somerset to paint the exterior. I've already spent hours trying to sort out the wiring as she's in no state to pass the MOT currently. However, she's booked in for this Saturday and the wiring's almost done (I think the owner in Australia deliberatley stripped out and changed wires!). Yet to do - check brakes, steering, bit of welding and fit new seatbelts....

Marking off the wiring diagram as each wire's checked / replaced

 

[Guest]

welcome to EB

Jon on here does a trick job on looms reall quality if you get stuck.

nice bus what conversion is it?

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

Campmobile by the looks of the roof.
Very popular in Oz, as far as they know were built out there under licence from westfalia or they were designed by westfalia?

 

[Htotheunit]

Nice color... very, very similar to mine :wink:

 

[easy]

hello mate and welcome, good luck with the wiring 8)

 

[gninnam]

Welcome and nice looking van 8)

Spaghetti will not be on the menu for you after tackling that little lot :roll:

 

[Rhodierider]

Thanks for the welcome folks - it's people on here (like Alfie and his DIY welding!) that inspired me to get on with this kind of work my self as opposed to paying people hard earned readies. The colour is VW Florida Blue which my wife liked the look of on a bug at last year's Vanfest. I think ProfessorWheeto's right about it being Campmobile, though it seems to have been fitted as a microbus at some point with the bench bolt holes on the floor.
Will post more photos as I get on with it!

 

[Guest]

most likely came from the factory as a microbus. Makes me wonder what they did with all those bench seats they took out in the 70s? :?

 

[lobus]

If it was a VW Campmobile it would have had a sticker on the tailgate, or maybe a mark left by it, I think about 30cm long. As for the mounting points in the floor it was probably a "Kombi" which was the version that had all the mounts for the middle seat, but no middle seat. It would probably also have had a roof lining around the pop top.
I don't think they had any connection with Westfalia as the VW Campmobile was done as the genuine Volkswagen conversion. There was a few othe mobs around who did aftermarket conversions back in the day so it might be one of them. There would be an ID plate somewhere in the bus but that may have gone MIA.
As for the wiring, after 30+ years of doing circuits of Australia owned by enough different nationalities to start up it's own UN it is no surprise it has a bit of a DIY feel to it.

 

[Rhodierider]

Thanks for the info Lobus. There are 6 holes out to 26cm on the back door just below where the Volkswagen sign will go. There are 2 plates, 1 still attached with the chassis number (in blue). There's a csecond one lying loose as well:

 

[Rhodierider]

Well, she failed the MOT - no real suprises.
1. excessive play in drivers side steering rod end ball joint.
2. Handbrake not efficient enough.
3. Various rear lights problems - bit gutted as I'd checked all these. It turns out I'd taken the battery out last night for charging (in the dark) and pulled the earth wire off!!

So my biggest problem is the handbrake. The problem is in the rear right drum where it's not holding at all. The adjusting screws are currently seized so I can't ease off the brakes to get the drum off - time for a bigger hammer me thinks!

 

[Rhodierider]

Finally got into rear drums to look at handbrake problem. With the state of them I've cleaned them up and am just waiting for a delivery of new brake shoes and a handbrake cable.

Ready for new shoes

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[lobus]

If you are fitting new brake shoes I would go the extra and get your drums machined. If they are scored and crusty they will destroy your new linings in quick order.
David

 

[Rhodierider]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look at getting them done before fitting the new shoes as one is definately scored.

 

[frogsta]

I recon it's a sunliner.
The others I can think of here are
Sopru
Swagman
Shiralee
Campmobile
Dormobile
People did bad things to kombis thinking they made inprovements.
We have lowlight a with the whole rear corners hacked out as the last owner wanted to update with later large rear lights....WTF.
The large radio hole on your dash is a common mod too.

 

[Rhodierider]

Well after a comedy of errors getting the van retested for the MOT it finally passed. (The same garage retested it and failed it on the headlight beams being too high although they hadn't picked it up the first time round!) I'm just waiting on a date to tow it to the Bicester test centre to get the inspection then it will finally be registered. Some of the work that's been done recently:
Wheels stripped down and painted:

Passenger side cab floor ripped out and ready for welding in replacement:

Seats stripped down and waiting new pads and covers from Newton Commercial:

 

[T2-Nate]

Hi, nice job so far !
Are you gonna sandblast the seatframes?

 

[Rhodierider]

No - I'm too pikey! I'm going to clean and straighten them up then sand and paint the visible bits (hinged area).

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

I recon it's a sunliner.
The others I can think of here are
Sopru

Got a 71 in at work at the moment with an identical roof with a sopru sticker on one of the windows.....

 

[Rhodierider]

Cab metal work stripped and prepared for painting.