Ben's 72 Bay

[Ben72Bay]

Have a roof rack being made which will fit in front of the pop top. It will be able to take the spare wheel when we are camping and sleeping inside.

 

[Ben72Bay]

Still need to find someone to trim our R&R cushions and buddy seat to match the front seats.
Not as simple as it seems at the moment!

 

[gninnam]

Nice rack sir
I have one on the garage - came with the van - will one day sort it out. Goes on the rear part of the roof as not much space at the front

 

[Ben72Bay]

Nice rack sir
I have one on the garage - came with the van - will one day sort it out. Goes on the rear part of the roof as not much space at the front

Thanks!
bit more space on the front of mine. Ideally I'd like to leave it on all the time and then I have a plan to fit an awning to the side as well. but fairly sure it's going to end up too tall to fit in the garage then!
I have been researching air ride and hydro as an option so I could drop it down a bit.....! but I don't want to get into cutting any bodywork - feels like a project too far for this year, just want to get it driving, interior sorted and enjoying it!

 

[Ben72Bay]

Cleaning up the crusty bits, cutting rot out and now finally slowly placing and fitting new metal back in





Still plenty to do, but welcome progress.

Also marked centre lines on the panels then took out the seat/ bed bases and the buddy seat ready for a trip to the trimmers.




Also need to source new springs for the pop top as it struggles to stay up under spring power alone…

 

[Ben72Bay]

Finally able to see some exciting progress with the bodywork.
Always more to do but feels like we are on the home straight with this particular job

 

[mike202]

great work!

 

[Ben72Bay]

great work!

Thanks Mike!
Slowly getting there!

 

[mcvw]

Thanks Mike!
Slowly getting there!

Nothing wrong with slow progress. I get one day a week (if I'm lucky!) on my bus - and even then progress can be hampered due to having to adapt badly fitting parts etc

Ask the Hare & the Tortoise who won their race

 

[Ben72Bay]

Bus is still in the paint process so while it's been away I've been trying to keep other jobs ticking along.

The custom roof rack is back from the powder coaters (I've gone for white to match in with the roof, as apposed to the usual silver). Now to figure out an adjustable bracket that can take the end of an awning that I'm planning to have mounted on one side.

it's going to have oak slats which I think is going to look lovely!

Then on to the interior....

I'd managed to install the Rusty Lee R&R bed, buddy seat and custom colour seat belts so far, but no cushions - so after conversations with a few different trimmers (all of whom were very busy!) I managed to get space in Bromsgrove Trimmers after a last minute cancellation by someone else - so I drove up there last week and dropped off the bed bases, buddy seat and centre of one of the front seats so we could match the tan.
Such great guys to deal with and they helped me through some pattern and colour decisions!
found a great match for the front seat tan and decided on a check colour theme for the rest:













Hoping to pick the bus up from paint this weekend, then early next week I'm driving back up to Bromsgrove to leave the bus there so they can create matching panels throughout.

I'm a bit excited to see it all done - think it's gong to look ace!!!!

 

[Ben72Bay]

Interesting day today!
I got the bus back - which is great!

First time I’ve driven it since early January….

Good bits:

Newly fitted refurb’d steering box = brilliant!
Rebuilt brakes = brilliant! Such a difference!
Rear roof metal work - all done, the bus is watertight and the metal work looks to have been done well.

Not so good bits….
The bus is full of dust and dirt, as is the engine bay. Going to need a decent clean.
The newly sprayed green on the rear quarter isn’t a perfect match. And I know that’s going to bother me!

Bad bits….

Broke down on the way home. Managed to get back eventually but far from ideal.

So I phoned the VW Engine company for advice, as it’s a new engine from them.
They were helpful straight away.

Apparently they’ve recently found issues with the Weber twin 40 carbs on engines that haven’t been driven much for a while. Which are causing them to stay open and therefore flood the fuel through. Furring up the needles.

This was causing my engine to run lumpy, cut out and backfire.

They’ve got me to drain the oil out and clamp the main fuel line.

The bus needs to go back to them for them to strip the carbs and fit an electric fuel cutoff.
They can do my run in 500 mile service at the same time.

So going to need to get it on a low loader which is another cost I don’t need.

But - also means I’ve missed the slot I had booked with a trimmers to finish off the interior panels

Frustrating day of mixed emotions today!

 

[Graham L]

Interesting day today!
I got the bus back - which is great!
View attachment 1699
First time I’ve driven it since early January….

Good bits:

Newly fitted refurb’d steering box = brilliant!
Rebuilt brakes = brilliant! Such a difference!
Rear roof metal work - all done, the bus is watertight and the metal work looks to have been done well.

Not so good bits….
The bus is full of dust and dirt, as is the engine bay. Going to need a decent clean.
The newly sprayed green on the rear quarter isn’t a perfect match. And I know that’s going to bother me!

Bad bits….

Broke down on the way home. Managed to get back eventually but far from ideal.

So I phoned the VW Engine company for advice, as it’s a new engine from them.
They were helpful straight away.

Apparently they’ve recently found issues with the Weber twin 40 carbs on engines that haven’t been driven much for a while. Which are causing them to stay open and therefore flood the fuel through. Furring up the needles.

This was causing my engine to run lumpy, cut out and backfire.

They’ve got me to drain the oil out and clamp the main fuel line.

The bus needs to go back to them for them to strip the carbs and fit an electric fuel cutoff.
They can do my run in 500 mile service at the same time.

So going to need to get it on a low loader which is another cost I don’t need.

But - also means I’ve missed the slot I had booked with a trimmers to finish off the interior panels

Frustrating day of mixed emotions today!

Not 100% sure I would believe what you are being told about the twin 40's, did they fit them or are the secondhand?, what they mean is the floats are stuck allowing petrol to syphon through, so are they talking about the needle valves?

Did you have fuel in your oil (ie was there more than there should be and does it smell of petrol?)

Fitting an electric fuel cut off isn't solving the issue with the carbs, sounds like they are not set up properly and the float levels are wrong, quite common straight out of the box.

If they fitted the carbs I would suggest its up to them to get it transported back. I would say you `are not the first person that we have seen issues with twin carb installation by VWEC.

 

[K@rlos]

Did they fit and set up the carbs? If that’s the case then VW engine company are reading from the laminated list of excuses which is taped to the desk next to the phone in an effort try and deflect the blame from them in their usual fashion.

 

[sparkywig]

I agree with the comments above. If you paid for them to fit the engine then it's up to them to sort it out.

 

[mike202]

If they fitted and installed the engine and carbs I would have thought they would pay for the low loader as a matter of good faith. It’s hardly your fault in those circumstances.

 

[Ben72Bay]

thanks for the sense check chaps. yes - they installed the lot, from new.

I'll be having a further conversation with them today

 

[K@rlos]

I’ll guarantee they just slapped the carbs on, never took them apart to clean out and set the float height. Which is must even on new carbs.

VW engine company are bodging idiots, the amount of their engines which **** themselves is ridiculous.

 

[deezal]

I agree with the above posts. I've had 2 sets of weber idf 40's (mine and my buddys) that the floats were way out of adjustment.

 

[Ben72Bay]

Bus is going back in to them on 25th.
(Not taking responsibility for the carbs as apparently they are bought in from Eruocarb)

I just want to get it sorted and have a drivable usable bus…

 

[sparkywig]

But Eurocarb state when you buy any carb kits from them that you have to set them up