First Early bay drive home

[owlebay]

Hi to All

Yesterday i collected and drove home my 68 Earlybay. Its been far to many years of not being behind the wheel of an aircooled bus ( water pumpers have ruled for the last 15 years or so).

So up to the Northeast to collect the bus and drive home in the howling winds of the remains of the hurricane to add to the vague response of early bus steering. That wind was seriously strong across the viaducts and so was the wind in my backside when one gust blew me the vans width into the hard shoulder, lucky nothing was in that lane then.

The old girl lost quite a bit of oil during the journey so regular stops to top up and check all was well, it was the first major mileage on the engine since the bus arrived into the country some 5 years previous. It appears its losing oil from the rocker cover gaskets and the krankenwagon following me was covered in oil splatters (Krangenwagen = the missus polo ) oops.

I kept the speed to around 50mph after the wind died down being passed by every lorry known to the uk but they all flashed and waved as they overtook me, with some flashing of headlights and fancy indicator flashing to acknowledge the had passed safely, at one point on a rather large hill i got to try out my first overtake in a left hooker. I was coming up behind a big road crane at least 12 axles wheels bigger than the bus and i went for it getting past at around 45mph with a queue of traffic behind me, the crane driver gave me a wave as i passed and i returned to the inside lane. So after going up the the large hill comes the down hill so watching the speedo and trying to maintain 50ish i look in my mirror and mr crane driver is catching me up rapidly, time for a oil check stop to avoid being overtaken by said crane beast.

So during the journey i listened to many noises on the bus all jobs that i need to do over the winter so i can join up with you all at next years show season.

Above all i enjoyed my time behind the wheel of an earlybay and i loved the sound of that flat four purring away , yes sure it took at lot longer to get home but i arrived with a smile on my face which is what its all about in my book.

Thanks for reading folks

Al

Now Offically an EB owner

 

[StuF]

Awesome read - they are quite an exciting and engaging drive arent they.
Will never forget my first drive in one - rush hour traffic, vague steering, porridge gear selection and lhd
Nearly sold it on by the time we got home but perseverance has paid off and I love our trips out now - made it as far as Italy so far!
Looking forward to checking your bus out at a show next year - now where are the pics??

 

[ozziedog]

Hey Al, so it's official then :lol: . Get yourself some new oil as you have no idea what's in there. Something along the lines of Halfords or Comma multigrade 15/40 or similar but it must be mineral and not synthetic for the heat dissipation. Check your oil when cold is best and have it to the top mark on the stick, if you have to top up when warm then maybe a tad less. I get the Halfords stuff when it's on spesh, others get Comma from Wilko, but most think it's the same stuff and I try not to mix oils. If you have a one litre gearbox oil bottle with a pull out top, they're great fir topping up and hiding behind the battery too. The steering is an acquired taste, a bit like caviar :lol: Sounds like your crankcase vent wants a little assistance from what you're saying about the oil splatters on that Polo. But you is home and so is your bus, so well done and welcome. :!: :mrgreen:

Ozziedog,,,,,,,, citing innit :mrgreen:

 

[gninnam]

Nice story and welcome dude

 

[Davydomes]

I had a feeling of vulnerability when first drove our bus........love it now though, and it puts a grin on my face!

 

[T2 Brinky]

Great read, good luck with getting it how you want over winter

Try and get some pics up when you get 5

Cheers

 

[owlebay]

Cheers for the replys and the advise, in the process of servicing the engine and replacing gaskets and belt, hoping to have a local run out at the weekend and i will take the camera with me and post some pics up shortly.

Look forward to putting some faces to the forum names in due course.

Prost Al

 

[Lee C]

First drive of mine on the open road, I was thinking, I need anew engine & gearbox!!!
Now I use it nearly every day & have coverd a **** load of miles since July !!!!!!

 

[ozziedog]

When you replace the fan belt, pay a little attention to the shims because that`s how you tighten / loosen the fan belt. When you`ve replaced the fan belt, fold the other one over itself to make a three loop thing, store it in a small bag or sandwich bag and hang it from the hook behind the passenger seat, then your fan belt will never snap if you always carry a spare old one just as a get you home for emergencies only. Don`t forget to put all the shims back on the top of the pulley that you don`t use so they are there if you need them .

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,good fun innit :mrgreen:

 

[hobbo]

Hi my first drive I wondered what on earth I had bought, it was slow and sluggish, the previous owner had replaced driver and passenger seat with I don't know what, I could hardly reach the pedals I know my legs are not all that long. Thank goodness I had only about a 13 mile drive home, the seats have long time gone replaced with original ones. I absolutely adore driving it and when I have finished it's going to my daughter and son in law. Lovely to hear your great story have fun.

 

[lisavx]

First drive for us was from Halifax to Wigan. We took the train over and pictured a nice meandering drive back on the A roads with a little picnic stop off in some idyllic spot. The reality was torrential rain, gusty wind, very dodgy steering and a few close calls getting used to driving a LHD! We forced ourselves to stop at Pennington flash to at least tick off the picnic part of the plan. When we got there we had to phone the grumpy attendant to come and lift the barrier cos the van was too tall and then when we setting off again it wouldn't start! Haha.

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[owlebay]

Good to see i am in good company here , great to read all of your first drives.

Thanks Ozziedog for your hints and tips its been a few years since i took a spanner to an aircooled engine so keep the advice coming. My previous bays were a 76 and a 78 along with a handful of beetles , i am enjoying working on the early bay and do always carry a few essential spares not only for my benefit but any other stranded Volkswagen owners that we come across. How did the Techenders weekend go by the way?

Have a great evening one and all.

Cheers Al

 

[ozziedog]

Hey there, the Techenders was a hoot. We were all a little traumatised by the weather but I really enjoyed it. There was a central hall / café/ bar / all sorts where we could congregate and eat our mass ordered fish and chippies type supper which was cracking, we all had a few too many and I thought of Clare and Stu because my pals were bombarding me and us and everybody with Jaeger Bombs. Ended up at Me Casa Gazebo with the block rocker just on volume 2 so could just about hear it then a few Stellas later we are messing about and the volume is up around max. Lots of Stellas later and at silly O`clock we had to crash, valleum would have helped that bash, you know the tune now do the saxxy lead break in your head, its ace. Wake up brekky, repeat !!!! In amongst all of this mayhem, and mayhem it was, there were a few things that got sorted, Daisey 72 decoked and cleaned up some heads, lapped the valves in, honed the barrels etc etc, Scrooge fitted some mud flaps (good idea) and learned how to jack up a bus at the same time. There was obviously lots of other things happening but I was franticly soshin it up and Stellerin and stoppin under my gazebo zebo zebo, keep checking your oilo until you get the hang of how much this particular motor likes to sup, we know they all drink more if whipped but some has got a real thirst on.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Just like me :lol: :roll: :lol: Oh Yeah!

 

[Bluesnailman]

Sounds like others have had great "first drives". The last part of mine was courtesy of green flag. I had to pay them in cash

A couple of years earlier I hired one. It had steering and gears worse than a landcover defender. At the (empty) campsite it got better as I took a couple of attempts to get it to the top of a grassy knoll - SPEED and some Jeremy Clarkson driving (POWER!!!!!) made it a right hoot (I'd never made a kitchen and wardrobe go sideways before - very progressive )

 

[bloembus]

Hi all, great reading all replies making me smile. My story not so much first drive home but just letting it off trailer. Imported our 71 deluxe microbus from SA always swore i’d never buy a vehicle unseen but I never made it out to Capetown. So shipping company offered great rates to deliver it to my door couldn’t refuse. Pulled up outside our house she looked fantastic went to climb in and front seat not fixed in at all! Went to wind the window down and it just dropped into the door! After market stereo in glove compartment nowhere to be seen! Side loading door extremely stiff to open and door rubber just sort of folded itself out of aperture! So couple of days sorting obvious challenges out poured in a few gallons of go juice and she cranked up within a minute (electronic ignition working gloriously) few times round the block and off for an mot, passed with only a couple of helpful advisories but not failures and they couldn’t believe how solid she was underneath. This is our first bay, it’s a love affair and the more challenges that test you just increases that love (doesn’t it?) Fantastic thread keep the tales coming.

 

[matty74]

We flew down to Exeter from Manchester, stayed the night at Premier Inn and then drive back to Croston Lancs on the Sunday in howling torrential February weather. No heat exchangers, wife full of a cold, never driven a bus before, didn’t even know where reverse was lol talk about Ill prepared [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]


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[Clem]

Cool stories. When I bought my bus I'd only ever had one car before which was a skanky 1300 73 Beetle so it was the same, just a bit bigger, but I certainly knew nothing more refined :lol:

Life was simpler in those old days

 

[marcher]

My first drive ended with the "big yellow taxi" after i fried the motor.
Went down well at home

 

[mat6028]

It appears that everyone has the same experience, I picked mine up and drove to a friends house 5 miles away. My first impression was OMG what the hell have I brought!! but at the same time could not keep the smile off my face.
Drove it a further two hours home after a cupa down country lanes and loved it, now I just carn't get enough of driving her.

 

[ozziedog]

Good thread to bring back. So is everybody ready for the new season ???

Ozziedog,,,,,,,see you in a field somewhere soon :mrgreen: