My 70 Bus!! Wes

[justcruzin]

Well I wanted to post this yesterday, but I didn't see that the site was going to be down. LOL So here it is today!


Yay!! Finally on the lift!!

After getting it on the lift we were able to find out that there was only one wheel kind of stuck. It was the one causing the bus to feel like it's brakes were locked up. The other 3 spun freely. Those were also the easiest to get off. LOL The last wheel took some persuading, but it finally gave up. There was just a lot of dirt and rust keeping it on.

Once all the wheels were off we inspected the brakes and they all look fairly new. New enough that we are not going to buy new ones. It looks like all that needs to be done is a good scrubbing. That will save some time and money.

It's hard to tell in the pic, but the brakes have a lot of pad left!!

So tomorrow I will tackle the cleaning of the brake parts and R&R the throttle cable.

 

[justcruzin]

Well, I didn't get all the brakes R&R'd today. I took everything apart and cleaned. We ended up buying new wheel cylinders all around. That was expensive!! :shock: I also bought new front shoes. Hubby said they looked like they were coming apart from the metal. Better be safe then sorry. He say's the backs look fine.

I didn't get started till after noon on the project. That and we had to run back to Carquest to see about a different MC, but we ended up using the one we bought originally. It only has one electrical hook up, to where the original one has 2. Hubby say's the lights will work as they should with only one and that having 2 is just a fail safe for if, lets say, the front of the mc fails, the back will still turn on the brake lights. I sure hope he is right! LOL

I only got the driver side front done today, that and the mc.

Before,

After,

Tomorrow I have to finish the rest of the brakes and install the throttle cable.

I am happy to say, for the most part I am doing this all myself. Only thing hubby did today to help was pull the front shoes off. Other then that, it was all me. So when I am done I will let you know so you stay off the road!! LOL

 

[justcruzin]

Here is a better pic of the old front brakes. Look at all that meat. To bad they were falling off the metal.

Well, I would have gotten it all done today. I got the brakes all on and adjusted, and bled. Only thing is, the mc ended up being a bad one. It is leaking out the front by the boot. So needless to say, I had to take it back off. They will have another one for me in the morning so I will change it and hopefully have it off the lift by the time hubby gets home from work.

I got my throttle cable out and back in too. Even got my mud flap brackets installed. Just need to go get some bolts to hold the flaps on to the brackets. In the pic they are just hanging by old bolts. I want the kind of bolts that go through but won't squish the mud flap, that and self locking nuts.

Well, tomorrow I will hopefully get the new, new mc in and will be able to go for a test drive. My fingers are crossed!

 

[gninnam]

Moving along nicely

Its the little things which seem to take the longest

 

[justcruzin]

Thanks to hubby I managed to get my brakes bled with out any one else to help ( hubby was at work). He suggested that I take a bungee cord and hang some kind of weight on it. Then I could pump the brakes by pulling on the pedal arm from below the bus. Hook the weighted bungee and then go back and open the bleeder valve.

Here is my Brake Buddy!

Here he is helping me!. LOL

So with the help of my buddy, I managed to get my brake job finished!!

Once that was done I took him for a slow test run. Not really a run, but I moved him out of the garage and just went forward and backward a few times. He stops great. The going is a different story. He's not exactly running really smoothly. I have to give quite a bit of gas to get him moving with out him trying to lug or die. It could be a couple of things. One, he barely has any gas in him. That and had the old yucky gas in him before, even though I washed the tank and all. Two, he may just need some fine tuning on his carb. I will know better once I have some more gas. Hubby is supposed to be bringing some home for me. That tells you how low on gas Wes is. I won't even take him out of the drive way! LOL

I also found out that Wes will be a fair weather driver for now. He leaks from his windshield gasket and rear window gasket. I kind of figured he would since they are both dry and cracked. I will probably fix the rear window first since it will be an easy in and out job. The windshield is a different story. There is visible surface rust, so I don't know how bad it is under the seal. That job will have to wait till we can have him in the garage for more then just 2 days.

 

[chippy]

Hi ingenuous way to bleed the brakes.What on earth was in the pedal guard tray?

 

[justcruzin]

Hi ingenuous way to bleed the brakes.What on earth was in the pedal guard tray?

That was more of the rat droppings and shells from some sort of nut. Sure wish pack rats would have invaded the bus, but nope, just plain old rats. LOL I got about 8 gallons of poop and shells out of the whole bus! :shock:

 

[justcruzin]

Here is a little update, well maybe big one on what has been going on. I got down to just needing gas and reinstalling my headlight switch. Got the switch in, but then I lost my high low beam. So after this post, http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=484333" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was able to get that working. Then I lost my turn signals. So after this post,
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=5616702#5616702" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; I kind of got those working too. I say kind of because I really don't know how long or if they will work or not from time to time. I am just hoping they will work through the inspection the bus is at right now. Once it passes the inspection, all I need to do is get a vin verification and it will finally be legal. Well, once I go to DMV that is! LOL

Only thing is, it scared the bajeebers out of me!! The drive to the inspection place was the first time I have taken it more then 5 - 10 feet. It started feeling funny at 3rd gears high point, then I switched into 4th and it really felt funny. Almost feels like a wheel is falling off, but I know they are all good. Or maybe the motor was trying to cut out? I can't really say. I just know that when I go pick it up I'm making a B line for the first side street back to my house! LOL That way I can keep it at a slower speed. Luckily the inspection place is about a block from the first side street I can take to get home!

I will update the results of the inspection as soon as I find out how it did. Keep your finger crossed for me!

 

[justcruzin]

I am happy to say, it PASSED!!!!!

It is now down at my hubby's work waiting for a CHP officer to come by. Once one does, probably Friday, I will be ready to go to DMV. Well, maybe, lol, I may try to wait for my personalized plates to come in first. They should be showing up any time now. That way I can kill 2 birds with one stone.

So now I am bussless. I'm not sure what to do with myself. I have been going out and working on Wes pretty much every day since I got him. Maybe I will take a nap!

 

[chippy]

I've had mice run out off gloveboxes and from under the dash even had to repair wiring looms on expensive Mercs after they have been eaten my mice but thats something else.Bet it feels good to nearly be on the road. Hope you sort the drive problem don't want to undo your good work with a accident.

 

[justcruzin]

Figured I'd give a quick update.

Not much has happened since the brake and light inspection. I had left it at hubby's work to get the vin verification, but only retired guy's came in. So I brought it home over the weekend. Hubby did call a PD officer he knows and she said she would come by the house when she gets a chance. So I have to leave it in the front part of the driveway. That means I can't do much to it there. I did find a step and a shifter extender at our club swap meet the other day, and put them on. Well, the step is just pushed into the jack points, I still need to clean them and install it the right way. It sure makes a difference in climbing in and out of the bus!!

I also replaced the rear window rubber. Now I just need to do the side window with the vent window in it, and the windshield. I have the jealousy windows to deal with too, but I need to research to see how to replace the rubber on them.

I'm hoping to get the vin verification soon. Then I just need to wait for my personalized plates to come in, and I will be off to DMV.

On a bad note, I have to pull the motor again. I don't know why we didn't think about this when we had it out, we thought of it when we had my bug motor out. We forgot to change the flywheel seal, and sure enough, it leaks. So the plan is, once it is verified (vin), we will put it in the garage so I can pull the motor, do the seal, and check the clutch and all. I plan on doing this over a weekend. Hopefully next weekend. While the motor is out I am going to do a valve adjustment. I didn't do it last time because I figured the guys could do it when it was on the lift. Figured I might as well do it this time. Maybe that will help it's running issue in 4th gear.

Hopefully DMV will be sending my notice of my plates being there, and I can get the motor R&R'd over the weekend.

I did a photo shoot with my VW's the other day, since they all run now! Well, kind of run. LOL

 

[mister]

Kim - that's a fantastic collection of German metal you have there! like the tyedyed license plate on your splitty

 

[justcruzin]

Kim - that's a fantastic collection of German metal you have there! like the tyedyed license plate on your splitty

Thanks. I will have to do another photo shoot when I get my plates for Wes. His are going to say TYEDYE2! I will get hubby to help me next time so I can get them closer to each other. I was worried I would have a fender bender on my own! LOL

 

[justcruzin]

Well, the plan was to pull the engine today, then go get a flywheel seal tomorrow and put the engine back in. Things didn't go that way. LOL Instead, I got the engine out, hubby found a seal, so we cleaned everything up (oily fly wheel and all) and put the new seals in. Then I reinstalled the motor. This time I had to have a little help from hubby to get it back in though. I put the jack stands to high and wasn't able to get the mustache bar over their mounts and get everything else lined up too. But, it is in and everything is back together.

Now I'm still waiting for the vin check, and my notice that my personalized plates are in. Once I get those two things, I can go register it and hopefully drive it! Although I think it still needs some fine tuning on the carb. Or it may need the carb taken off and cleaned out. Even though I flushed the tank, I think it may have gotten some gunk in it. Although it seems to idle and start fine, just doesn't want to idle once you drive it a little. In little I mean maybe 20 feet! LOL Once you go forward, and then push in the clutch, he wants to die. I can do the heel toe thing for now though! LOL Oh, I don't know if he will still be so scary in 4th gear now either. Good it have been a oily clutch and all causing it, or is it actually the carb? I will find out as soon as I can get him registered.

Anyway, I was pretty excited that the engine uninstall and reinstall went so good and fast. Probably had it done in about 2 hours!

 

[justcruzin]

Well, I'm happy to say, I have a very fine running and driving bus now! Although I found out that my preheat tubes are not working to well anymore. A friend that knows more about VW's then me came over and let me know that I should start looking for another manifold. He said this one will be ok for now, but it will take longer to heat up and may cause a hesitation. Good news is, I think I have another manifold on the motor that came with my bug. I think? LOL

After soaking the carb in carb dip overnight, then cleaning and blowing it all out, it finally idles good. After that we torqued the heads, adjusted the valves, and timed it. It now runs a lot better then it did. By doing all that, we also fixed the steering problem I was having! LOL I thought it was the front end causing me problems, but it turned out to be a motor that needed it's heads torqued and timing done right.


I also got my verification done. Now I am just waiting on my personalized plates to come in, then I will go down and finish getting it fully registered.

Now I am working on my sink. It's filler tube desinagrated when I tried to take the cap off. So I am trying to find another tube for it. We went to an RV place and found a couple good candidates, but they are to loose. So I'm not sure what I am going to do. We also rounded up all the plumbing parts that we need to fix the drain for the sink. We decided to go longer on the pipe under the bus, to allow for a little bit of storage for the dirty water. That way we won't have to drain it where we camp. It won't be much space, but more then what it had. I will take pics when I get it done.

 

[justcruzin]

Got a late start on the bus today. We planned on going to PnP first thing in the morning, then come home and work on the projects. Well, we made the turn onto the road for PnP and my hubby's truck just shut off. Needless to say we had to wait for the other driver to bring one of the big tow trucks, then tow the hubby's back to the yard, then go back to PnP with a different one. So we started on our projects after 1pm.

I did manage to get my sink plumbing done as far as behind the cabinet and down out of the bus. Still need to finish plumbing under the bus, but I'm not sure what I want to do. I need to go to Home Depot and look at some elbows and all. Thinking of either running pipe over to the other side of the bus and have the drain there. Or, keeping it on the passenger side and going from 1.5 inch pipe to 4 inch pipe and run it almost to the back tire. That would give me a bigger holding tank per say.

So here is what I got done.

Found out my port a potty will fit under the seat behind the driver.

Got the faucet, air vent and the cabinet installed.

I used Gorilla glue to fix my broken vent pipe! That stuff is weird. It swells up, so I had to sand it back down flat to the pipe.

Also installed me a pull for my door! LOL

I have greased everything on the door but it still wants to only open when it feels like it. I was always afraid to put my fingers on the u shape thing and pull, so I came up with the string! LOL

I think tomorrow I will just take it for a drive!

 

[Barkafer]

Great job Kim. Nice to see another one saved from the crusher
2x on the lovely collection of German metal 8)

 

[hamster]

Also installed me a pull for my door! LOL

I have greased everything on the door but it still wants to only open when it feels like it. I was always afraid to put my fingers on the u shape thing and pull, so I came up with the string! LOL

Great idea, my door sticks just like that wish I'd thought of using string, I nearly mangled my fingers using that u shaped thingy to open the door

 

[user 765]

If I remember correctly, (no guarantee at my age !!), when you depress the lever to open the door, there is a long stiff cable thingy inside the door that operates the rear lock. Same as when you close the door, and pull the lever the other way to make the rear part 'click' in to position.
If you take the door card off, you can see the two cables, and I think there is a certain amount of adjustment on them. If everything is lubricated well, then a little adjusting will probably fix the problem.

 

[justcruzin]

If I remember correctly, (no guarantee at my age !!), when you depress the lever to open the door, there is a long stiff cable thingy inside the door that operates the rear lock. Same as when you close the door, and pull the lever the other way to make the rear part 'click' in to position.
If you take the door card off, you can see the two cables, and I think there is a certain amount of adjustment on them. If everything is lubricated well, then a little adjusting will probably fix the problem.

I have lubed everything I can reach with my finger. LOL That door panel is my last panel that I need to pull off and make a new one. I will check on the cable when I am in there!! Thanks for the tip!!