PumpKINstien

[5erge]

Okay the name maybe strange but the previous owner named her so it would be wrong to change it now

I found out from its previous owner that she has been off the road for 27 of her 40 year life, so not exactly stressed, she has had a paintjob 6 years ago but is in remarkably good condition.

Graham from MidlandEarlybay pointed me in the direction of this bus on 'thesamba.com' when I first contacted him. I liked what I saw so he arranged to import it for me from Oregon USA and get it over to his unit at Tamworth.

Last Saturday was when I saw her in the flesh and we started emptying out the contents of the bus, with some parts in remarkable condition. Thankfully the previous owner tagged and bagged everything, preserving it's originality.

My son also came up with me and I think he has earmarked this seat as his own 8)

She needs an engine though and I'm having Richard Trent from Airspeeduk build me a twin carb 1776 (since rebuilt and upped to a 1914cc by Autotechniks as Airspeed are useless), I also thought it rude to leave her on stilts so Red9design are providing the front wishbone setup and rear spring plates. In a state of excitement I also ordered a Gene Berg locking shifter expensive but a quality piece of kit.

I have to say thank you to Graham, he has been a pleasure to deal with, answered all my stupid questions and took time to talk to me on Saturday when looking round the bus. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Midland Earlybay if you are on the lookout for a bus.

Cheers

Des

 

[lard]

Hi! - Saw your bus a couple of weekends ago when I went to Tamworth to meet mine (it's the white westy he has in ) - loved your's and looks very solid, great condition - look forward to seeing it again sometime when I next venture down 8)

 

[5erge]

Hi! - Saw your bus a couple of weekends ago when I went to Tamworth to meet mine (it's the white westy he has in ) - loved your's and looks very solid, great condition - look forward to seeing it again sometime when I next venture down 8)

I had my head in your engine bay, you could eat your dinner out of it its that clean :mrgreen: Really nice example of a Westy...

Des

 

[young_dubya]

thats lurvely! :shock: :mrgreen:

 

[61 stu]

look forward to seeing it with all the kit on, good looking Bus 8)

 

[THE LAST PANZER]

8) WOW MMMMMmmmmm 8)

I can also recomend Graham from Midland earlybay he is very helpful and a nice bloke to talk to.

 

[5erge]

A few boxes of parts have slowly turned my garage into a warehouse, this arrived this morning;

Think I'll remove the Engle sticker, but other than that I'm liking the look of a brand new engine. I retained the original heat exchangers and the rear tinware.

Oh and I also have a Gene Berg shifter to go in.

My red9 wishbone suspension and front disc brakes also turned up but they are still wrapped up in their boxes, I'll wait for a couple of weeks when I actually fit the suspension. The last thing on my list for today is that I managed to pickup a set of 15" split screen steelies for £65, will pick them up next week.

All in all a pleasing weekend for me. Next on the list is the mass garage clearout and I need to build a new workbench for all my tools, this will speed things up considerably if I know where my socket set is, rather than spend an hour digging through boxes only to find it's not even in the garage. I'll do a small write up on the bench build as well.

Cheers

Des

 

[muntz70]

I for one will look forward to your experience with the wishbone kit. Mine should be shipping soon.

 

[gninnam]

Awesome looking van 8)

Looking forward to the build also - especially the Red9 kit

 

[windsurfer]

Looking sweet, not sure about the crap Gene Berg shifter, i'll take it off your hands :lol:

Where'd you get it?

 

[5erge]

Looking sweet, not sure about the crap Gene Berg shifter, i'll take it off your hands :lol:

Where'd you get it?

I swap the shifter for your bus :mrgreen:

I bought it direct from Gene Berg 8) they do lots of other nice things that I really shouldn't spend my money on. At the time the exchange rate was favourable but I did get stung on import duty

Des

 

[5erge]

More of a diary for myself to look back on.

17/10/09

Bus arrived at my house and was pushed up the drive, gave it a wash then put on the cover to protect her from the elements. Good news is that once lowered she will fit in my garage.

18/10/09

Gave her a quick tidy up inside, removed a few parts that will put up for sale and also used an anti mould cleaer to clean the roof lining visors etc.. Came up a treat and looks brand new.

20/10/09

Ordered my Bentley manual today from the http://www.bookdepository.co.uk for £21.50 so I can start to remove and strip my beam in prep for my red9 kit to go on this Saturday.

Des

 

[windsurfer]

Looking sweet, not sure about the crap Gene Berg shifter, i'll take it off your hands :lol:

Where'd you get it?

I swap the shifter for your bus :mrgreen:

I bought it direct from Gene Berg 8) they do lots of other nice things that I really shouldn't spend my money on. At the time the exchange rate was favourable but I did get stung on import duty

Des

Shame about the shifter, I do like them though.............one day :mrgreen:
Sweet bus anyway mate

 

[muntz70]

any headway with the red9 kit?

 

[5erge]

any headway with the red9 kit?

Funny you should mention that 8)

Front Beam off

Luckily once I'd undone everything (including the bugger that was the front gearshift rod) I placed a jack and axle stands under the front beam and started to undo the sideplate bolts, it started to slip out of place once I had 7 of the 8 bolts out.

So, a quick clean up of the underside, then on with the red9 this weekend :mrgreen: Question is shall I go for the full drop of 6" on the wishbone with another 1.5" on the coilover, or wimp out and go for the next level up which I think is 4" on the wishbone plates :?:

Des

 

[USA Santa]

"Question is shall I go for the full drop of 6" on the wishbone with another 1.5" on the coilover, or wimp out and go for the next level up which I think is 4" on the wishbone plates ."

Well since it is fully adjustable , start out some where in the middle Really great looking Bay.

It's good to be you :bliss:

Although I wonder how much is involved to do a readjust on the front :?: to go up or down :roll:

 

[gninnam]

Agree with above - start in-between then see how it looks.

How do you adjust the shocks (can see how the springs are done). :?:

Soo looking forward to a report on how easy/difficult this mod is and whether it's worth it

Do you use the same sterring box or does it change to rack & pinion :?:

 

[5erge]

How do you adjust the shocks (can see how the springs are done). :?:

There is a tool with the coilovers to adjust the height, you should be able to see two metal rings just beneath the spring.

Do you use the same sterring box or does it change to rack & pinion :?:

Comes with a new rack and pinion setup. I'm may just concentrate on getting the front/rear down first to get her in my garage, then I can work on the steering components in the dry and toast up my garage with a heater. Better than work out in the cold/rain.

Des

 

[muntz70]

I'm going to take the approach of installing it to get the 6 inches of course drop. I'll use the coilover adjustment to fine tune it up or down.

I want mine as low as it will go...

My kit just cleared customs (in the US)... and should hit my driveway by wednesday of next week.

 

[Nick-Rackham]

From memory (and I'm going back over 25 plus years) the adjustment on coilover shocks is not designed for height adjustment (although I am always willing to be proved wrong!) but to adjust the preload of the spring which in turn stiffens or smooths out the ride. The springs have a spring rate curve which allows at "normal" adjustment to take bumps without being too harsh, yet progressively gets stiffer the more it's compressed. Therefore, by lowering the bus by slackening off the springs to allow the bus to settle lower will effectively soften the suspension, as will compressing the springs to raise it a little increase the harshness of the ride. This will need to be balanced by the adjustment on the dampers to effectively dampen the change in spring rate. i.e. too harsh a spring rate and too soft damper setting will have the bus wallowing after a bump

So the point of all this rambling, which could be complete cr*p (memory isn't what it used to be!) is don't set the ride height by the coilovers, set it by the rack height adjustment, and tune the ride comfort by the spring adjusters in conjunction with the damper settings

Hope that's helpful?