The Blue '71 makeover

[redwards]

Some of you might have seen this already, I thought I'd start a project thread in here. I bought the van last summer as a present for the wife. The plan was to buy a van with sound body work and sort out the interior / mechanicals. Here's some pics of when she was first bought.

Nothing changed for a few months due to a baby turning up soon :roll:
Now the boy has arrived I can get on with the camper ready for the summer. Took the engine out on the weekend, it took a little longer than I expected, but it's out now along with the box.

Got the engine on the stand

Took the exhaust off first, as it was sticking out from the stand. Had a bit of a shock when I removed the pipes, hopefully she'll breath a little easier once I'm done!

Next job is to strip and clean the engine, then sort out the gear linkage bushes. Paint the engine bay, and refit.

 

[OLIVE-BAY]

Some of you might have seen this already, I thought I'd start a project thread in here. I bought the van last summer as a present for the wife. The plan was to buy a van with sound body work and sort out the interior / mechanicals. Here's some pics of when she was first bought.

Nothing changed for a few months due to a baby turning up soon :roll:
Now the boy has arrived I can get on with the camper ready for the summer. Took the engine out on the weekend, it took a little longer than I expected, but it's out now along with the box.

Got the engine on the stand

Took the exhaust off first, as it was sticking out from the stand. Had a bit of a shock when I removed the pipes, hopefully she'll breath a little easier once I'm done!

Next job is to strip and clean the engine, then sort out the gear linkage bushes. Paint the engine bay, and refit.

looks like a solid van...good luck with it 8)

 

[gninnam]

Nice dude 8)

Keep the up with the updates and pics please

 

[redwards]

Popped down the garage this evening. An hour and half later, the engine went from this:

To this!

The underside was a bit oily.

The pushrod tube seals were knackered, so that's why it was leaking oil.

Found metal in the cylinder, so need to find out where that has come from.

Plenty of crud on the top of the pistons, and these are new Mahle parts!

All in all I'm glad I made the decision to strip the engine as it is in dire need of some TLC. Jobs for the morning are splitting the block and checking over the gearbox linkage.

 

[redwards]

Split the block this morning, it would have gone a little smoother if I had undone all the nuts :roll:

Everything looked ok on the inside apart from the camshaft gear, so a new one of those is on the shopping list.

All I have to do now is order parts and start alot of cleaning! I will post some before and after pics, but it'll be a fortnight before the rebuild starts.

 

[OLIVE-BAY]

good work so far ..its the only way to be sure and fix the problems it'll all be worth it ...keep the dub faith dude 8)

 

[redwards]

Thanks Olive-bay. I have plenty of faith, but if it does run out I have a bug hammer :lol:

Popped into FBIVW this week, seen some nice buses there. The wife wanted the one that was £18k! Picked up some OG beetle heat exchangers

and replacement levers and lever mechanism.

Got a nice list of parts I need, so the next stage is to start checking online for the best deals.

 

[redwards]

Not too much news, been cleaning bits today, before stopping to watch the rugby.

Block and Pistons came up ok

Then the bad news began, the top of this piston is damaged, not sure if it was dropped or the result of valve contact.

One of the heads has a crack from the sparkplug hole all the way to under the vavle seat, so I need to see if this can be repaired.

To top it all, the other head looks like it has been damaged from valve contact.

Looking at the cylinders, they are bore washed so will need honing. Now I need to decided wether to repair or buy new. The way it's going, it'll be cheaper to buy a head kit or a long block for £700 ish from TES.

 

[redwards]

Quick update for you all.

I cleaned up the crankcase and gearbox, refreshed them with a quick dusting of paint.

Had problems assembling the short block, due to the bearings not fitting in the dowels. Cost me £40, but lesson learnt.

Currently having trouble finding new 10mm studs for a sensible price, so it looks like I may have to reuse the old ones.

 

[redwards]

Well I bit the bullet and bought a new set of studs, and they turned up today.

Good service from VWHeritage as usual. Now I can crack on with the engine build and hopefully not have any more setbacks. :roll:

 

[redwards]

Well, after a while I have finally made some progress.

When we had the heat wave the other week I decided to sand down and basecoat the engine bay

Tonight I finally had a couple of hours to progress the engine. Forget to take pics at the start, got the cylinders and head fitted loosely on the push rod tubes. The fact there were 9 long studs in the pack threw me a bit until I checked the ones I removed. I then looked at all the holes on the crankcase and found one with no thread in the top. :roll:

Torqued it all down and fitted rockers and rocker covers.

The other side will be built tomorrow night and I can then start putting all the ancillaries on.

 

[redwards]

A few pics from last night. Now I have the longblock built, I can crack on with the ancillaries.

 

[redwards]

Well I've made some decent progress at last.

This morning started by fitting the heat exchangers and backbox. Also set the rocker - valve clearance while it was on the stand.

Next job was to get it on ground, fit the flywheel, clutch and attach the gearbox. Also filled it with oil while is was easy to get to.

After a couple of hours the engine was in and running. I now need to get a strobe gun so I can fine tune the timing.

The wife has also made a start on the interior. All the lining has been stripped and the mouldy MDF boards removed.

Got to get some new tyres and install a new steering drag link and she's off for a mot.

It's been a long hard few months but I'm glad I took the decision to strip it all down.

 

[OLIVE-BAY]

coming along nicely there, great thread keep the up dates coming 8)

 

[redwards]

Done a bit more today. Changed the steering drag link, don't think it has ever been removed but a bit of heat soon had things moving. Also pulled the front gearbox linkage off and replaced the front bush. When I removed the gearstick I found the base plate was damaged, so a new one of those is on the shopping list. Next on the todo list was running new heater cables but the tubes were blocked, so new tubes have been fitted and the cables run through those. It now looks like I have mounted the heat exchangers on the wrong sides as the cables don't line up to the flap linkage so those will get swapped when I fit the lower tinware.

I have to get 2 front tyres and it's MOT time.

 

[redwards]

Quick update, I ordered some lower tinware from machine7 yesterday. Superb service as usual, as they arrived today.

http://bbs.scoobynet.com/picture.php?albumid=6444&pictureid=20415[/IMG

Going to fit these tomorrow, ready to tune the engine on the weekend. I've also bitten the bullet and booked an MOT a week Saturday, so fingers crossed.

 

[redwards]

Well I went for the MOT this morning and she passed! Had a couple of advisories on it, so I'm off parts shopping this morning. At least it's on the road now, so we can start to make it look good.

 

[redwards]

It's been a while, so I thought I'd better post an update. Progress has been a little slow, it's supprising how much time a one year can take!

Some of you may have seen my post in Technical, about strengthing the roof.


100_2237

As the paint on the poptop had cracked, I thought now would be a good time to paint the top half of the bus. The first task was to house the bus to paint it, I'd always planned to get the bus in the garage so bit the bullet and got the new doors hung.

Before:


100_2238

After:


100_2245

After a quick drive around the block with the roof off it was time to see if she fitted, and it did!


100_2261

Before I could paint the top half of the bus there was some welding needed. The back of the roof had a round vent fitted, this leaked and was also in the way for the overhead locker I have planned for the interior. So out came the round hole.


100_2263

In went the square patch, the new clamps helped keep everthing in place but I found welding panels very difficult, after blowing a few holes in the metal I got the hang of things and got the welding done.


100_2264

Finally, we rolled the bus out of the garage for a thorough wash with scotchbrite pads and then went to work with the sander.


100_2268

I now have to give the patch I welded in a skim of filler. Then the bus will be given another run over with the sander before a wash. Finally, a once over with panel wipe just before spraying.

 

[creationblue]

Where you been all year :lol: nice work 8)

 

[redwards]

I know! :lol: Couldn't believe it's been nearly a year. There's been a bit of shopping at some shows, so I have a nice pile of parts to go on. Also been stripping an impreza to raise some funds


100_2142

Been to the paint suppliers today and picked up some L90D, so a bit more sanding and then i can hit the paint.