Working on our 71 Devon

[woz]

Following on from my hello thread yesterday (thanks for the comments and warm welcome) I said i would start a thread of the work i have been doing to get it on the road and reliable.

When i bought it the PO told me about the end float, and he wasn't wrong! so first job was to remove the engine and see what was going on. this is the first VW i have owned and never had a go at any major engine work before but just fancied trying to sort things myself as much as i could and have a friend that knows all things air cooled to help. Anyway cant be any more difficult than working out how to post pictures! (easy when you know)

The more the engine came apart the more the scrap pile grew, it seemed a shame as i think the engine had a lot of work done on it but one of the rocker cover gaskets had been put in badly (very) and this must of lead to it overheating badly. i had been given a spare case which i took to the engine shop and had align bored and whilst there i asked them to sort it for full flow. i was going to build a 1641 as this was my first go thought this would be best.

Here are some pictures I will post more of the build over a few days as it takes a while to do each time. quality of pics is not great and some have been taken on my phone, but gets my thread started.

This is the case after i got it back from align boring

Started to try and make the tinware look a bit better, just having a go in my garage so took forever and next time im going directly to shot blasters.

 

[woz]

Started to put things back together so that i could take some measurements, deck height and the cc of the heads. I'm not sure if this was totally required for my small engine build but got to say i really enjoyed it and started to understand the engine. May be useful if i build something a bit bigger at some point :msn4:

Also weighed the pistons to get them all the same weight. wish i had gone for slightly/a lot better quality as they were 15g different which was a shame but managed to remove some material and get them closer.

pushed the tinware on a bit more, have a friend thats going to 2k it for me.

 

[cubamiller]

:lol: Nice valve spring compressor, Who made that !

 

[DeeDeeTheBay]

Nice progress Keep the pics coming!

Lainey

 

[woz]

:lol: Nice valve spring compressor, Who made that !

Thanks Mr Cuba and thanks for all your help

Nice progress Keep the pics coming!

Lainey

Thanks Lainey, will try and keep posting pics but have to say it takes a while uploading and sorting them out

Anyway heres a few more

Decided at this point i would remove the gearbox as i wanted to change all the bushes on the linkage and put a new ball in the nose cone on the hockey stick

Getting the box out was a pain. at some point the scew on the bottom of the cage had been welded on. and the seal was damaged because there was a self tapper through the floor into it :shock:

 

[gninnam]

Cracking job on the engine
Great when you have the right tools wen working on the engine.

 

[woz]

Cracking job on the engine
Great when you have the right tools wen working on the engine.

Thanks - ye i have been lucky and been able to borrow any of the tools that i didn't have

Here's a few more pics of progress, this work was carried out a few weeks ago just takes me ages to post!

Engine nearly there

Changed the fuel pump to fit with alternator

Cleaned up the gearbox

Whilst the engine was out i wanted to replace the ball in the nose cone, not the clearest photo but gives you the idea of how bad the wear is, imagine the play by the time you get to the top of the gear shift :shock:

Put new bush and seal in

Replaced the gearbox oil seal, not sure if this is the right way to remove the old one but seemed to work ok

Gearbox sorted and ready to go back in

A friend let me this ultrasonic cleaner to clean all the engine parts

 

[68_early_bay]

Great work on the engine and box 8)

 

[Ryanmck1984]

Great work!! Keep it up 8)

 

[woz]

Great work!! Keep it up 8)

Great work on the engine and box 8)

Thanks for your comments really appreciate it.

A bit more of an update.

some welding was required and our drive is on a slope and it wouldn't be safe to jack the bus up so decided to move it to my parents house.

Tidied up the engine bay and sprayed some paint about

i had completed the welding which was anything from the back of the belly pan back to the engine bay that needed doing. i then Shultz that area must of been focused as i didn't take any photos.

re installed the gearbox and engine

bought hoses for the remote oil filter

The engine ran straight away but badly, took a long while to work out the brand new 009 distributor was very badly manufactured the electronic ignition was fitting poorly to the center shaft. My friend lent me his 009 from his beetle and the ignition fitted perfectly.

Started to sort the electrics, it's really strange but when i bought the bus i'm sure it all worked!
Installed this split charge system that a friend bought me as a present :shock: nice friend! by the way it's not screwed to the battery, i stuck some timber to the battery and then screwed it to that.

spent ages sorting out bits like this

This is my daughter Lottie re-wrapping the cables, she is 7 and will do anything to be out there working on it with me.

This is her again trying the bumper iron bolts in before fitting the bumper. she insisted on wearing trousers with holes in the knees :lol:

Best put a photo of Ruby who is 5 up or i will be in trouble :? she was helping tidy things up

nearly up to date now but next up date will show what happened when i took the belly pans off :shock: :shock:

 

[woz]

So far i have found a few bits that needed welding and just put plates over, that was about to change! i keep thinking i should have a look under the belly pans so i cut them off :shock: i think the center one was original but the side ones had been replaced, took quite a long time to cut them off and tidy all the edges up. once i could see what i was dealing with it took a minute to get my head around it and then i realised i could now sort it and be confident that it would be sound.

So Chasis repairs both sides both inner sills jacking points outriggers and one crossmember (happy about that as i had previously patched it and it was a rubbish repair) + a few other small repairs including the conduit that the loom runs through where one end had completely rotted.

Ordered some new metal and started cutting. if your reading this and you still use thick cutting disks don't, buy the 1mm ones they really make the job easier

Here are a few pics

Any thoughts on this previous repair? Why would you do that?

Couple of photos above the gearbox after scraping most of the under seal off ready for wire brushing before Shultz cant find the after pics though

 

[Myvanway]

Great work there Dude.

 

[gninnam]

Looks a bit messy.
I hate belly pans - on UK buses they tend to hide rusty chassis parts :evil:

 

[68_early_bay]

Nice work 8) belly pans are a real nightmare sometimes I'm not looking forward to the day I have to take mine off :shock:

 

[Dave.P]

Nice work 8) belly pans are a real nightmare sometimes I'm not looking forward to the day I have to take mine off :shock:

I totally agree ! Nor am I :?

 

[woz]

Thanks for all the comments. The belly pans had been bugging me once i got them off at least i could see what i was dealing with and sort it out.

Had to change both rear wheel cylinders, asked the question about best buys and where to get them from in the technical section. Very helpful responces this is a great platform for getting help!

Any way here are some photos of brake parts

 

[woz]

So with the belly pans off laid into it with a grinder and started cutting out the rot, tried to think about it to make life easier when it came to putting the new metal back in.

bought a chasis section and then fabricated it to suit the section that i was trying to repair, took my time and was really pleased with the result.

Tacked some new bits in which was a result, need to make up some new flanges for the I beams

I'm going to replace the rear cross member so cut some of the floor out so that i could get to it

 

[cunning plan]

Excellent and FAST work dude! arty0021:

What paint did you use on the chassis? :?: :shadey:

 

[woz]

What paint did you use on the chassis? :?: :shadey:

Thanks for the comments I used Schultz got in a bit of a mess though

 

[woz]

Went to Brighton Breeze we live near Eastbourne so not far for us. Couple of Pics

Girls loved the day and hopefully gave them an idea of what its like to have a camper on the road. Until then they seem content wearing their new Hayburner hats.

Fantastic day out got to speak to some nice people and see some epic vehicles!!