XOver rebuild.

[NickJ]

Hi Gray, great to see the van "finished" the pics are ace , just keep topping up this thread with your adventures so we know where to find them

 

[graysummers]

Cheers Nick. Putting her in for a quick check/service. Done 350 plus miles now. To and from work mainly. Trying to make the bus more homely now. And tweak performance with small engine improvements and add internal aesthetics. New seat covers bought, still looking at sisal cab mats, decent curtains and how to do coverings for door cards. Been a joy to be honest trundling around the country roads. Hope you and your family and your bus are all well.

 

[NickJ]

Hi Gray, I've barely used the bus this year, I took a friend's daughter & her friends to their high school prom in June and I've hardly driven it since, I seem to be working on the beetle most of my free time but fingers crossed there's not too much more to do. I was feeling a bit guilty so I put a new fuel filter on the bus and took it for a spin and it drove really nicely then a bit like you I've been back and forward to work in it as a bit of a shakedown and check. I might even get up the coast before too long.

 

[graysummers]

Let me know if you get our way. Be nice to meet up at Ynyslas or near. Aberdovey to Barmouth and beyond and south to Pembrokeshire and St. David’s/Tenby are my intended runs over the next few months. Nice to know your bus is still good.

 

[graysummers]

Quick update on how the bus is settling in. Well. Bought a new book and have been deciphering the M code plates. See the photos below. Original colour (Sierra Yellow with Pastel White up top), interior of Alabaster grey/leatherette and intended destination (UK and specific considerations of speedo in miles, headlamps for right hand traffic, etc.) a real treat. Date of Birth December 21 1971. Christmas baby. Built with no true fully applied bus 8-plus seats status, Paul and myself were discussing why only a 3 seater in the passenger compartment for a microbus. Paul thinks maybe it had reserve status for the UK and intentions to be coach built from the off. Also, bought cables for the heat exchangers. JK gave the advice on length/type. Now a nice trickle of warm air that is controlled by levers and not a wired up affair. Oil changed after a few hundred miles, little and appropriate oil usage (it used to pee all over my drive before the renovation) and an engine that sounds beautiful. Amazing top speed of 58 mph from the 1600 stock engine (I love that part of the drive experience) and will refuse to push the old girl and a whole world of sitting behind the wheel and relaxation. Start her up, sit for 5 plus minutes to warm her up and then start the journeys. Cold weather means I’m considering a warm air uptake system for the colder snaps to keep her alive in the lower gears when travelling. But to be honest, I only experienced that quirk over a two day period. One other thing since renovation. I started her up one day, and she simply cut out. About 10 to 15 seconds in. Turned the ignition again and nothing. Zilch. No solenoid click. Then after ten minutes, she caught again and fired up. Again after 10 seconds.....off. Checked all spades in the engine compartment, battery ok, etc. Emailed Paul. He says maybe fuse, coil, idling speed, choke, etc. Emailed me later asking for update. Great bloke. I had nothing to tell him. So. Went out and I sat at the wheel and thought I’d look at the indicator housing box as my indicators didn’t self switch off after turning corners. Had that problem way back when I bought the bus and sorted it. As I was holding the whole gubbings the dash board lights flickered on and off. So...simple old wiring around that site. Tightened her right back up after a bit of jiggling and started straight up. No problem since. But I’ve probably got a little gremlin in the loom that may need future attention. Original wiring has been there, seen it and done it with a t-shirt involved. That’s it apart from looking at Mad Matz for sisal cab mats over the next weeks, curtains sorted, new seat covers I’ve still got to find time to fit and the usual needful to get out there and make tea and eats. Use her as my daily. I’m blessed to own her.

 

[gninnam]

Glad the old girl is running sweetly (well apart from the electrical issue )
Enjoy (can see your smile from here )

 

[graysummers]

Cheers Andy. Great to see you’re still applying to your own cause. Looking good.

 

[Gjb4212]

Great stuff Gray.

 

[graysummers]

Thanks Gareth. Cheers for your support.

 

[graysummers]

MOT....first time pass. 2nd year since renovation now. So, definitely happy. Been keeping an eye month to month. Still a monitoring exercise underneath the bus, because of living on the coastline. But so far so good. Trouble is. Don’t think you can ever relax with a T2 which is used daily in Welsh weather and all these floods and rain here lately is ‘Massive down pour’. But.... Positive always. MadMatz and new seat covers now in situ. Feels and looks great. No photographs yet. Tried to upload but states the iPad photo of the image can’t be uploaded. Apparently the single photograph file is too big to upload. Confused..

 

[sparkywig]

Use postimage.org for picture uploads.

 

[graysummers]

Much better photographs. Thank you sparkywig for giving my Technophobe brain a nudge to the Technophile side.

 

[sparkywig]

Use the "hotlink for forum" link (2nd from bottom on share menu) and you'll post full size pics rather than thumbnails.

 

[gninnam]

Glad the van is good for yet another year
Looks nice in the (small) pics

 

[graysummers]

Just followed sparkywigs advice and hey presto. Now I’m gonna return to the upload site and check out the machinations of keeping the photographs because I can’t find them once uploaded.

 

[graysummers]

Quick update. Bus back on the road on 23 May. Off the road since last October. First. The Bus had an accelerator cable problem (broke) and needed a new replacement. Nightmare getting the cable front to back but won in the end. Bought the Butty Bits accelerator linkage. Amazing improvement. The old linkage was too worn to cope. Then? The Bus kept dying/cutting out when dropping down gears to turn corners or pull up in traffic. Then kept dying when choke off and idling. Too many bits checked, bought and played around with to mention. Involved an awful lot of investigation and changing stuff. Learnt a hell of a lot though. Read loads upon loads of similar stories on blogs and guidance sites. Eventually. After new stuff and refurbed stuff involved, changed, fitted. Drove her twice to work and grinned all the way there and back. Been having to cadge lifts off my wife and she was getting really fed up getting up at 5.30 in the morning and having to wait until I finished at 8.30 at night. She’s got her own Wholefood Shop in the same town as my hospital workplace. So we’ve both been carrying on with essential work. My Bus is my only form of transport. So frustrating it being redundant for all those months. Wife’s are very lovely people aren’t they? With lockdown, little work on the bus for a number of months. Mind you. I’m a nurse and it’s a bit anxiety led at present on arrival at the hospital. But.....Can’t say enough about the feeling of sitting in the bus and how it lifts the spirit. When lockdown is over (here in Wales still very much Stay at Home) we can all get out and about again. Good fortune and all the best to all of you on Earlybay.

 

[gninnam]

These buses do keep you on your toes.
Glad you managed to get it sorted, but a shame it took so long. Keeps smiling and well done to you and your colleagues for all the hard work you are doing during these strange times

 

[graysummers]

Last October to end of year Paul gave me a hand from time to time. Helped me fit the Butty Bits accelerator linkage. He fitted a couple of different carburettor try outs, which didn’t work and she wouldn’t idle at all. I bought new everything concerning carb, distributor, fuel pump, electrics. Kept searching for answers to the problems. Meantime I stripped the old accelerator linkage down and rebuilt. But it was a really wobbly/ineffective system after nearly 50 years inherent. So for weeks on end and trying to find time I struggled. That chuffing accelerator cable. Getting it located from front to back on my uncomfortable drive was really difficult. And...The bus had been playing up engine wise since end of August with cutting out all the time. I read and learned a lot over those months. Just playing at everything really. This year everything took a back burner. Work related anxiety in trying to focus. Couldn’t concentrate on anything outside of work for months. As we all felt worldwide. Months of cyclic work/isolation/work/isolation. But, yes. Got the Dub back to working now. It’s so good to now let my wife get on with her normal hours of work. She’s been doing 60 to 80 hour weeks. She employs 5 people and our very small town community is keen on Wholefood, organic and eco ethics. We’re trying to become the first Zero waste town in Wales. So, with customers like this.....very busy. For months now she’s had to keep customers outside the shop and organise either taking orders over the phone or emails and then customers collect/pick up. Or working with shopping lists at the door and handing shopping over the door threshold. My wife’s team have been amazing and much appreciated. Especially in those chaotic early days when everyone panicked.

So! Your Dub. When you finally jump into the old seat and start her up it’ll be amazing. For all of us too who’ve followed your progress. Nice to hear from you again Andy. And great to see your bus getting to that final hurdle. Good fortune.And thanks for your kind thoughts. Much appreciated.

 

[mike202]

Glad you’ve managed to get out in your bus again. When the weather is like this it’s one of the best tonics.
Did you find out what the problem was? You didn’t mention the coil I don’t think, sometimes that can cause odd running issues when they go bad. [emoji2957][emoji3]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[graysummers]

Hi Mike. Cheers for this. Hope you’re well. End of last year? Accelerator and idling biggest problems. 3 carburettors involved (original/Paul’s off his bus/and a refurb off ebay). All not allowing idle tick over. Kept reading about fuel air mixes and warm air up riser problems. It was colder end of last year so thought that might have been a problem. She was also running rich. Had heavy carbon soot over every spark plug. Bought lots of new replacement stuff. A cheap sealed fuel pump, not used because I went for a Pierberg fuel pump so could dismantle further down the line if any more problems arose, push rod and flange, leads and spark plugs, vacuum unit, fuel filter, ignition coil, idle air cut off valve. All replaced the old stuff. Have an old oil bath air filter so replaced top tubing to carburettor due to it being split. Wasn’t sure if anything in the oil bath filter machinations was old and worn. But didn’t check. Did check all tubings for splits or wear. So really, it was a combination of lots of changes. Took the bus to Paul’s house beginning of May and left it there for a few weeks so he could fine tune. Massive social distancing applied! He lives 20 minutes walk from my hospital, so ideal. I have this complex. Probably a false one. But.. I don’t think anyone likes to be near a nurse at the moment. Mind you. I’ve been washing hands and arms and showering at end of shifts so much over the last months my skin always shines brightly! Anyways. Horrible jerky/cutting out ride at lower speed and lower gears getting it there. Same as before. Ran ok at higher speed. He put the original carburettor (the one inherent when I bought her) back on after stripping and refurbing. Said there was no debris in the eBay carb chambers. But he said the original had the ‘edge’. Nicer all round. All 3 were Solex. No cheap alternative. Did say new vacuum wasn’t pulling the distributor plate round far enough. Didn’t reach maximum turn. So that was fixed. Then she was tuned up. Checked if the pulley was out with the 5% consideration you get on different distributors. But that was all ok. Now the engine runs beautifully. Doesn’t miss a beat. So unsure what was wrong really. Too many changes. I kept all the old stuff in a box inside the bus. He did say the old push rod that came off was a slightly different size than for an angled pump one. I have an alternator so have the angled fuel pump needing a different length. I’m useless with engine tuning and timing. My Dad tried to teach me way back when. But I haven’t got that technical brain.

It’ll be great when we can all get back out there. Thanks for the reply. Fingers crossed you can get out and about later this year.