Your Early Bay Picture of the Day .....

[Fernando Pal]

Cascais Marina

 

[andrewblackwell]

This weekend at a lovely picnic spot near Derwent reservoir. This felt further from home than it actually is with really lovely scenery.
Engine lid opened on arrival to cool things off after some long slow climbs; dogs cooling mat on bus floor to keep him a bit cooler during the journey.

 

[Grazy]

Had it 17 years now

 

[creationblue]

Had it 17 years now

And what a panel it is

 

[W1K1]

our local street machine weekend car show, lot of fun and a ton of questions from people
3 bays and a vanagon this year

 

[ozziedog]

Looks like you bagged a wonderful shady spot for the day. Van looks great too.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,they’re experienced those camper types.

 

[thejinx]

Out for the day in the Black Mountains.

 

[ozziedog]

Out for the day in the Black Mountains.

That gave the gearshift a bit of a Sunday work out I should imagine

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, looks great

 

[thejinx]

Ozzie, you are not wrong. First trip out since MOT pass. It behaved really well

 

[W1K1]

day trip to Waterton Park, first road trip in the Westy, cooked lunch, stopped for ice cream. The EJ2.5 did well in the foothills. lots of waves when we were in the park

 

[ozziedog]

day trip to Waterton Park, first road trip in the Westy, cooked lunch, stopped for ice cream. The EJ2.5 did well in the foothills. lots of waves when we were in the park

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,and that’s what it’s all about

 

[andrewblackwell]

We had a ride out to Goathland village of Heartbeat & Hogwarts fame, in the North Yorks Moors on Saturday. It was unusually quiet with the weather not as nice as promised but better for keeping the dog cool. Lovely open moorland & quite smooth country lanes to drive along.

We used to visit here loads back when our '63 beetle was our daily driver 25+yrs ago. The climbs were a bit slower this time around. I messed up 3rd>2nd gear on the Birk Brow climb which is a steep sharp winding dual carriageway up onto the Moors northern edge, so had to stop & pull away in 1st, then 2nd appeared without a problem.

I've got to crack on with that linkage. I keep putting off 'til winter as i now mostly have the knack of finding 2nd, but sometimes it beats me.

"EarlyBay" sticker now in the window, & roofrack removed, so i can get this (squeezed) in our garage at home, instead of being stored miles away, which was a PITA.

 

[ozziedog]

We had a ride out to Goathland village of Heartbeat & Hogwarts fame, in the North Yorks Moors on Saturday. It was unusually quiet with the weather not as nice as promised but better for keeping the dog cool. Lovely open moorland & quite smooth country lanes to drive along.

We used to visit here loads back when our '63 beetle was our daily driver 25+yrs ago. The climbs were a bit slower this time around. I messed up 3rd>2nd gear on the Birk Brow climb which is a steep sharp winding dual carriageway up onto the Moors northern edge, so had to stop & pull away in 1st, then 2nd appeared without a problem.

I've got to crack on with that linkage. I keep putting off 'til winter as i now mostly have the knack of finding 2nd, but sometimes it beats me.

"EarlyBay" sticker now in the window, & roofrack removed, so i can get this (squeezed) in our garage at home, instead of being stored miles away, which was a PITA.

View attachment 9358View attachment 9359View attachment 9360

Losing the roof rack keeps the noise down a fair bit too. And funny enough, you can actually get in some car parks that were iffy with the same rack on. Bus looks clean bud, very clean.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, forty to the gallon now I spose

 

[andrewblackwell]

Losing the roof rack keeps the noise down a fair bit too. And funny enough, you can actually get in some car parks that were iffy with the same rack on. Bus looks clean bud, very clean.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,, forty to the gallon now I spose

Thanks Ozzie,
Less wind noise means i hear more other noises to worry about now though.

 

[creationblue]

We had a ride out to Goathland village of Heartbeat & Hogwarts fame, in the North Yorks Moors on Saturday. It was unusually quiet with the weather not as nice as promised but better for keeping the dog cool. Lovely open moorland & quite smooth country lanes to drive along.

We used to visit here loads back when our '63 beetle was our daily driver 25+yrs ago. The climbs were a bit slower this time around. I messed up 3rd>2nd gear on the Birk Brow climb which is a steep sharp winding dual carriageway up onto the Moors northern edge, so had to stop & pull away in 1st, then 2nd appeared without a problem.

I've got to crack on with that linkage. I keep putting off 'til winter as i now mostly have the knack of finding 2nd, but sometimes it beats me.

"EarlyBay" sticker now in the window, & roofrack removed, so i can get this (squeezed) in our garage at home, instead of being stored miles away, which was a PITA.

View attachment 9358View attachment 9359View attachment 9360

Bus looks great! I had a late bay that I couldn't find 2nd from 3rd, that sinking feeling when approaching a mid speed steep hill with traffic behind you lol......

Love the dash btw

 

[andrewblackwell]

Thanks for that. I'm getting good at planning the 3>2 on slowing down, you can kind of feel it drop in, but the couple times i messed up have been going up steep climbs as far as i can in 3rd, then trying to do a quick shift down & not lose speed, whether its to do with the actual gearbox speed affecting the selection or just that i crumble under pressure, i'm not sure.

The dash is marmite.
It has grown on me since i swapped out the cheapo ebay gauges it had fitted for some ISP West Vintage series ones to suit the early bay speedo better, & a WW tab lighter instead of a modern illuminated one that was in it.
Not my first choice for a dashboard but the builder has executed it very well, especially how he's mounted the speedo into it, & the indicator arrow tell-tales above, so fair play to him for great workmanship. Its a brand new brazilian one he's used i reckon. Glovebox is deleted too which is a miss, so i use one of the camping drawers for all my junk instead.

Long term i'd like to sort out a good 1970 correct one. I'd then relocate the gauges into a Fastfab radio slot 3 gauge plate. FF reckon they're planning some for Bay dashboards at some point. I could live without the stereo, i can either never hear it anyhow, or my passengers hate my music choices so i leave it off

 

[creationblue]

If you haven't already, check the coupler that connects the gear rod to the gearbox for damage and/or worn rubber bushes. Once that is in good shape you can adjust the plate under the gear stick and you will get 2nd every time

 

[andrewblackwell]

If you haven't already, check the coupler that connects the gear rod to the gearbox for damage and/or worn rubber bushes. Once that is in good shape you can adjust the plate under the gear stick and you will get 2nd every time

Yeah, i took a look at that coupler a few months back with someone in the cab moving the stick. Surprisingly the coupler felt good, but i have a couple others on spare (a good used OG VW cage but with new heavy duty rubbers i'll probably use & a brand new Schofields one which actually has sloppier rubbers, so may be a backward step)
I know my front bush has loads of wear as i removed the undertray & could rattle the front linkage about the spigot. Got the Delrin bush to go in here, hoping it fits mine as intended unlike some had experienced.

Each time i plan to get on this another more pressing task pops up. Last week the idle went poor, & found both DRLA36 manifolds had worked loose from the heads, one severely. Nightmare to reach the far side nuts, took me hours with a combo of tools working blind. PO had only put nyloc nuts on these, no plain washers or spring washers. Temp on cylinder heads would reach well above that advised for Nylocs.

 

[fatgaz]

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,and that’s what it’s all about i

day trip to Waterton Park, first road trip in the Westy, cooked lunch, stopped for ice cream. The EJ2.5 did well in the foothills. lots of waves when we were in the park

I lived in Canada for a while love the climb and view from The Bears Hump

 

[fatgaz]

My last trip to The Hope Valley in my 71 Westy