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As preparations began for our camping trip Monday I found that one head stud was loose. An attempt to torque it in the bus resulted in another pulled head stud. That makes 5 in this case. I’m quite frustrated and unsure of what the deal is with this case. Every case insert I have repaired has remained solid, but this is getting quite old. Next stop VW shop.

Well it looks like the Sub had popped a radiator.  I have it all ordered up, but it will cut into travel next week

Well I got it all back together again. Seems to be running very well with no leaks this time. I found that it got a bit hot earlier today, but after checking the timing it seems about 4 degrees too far advanced. It’s still a 1776 (90.5mm x 69mm), and this time I bumped the compression from a lower 7.15 to a 8.25:1. We shall see how it does with this additional power and heat, but first impression is a very responsive engine.

A few weeks ago I pulled the engine in Tigerbus to fix a few leaks. Unfortunately once I pulled the engine and went to do a pre torque on the head studs, three pulled out. I finally have the case back from repair and hope to get this guy all put back together.

Well a few days after we were left on the side of the road I got the garage cleaned out enough to take a look at the damage. Turns out it was a stripped spline in the brake drum of the passenger rear wheel. I had had issues with these drums before and needed to replace them, just didn’t ever get around to it. Searching for the correct part was an adventure however. A local VW shop had the drums in stock so we took a trip up on Saturday to get the drums. I already had shoes so all I needed were these drums. As I went to put them on the bus I realized something was wrong, they were both cast differently and it appeared to need a spacer to work. My final solution was to buy a set of used German drums from a samba member who got me setup. I then found a local brake shop that would turn the drums. After all this I got the wheels mounted and torqued. The bus is in much better shape now and rolling

I put up a review on thesamba.com. with some pictures here

Well after complaining about them for years I finally paid out the cash and got some Izzy Safaris. There are a few complaints as far as how it “fits” in the window opening, but I can say I’m very happy with the final product. I’ll post pictures later with some sort of a product review to follow hopefully.

Since we couldn’t make EB this year all of our crew has been looking
forward to Naturalbus for a while. We all loaded up in Butch my 66 Westy
w/ 2 adults, 3 kids & a lot of crap. Since Friday was Wyatt’s field day
we decided to wait till later to leave Dickson. At 12:35am we rolled
away ready for the trip. I filled up on some Waffle House coffee to keep
myself awake for the all night trip. We hopped on I-40 and proceeded to
make good time traveling at 60-65. It rained in various amounts the
entire way and it also appears I will need to do some more work to my
front windshields to keep them watertight. Anyway nothing too irritating.
At Cookeville I pulled off for gas & to look for some RainX (because my
windshield wipers suck). I checked the engine which was running very
nice and cool. I took some temps w/ the gun thingie and got about
180-190 degrees oil temp & other various readings that seemed to
indicate things were going well. But for some reason the entire engine
compartment was coated in oil. A bit worried at first, I remembered
messing w/ the air filter tubes while tinkering w/ the carb at lunch the
previous day. It appears the crankcase simply got pressurized by my
incorrect setup & blew a bit of oil out. This was magnified by the water
from all the rain.

After averting that little emergency we pushed onward. Nothing special
just rain on and off. Good thing is the interstate was quite sparse
between the weather & time of night it was. After going through
Knoxville we pushed onto I-81. Took it north for a few hours. It got to
be quite beautiful w/ the misty hills all around us as the sun came up
(not that we could see it). Some 50 miles into Virginia the bus started
acting funny. It would start to miss. I pulled over & gave it a quick
once over & found nothing. Back on the road it got progressively worse.
At first only when going downhill, then it progressed to uphill as well.
A few times the engine just quit altogether. I fiddled w/ the carb &
wiring & it kept starting up again. I couldn’t check the electrics b/c
my VOM was under 2 sleeping twins.

We managed to limp along for till about 50 miles from the Natural bus
exit. Then it just died. Fortunately there was a huge shoulder on the
side of the road & I moved very far over. I got out & there was no
spark. What the? I feared it was the coil, since I haven’t replaced my
spare coil after helping out a kind soul at HCBF last year. I kept
trying to get to the VOM to check out the power to the coil. Manually
grounding the coil & breaking the ground didn’t cause the spark to come
back. I had convinced myself I had a bumm coil. Then it hit me. I got
Steph to turn the ignition on & unhooked the idle solenoid. No click, at
all. That was the problem, no power to the coil. No wonder it didn’t
work. While investigating the cause I realized that a connection the PO
had made to lengthen the coil had come apart. Hooray! I dug out some
e-tape & spliced the wire back. The bus fired right up & off we went w/
no further problems.

We drove into the campgrounds around 1:00 that afternoon. Got registered
w/ the campground & moved to see Mark & everyone else signing people in.
Turns out we were bus #52. The Salem crew had some neat stuff for the
event. Each bus got a sign w/ the bus name, pilot name. There was also a
map which had pins stuck in it to see where people had driven from. We
checked in & asked where the “family” side was. Straight ahead we went.
It was already pretty crowded so our choices were smaller. While looking
for a spot we saw Lonnie & Karen of the TN Mech. The only other Vol
state people there. We chatted a quick bit & I was gonna pitch camp over
next to them, but couldn’t find a good way to get there. I ended up just
backing up & parking next to Chili Man Frank in his 66. We unloaded the
kids & started to pitch camp. Got everything set & the rain was almost
completely stopped. While pitching camp I setup Wyatt’s child cot. I had
just sewed the canvas together the night before last & gotten the poles
welded together for the correct length. Stryder climbed in and snap! It
fell. Oh well I’ll just put some vice-grips to hold it right? Wrong, the
rear pole had snapped at the weld. Now I remembered thinking I wasn’t
getting enough penetration while welding, but I though I had it setup
per the instructions. I should have listened the my little welder
conscience. So we went to plan B w/ everyone sleeping on the floor and
bed. I assure you, the next pole will be very solid!

After getting setup we had time to sign up for the Putt-putt challenge.
And what a challenge it was! Not only did we have to contend with
crankshafts strategically placed around holes & pistons blocking the easy
shot, we had to somehow keep 2 2.5 year old twins still. Well those that
were there can attest to that not being the case, but the kids had a
great time. Sorry to all the people that had to put up w/ 2 wild kids
running across the “fairways”. We finished up w/ only 2 of our 5 players
actually getting to play all 18 holes . I was busy chasing the kids
around, but having a great time spending more time w/ my kids than I
normally get to do. We turned in our scorecards & decided to pass on the
potluck & just cook hot dogs for the kids although we brought blond
brownies for a desert. I wanted to get a taste of Franks fantastic
chili, but didn’t get a chance. I’ll have to make a point to do that.

We stumbled into the award ceremony a bit late & got to see a few of the
prized awarded. We completely missed the vote awards, but got to see the
engine raffle. Kudos the the lady who gave back the engine for auction
so that the charity could make even more. The band started up &
sounded quite good. We didn’t stick around long since all the kids
wanted to play at camp. Jeff & Teri gave out some great kid toys for all
the kids. Our youngest boy Stryder got a red 23 window toy that he just
adored & kept playing with the rest of the trip. We finished the night
talking with people & visiting friends of old & making new ones. I took
the time to compare some of the 66 busses around with what shape mine
was in. There were also a good amount of vanagons & some eurovans there.
I camped next to a friendly couple of volks w/ a vanagon & eurovan. The
vanagon pilot was Jason, but I never caught the EVC pilots name. Since
we had a long trip home then next day we got cleaned up & all packed in
the bus.

After a good sleep (interrupted by our kids waking up crying for some
reason or another) we started to stir. We found people taking camp down
& we started to feed our selves w/ the pop-tarts we brought & started to
tear down ourselves. The screened cover went down much easier than up &
in under an hour we were all packed up. Mark came around asking what our
plans for going home were. I said we were planning on driving down &
eating pizza w/ the group. This was apparently the correct answer. Next
thing I know I’m getting to pilot his new panel bus (IIRC a 67) down to
his shop. It’s a sweet ride w/ less than 1000 miles on it when I got to
drive it. Since I was driving the panel Steph had to pilot our Butch on
the way down. She has driven the bay window before but not the bus. After
a bit of prodding she graciously agreed.

We all carabussed down HWY 11 to a small pizza joint in Roanoke. Nice
place next to a creek w/ ducks After some good pizza & last minute
visiting we were off w/ small group toward Mark’s in Salem. Got there
w/out any problems. Well there was on. Jeff led the rear of the carabus
on the way to Marks. When he got behind Steph he smelled either clutch
or brake burning. Sounded strange since I know Steph knows how to drive
& not ride the brake or clutch. I went out & noticed that the rear
passenger wheel was slightly discolored. Put my hand on the wheel. HOT!!
Boy that thing was hot. I sure wasn’t expecting that. No real problem.
Turns out she had not completely disengaged the parking brake & had run
it a few miles w/ it partially on. Didn’t look like any damage so went
to check out Marks shop.

We hung around a bit & I got to check out the famed Salem imports &
Mark’s very impressive toy collection. After picking up 2 needed parts
for Butch we were off around 3pm Salem time, with some driving tips on
how to avoid some pretty steep hills on 81. We drove on and on back
home. Steph even piloted the bus some so I could take a cat nap &
recharge. At one rest stop the bus wouldn’t start so I shorted the
solenoid on the starter & it started right up. Just west of Knoxville we
all piled out & had a nice dinner at IHOP & I sucked down some serious
coffee. Except for another gas/coffee stop we drove straight home with
no more problems at all. Got home at 1:30am & dragged ourselves to bed.

This was Butches first major drive since buying her. She performed
fantastic with no problems except for the wiring issue (now sorted) &
the hot start issue (relay not installed yet). Gas mileage was fantastic
especially w/ 5 people & loads of camping gear. I averaged 24 mpg
driving 60-65 w/ a decent headwind at some locations. The engine ran
strong & cool. Didn’t use any oil either. We can’t wait for HCBF next
month.

Finally got around to finishing the top & taking some pics of it. Complete even with the SpongeBob Square Pants curtins

Pics here

This weekend I drove to Louisville Kentucky to pick up a Sportsmobile top. I was working on getting the same type of top from Jamie Rivers in Canada but shipping was proving to be a huge problem. While on my last trip to KY I mentioned wanting a Sportsmobile top to Joe (guy I bought the interior from). Well, we drove two blocks over & I met Brent.