FasterLaster.com

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.

Spent most of this weekend working on putting the head back on. Nothing seems to be working easy. Started off trying to track down my valve spring compressor and grinding compound. Well I can’t find that stuff anywhere. It might be at my father-in-law’s but who knows. At lunch friday went and got that stuff and that night went to cleaning the head and removing the valve. Note: VW heads are a huge pain to get the over-the-spring compressor on. While using a cheap version of the offset type I broke it at both welds. What a cheap piece of junk.

After returning from Advance Auto with new compressor in tow I finally get the spring off. Almost lose the keeper, but somehow I managed to see it in the tall grass. Before going to be I cleaned up the heads in the kitchen sink. This works great by the way, except I must warn those of you who do not live alone that someone else might not appreciate what a great convinent parts washer it is.

The assembly went well for the basics. Got the head back on, fiddled with the tin and engine seals. That was the easy part. I replaced all the fuel lines that I worked on (and plan on replacing the rest shortly). Fantastic! time to put the hoses back on and give it a go.

Did I mention that I didn’t mark the hoses? Bad, Bad Jason! Well after consulting anything I had I finally got what I believed was the correct connections. The Bentley manual should really have better diagrams of the routing and connection of these hoses. Well, got it all hooked and checked the compression. WhooooHooooo ~140 psi all around. Looks like that fixed the compression problem. After hooking up the coil I gave the bus it’s first start. Fired right up.

The problem is that it doesn’t want to idle worth anything. I find where to adjust the idle speed and adjust it. All this time the engine really seems hot. Now I don’t have any comparison, but it just seemed hot. I hop in and drive down the street. Drives great, not much increase in power, but definately smoother. After I get back I still worry about the heat. Pop the engine hatch to adjust the idle again and notice something. Shouldn’t that hose bibb on the intake manifold be hooked up? YES. got the correct vacuum hoses to the correct places and vroooom. Now the bus idles at a nice rpm (no I don’t know what still saving for the tach) and the exhaust temp seems to go down. All in all it is a success.

Sat was also my birthday so all the family loads up in two vehicles to go to my parents farm. The bus handled wonderfully, third gear can tackle any size hill. Now this is what I enjoy. Got a unique quote from my mom “It’s like driving a toy”. Well I’m happy and will spend the next week driving it in to work (90 mile round trip) everyday this next week.

ue to some circumstances beyond my control I didn’t get a chance to order the new exhaust valve untill today. All right, I was just lazy. But I did get it ordered so by the end of the week I expect some parts for the still un-named bus.

ell this is the weekend. Started early Saturday morning pulling off all the engine tin. Using my standard work procedure. Now, this involves taking off stuff untill what I want to come off actually does. Now since I don’t have the Bentley manual the only reference is what I can find on the list. After removing quite a lot of stuff (hoses,wires,other strange important looking stuff) it occures to me that I haven’t take one freakin’ picture up to this point. You know, those pictures you take so that you can remember how to put something back together. I go and get the camera and snap some shots for prosperity. Hopefully they will help.

I finally get all the tin off and low and behold the head moves. Get it seperated from the jugs and start to pull it. I said start, Son of a.. As it turns out I also have to remove the alternator and some extra tin.

Finally get that stuff off and the head leaves it’s prior resting place for a little while. So, there I sit, in my moment of truth to see if a burnt valve is all it is. /angels singing guiding light from above/ yes it is. Your can see the small missing pie shape off the no. 1 cyl exhaust valve here. Now that I know that that “might” be the only problem, I sit back and rest. Got cleaned up and went with the wife and kids to dinner.

After calling my wife from work she alluded that I had a package. Well being that this was my first batch of VW parts I had her open it. Well looks like the emblem made it and the book too. Wait…what color is it? Blue? Oh crap….they sent the wrong book. So I call The Bus Depot and talk with their customer service line. They were cool and promised to send the correct book. All I have to do is sent the incorrect book back. After I got home I found that the little clips that hold the emblem on are on backorder. Oh well, looks like I’m waiting on that. No matter Tomorrow I start on the head work.

ook a look tonite at the valve project. This looks to be much easier than I thought. I do believe that I will be able to pull the head w/o pulling out the engine. Unless someone writes and tells me different that is exactly what I am going to do. Hope to have pictures of that after.

Also found that one reason the heater is not the greatest is that my flapper valve is not being controlled by the controls up front. must be a bound or stretched out cable. I’ll have to check on that one, but since it is spring, I probablly won’t worry too much about it now. Thanks type2 list for answering silly questions.

Finally got a good day of weather. Drove it home with traffic and no problems. Drives soooo much better with out severe cross winds. But since I really need to look at that bad valve I will leave it parked for a little while in order to check it out.

Since my daily driver is at the office, Looks like I get an excuse to drive the bus to work. Oh, what’s that today is the windiest day this year yet? fear not I can handle it. So an 1-1/2 hours later I arive at work with white knuckles. Driving this bus is very interesting. But I still love it, I have to since when this thing is solid on the road I have to sell my waggon.

Today also sees me buying the service manual and the vw emblem. Now to do some real damage later. Had to leave the bus at work in order to go get my the waggon which was left overnite at Wal-Mart in Athens, AL. (special thanks to my wife for putting up with me and driving me down there).

So we begin the journey that is my ownership of a Type 2. I bought the bus from a guy named Jon from Alabama. Against my wifes wishes I set out at 5:00 after work south. An hour and a half later I pull off the road at Athens, AL to set eyes on my first bus.

First impressions are good. Really needs some TLC in the cosmetic area. Finished in a home depot blue/white combo it looks much better from far than up close. The bus has been painted with what looks like latex house paint with a brush. Like I said home depot paint job. The body has rust I would expect from a vehicle that had been in Florida. Such as around the window seals and the roof drip channels. The only signs of bad rust are on the rear hatch area.I will probablly have to spend some time working on this area. The other main problem with the body is the really bad cracked windshield. It came with a new windshield seal but I will need to buy new glass. There is a large dent in the rear passenger side but other than that the body seems straight. The last two things missing are a little plastic piece that helps the sliding door to stay on it’s track and the tale-tale VW emblem on the front of the bus. There is some silly angry god magnet in it’s place, but that will have to go, and soon.

Mechanically it is pretty sound. The #1 cylinder is bad. Jon says that a mechanic told him it was a burnt exhaust valve. The jury is still out on that, untill I can confirm it myself, but one cylinder does not fire (since I can pull the plug wire from that cyl and the motor speed changes exactly zero). This will need to be my first project. I would like to take it to 60-65 mph if I can. From what I can tell the brakes work as well as the steering and suspension.

The test drive was interesting. Not only did I have to reaquent myself with a standard trany, but a vw trany. We didn’t go very fast because of the bad cylinder but I took it up to 55mph with out any problems. It seems stable and tracks well.

After thinking real hard (and flipping a coin) I decided that I had to have this bus. So I am now the proud owner of a blue/white 1979 Type 2 Volkswagon.

The ride home was interesting. For some reason Mother Nature thought it would be funny to make April temperatures drop to around 30 degrees. So after leaving my waggon at the local Wal-Mart and getting out anything important off I cruise down the interstate back to TN. Driving this beast is like nothing else. It took a while to get comfortable with the steering, especialy with all the 18-wheelers out sending cross-winds my way.

So off I go up I-65 at 55 in 35 degree temps. The weather wouldn’t have been an issue except that there is some sort of exhaust leak into the cabin when I turn on the heater and all I wore were pants and a short sleeve shirt. So here I am freezing my butt off, driving a new vehicle with unique driving characteristics a speeds 15-20 mph slower that everything on the road. I loved it. I can’t wait to get into the bus and start sorting out things.