mmmm tasty

The van has been humming along just fine until the other day during the big move to New Tampa. I loaded her down with the computers and clothes and took off. Never had a quieter trip, I guess all the extra padding really dampened the noise. Well about 40 miles in the shifter started going all wonky spinning around when I was in 4th gear. It got a bit hairy there for a bit but I made it to Starbucks. That's when I realized she was running really hot. Turns out I chewed up a fan belt big time. There was only a few shreds left.

Got a call into Joe to get the low down on the size I need and what if any other damage I may have done when I nursed her home. I waited for the engine to cool down completely, got her cranked upon which she blew a bit of black smoke and then drove around 30 mph the 4 miles to the garage.

Didn't hear any pinging or anything so I don't think anything got cooked too bad. I guess we'll see.

Under Pressure

Took the bus back in yesterday to Classic Camber so Joe could tighten everything down and look into the whine when the clutch pedal was fully depressed. Turned out that the pressure plate on the clutch was out of wack. He pulled the engine, replace the 200 mm plate and tightened everything down. He also spotted that I was running with an incorrect and consequently fairly loose alternator belt. He swapped it and shimmed up the alternator. No labor charges at all. Those guys at Classic Camber know their crap and are good guys to boot.

Wow what a difference. The shifting pattern is much more open. It's a breeze now. The clutch also engages in a much shorter range with the pedal almost all the way out. All and all it's much easier and smoother drive. Much more relaxing. A joy. Amazing ride really considering the bus is older than I am.

We just got a contract on the house and we're going to be moving in a few weeks. Don't even have a place yet. So probably not going to be doing much in the way of upgrades for a bit. But a lot of driving.

Number of the Beast

Picked up the bus Monday and have been a drivin' fool ever since. Been down to Sarasota twice, Ybor, all over town. We've put nearly 300 miles on since Monday. Running like a champ although I'm still having a bit of trouble finding first, lol.

I'm taking her in Wednesday for Joe to lock everything down. There's a bit of an oil leak and the brake pedal is starting to soften up. He told me to expect these things to happen since we replaced so many parts and systems. It's a normal part of the break in period.

A bit troubling is whining sound when the clutch is all the way in. Joe thinks it's the throwout bearing. So he may have to pull the engine and re-seat it. Depending. It may go away as it wears in over the next couple of days.

All and all though. She stops strong and I can keep up in traffic. Even so I'll probably go for dual carbs and the disc brakes at some point. Every little bit helps out there on the road with the SUVs.



I checked out the M Plate codes on Samba and everything seems to synch up fairly well there as far as I can tell.

VIN 256 008 739 - Build Date August 1965

M Plate
10 8

425 002 081 091 114
UB 2512 424271 6008409

November 8
425 - North American Export Package. Seatbelts and mounting points.
002 - USA Sealed beam headlights
081 - Split front seats (walk through)
091 - Whitewall tires
114 - 6 pop out side windows

UB - Export Destination - USA, Boston, Baltimore (changed to Columbus)
251 - Microbus Deluxe - Cargo doors right, left hand drive, short middle seat
2 - Paint finish - Nitro-lacquer finish
42 - Lotus White lower paint
42 - Lotus White lower paint
71 - Aero Baltic / Sienna Beige Interior

6 - Built 1966
008409 - Chassis Number?


Vin / Engine Compartment Number
256 008 739?

25 - Microbus Deluxe
6 - Built 1966


Now off to plan the stereo....

Get back in the bus...

I got the call from Glen yesterday and after nearly 3 months in the shop the blue boy should be good to go by this weekend. Everything went according to plan and fairly smooth. Only thing we hadn't planned on was replacing the starter and it got knocked around a bit due to the old tranny or possibly when the bus was converted to 12v. In any case I can't wait to finally start driving her around.

Checked into some cosmetic stuff a bit but I'm going to hold off for now as there are only a few paint blemishes. I'll probably just design the exterior logo / decoration we're planning to cover those spots for now.

Next step tunage... I checked with Joe and the alternator is a 55 volt Bosh which from what I read on Samba should drive up to a 350 watt amp. I think I'm going to try to go for a hidden system and also install an 12 volt "accessory" adapter for my Garmin GPS / inverter to charge the laptop and iPod.

The plan is to leave the stock head and mount a fairly inexpensive head unit under the postal tray with am/fm/xm/cd and aux input for the iPod. Figuring out some way to mount and dress the iPod, XM Antenna and GPS up nice. I'll either split the stock antenna input to the second head or maybe the xm antenna will pull double duty I'm not sure. The safari's do leak so water will be a minor issue to keep in mind.

The amp and capacitor, if necessary, direct attach to the battery so I'm thinking about a small box under the back seats for the sub and amp, and hang a pair of mids and highs under the front seats. That way none of the door panels have to get cut.

The Dammage

Well after the complete inspection by Classic Camber here's the mechanical list....

Engine
Valve Adjustment
Oil & Filter Change

Fuel System
Remove Tank, Evaluate for Rust. Install New Inner Bladder
Install Fuel Sender Unit (Yea, gas gauge will work)

Exhaust
New Tail Pipe

Clutch
Adjust Clutch
Replace Clutch Cable
Replace and Adjust Shifter Rod Bushings

Transmission
Remove Engine and Transmission
Replace Transmission with Rancho

Suspension
Adjust King and Link Pins
Install Rear Sway Bar
Front End Alignment

Brakes
Install Dual Circuit Master Cylinder
Upgrade Brake Lines to Braided Stainless Steel
Complete Restoration on Drum Brakes

Misc
Correct Drivers Door Strike Plate & Lock
Replace Passenger Safari Latch
Install Proper Middle Seat Hardware
Fix License Plate, Speedo Dimmer Light
Ground Passenger Headlight. Align head lights
Fix front dome lights

Just under 6 grand for the works.
Will still need some cosmetic work as well.
Should be back in the driveway by June.

Update

Met with Joe the mechanic over at Classic Camber today. Cool dude. He drives a 67 smaba. Good news is up on the rack the bus looks really solid. Nothing "scary" at all.

It's a big nut stock tranny, with standard gearing and the reduction boxes are in good shape. She does have a front sway bar and the shocks are KYBs.

Here's the revised list:

The link pins need some adjusting to tighten up the steering.
Drum brakes all around and they are in need of a rebuild/restore.
Replace the master cylinder with a dual unit.
Upgrade the brake lines to braided steel.
Possibly upgrade the fronts to disk but may not be necessary even with a full load.
Replace the frayed clutch cable

Tranny
Hard to tell without driving her. Fix the brakes and then do further diagnosis.
The mounts are pretty shot and Joe thinks its still leaking.
Maybe nothing, but then again it may need replacing with a Rancho or rebuilt again right.
If the tranny needs pulling then fix the mounts and install the fuel sending unit

Engine
Sweet shape. Ready for adjustment after the break in.

Exhaust
Needs a pretty pipe end. Mounting Brackets need tightening.

Misc
Driver Door Alignment / Closing & Locking
Headlight Alignment
Safari Clip - Passenger Left Inner. Nuts & Bolts


Not importante at the moment
The driver's side rocker spear trim is too high
Front and Back Roof Racks (vintage)
Chrome Passenger Step
Jack Point Mounted Chrome Plugs w/ Hub Cap Removal Tool
Back Seat Luggage Rack / Jail Bar
Middle Seat - Hold Down Brackets
Trailer Hitch

Paint Repair, Buff & Clear Coated

The Restoration

The previous owner of the van burned me a bunch of pics that he had taken at various stages of the restoration process. Unfortunately many of his pics were lost to a computer crash.

The history of the bus as I can gather is that the bus was owned by Carrie A. Golen and registered at 1 Old Ashby Road in Manchester, NH. I'm guessing they did the body restoration work in 2003 - 2004.

Paul Sofranac, the fellow I bought the van from purchased the body via Ebay for $5,500, transfered the title in Concord, NH on 9/10/2004 and transported the shell down to the Florida Keys at that time.

Here's a few pics....

Neeekid 2003 - 2004


Navy Blue 2004


Ready To Go

Look Ma No Brakes...

Well I decided to take a little spin this morning in the new bus. The local air cooled club, S.P.A.C.E, was holding a VW exhibition over at a baby boomer collectibles swap meet.



Long story short the brakes gave out just as we were about to hit 275 South. Fortunately it was Sunday morning so traffic was pretty light. I called Mom and Dad on the cell.... Hey wanna have breakfast?

We nursed the van over to Classic Camber and parked her. I was planning to take it over Monday anyway so it's all to the good.

Mom and Dad to the rescue. We went over to the swap meet and met the S.P.A.C.E. dudes. Saw some sweet Vee Dubs and met some cool folks, Sven and Jeni in particular.

So here's my to do list and stuff for Classic Camber....

Brakes, Front Right Leaking Brake Fluid, No Pedal.
Clutch Cable - Frayed and Rusted. Replace.
Shifting into First Grinding Sound
Transmission issues. On the road plug replacement Ok?
Engine 500 Mile Adjustment. Remove Heads, Tighten up. Adjust Valves
Install Fuel Level Sending Unit for Fuel Gage
Muffler - Mounting Bracket / Tail Pipe
Driver Door Alignment / Closing & Locking
Headlight Alignment
Safari Clip - Passenger Left Inner. Nuts & Bolts
The driver's side rocker spear trim is too high
Front and Back Roof Racks (vintage)
Chrome Passenger Step
Jack Point Mounted Chrome Plugs w/ Hub Cap Removal Tool

Back Seat Luggage Rack / Jail Bar - Like this one...



Condition of bus in general. Anything not on list?

Source for Middle Seat - Hold Down Brackets
Paint Shop Referral - Repair, Buffed & Clear Coated

What would it take to significantly improve braking, shifting and acceleration and keep her rock steady at speeds up to 65?

KYB Gas-A-Just Shocks, Anti-Sway bars?
Should I stick with Stock or go custom?

ZOMG Hi2U VW Bus...

The requirements we're well defined... a solid split window in drivable condition on the East coast, preferably Florida. After about three years of scouring Samba.com, the de facto site for VW freaks such as myself, I finally found the bus I'd been looking for...



She's a '66 21 Window Samba. Paul, the most excellent dude we bought her from down in the Keys tells us that the body was restored by a Navy welder up in New Hampshire. Evidently he lost her in a custody battle with his wife. The shell ended up on Ebay where Paul picked it up. He towed it down and performed the restoration work. It's the cleanest bus I've seen. No significant body rust.

We bought her on March 1st and drove her down to Key West where we spent the night celebrating. The next morning we headed back to the main land and made it the 150'ish miles on US 1 back to Miami without incident.

When we stopped for gas I checked for drips and noticed a few small puddles. Since a new dual port 1600cc engine has just been installed before we picked her up I didn't get too excited. About 30 miles down the road I noticed the engine sound changed and pulled her off in Doral.

A quick look under revealed a significant amount fluid around the transmission. We made some calls... "puedo pedir prestado por favor el amarillo pages" and fortunately found a VW specialist, Ken's VW repair, not too far away.

We headed back South 15 miles or so taking it really easy and located Ken's place without any trouble. They took great care of us locating a tear in one of the axle boots and also figured out that the transmission plugs hadn't been replaced when it was rebuilt. By some crazy luck they happened upon an old tranny they had laying around and hooked us up.

Ken also noticed some issues with the shifting and clutch cable. The cable is frayed and a bit rusty and it's a bit dicey getting her into first.

Well off we went on our way. She made it back all the way to our house in Florida without a bit of trouble. 275 miles 4-5 hours on the road. Thought we might have trouble getting over the Skyway bridge but it was smooth sailing.