Adrian's Bus - Post 5

Last night I had a chance to rebuild the hubs with new races, bearings, grease, etc... They are all installed on the bus now, waiting for new rotors and calipers. The pictures below really need no captions. Scroll to the bottom for today's update though.

Today was the start of problems... I cracked the connections at the rear brake cylinder and master cylinder and was met with crumbling brake lines... Adrian will have to pony up for new steel lines all the way around. I also took the master cylinder out and started swapping the reservoir / switches to the new one. I had a small issue with the stud on the brake booster, but I think I can get around this with some creativity. Finally, I found out the heat piping is totally shot underneath and will need replacement... Fun fun.

Adrian's Bus - Post 4

The work continues... See the captions below:
Passenger side caliper on the right in good shape. Drivers side on the left, pads melted off and in very rough shape. Dropped these off at German Supply today. Rebuilt units will be ready next week.
A normal looking old rotor, from the passenger side.
The drivers side looks worn, but what's that line in the middle of the friction surface?
The outer ring was jammed in the caliper. The inner was free to rotate. This is absolutely unbelieveable.

The fire melted the ball joint boot slightly here. These are due for replacement at some point - perhaps the certifying mechanic can look into this.
Looks like the rear brake hard line will need to be replaced too. It was damp and easily broke.
This will soon be replaced (shoes and cylinder).
The healthy looking passenger side front hub.

The unhealthy looking drivers side. It did not turn smoothly, and the grease on the outside was blackened and dry.
The seal was melted away.
Once I started cleaning, the passenger hub was normal - the grease from it is on the right here. The burnt grease from the drivers hub is on the left. I wish the camera could capture the smell of this grease! I scrubbed and scrubbed my hands and I can still smell them just typing this!
Here are the cleaned hubs, with races removed. Next up? Buy some grease and get these babies installed again.

Adrian's Bus - Post 3

As I am currently waiting for parts, there has been little rush to complete some of the first tasks. I've been able to take my time on them. I've almost completed the first block of work. Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a few minutes to change out the plugs and wires and install the engine seal, then all that will be left is the oil change and final tuning of the carb prior to the next block of work. There are some captions below each picture... I annealed the copper rings per www.ratwell.com by heating them cherry-red with a propane torch and allowing them to cool. This softens the copper and allows a proper seal between the heater box and head.
The electric fan and heat risers from heater boxes to the fan were missing. After an email discussion with Adrian we decided to eliminate this, as all it does is provide heat at idle, and not much!! I welded sheet metal caps in place on the heater boxes to ensure a long-lasting seal. However, if circumstances change, a quick grinding can return them to like-new condition.
Here's the other side.
As you can see I have the heater boxes and muffler installed now. It sounds great!!
There is still one stud missing on this heater box. I need to source a 9mm x 8mm step stud from German Supply when I pick up the next parts.

I also replaced all the fuel lines and installed a filter in the system.
I sourced and installed a Canadian Tire battery so Adrian can use the warranty (if needed) anywhere across Canada.
Here's a shot of the fancy new coil and distributor cap.

Hopefully I'll get more parts this week and get back at it on the weekend... I should have most of the weekend to work so I can get the braking system up to snuff.

Adrian's Bus - It's Alive! Post 2

I had an opportunity to work on Adrian's bus tonight for a little while. I drained the remaining disgusting varnish-like gas from the tank and cleaned the outlet. I removed the remainder of the fuel lines, with the intent to replace everything this weekend.

I got the urge to get it running about then.. I put a temporary gas can in the engine bay and put in one of my batteries. After fixing some electrical glitches I got it to turn over, but there was very little in the spark department. I played with the points a little and checked the coil, but got limited results. Then I remembered I'm tuning it up anyway, so I replaced the points, cap, rotor, coil, and condensor. The wires and plugs can wait 'till later.

Once that was replaced, with a little persuasion she fired right up!! Check out the video:

I won't get back at it until Sunday, but I have big plans: new battery, new fuel lines & filter(s), new plugs, new wires, and remove and replace exhaust...

I noticed the vacuum advance is not connected, nor is there any easy ported vacuum source. I will need to rectify this to eliminate most of the dreaded flat spot. I also noticed there are a lot of wiring gremlins. I will have to tackle this with an open mind and some good daylight.

Once I've worked most things out I'll try a covert test run and see what adjustments or rebuilding will need to be done to the carb.

For now, I'm happy and excited, and you should be too!

Adrian's Bus - Intro and Post #1

I've recently started taking on outside VW work in my spare time, while I'm between my own projects. I've worked on a few peoples bugs recently but have also met a gentleman named Adrian through the BugPack group. Adrian has a '72 Bus that's been sitting for some time. He needs me to get it running and safe for a cross-country trip... Since he is currently cross-country in BC, I will be posting here as often as possible so he can follow the progress.

So far the experience hasn't been good for Adrian. I found a tow company that gave us a great rate on towing the bus from Brantford here to Oshawa. Unfortunately the word came back that a tire caught fire on the way here, and the whole delivery was delayed by a week. It's a fishy story, since tires don't typically catch on fire. So, it waited in Brantford to be flat-bedded to my home.

It just showed up at 10pm, 1 hour ago. It's dark and raining, so I haven't done a full inspection, that will follow. For now it's clear the driver's front tire is flat and the tire is totally mangled. In order to move it in my driveway I pumped up the spare and installed it. As I was doing so it appears I came across the cause of the fire and tire damage...

The outer part of the rotor is fused right into the caliper.. What's more remarkable is the inner part has broken free from the outer - see the clear line half way along the surface of the rotor? This allows the wheel to spin somewhat freely now. It's not clear whether it was like this ahead of time or it was slightly jammed. The friction would have turned it red hot for it to break like that - enough for the grease in the hub to catch fire. The tow driver actually confirmed it appeared to be coming from the hub, not the tire.

I feel the tow driver has no fault in this. There was no way for him to know this was going to happen.

So one thing's for sure.. This bus will need a new tire, new rotors and pads, and most likely brake calipers. I will need to do a full inspection on the brake system to come up with a list.

I stayed home tonight to receive the bus. Tomorrow is a VW camping event. I should get a chance to look into this further on Monday so we can get the parts on order.

Fixing an Oil Leak? No, Replacing the Bus Engine!!!

Despite recent inactivity on this blog, there has been lots of activity in the garage. The Speedster broke a transmission mount at the June Jitter Bug. It was patched by John's Bug Shop and permanently repaired by me a few weeks ago. That meant pulling the engine again, new mounts, transmission straps, etc.

The bus had been running better than ever, but I was really working the engine hard to get it up hills, revving higher than I would have liked. Possibly as a consequence of this, the engine developed an oil leak at the engine-to-transmission seam, meaning the flywheel seal (aka rear main seal, even though it's on the FRONT of the engine) was the likely culprit. I ordered a new flywheel reseal kit from German Supply, as well as a crank seal and o-ring for the fan end of the engine.

This was the first time I've had a bus engine out. It wasn't too bad, but there were some big surprises along the way, so please read on:
Despite being my first bus-engine pull, it did come out fairly easily. The first surprise was the foam engine seal was shot. There goes another $50. These pics were taken after a lengthy pressure-washing of the engine and engine bay..

The tin was mostly solid, but wet with oil, rusty, and covered in overspray.
Here was the biggest surprise... My "2L" engine is a 1700!!! It is possible this CB case was bored out, but it has 1800 heads at best and unknown bore & stroke...

The fuel pump boss should have been a dead giveaway. Somehow I always ignored it.

This is a freshly rebuilt 2L with zero miles on it. I picked it up last year after I found metal chunks in the engine... After discovering my 1700, I decided to install this one.

So, the swap begins. I hauled the engine over where I could work on it.
I pulled my exhaust from the 1700.
I decided to use the shroud from the replacement engine too, since it had matching serial numbers. The CB engine also had a GD shroud... I pressure washed everything as an initial cleaning.

Vanessa spent an hour or so with a wire brush on the tin.

While I welded up some of the holes and rot.
Vee also prepped the tin for paint.
Though I was never a fan of painted fanshrouds, my attempts at polishing failed and I became a big fan of painting it... Two $3.99 rattle cans handled the shroud and the intake runners handily.

The rest of the tin took two more cans of gloss black. I know flat black is more "correct" but I couldn't resist.


This cheap paint looks really good!

Everything got two coats.

I put all the 1700 pieces back together and rolled it to the side of the shop for storage. For now I'll keep it as a spare.
Here the assembly process has begun.

This morning I started adding the FI components.

While the engine was out it made sense to change the input shaft seal on the tranny.

I used my hoist to lift the engine off the stand.

I dragged it over to the bus, then swapped it onto my jack.

It went in pretty easily, considering I left my tranny in place..
Once the cross bar was connected, along with the two bottom studs, I was ready to put the top bolts in.
I held the bolts from underneath while Vanessa threaded the nuts on.


Once I bolted up the exhaust I cranked the engine for oil pressure, then connected the coil and tried it. Crank, crank, BOOOOOOOOOM!!!! The timing was way off... I adjusted things, tried again, and it started right up!! I set the timing to 7.5 BTDC, slightly adjusted the idle, and went for a couple scoots around the block. It is a whole new bus!!!!

Here I am, happy, filthy, and hungry.

Sure looks different without the bumper.
I need to adjust the valves and hook up my CHT gauge before I go further than around the block.. Oh, and the bumper should go back on too!