Author Topic: How are the Bay projects coming along? (Read 10217 times)

Trevor P · « **Reply #60 on:** April 30, 2014, 12:01:47 PM »

Sure is! It's going to be donated to the scrap pile shortly.

Thankfully it also came with the correct one.

bwaz · « **Reply #61 on:** April 30, 2014, 01:18:57 PM »

Looks super solid Trevor! Nice.

WESTY69 · « **Reply #62 on:** April 30, 2014, 03:24:45 PM »

Fantastic looking bay , great patina starting , u gunna slam it or keep it stock ?

Trevor P · « **Reply #63 on:** April 30, 2014, 06:32:20 PM »

It's going to get some wheels and a lowering job. Maybe a bigger mill put in next winter. It's finally nice to have one that doesn't need 800 hours of metal work! Lol

kinggeorge13 · « **Reply #64 on:** May 04, 2014, 05:59:02 AM »

A quick update on the gas-spilling, non-starting white 1978 bus. Two days after my last post I once again watered down the driveway to lower the chance of sparks and got back under there with a handful of paper towels and my new gas filter and my larger hose clamp. I'm sad to report I ended up using a regular stainless steel hose clamp from the plumbing section at Canadian Tire. After looking at the fuel line clamps at Canadian Tire, Lordco and CIP1 (online), there seemed to be no local place to buy the large size fuel line clamps that one section of hose requires (3/4" by my measuring). I believe there are a few US suppliers who carry a larger size of proper fuel line clamps and I'll order a couple over the next while but for now, the regular hose clamp had to do.

So now, my corroded grounds were fixed, the connections on the starter solenoid were fixed, my badly split fuel filter was replaced and I still had around a 1/2 gallon of gas in the tank so time to try her again! Cranked it over 3x at 6 seconds each and while once again, mostly no signs of ignition, there was one little cough 1/2 way through the 3rd cranking but then nothing. With not a ton of logic, I wondered if another blast of quick-start into the air box would do anything. Popped off the clips, gave a healthy blast (3 seconds) into there, clipped it back together and back to the driver's seat. Turned it over and 3 seconds later it once again roared to life on the powerful effect of of the quickstart but this time it kept going. Within a few more seconds it settled down to that wonder VW engine sound of a happy, idling engine.

I did not even bother texting any information my daughters, I took a 20 second video of the engine going and sent it to them via text-messaging without any other explanation: they would know exactly what happened. Happy days!!!

Next sunny day (i.e. raining here since Friday.....), I'll get out my timing strobe and tach and do a quick timing check and adjust the distributor as necessary. Even though it's running, it sounds a little fast and I have to wonder how accurate the timing was done by the PO and his friend when they could not get the bus to start at all.

So while the rain is falling, I've turned my attention to the inside of the bus and am removing the home-made cabinet that the PO put in. While quaint a kinda rustic, it does not look VW bus to me so out it comes and I'm putting in a rescued VW cupboard/sink/fridge to give it the proper look. The upper bunk is too short as well since it appears to be missing the flip over section so while a smaller child could easily sleep up there, an adult would have to be in near full-fetal position. So that's all indoor work while the rain is falling. The other next sunny day thing is to cut out all the rusted rot that used to be the rocker panel under the sliding door and weld in a new one from CIP1. I started simply breaking off the really nasty pieces on Friday and found an older rust repair someone did by filling the void with crumpled tin foil and then body-filler over it. The good news is that the track amazingly is firm and hole-free. I still have to replace that entire track on my daughters orange 1975 bus and I'm not looking forward to that at all.

Good times!

-George

WESTY69 · « **Reply #65 on:** May 04, 2014, 08:01:43 AM »

Sweet !!!! You got it to run , check off item #376 on the too do list and ur off onto the next

good times for sure !!! Go Habs Go

kinggeorge13 · « **Reply #66 on:** May 12, 2014, 09:21:03 AM »

Here's an obvious question but I figured I'd ask anyway. If a mid-seventies bus has several fuel lines that are cloth-covered, is that pretty much a given that they are original? The ones I've seen replaced are pure black rubber (or whatever compound) but my 1975 orange bus has a lot of cloth-covered that I thought looked in pretty decent shape but as my daughter pulled out this am to school, I saw the little clear fuel spill where I usually see oil drippings. I phone her, she stops just down the road, I run over and look underneath and sure enough there is a cloth-covered fuel line from the output of her fuel pump to the metal fuel line going through the firewall into her engine and that cloth covered fuel line is dripping with gas. I'm going to replace it at lunch time (it's not moving and back on my driveway till then). So now I'm thinking that while it looks like the fuel lines around the engine are all newer and black-rubber, some of the ones under the bus are cloth-covered and very possibly plenty old. So I'll be replacing all those, I imagine.

-George

BUSDADDY · « **Reply #67 on:** May 12, 2014, 09:54:01 AM »

If you are unsure about the age of any fuel line or know any line is more than 2 years old replace all of them with J30R9 or higher rated fuel hose, bus fires happen too often and can be prevented with $30 of good FI rated barrier hose and a handfull of real FI style clamps (don't use the worm type). 5/16" fits everything except the short one between the filter and pump.

WESTY69 · « **Reply #68 on:** May 12, 2014, 09:25:07 PM »

Great info Busdaddy and good catch George , I'm going to replace all mine so this is good info !!

BUSDADDY · « **Reply #69 on:** May 12, 2014, 10:14:30 PM »

Quote from: WESTY69 on May 12, 2014, 09:25:07 PM

..........I'm going to replace all mine so this is good info !!

Just to prevent you buying the wrong stuff the 5/16" only fits 75+ FI buses, the closest SAE line for an early carbed bus is 1/4" and you'll have to squish it down a little with the clamp to make it hold the nipples well. The line of choice used to be braided German line but it can't stand up to the ethanol in our local fuels now, barrier hose seems to be the only option as the braided stuff sometimes starts leaking in a few months or less, FI or not.

WESTY69 · « **Reply #70 on:** May 12, 2014, 10:29:57 PM »

Definitely the 1/4 inch lines , I've noticed using the high ethànol had eaten away a new line in one of my 61 bugs and a 69 bus , now I run only 89 and not the 94 and I've had no more issues . Thanxs for the info , nobody wants to loose their Veedub to a cheap gas line causing a fire !!

pittwagen · « **Reply #71 on:** June 21, 2014, 03:24:30 PM »

Just an update for my 79 camper conversion. I finally constructed and added the rear headbanger cabinet. I gave up trying to find one although there have been opportunities. Now all the P21 Helsinki cabinet pieces are in place. Just a few small items/additions to complete.

For those of you that don't know, this model was never sold in North America as far as I know. The later P21's were all Berlin versions. For 79 I believe all the Westfalias were all pop tops, at least over here. This is one of the very last Bays to come from Hannover and is probably the newest one still running and driving on a daily basis at least here in Canada.

It was originally a 7 passenger but I wanted to replicate a 74 P21 that we had bought new in 74. This one spent most of its life in California and was virtually rust free when I liberated it from the Island a little over 4 years ago. The journey continues!

kinggeorge13 · « **Reply #72 on:** July 09, 2014, 10:57:32 PM »

Pittwagen, that is simply a freaking awesome cabinet you built. I just made some cabinets in a '78 bus that came pretty much gutted to me and I would not dare to even show them now that I've seen yours. My mom liked them though: she's always proud of my accomplishments even if it looks like a 12 year old made them with a plastic saw and some school glue. OH well.....

pittwagen · « **Reply #73 on:** July 10, 2014, 07:54:41 AM »

Thanks for the kind words. It's taken a few years (like over 40) to get the skills built up. I've built/renovated a few camper van interiors over the years. Had some help gathering the parts too courtesy of steveo_32. Door is from a hacked up Berlin seat bottom and the front face is from a Helsinki seat bottom from which I was somehow able to find a good undamaged portion. Rest of it was baltic birch that came from Windsor Plywood. By the way you can find a laminate that is close to the original and along with the birch you can replicate pretty much any 74-79 cabinet.

bwaz · « **Reply #74 on:** July 10, 2014, 08:01:59 AM »

Ah... now I know the secret, bring cabinets to Pittwagen!

Nice work, I think you should be making fine cabinets...

pittwagen · « **Reply #75 on:** July 10, 2014, 08:22:04 AM »

Ha ha. The real secret is finding the original cabinet faces that are decent. Minor imperfections can be repaired and the interior pieces that are damaged can be replaced with new material that is of a fairly good quality.

kinggeorge13 · « **Reply #76 on:** July 11, 2014, 08:52:46 AM »

My mom's quote yesterday (she's in her 80's, I'm in my 50's) when looking at my built from scratch cabinet: "Maybe another layer of varnish will help...."

bwaz · « **Reply #77 on:** July 11, 2014, 09:48:43 AM »

I read this on the samba, a place in the UK that sells the laminate material pre-cut to size. Not cheap, but if you're looking for that perfect restoration... they also have some other cool goodies.

http://nlavw.com/

kinggeorge13 · « **Reply #78 on:** August 19, 2014, 01:31:42 PM »

Ok, so not exactly a Bus-specific item, but driven by necessity to do further bus repairs. The problem with living in a 1928 house with a mariad of wiring upgrades and three separate power panels put in by three different previous house-owners is my one little 15amp outlet on the outside of house trips every few minutes when running my compressor and I just know that trying to run my MIG 140 welder off it will be a unfulfilled dream.

So yesterday I finally went and bought 10' of 10gauge, 2-wire (plus ground) home wiring, a 30amp breaker (stab-lok) and a heavy-current outlet and weather-proof box. It's always fun doing this stuff in an old house, you just never know what you'll find (once I found a window inside a wall during renovations that originally would have been to the outside world). So instead of 5 minutes cutting a 3' x 4" strip of simple wallboard out below my breaker box to run my new wire, I found there was a 5/8" layer of plywood under the drywall (up against the wall studs). That added to the cutting time significantly. Then, measuring 3x to make sure I knew where my inside access point should be compared to where it would be on the outside wall, I drilled from the outside.........missing by an amazing 5" and hitting right in the middle of a stud. Seriously? Where is that luck when I play Lotto 649?

And? Have I learned from previous adventures to turn off the power to the panel when running those three wires to their nice new breaker (well one wire to the breaker and two wires to the neutral bus and ground bus, but you know what I mean)? Yep, one little slip and running that bare ground wire oh-so-slightly up against one of the main hot wires coming out of the breaker for the stove/oven and it's quite the little party of sparks! (Don't bother admonishing me, it's far to late for that).

But at the end of the day, almost exactly 3x the time allowance I planned for and I have my new 30-amp dedicated outlet to start my new hobby of trying to learn how to weld, starting with my currently missing right hand side rocker panel on my '78 bus (after I weld in a long piece of 3/4 x 3/4 square tubing to attach my new CIP1-supplied rocker panel piece to) (Again, don't bother admonishing me for using tubing instead of the proper body parts, it's probably too late for that too). Learning as I go.....

-George

bwaz · « **Reply #79 on:** October 05, 2014, 10:58:06 AM »

Ready to go back in! Thanks Steveo (and Lordco) for the ball joint work

bwaz · « **Reply #80 on:** October 14, 2014, 08:43:35 PM »

As good as this part will be.

pittwagen · « **Reply #81 on:** October 14, 2014, 09:43:58 PM »

Well after a summer of house repairs I am finally getting around to some maintenance/repair items on the bus. Thought it would be nice to have a functioning gas gauge. After 2 new and faulty sending units and an equal number of new but garbage vibrators, it looks like the post it notes on the speedo will be around for a while. Now on to the heater cables. Left one is in and appears to be too long but I won't rush to judgement until the right one is in place.

StrictlyAaron · « **Reply #82 on:** October 17, 2014, 01:53:02 PM »

Loving the inspiration. I have a 71 Westy that I will get around to shortly. Ill post some pics and make a post about my progress soon

coreys59 · « **Reply #83 on:** November 27, 2014, 09:36:40 PM »

Starting my 70 soon.

BUSDADDY · « **Reply #84 on:** November 27, 2014, 09:50:05 PM »

Quote from: coreys59 on November 27, 2014, 09:36:40 PM

Starting my 70 soon.

Always a treat to welcome a new member from Australia

coreys59 · « **Reply #85 on:** November 27, 2014, 10:33:07 PM »

Haha! Why is my photo upside down?

And I'm from Langley BC

Geoff · « **Reply #86 on:** October 25, 2015, 09:20:21 AM »

Fall is well upon us again... That means project time. Who will have their Bus ready for spring and what are you doing to it this winter?

72vwtype2 · « **Reply #87 on:** November 08, 2015, 12:42:21 PM »

Planning on getting my 72 bus back on the road by next spring. It's been slow and painful. Every time I fix one thing something else breaks

slammedbus · « **Reply #88 on:** November 28, 2015, 08:14:14 AM »

Nothing this year. Frame is rot around the axle tubes and I have no time to repair.

Geoff · « **Reply #89 on:** January 03, 2016, 10:04:04 AM »

Time to get those Bay's finished up for Spring! There's a local VW Spring camp out in the works, more details to follow.