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Well, I went to vacuum test the vacuum advance on the beetle the day before yesterday. I tried sucking on the hose with my mouth to observe vacuum advance on the rotor, but I couldn't get enough vacuum. So, I did what any person would logically do, and grabbed my mityvac clone, and gave it a pump or two. Blew the vacuum diaphragm on my SVDA (Single-vacuum, dual-advance) distributor. Driving to work sucked, as I had no power below 2k RPM off of the line (where I understand the vacuum advance does its job). Gotta find a new vacuum can.  In other news, the eternal quest to squash oil leaks on the bus continues. Somebody commented on stupidbus that there is supposed to be a paper gasket between the inspection plate and the inside of the engine, and that may be a reason I keep getting leaks there. So, lacking a gasket in my gasket kit, I turned to Thanksgiving Dinner to solve the problem:   You served us well, Sara Lee  E: I should point out that the gasket was cut-to-fit after the fact, and that the box was the only non-waxed cardboard box I could find. Even then, I very lightly sanded/scored the printed side of the cardboard, and used a smear of aviation form-a-gasket on both sides, like paper gaskets of yore. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 01:21 on Dec 1, 2015 |
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Dec 1, 2015 01:13
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A bay window bus has very simple air controls. Three levers, two red and one blue. The blue lever controls fresh air in from the front grill, that gets directed up into a windshield defroster (which seems weird, but makes sense from an air pressure perspective) and out of the adjustable vents. The two red levers control heat: one lever controls the volume of hot air from the heat exchangers, and the other controls whether it comes out of the kickpanel vents or out of the secondary window defrosters.  Now, the speed of the air coming out of the vents is dependent on the engine speed, as it uses air from the cooling fan, attached to the rear of the crankshaft, as a source:  To solve the little problem of "literally no heat at idle," VW fit a booster fan that helps to blow through the heat exchangers at low engine speeds  This fan is activated by a switch on the heat volume lever (the rightmost red lever) that grounds out a wire when the lever is in the lowest position. Shown here (but with two switches, that later optioned buses had for...something):  The heater cables that went to my heater boxes were broken; the cable ends had rusted away. I made a clever "fix" to this by bending the remaining ends of the heater cables into a hook, and using a bit of coat hanger wire to bridge the gap to the heater box flap levers. While this worked, and I can open the heater box flaps fully, the lever itself on the dashboard never goes all the way down to the bottom of its travel, so it never activates the switch for the booster fan. So, I did exactly the opposite of what somebody on TheSamba would do, and instead of buying new heater cables for $60 apiece (x2) and spending a week routing them under a rusty bus, I bought this switch, and installed it in the dashboard between the dome light switch and the hazard light switch. In the photo below, it would be sideways where the switch is that is missing the insert:  E: found a picture of my bus itself:  The downside is it switches a ground wire, so I can't wire up the switch to light up when on. Oh well, it's still labeled. Also, if you want to have a good head scratch, google "bay window bus dashboard" and look at the switch positions. No two of them are the same. It's like they didn't give a poo poo at the factory. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Dec 2, 2015 |
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Dec 2, 2015 07:23
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Geirskogul posted:The downside is it switches a ground wire, so I can't wire up the switch to light up when on. Oh well, it's still labeled. Au contraire mon ami http://www.the12volt.com/relays/relaydiagram8.html There is a lot of crazy poo poo you can do with a 5 pin relay, god knows how many I've wired up.
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Dec 2, 2015 22:28
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I thought about doing that, and I have a box of relays already, but I went for the immediate, lazy option. Probably add a relay in later during the Motogadget swap, when I'm doing the near-total rewire.
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Dec 2, 2015 22:46
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Geirskogul posted:Now, the speed of the air coming out of the vents is dependent on the engine speed, as it uses air from the cooling fan, attached to the rear of the crankshaft, as a source: You forgot to mention the paper-thin y-pipe that always rusts out, or the heating ducts under the bus that are literally made of cardboard. I drove a '78 Champagne Edition II for a year, and it had no heat. God that was a miserable winter.
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Dec 3, 2015 05:52
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My plan is to plug up the central heat duct, as there is no plastic fixture left in the bus inside so it's just an open pipe that lets all of the hot air out six feet behind me. Then maybe sealing and wrapping the heating system with foil-backed butyl tape. Worse idea or worst idea? And I'll have you know that my cardboard tubes are foil-lined cardboard tubes, thankyouverymuch 
Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 06:12 on Dec 3, 2015 |
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Dec 3, 2015 06:01
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All this talk about how lovely the heater is, combined with my actually experiencing how lovely the heater is over the past two weeks while the beetle has been out-of-the-count, I decided to add a few things to my latest Amazon order:
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Dec 7, 2015 01:19
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Are those to make insulated socks so you don't lose toes to frostbite? 
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Dec 7, 2015 15:18
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Gonna wrap the heater tubes. While I love driving the bus, I currently get around 14-15mpg tops, so I needed to get the beetle back into commission. A new vacuum can for the distributor is around $30, and it's one of those parts that have a million variations year-to-year, so to get the beetle back on the road as quickly as possible, I just picked up a cheaper ($70 or so) EMPI distributor. I know EMPI is absolute poo poo, but hopefully it will last long enough to hold me over until I can find the correct vacuum can for my current distributor. Where did the distributor go?  There you are!   New, extremely chintzy, EMPI   Side notes for anybody that may be thinking of buying this distributor: 1: Unless you want to rotate your spark plug wires around the cap by 180 degrees, you need to take the distributor drive key off of the bottom (remove retention spring, punch out pin) and rotate it around 180. Took me awhile to figure out why I was getting bangs and gunshots and chuffs the first few start attempts. 2: The electronic box fouls on the fuel pump. I have a new Brazilian fuel pump. Luckily I run around 31 degrees of max advance, and rotating the distributor so that the electronic box is actually touching the fuel pump (on a plastic piece I could probably file down, but still) I top out in the driveway at 32 degrees of max advance. I'll have to see if I get pinging while driving to work tomorrow. If I do, I'll take a dremel to the box and fuel pump instead of the more expensive option of forever buying higher octane fuel.
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Dec 7, 2015 22:42
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I have wrapped parts of the heater tubes. Most already had wrapping, but it was falling apart or was torn in many places. How much has it fallen apart? Well, here is the Y-pipe, minus the lovely fiberglass blanket:  And here is what remains of the internal fiberglass itself:  I'm so loving itchy.
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Dec 8, 2015 01:54
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On a whim, my partner at work offered up his garage again, and because Friday is our Friday (tm), after work at 0100 we drove over to his place. Few beers, few hours of Fallout 4, and before you know it Saturday has arrived! I got to work immediately, marking up an offending piece of bus, and going at it (that's what she said) with the Harbor Freight angle grinder (that could also be what she said).    What greeted us beneath the skin of the bus was something terrible, or maybe even Something Awful. I have to note that this picture is after we vacuumed out the solid block of rust. No joke. I know steel can expand 10x when it rusts, but I'm inclined to believe that 20x or even 30x is possible, as the cavity was completely solid with it.   This is after a little work with a flap disc  I'd like to point out that this bus, or at least this piece of this bus, was originally red at one point. Then, two shades of brown, white, and then to black. Nobody painted anything over the black, because presumably once you go black, you never go back.  After some more work cutting out rusty pieces. This area is full of many welds joining many pieces of metal, but I'm lacking the appropriate sheet metal to make things whole, and it's not like there was any actual structural bonding going on down there. So, nothing lost.  Offering up the replacement panel. Unfortunately, during the past 4+ months this panel has been banging around the trunk space of the bus, it has gotten pretty dented. Not rusty, but quite bent out of shape. Fortunately, it got bent inwards from the top down, giving it a slight concavity. Concavity I can  poo poo-welding  More poo poo-welding  The Previous Owner (r) of the bus had left a few goodies inside, including a replacement outer rocker/runner panel, and an interior runner panel. Unfortunately I think he purchased the incorrect inner runner piece, as the one he left me goes on the passenger side of the bus, under the sliding door. But the outer panel fits here, and I can make do in the meantime while I scrounge up enough for a replacement piece of sheet metal for the inside. So, we went to work.  (Note: the side panel here is painted blue underneath the black paint, and has marks from past decals. Also the side panel doesn't have much rust, whereas the runner is super rusty. This bus is comprised of at least five other buses, judging by paint.)   Pulling away:   All of this is just from the runner. We cleaned up after doing the outer rocker panel.  Here's the rusty inner rail. I cut the bottom part off for future ease-of-removal, as it was completely jagged and open rusty garbage. One of those "while you're down there" jobs (that's also what she said).  My kingdom for a shielding gas! (quote stolen from earlier in the thread)  And the runner just tack-welded in. The runner panel itself has a hooked lip that hangs it off of the big side panel, and it would be spot welded to the bottom rail. But, as I showed you, the rail is non-existent, so this will do until we replace that as well.  This took maybe 4 hours total, and (if it wasn't obvious from the tool choice and weld quality shown) was my first time ever doing panel replacements. After looking at the (even if they are ugly) replacement panels installed, I could get addicted to this. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 02:01 on Dec 13, 2015 |
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Dec 13, 2015 01:46
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Might I also make it known that Adam L. graciously gave up his winter sweatshirt's life for the sake of this project. Thank you Adam L, whoever you are.
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Dec 13, 2015 04:21
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My plan is to add a big inverter/battery charger for the batteries and to supply, if needed, 120VAC (though most needed "campervan" accessories have 12v versions that are more efficient on the power system). That means I need to add a shore power port. At the same time, the bus has a bigass dent with a rusty area underneath, as shown in my previous post. Why not kill two birds with one    Waitin' for that sealant to cure so I can razor off the excess. Then I can bondo over my
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Dec 21, 2015 02:30
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Okay so the autofocus on my phone has officially taken a poo poo so you're going to have to use your *~imagination~* for these, but stick with me. Today I took the middle bench seat and the floor cover out of the bus (only four bolts lol) and swept up. I discovered a piece of bent sheet metal behind the driver's seat:  Removed it, and discovered a source of road noise. A big source.  I figure, if it was good enough for the PO just sitting there, then tack welding and seam-sealing it will be good enough for me  It got dark so the already lovely focus of my phone got progressively worse, but I finished installing the inverter/battery charger in it's final spot. Seems like weird placement, I know, but it leaves room for an eventual amplifier, and makes the best use of the available space. It will eventually be underneath the rear bed/bench seat, just barely.  While cleaning up under the floor, I also discovered a goddamned spy 
Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 06:33 on Dec 22, 2015 |
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Dec 22, 2015 06:27
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Hard to see in the pictures but that white cover over the inverter is gonna rattle like crazy without being isolated from the frame. I don't think it even fits flush. Shove some o-rings under the screws and I bet it'll be fine though.
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Dec 23, 2015 01:38
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Yeah, it's mounted on rubber pucks. The way I measured it out it will be close enough to the underside of the bed to maybe be padded on the top corner, too.
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Dec 23, 2015 01:48
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Today I got bored and decided to start sanding and bondo-ing the bus down to prepare for my ultra-secret paintjob plan, and I discovered something. But first, let's put a flap disc on the angle grinder and remove some of the rust bubbles:     Driver's-side dogleg  Holes on the driver's door for a marker light. No holes exist on the passenger door.  The passenger dogleg is completely hosed. It was rust next to bondo that was over more rust. I'm going to do the same thing, but this time I'm going to go a bit further in rust removal. Eventually it will need to be replaced with new metal.   Passenger B pillar  Time to start sanding.  Wait, pearl green paint on the decklid?  What?  żlolque?  I saw some shinyness in the paint, so I threw some water on it    I'd almost be tempted to save it because it looks like it originally wrapped ALL THE WAY AROUND the bus, but the nose, passenger door, rear passenger panel behind the sliding door, and rear quarter panel have all been replaced, so the pattern wouldn't be solid. God drat hippies. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Dec 28, 2015 |
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Dec 28, 2015 01:01
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hahahaha that is an amazing find.
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Dec 28, 2015 01:28
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Obviously you should keep it and put a wizard on the other side.
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Dec 28, 2015 05:02
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Or a knight in armor. Done to the same artistic level.
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Dec 28, 2015 05:07
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Holy poo poo that's amazing.
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Dec 28, 2015 05:29
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Primer and base on, next is sanding (runs), and final coat along with the white from the sash up.  Still debating on the dragon.
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Jan 1, 2016 22:32
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Well, I'll certainly recognize it if I ever see you cruising down the road around town now!
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Jan 2, 2016 05:18
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Geirskogul posted:Still debating on the dragon. KEEP THE DRAGON
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Jan 2, 2016 06:16
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Enourmo posted:KEEP THE DRAGON This cannot be over-emphasized.
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Jan 2, 2016 07:31
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The dragon stays.
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Jan 2, 2016 07:34
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Gah this is so tough!
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Jan 2, 2016 09:09
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cursedshitbox posted:The dragon stays. It belongs in a museum.
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Jan 2, 2016 23:25
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Keeeeeeep iiiiitttttt! loving clear coat over it, preserve that hippie-patina.
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Jan 3, 2016 00:33
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How could you destroy an original puff the magic dragon?
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Jan 3, 2016 07:58
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Puff the Tragic Wagon?
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Jan 3, 2016 11:32
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Puff the Probable Cause?
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Jan 3, 2016 11:51
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Inspection plate came in from the UK. Looks like it is aluminum machined on a lathe then anodized. Let's see this bend!   Plus the new oil temp sender.   Together.     Can't wait to install this to start tracking down where the other oil leaks are, because this is the biggest one. I also love that the temp sender port is recessed with an air shield. Air cooling of the temp sender is a problem when it's in the airstream. Queen_Combat fucked around with this message at 02:25 on Jan 6, 2016 |
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Jan 6, 2016 01:57
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Gonna paint the dragon, but also gonna get a goon on SAMart to make a vector and make decals of the dragon's head, hopefully. Best of both worlds? Also drove it today for the first time in weeks. Seems like the inspection plate is holding up, though I had to shorten the dipstick 5 mm or so, because it fouled and wouldn't seat all the way. Made quite a big cloud on the way to work today. 
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Jan 8, 2016 21:00
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 Baseparking.jpg
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Jan 10, 2016 17:11
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Geirskogul posted:
What were you doing at Papago ANG?
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Jan 11, 2016 00:39
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Uhh...drill?
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Jan 11, 2016 01:00
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Geirskogul posted:Uhh...drill? Cool. I was just curious, couldn't think of why you'd have to drive your personal car there and park on base. Last time I was out there when we had to do work on base it was a complete pain in the rear end to get in at all, even in a company truck.
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Jan 11, 2016 07:32
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Yeah everybody drives their POV to drill and it's super easy to get into now. For like two years the gate was shut and you had to use a weird entrance off of 52nd street Getting onto the north side may be a little more difficult, though
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Jan 11, 2016 08:16
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Inspection plate trip report: Doesn't leak anymore. Well, it weeps a very tiny bit, but previously it was the largest leak on the bus, so that's settled. Either way, I'm still trying to track down the rest of the leaks. TO THIS END, today I did MANY THINGS. 1: removed inspection plate, cleaned up silicon O-ring with soap and water, cleaned out inspection hole with brake cleaner, and used ULTRA-BLACK RTV to seal that sucker in there. 2: removed valve covers because, while they aren't LEAKING like they were, they are still WEEPING SLIGHTLY, as evidenced by a UV flashlight inspection. 3: adjusted valves. Always adjusting valves. One was slightly tight  4: Sanded valve covers and valve cover mounting area down with 150 and then 400 grit paper, to smooth any burrs and remove any traces of old valve cover gasket (40 year old cork gaskets leave so much residue, even though I now use rubber valve cover gaskets) 5: used ULTRA-BLACK RTV to help seal valve covers down. I have spare valve cover gaskets so THIS IS OKAY 6: Saw that a lot of oil was coming from the GODDAMN DIPSTICK BOOT again. You may remember an earlier post detailing how big a pain-in-the-rear end it is to replace this boot, as it necessitates removing the entire fan shroud. You may also remember how I made an impromptu boot replacement using multiple nested hoses and tubes, along with a stock rubber boot. The rubber boot has FALLEN APART because it is a CHEAP PIECE OF NON-OIL-RESISTANT poo poo. 7: Say gently caress IT. Clean the remaining tube and bungs with BRAKE CLEANER. Wait for BRAKE CLEANER to dry. Wipe it down and CLEAN IT AGAIN with BRAKE CLEANER. Seal the boot area with ULTRA-BLACK RTV. 8: Took off the OIL-SOAKED TINWARE that I could easily remove. Place OIL-SOAKED TINWARE into DISHWASHER. Wash OIL-SOAKED TINWARE. Remove SURPRISINGLY-RUSTY TINWARE from dishwasher, proceed to get yelled at by  FIANCEE.9: While pushing the OIL-DRAINED bus to it's parking spot for the next two days while I wait for the ULTRA-BLACK RTV to cure, accidentally run over the ULTRA-BLACK RTV tube. 10: Decide to see if ULTRA-BLACK RTV lasts as long as KUMHO TIRE rubber in a spur-of-the-moment experiment.
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Jan 12, 2016 04:39
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