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Mon Jan 13, 2003 5:18 am

Can anyone out there reccomend any good books relating to mechanical stuff on my 1975 Camper? I've got Muir (very helpful) and Haynes (not so helpful)but would like some more to help me on the bits that the others don't cover so well.
Cheers

Mon Jan 13, 2003 9:20 am

I have collected dozens of manuals and brochures covering 1968-up busses. Some are very specific to certain systems of the bus, but many are very general. Most of them have really good information, but they are not all easily available. The most popular are the Haynes, Muir, and Bentley. I also have a Clymer from 1976 that is helpful and not so rare. For very general information and easy reading I would stick with the Muir which you already have. The Haynes is slightly more technical and the Bentley manual is even more technical than the Haynes. Unless you plan to do serious work on your bus then the Muir and Haynes manuals which you already have should suffice well. There is also a lot of technical information available at type2.com which is very helpful. I have probably used advice from type2.com as much or more than any manual I have. Good luck with your bus.

Mon Jan 13, 2003 11:32 pm

Bentley, Bentley, Bentley. It's what I've been using for years...I think there's greasy fingerprints on 80% of the pages now after 4 baywindows. I still learn something every time I open it....you will too. way complete mechanical/ electrical/pics /etc

Tue Jan 14, 2003 10:16 pm

For on-line stuff you can't beat www.type2.com and www.vintagebus.com

Muir is certainly useful but some of his info is weird - and he took short cuts when it wasn't necessary.

For example, he polished generator commutators with emery paper (shudder). He uses a Ford Contactor for a hard start relay, when there is a specific Bosch relay (which uses much lower current) or any headlight relay works fine. He also recommends "forget 4th gear around town - 3rd gear works fine" Well - yes it does if you don't mind the extra noise and fuel consumption!

But his description of the CV joints and how to regrease them is the best I've seen.

Certainly Bentley has the most complete manual, but they are US based (left hand drive) and obviously Bentley (like most US folks - sorry guys) don't know left from right - they only know "driver's side" and "passenger's side" and it's VERY annoying for right hand drive countries having to translate that into left and right all the time.

Regards
Rob
Rob and Dave's aircooled VW pages
Repairs and maintenance for the home mechanic
http://www.geocities.com/aussiebug1970/
aussiebug1970@yahoo.com