TheSamba.com :: View topic

Mon Aug 17, 2009 5:16 pm

thanks pickle- i dont take as many pics of the bad as i do the good =P

borrowed the thermocouple from work today as promised... a little surprising but not really.

ambient air temp was 88 to start with. thermocouple probe was hung from the rear view mirror, out of any air flow, so just an overall cabin temp reading. upon turning the system on, the temp immediately began to drop... but never got lower than 85.9 during my 20 minute drive home on the freeway. took another reading outside once i got home and saw 90.1

then i measured right at the ducts, the stuff is coming out at 67.9! which is nice if you can get yourself in its path. the problem is just that there is so much area inside the bus, the cool air is just overwhelmed. maybe it would help to insulate the cab from the rest of the bus, with a curtain behind the front seats or something. i was thinking of doing that anyway, just to have a quick privacy screen, so i may try it. im sure this system rocks in a bug/ghia, where there is less area to cool.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:26 pm

whatsup samba folks!

well i gave my bus a long overdue tuneup just now, i think its been about 6000 miles since Colin's visit. some interesting results...

bus has been running pretty crappy, especially when cold, warranting the tuneup. (i should give her more credit- she runs like a dream, i drive 40+ freeway miles every day and she does not complain. but shes rough waking up in the morning). heres what i did:

adjusted valves (hydros), ran the bus briefly to pump them up and adjusted them. all were 1&1/2 turns as i checked them coming out. readjusted in to 1&1/2 turns.

new plugs- bosch super... this bus has not had new plugs put in since i got it- like 5 years ago? i figured it was time =) old plugs looked good coming out, nice and tan, 1&2 side looked a little richer than 3&4 but not bad.

new points, dwell set to 50. old points had a big ol pit in em.

timed to 36 ATDC @ 3500 RPMs, no vac. timing goes to VOR with vac.

took it for a test drive, my power seemed somewhat lower than before but my idle was also higher (too high, 2k RPMs?). came back, adjusted idle to 1000 RPMs.

after setting idle, i closed the engine compartment and noticed... my exhaust is like HALF as loud as before. it used to push lots of air- now it seems its pushing out little! it sounds good, running smooth, i dont think theres anyting wrong, just kinda odd/interesting/welcome =)

did i do something right? or wrong? make sense to anyone? i took a video but its hard to tell, audio seems amplified and not really true to life. not worth sharing imo.

side note, been working here and there on assembling my camper special, which will go in the creamsicle bus. im pretty excited- assembly is going smoothly, im ready to put P&Cs on. :D

Sat Nov 07, 2009 2:35 pm

Quote: timed to 36 ATDC @ 3500 RPMs, no vac. timing goes to VOR with vac.

You mean BEFORE TDC right?

Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:24 pm

before, after, i can never remember =P

towards VOR.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 3:26 pm

just took a lil drive, maybe its just running smooth having new plugs and points and so my exhaust sounds different. power seems fine with idle readjusted.

Sat Nov 07, 2009 7:40 pm

Great read, loving the work you've accomplished, very inspirational!

'76's rule... :wink:

Wed Nov 11, 2009 12:20 pm

Well, not so trusty, really, but soon to be!

I've gathered a great deal of inspiration from your triumphs with your bays.

Thanks for posting all this over the last couple years and keep it, uh, less than crusty!

Tue Nov 24, 2009 8:10 pm

well its been a busy couple of days; got some time off of work, plant shutdown for a week due to bad economy, so i got to work on my camper special. im surprised how quick it went together, how simple these engines are. im just about done! just gotta put the flywheel on and bolt 'er up.

crappy pic, i dunno what is up with my camera these days. or maybe i just suck at taking pics all of a sudden.

yeah its pretty ugly! i dont really care how it looks, so long as it runs good. everything is clean tho i promise =) NICE having a brand new engine in the garage, ready to install. also got my tank POR-15'd, finally. looks great.

Tue Nov 24, 2009 9:00 pm

Looking good. Can't wait to hear your review of the CS once it's installed.

Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:11 am

Man that camper specal makes me jealous! I really need to come by soon. That transporter is going to be a great ride for the family. Brad, the guy that helped out at my place, got a real nice bus. We all need to get together!

Sat Jan 02, 2010 8:07 pm

well ive been working on the new bus trying to get her up to snuff. as nice as this bus is, its got its share of problems, some of them real conundrums! i dont remember the camper being so bitchy :twisted: :? :lol:

thanks to Tram for helping me troubleshoot 2 cyls not firing (injecitor pintles were stuck) and to Rich @ cruzinperformance for getting em unstuck FOR FREE (thanks!), the camper special is now up and running. theres still a boatload to do before i can really drive this thing, but i thot i'd snap a few pics to share with yall.

Sun Jan 03, 2010 11:00 am

Sweet! 8)

Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:20 pm

:D :D :D

today was "stay home and work on the new bus cause its my 40th birthday" day. happy birthday, me. cant believe im 40.

anway, i havent even started and i digress =D did lots of work on the bus today. unfortunately im really quite out of money to spend on this thing for now, so now its 'make it work' time. heres what i did today;

my alt bracket doesnt fit my 72-74 heat exchangers, big surprise. i have a couple alt brackets laying around, so i didnt feel bad about welding a piece of metal on to the bottom of one, effectively extending its reach so i can put a bolt thru it and secure it to the heat exchanger. so now hopefully i wont throw belts =)

i dont have the right bottom tin for the 72-74 heat exchangers either. i havent seen any for sale here on thesamba- people must snatch em up. i did have a set of '79 bottom tin, which is damn close. i made it work. better than nothing, i figure. someday i'll get the right stuff.

replaced the drivers side fuel rail, with one that i bought that has the little curl where it goes thru the engine tin. my old one was a shorty somehow and didnt have that. wasnt comfy with the rigged length of brake line i had going thru the tin, so i replaced it. yippee.

installed all my gauges! this is a big job, im sure many of you know. i have a VDO tach, VDO oil pressure, VDO oil temp, and DD CHT. cut holes in my dash, just like my camper, and got everything but the oil temp hooked up and working. need to modify a taco plate for that.

and finally, today, took it for a short spin, a bit longer than ever before, since i had the benefit of CHT, oil pressure, and tach to look at =) it had just started to rain, which was just fine with me, because last weekend i fixed my windshield wipers =) a side note, what a cool mechanism the windshield wipers are. mine had the shaft spinning on the gear; no go. tore it all apart, replaced the shaft/gear, and on my merry way i went. funnest $5 fix ever.

ANYway- i can now make a short statement about the camper special, after taking up to 3rd gear for the first time, o boy; a) it is a very smooth running engine, and b) it is not done making power at 5000rpms. thats the big diff so far that i can tell. i prolly never take my camper above 4k, its pretty much time to shift. not this cs- man, its really wierd, feeling like you could wind out forever and youre still making power. cool. i promise never to abuse it =D

last thing left to do is adjust the E-brake, and then its off to safety inspection. then i can drive around legally, woohoo.

on top of that, its lube lube lube- wanna repack CVs, lube front end, check trans fluid level, and prolly have a look at the brakes at some point. they work fine, but i know theyll work better once i massage em a bit =)

all in all, a fun 40th birthday for me =)

Wed Feb 03, 2010 4:23 pm

Happy Birthday!

Sat Feb 20, 2010 6:38 pm

i bought the same 76 westy for $1000 in dec 2009 doing all the work myself, so going to follow in your foot steps Rico

Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:03 am

wow - she's far from crusty now - beautiful - all this just serves as inspiration!

Thu Feb 25, 2010 8:12 am

Man thats really coming along. You have 2 really nice busses now. I need to make the drive up so we can wrench again....

Thu Feb 25, 2010 10:47 am

yes you do =D you going to the classic? we are racing to get this bus ready to make the 250mi drive. let me know if you want to cruise up together, we will be leaving friday apr16 shortly after noon.

i got some parts in the mail last night, bottom tins for 72-74 exchangers, and a spiffy LC-1 air/fuel ratio gauge from Innovate, cant wait to get that installed but its gonna be a job!