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Thu Feb 26, 2009 2:55 pm

onion456 wrote:
i love the door buzzer relay mod, where you grab power off that one relay terminal under the fuse box and get power when the key is in the ignition. figured i'd draw power from there, use the defunct rear defroster switch to power my CSV relay.

Seen this?

The cold start valve gets it's juice from the starter solenoid via a little red/white wire that plugs into a spade just like the red/black one that is coming from the ignition switch. As a matter of fact, the ignition switch powers the cold start valve. You can show perfect 12 volts at the cold start valve, and it will still not work if the ground path is bad. The TTS grounds the cold start valve and opens the circuit within 8 seconds at sub-freezing temps and about 1 second up near 50º.

Why not the let the car do the work of turning on the CSV?
Colin :D

Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:09 pm

i certainly have seen that =) i remember the mayhem that ensued the day you posted it. i still think they are great drawings.

im fine with my relay setup. i did wire it to a switch in the cab, so when its cold (or just plain doesnt want to start), i can give it a little boost of gas. nice having control. =) it is wired such that it only squirts when the starter is cranking. whether or not it is enabled (has a ground) is controlled by the switch. i never was a fan of 30-year-old bimetallic switches anyway =P idunno, maybe someday ill play with it again.

i did a little more bodywork recently, my wife NEVER drives the bus, and one night i talked her into it and she got pulled over and got a ticket cause the left rear running light wasnt working. doh!

heres the culprit:

so i started chipping away the bondo :roll:

the stuff was thick!

heres bondo gone, wire brushed and ready for hammering

you can see in the above pic, the bottom left corner of the taillight opening is toast. rusted and broken. im going to need a new panel here. i should have been more dilligent in taking pics... i hammered out as best i could, put a skim coat of bondo on it, did my best to sand it... its far from good but its still better than it was =P new complete taillight assemblies on both sides.

after:

Fri Feb 27, 2009 8:29 am

beautiful bus man. i have always loved the green buses especially the interior i have a '76 westy also its like chrome yellow or whatever with the yellow plaid interior. i was thinking about making it green since it needs to be painted and what not anyways but the yellow is starting to grow on me i think im going to keep it original. congrats on your bus it's a beauty take care of it man.

Fri Feb 27, 2009 12:43 pm

Ya man, nice story... and i really like the bus! :vw:

Sat Feb 28, 2009 4:57 pm

great bay, great adventures. Keep going and never let it defeat you!

I thought I was the only one with a bay that fights back every step of the way!

Just thought I'd add, my fuel gauge (bimetallic type) and vibrator were fried. Given the high cost and unavailability of parts here I replaced it my way.

I bought an old truck fuel gauge from the wreckers and probed it for resistance.
Then I did the calculations to figure out what resistors I would need to make it function equivalently to the old one. I was lucky. After a few failed attempts due to mathematic retardation, one opf my answers actually seemed right and only needed one resistor. Put it in and the gauge seems to track perfectly.
I should probably put some kind of regulation on the supply before the gauge but I have seen no signs of voltage based variance.

Also because the sender is for a bimetal type gauge so it is unbufferred, I get to watch the needle wiggle around when it goes over bumps, which I kind of like to be honest :)

How did you replace the quarter panel?
It seems like a lot of people on thesamba have access to a MIG.

Sun Mar 01, 2009 10:21 am

i didnt replace it, i banged it out with body hammers. it still needs replacing, someday, as there is some rust under the bondo i put on, and also its not straight, as you can see by this pic:

Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:31 am

sooooo a little update, no pictures this time tho. =/

i guess one major change since my last update was that i ditched my horribly crappy VDO head temp gauge and got a Dakota Digital. It has absolutely brought this bus back to life. i drive so differently now, cause i can see what is going on. those who have them know what im talking about. =) those who dont- all i can say is get one =) i dont take for granted that the reading im getting is exact exact head temp, im sure that where the thermocouple wire ends is likely in the airflow path and is therefore getting cooling air, cooling it down, but what i am sure of is that the reading im getting is exactly whats at the end of that thermocouple wire. and its responsive! rev the engine = more air = temps go down. wow! my VDO was a piece of sh!T!

so since i got that thing, ive been driving my bus every day to work, 15 miles each way via freeway. i wont post what my temps are cause i think its subjective =) but they are cool.

and the big thing that has happened recently is that i had Colin (amskeptic) come out yesterday. and he taught me everything i needed to know =) for those who arent yet hip to Colin and his mission, check out http://www.itinerant-air-cooled.com/ . i am damn exstatic over what i learned; we fixed a whole pile of stuff, too. im glad that i had done my homework before he came, too, because then i was able to focus on somewhat loftier concepts =) if you want to really be in tune with your type4, Colin is the man!

so my bus is currently running better than it ever has- absolutely dialed in to the sweet spot. the Texas VW classic starts TOMORROW, and we are going! 250 mile journey- take two... hopefully no engine drops in the campsite this time. pics to follow im sure!

Thu Apr 16, 2009 10:42 am

onion456 wrote: sooooo a little update, no pictures this time tho. =/

i guess one major change since my last update was that i ditched my horribly crappy VDO head temp gauge and got a Dakota Digital. It has absolutely brought this bus back to life. i drive so differently now, cause i can see what is going on. those who have them know what im talking about. =) those who dont- all i can say is get one =) i dont take for granted that the reading im getting is exact exact head temp, im sure that where the thermocouple wire ends is likely in the airflow path and is therefore getting cooling air, cooling it down, but what i am sure of is that the reading im getting is exactly whats at the end of that thermocouple wire. and its responsive! rev the engine = more air = temps go down. wow! my VDO was a piece of sh!T!

Onion, a couple of questions: from your statement about the airflow it doesn't sound like you are using the sender ring under the #3 plug. Is that right? When you swapped the VDO for the DD gauge did you also swap the sender and wires or did you just swap gauges?

That's cool about your visit with Colin.

Thu Apr 16, 2009 11:10 am

you have to use the DD sender, so yes i did swap senders. i guess some people cut off the ring and JB weld the wires to the head; i used the ring. i just imagine it flappin in the wind somewhat, so i imagine it probably cooler than the head itself. and anyway, it would depend on what part of the head you were taking readings from... i guess the hottest part of the head is around the exhaust, and im not taking temps there, so what you get is wherever you put it on the head. s'why they say its about trending. i will notice if something is out of the ordinary.

i also decided to buy 2 extra senders; if you email DD, they can give you thier part number for just the sender ring section, so you dont have to replace the 18' section if you need to change your spark plugs.

thier method of wire connections is really wierd- they use ring lugs and small nuts and bolts to connect 2 wires together. i would have thought with the kind of engineering theyre doing over there, they'da come up with something better? idunno. maybe theres a reason for it.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 7:36 am

well we had a blast at the '09 Texas VW Classic. bus ran awesome the whole way, 500mi round trip. it wouldnt be an adventure if something didnt break, tho, so my hot start relay volunteered and fried itself on our way up. did the screwdriver trick to get her started until i could find the time to get under there and troubleshoot it. once replaced, back in business.

ok, i think this is the most awesome pic of the trip. somebody asked once about turning the luggage rack into a bathtub; this works pretty well if youre small... =D

and heres me and the girl in front of the bus. dont laugh at my pink umbrella, dammit.

my 6 year old daughter loves the bus, and is quick to greet passersby;

and this time we were able to do the cruise. (last time unable to join due to pilot bearing). i must say it was a lot of fun. going though town was hard and slow, soooo many VWs and no police to help direct traffic for us. but once we got out on the open road, it was really nice.

ive got a ton of pics i wont bore ya with, ya seen one show youve seen em all, right? anyway, it was a great time. even ran into Colin at the end, an unexpected treat. gotta get on those rust issues, i know, Colin =) tell my wife to give me time to do it =D

my poor wife- she does not drive the bus often- pretty much never, and she doesnt know the baby's little quirks and things... well she tried to take over for me on the way there, it was getting really late and i was tired. and she overrevved it right away (4000RPM?) and i yelled SHIFT! dammit lol. of course shes mortified cause shes driving my baby. and not long after that, we pull onto a 2 lane hiway from a gas station, and she cant find second... theres oncoming traffic approaching at 70mph and we are crawling as she frantically tries and tries again to find a gear. traffic zooms by, shes trying to force it and that aint gonna fly. so me being the jerk i am, next stop i ask her if she would be insulted if i asked to drive the rest of the way. she was. i still feel bad. but what could i do, this thing is like an extension of me, and i gotta take good care of the old girl. gotta drive it smooth like buttah. and i kinda dont understand, because i find the gears just fine; even better after Colin's visit. why it gives my wife so much trouble, i dont know.

so we're gonna have to sort this out, because we want to get a passenger bus too, and she's going to be driving more often. i guess itll just come with experience. maybe she should drive it more often around town. maybe 250 miles away just wasnt the place. we'll see if she can forgive me!

Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:59 am

Nice pics/write-up!

I gave my girlfriend her first driving lesson in our bus this weekend. She did pretty good. She's starting from square-one having never driven a manual trans before. I've tried to teach her to drive my Jeep, but she just got frustrated. The bus seems to be easier for her.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:30 am

Hey I think i've seen your bus on a sunday morning in the Macys parking lot in Spring. When I pointed it out everyone in the car was oowin and awwin at it.
I'm looking for a bay for the summer but havn't had much luck. All the ones locally are rusty. I envy you man!
-Andrew

Mon Apr 20, 2009 11:58 am

wuddnt me... i dont get up that way much. i do get quite a bit of that, tho =D

there was a really nice westy for sale (and was sold for $4500) at the classic; orange late bay, fuel injected, i think it was a 78. everything looked really good, good original interior. had the westy table so i was jealous :twisted: there was a lot of cars for sale this year, actually.

good luck in your search- let me know if you run across any clean passenger busses =)

Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:33 pm

onion456 wrote: wuddnt me... i dont get up that way much. i do get quite a bit of that, tho =D

there was a really nice westy for sale (and was sold for $4500) at the classic; orange late bay, fuel injected, i think it was a 78. everything looked really good, good original interior. had the westy table so i was jealous :twisted: there was a lot of cars for sale this year, actually.

good luck in your search- let me know if you run across any clean passenger busses =)
Alright man. I'll PM you if I come across anything.

Mon Apr 20, 2009 1:49 pm

I was totally going to say hello, but you looked busy. I hung around a while, but the opportunity never presented itself. Hope you got it squared away.

Tue Apr 21, 2009 6:54 am

cool, thanks for the pics! next time say hello! =D

Tue Apr 21, 2009 7:06 am

the guys in the engine compartment with me are trying to get the son's FI bus running, and i was showing them how the AFM keeps the fuel pump running. they said theirs fires but wont stay running. i told em either vaccuum leak or possibly fuel pump is not staying on. told them about Colin as well, they seemed interested... =)

Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:28 am

Hey, I'm the guy you helped out. Thanks a lot, the advice was very helpful. I think its going to be a vacuum leak. Going to get some hose and replace all the original lines this weekend! Hopefully that will get it running :) thanks again!

Wed Apr 22, 2009 1:30 pm

awesome, good luck! let me know how it goes =D

Tue Jun 30, 2009 8:02 pm

well im way overdue for an update.

we got a few dollars to put into the bus; so, seeing as how Houston TX is just north of hell, i figured a Gilmore AC system would be a good investment. took prolly 2 full days to install, a few hurdles along the way but have gotten things sorted out and it is up and running. i was mildly disappointed at first; i dont think its as cold as it could be, but the tech who installed the refrigerant was hesitant to overload it so he told me to come back in a few days and he'll top it off. but... at idle, it loads the engine to the point that my voltage dips below 12v. my oil temps have also raised considerably. but, driving around today in 104 degree heat and 100% humidity... i was sure grateful for any relief whatsoever =) so i'll keep it for now!

camper special is on order. \:D/

and.. a new bus! playmate for ol' crusty. this one is My Not-So Crusty '76. we'd been looking for a passenger bus for a while, and after a couple of near misses, we came across this one. basically a non-runner, but the body is really straight and 99.9% rust free. heres a pic of how she sits at the moment:

so... exhaust manifold was completely broken, i pulled the entire exhaust off and will rebuild with 72-74 exchangers and thunderbird ex. Bus had a single solex on it, i decided to switch it over to FI. bought a system off samba classifieds and am installing it now. This bus was absolutely a fire waiting to happen- crumbly fuel lines running through tin with no grommets, barely hanging on by one hose barb... had about 6 fuel filters, 2 in the engine compartment. today i ripped it all out and rebuilt the FI fuel system, almost complete.

welp... hopefully i'll have it running by week end, and i'll pull it out of the garage and take some proper pics. thanks for lookin =)