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Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:13 am

bad dog racing wrote: Great build JCC.
Been taking notes and following closely.

Thanks!

Hit a little stall in progress due to good weather, (building a fence around back yard, putting 5th wheel hitch in bed of truck, delivering parts of bay bus I scrapped, maintenance on Jeep, work travle so forth).

But have been doing some thinking about the front suspension. A bus is not known for its ride quality, but I do not want to make it worse. Everything I have cut and turned the beam on rode rougher after the raise. I am thinking about dropping the front beam about 1 1/2 inch (if possible, havn't looked close yet, just thinking while driving and traveling alone). At the same time put a little camber in it like 2 to 3 degrees. Makes a bug handel better, why not a bus?

I know 1 1/2 inch raise is not much, but if you cannot get there and back with a 29 inch tall tire, (except rock crawing), you can't drive or shouldn't be going there in a bus anyway. A 29 inch super swamper will take you way off the beaten path. I am only looking for enough raise to use the SS TSL's F&R.

It is raining in WV today so I will focus on getting the 1600 fully dressed, new rubber in the engine bay and the engine in it.

Tomorrow evening I will try to move forward to the front brake lines (two rear already run) and mounting the steering brake. Not much room in a bench seat SC. I will post pictures once it is mounted as I like it.

Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:22 pm

All I can say is WOW :shock: !!!!

I cant believe that this bus went from where it was when I hauled it out of New Hampshire to now cut tranny cradle and cut wheel wells!

Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:31 pm

david9 wrote: All I can say is WOW :shock: !!!!

I cant believe that this bus went from where it was when I hauled it out of New Hampshire to now cut tranny cradle and cut wheel wells!
It looks good like that :twisted:

Sun Apr 25, 2010 5:05 am

Progress?

Mon Apr 26, 2010 6:41 am

williamblanda wrote: Progress?

Very little to report. Have been too busy with life. My ADD also apprears to get worse the older I get. Almost anything shiney pulls my atten

Did get/buy/repaired the following:

Complete set of Centerline rims, 5.5 wide, wide 5 bolt pattern. Should allow the TSL's to go up under the rear lips, (if so, it will speed up my replacement of the rear lips). Tried buying two more TSL's and they are out of production until about June due to the Obama tire tax thingy (have been told that by three suppliers).

Pulled the tranny back out, was not pleased with the positioning of the reverse switch so I modified it to my acceptance (clearance issues).

Modified the clutch boden tube bracket. Had too much sag in the tube.

Picked up some tonnage in Gerson funky green panels a few weeks ago at the Farmington NC Fast Times at the Farm event from Monkeynut.

Ordered and picked up my steel for my version of the Bice bumper for the rear, will include a hitch receiver, pull lugs, corner protection and some more off roading tricks.

Purchased and received a full assortment of large nut RGB bearings, gaskets and misc items to do a complete rebuild in the future.

Received a small part that fell off/missing from the Dellorotos causing a horid idle problem.

Purchased/received a NOS set of the grey KYB's for all corners.

Cut a deal for a good Hurst shifter.

Going to try and get the engine in this evening and tomorrow evening in between mowing and prepping for a new roof on the house.

Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:21 am

joescoolcustoms wrote: williamblanda wrote: Progress?

Very little to report. Have been too busy with life. My ADD also apprears to get worse the older I get. Almost anything shiney pulls my atten

Did get/buy/repaired the following:

Complete set of Centerline rims, 5.5 wide, wide 5 bolt pattern. Should allow the TSL's to go up under the rear lips, (if so, it will speed up my replacement of the rear lips). Tried buying two more TSL's and they are out of production until about June due to the Obama tire tax thingy (have been told that by three suppliers).

Wait a second, replacement?

Enlighten me.

Mon Apr 26, 2010 10:53 am

williamblanda wrote: joescoolcustoms wrote: williamblanda wrote: Progress?

Very little to report. Have been too busy with life. My ADD also apprears to get worse the older I get. Almost anything shiney pulls my atten

Did get/buy/repaired the following:

Complete set of Centerline rims, 5.5 wide, wide 5 bolt pattern. Should allow the TSL's to go up under the rear lips, (if so, it will speed up my replacement of the rear lips). Tried buying two more TSL's and they are out of production until about June due to the Obama tire tax thingy (have been told that by three suppliers).

Wait a second, replacement?

Enlighten me.

My very first intentions when I purchased this bus was to replace the rotten metal. The rear lips were rotten and in need of replacement. The centerline rims I had on hand required me to cut the lips out to fit, which was not of concern because they were so rusty/rotten.

So, if these new to me centerlines get the tire back up under the body, I will replace the lips sooner than later. Most likely not until winter '10 - '11.

I never hack anything that I myself cannot return to stock. Please note that I did not say original. I do not like rust and original was rust so it was coming out anyway.

Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:07 am

So you may have unhacked wheel wells in the future? I want to give you a hug right now.

Mon Apr 26, 2010 11:18 am

williamblanda wrote: So you may have unhacked wheel wells in the future? I want to give you a hug right now.

Ease up dude, don't go all homo on me man.

As I stated early on, this bus will have many incarnations while under my supervision.

This bus is in poor rust shape and will never get to concours de elegance condition, but will get back to decent stockish looking in the future, most likely not postal yellow.

Mon Apr 26, 2010 12:05 pm

quick question if you could help me out. what are the dia of bus linkpins are they 7/8" and what is the distance between them.

Tue Jul 27, 2010 10:45 pm

Just bookmarking this thread.
Gonna be starting on mine soon.

Doing the tranny drop, is it more like a 1 7/8" difference or a 2"?
I just did a tranny raise on my old RHD so I am sure I can go the opposite way for the bus.
8)

Sat Oct 30, 2010 6:05 pm

Any new progress on the SC, Joe?

Sat Oct 30, 2010 7:22 pm

williamblanda wrote: Any new progress on the SC, Joe?

Yes, but mostly no.

Last weekend I scored a set of lifted spindles, almost new for $ 60.00 at the Fast Times at Farmington Swap, Drag, Show. Also Bought a "M" spring from Jon, (Hazetguy) at the same meet (early buses use a "M" spring to hold pressure on the shift rod and take slack out of it).

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=697436

Other than those purchases, no progress. The SC is a winter time project for me. I have been working on the house, camping, traveling and building a Oval Baja with RGB's. When the weather turns cold again, I will be back on it.

Thanks for asking!

Tue Nov 02, 2010 8:49 pm

Good to see this thread showing a little life.
Here comes Winter, better get out my notepad again.

Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:55 pm

Hope to breathe a little life into this thread.
Just got back from the SST and made some notes.

Front disc brakes were without a doubt the best and most noticable improvement.

I ran with the front sway bar and give it a big thumbs up.

Cracked a Frum (made in Brasil) rear drum. Was licky to get a good used German in Willits.

Broke a nose mount. Changed to Solid in Redding.

Will never again run with 14 inch tires.

Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:12 pm

OK, back to the off-road SCab build.

My heavly modified Dodge 6X6 Diesel Dualy blew through 1st gear and the transmission needs pulled, rebuilt and replaced. I am going to buy a performance transmission instead of rebuilding the stock unit, but need another truck to pickup the new trans and return the core tranny (the core charge is $ 2600.00!!!!). Plus the room to work on the dualy indoors would be extra special.

I have been busy over the last year working on a couple of RGB equiped Baja's and have neglected this SCab. It has spent every night indoors, but the bed became a swap meet of engines, body parts, Gerson panels, bumpers, fuel tanks and so forth.

In the year sitting in the same spot, it has dumped about a gallon of new trans fluid on the floor. I understand marking its spot, but I hate a leaking tranny!

Pulled the trans again.

Removed the retainer plates, installed long studs and three gaskets.

Installed the retainer strengthening plates to help keep the retainer plate from distorting under harsh off-road abuse.

It will get new boots installed so it should no longer "pea" on my garage floor when not in use.

The 2165 cc engine will get hung on the rear of the trans and then time to move forward to the lifted spindles.

Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:28 pm

Well, Crap!

I knew I had bought new E brake cables for this bus last year. It is a '59 with a '67 Large Nut RGB, so I sware I bought '64 -'67 cables and planned on shortening them. Searched all over the place for them. Spent 1 1/2 hours digging through every bit of VW stuff I have. Did find some tools I thought I lost, but no cables.

During all that frustration and hunting, I had to move my '56 Oval Baja I am building. I had to reach in and release the E Brake so It would roll around in the Garage. It then dawned on me, right there is the new E Brake cables I bought! The '56 Oval has a '67 RGB in it and I used the new "bus" cables to make it work.

The one sticking out the tunnel is the Bus cable and two new beetle units in the back ground.

So I just ordered two new cables and will have to wait for them to get here.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi...K:MEWNX:IT

Got the tranny back in. Now to clearance a set of dual carb intakes so they will fit the engine tin without having to alter the cooling tin. Fit on a set of heat exchangers and header and the engine will be ready to install.

Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:53 am

Where did you find the mechanical turning brakes? I really like that idea and it seems pretty simple.

Did you fab them your self?

Any issues?

Jeff

Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:09 am

heywebonya wrote: Where did you find the mechanical turning brakes? I really like that idea and it seems pretty simple.

Did you fab them your self?

Any issues?

Jeff

Found the turning brakes at a swap meet for $ 5.00. It included just the two handles and the bolt that matches the pivit pin diameter.

I call them a poor man's steering brake. I was not wanting to slide my baja sideways, but just to apply pressure to a spinning wheel to help out of a stuck position. Looks like they would be easy to fab.

As a side note, I used bus EBrake cables, so they had to be cut and use a EMPI cable shortening kit. When I cut the cables, I silver soldered the end to give the EMPI adapter something to grip to. Appears to help it hold nicely.

That last picture was not the best safety wise, seeing the thinner with paper towels, jug of oil, tennis shoes and accet. bottle just under me.

Mon Mar 07, 2011 8:36 am

:lol:
Good thinking pointing it out before someone calls you on it.
:D