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Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:31 am

Scroll way down for current build picts
QUESTION ON SECOND PAGE

After almost 5 years of wanting to have my own build thread on Samba I've finally committed to making one.

Here's a retrospective movie I made a while ago documenting what I had done between July 2006 and November 2009:

Here's some picts:

The day after I bought her home and my 18th birthday (July '06)

After a winter of engine rebuilding and tinkering I was able to get out for a warm summer drive (July '07)

First VW show at Hebert's Candy Mansion Volks-VairFair Show in Shrewsbury, MA (August '07)

First Litchfield Bug-In (Litchfield, CT August '07)

Top of Mt. Wachusett in Princeton, MA (September '07)

First camping trip with a buddy at the Big-E in Springfield, MA (September '07)

First TransporterFest in Brookline, MA (October '07)

New set of Boston Bob heads (December '07)

That was also the same winter as VDubTechs big hike out here (February '08 )
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=279077&highlight=ashby

New Hankooks (May '08 )

Tri-Town Drive-Ins in Lunenburg, MA (It's demolished now and all Low-Income housing :evil: ) (June '08 )

Company car wash for charity in June '08. I drove the bus in and made my boss wash her :twisted:

First big road trip down to Cape Cod in June '08:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=304016&highlight=cape+cod

Assorted pictures from Summer/Fall '08:

Hebert's Candy Mansion Volks-VairFair Show in Shrewsbury, MA (August '08 )

Litchfield Bug-In (Litchfield, CT August '08 )

My back yard (September/October '08 )

The December 2008 Ice Storm hit. That week sucked! The Bus got hit by a branch too:

Spring clean up (March '09)

Family yard sale (May '09):

Tracked down and installed a camper window around June '09:

July 4th, 2009 Rutland, MA:

Roo-Bars install Spring '10:

I was having issues driving so I tore the engine apart and found out I had a broken valve but not the head seat (June '10)

Did a Fuel Injection upgrade when the engine was out. Here my install topic:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=431190&highlight=fuel+injection

Made it to TransporterFest in Brookline last year. Stan always does a good job (October '10)

February '11:

I guess that brings us up to now. On my 2011 To-Do list I've got installation of Fog Lights, a new wood headliner, piecing back together the heating system, a huge camping trip to Martha's Vineyard in June and LOTS of driving to make up for last year's horrible season. I'll be documenting everything from here on out in this topic. THANKS for reading! :D

Wed Mar 09, 2011 10:07 am

dig the post!!! ill be in the vineyard in june at some point also. not w/ my bus however. it be great to see yours rolling around!!

Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:12 pm

So... I just lost my job. Hmm.... this'll make things interesting :-k

Thu Mar 10, 2011 2:47 pm

Sucks about your job, but that was a very good read. I love buses with a story, and a nice thread to read whilst my time is idle. Hope to see much more.

(Good luck on your work)

Sat Mar 12, 2011 2:00 pm

So I may be unemployed now but, the show must go on!

I got sick of waiting, grabbed a shovel and dug Maggie out this morning:

I was happy that she stared so easily. She fired on her second crank and after the lifters pumped up, she sounded amazing. I took her for some gas and a trip to the packy but had to rush home. I was shifting into 3rd from a stop and heard a high pitched "PING" sound when I depressed the clutch pedal and then she refused to shift. Pulled over and noticed that the clutch pedal was very sloppy so I crawled under the bus and tightened the wing nut on the transmission end of the clutch cable and she was fine. Shifted like nothing had happened. I got home fine and gave it a through once over and everything seemed okay. Only things I could thing of was 1. One of the braided cabled snapped or 2. The cable was snagged on some rust somewhere inside the tube and broke free. Either way she's shifting fine now. I have a spare clutch cable on hand just in case it does break driving some where.

Tomorrow I need to figure out why I'm not getting any juice from my aux battery.

Sat Mar 12, 2011 7:05 pm

Thats awesome. ^

Mon Mar 14, 2011 11:31 am

So guess what broke?!!

Fixing clutch cables on a cold, gravel covered ground sucks but my friends somehow found it hilarious!

Sun Mar 20, 2011 10:14 am

SCORE!!!!! OG Heater/Defroster Assist blower never installed! Got it for free

Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:57 am

Removed the windshield yesterday and....

All surface rust and NOTHING rotted through! Not a pin hole to be found. I'm working on sanding and prepping today

Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:28 pm

All sanded and ready for some POR tomorrow. Not ONE pinhole or rust through at all! Not bad for a New England bus

Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:38 pm

Hey Jack, looks great. It's a good project for spring.

When we had the windshield out of the 77 we also removed the top of the dash and scraped/sanded the rust and repainted it (rattle can job, satin black then clear coated). There are about 5 or 6 nuts that hold it to the front of the dash (you need to reach up under the dash), along with the screws that hold it to the front of the bus, which it LOOKS like you already took out.

It's one of those things, that since you are there, might as well. Just a thought!

We haven't moved ours yet. They are still tucked away for the winter, and the snow today sure isn't helping!!

Keep the updates coming.

Mon Mar 21, 2011 8:04 pm

por -15

Wed Mar 23, 2011 12:31 pm

Got a few coats of POR-15 on her yesterday and did some sanding this morning:

Have some Rustoleum primer on there now and I'm just letting everything dry. The weather isn't coopering either. It was in the high 60's last week and now it's about to snow :roll:

I did a little something extra on the dash and it came out awesome! 8)

Sat Mar 26, 2011 7:24 am

DONE!!!!

Stole an idea from Batan and his windshield removal and painted the fresh air vents. I think it really makes everything pop. I had a hell of a time getting the chrome to seat so I'm going to install it during the summer when it's warmer and the rubbers easier to work with. I think the next thing is either a new headliner or gutting the interior and installing some insulation/sound deadener.

jereandjess, I did have the metal dash panel out but I never took a picture. I sanded and painted it at the same time I painted the vents. That was a PITA to do with the underdash AC installed too. O'well. It came out great and I'm happy with the results :D

Tue Mar 29, 2011 6:53 am

I'm having a slight backfire at idle and at random RPMs. There's not really a certain speed it'll backfire, but it'll just pop every once in a while and has been getting more noticeable when driving. I cleaned the metal tabs on the distributor cap and nothing changed. I took out and checked each spark plug and they all were an even, non-oily burn except for #4 which had a lot of carbon build up. I pulled each plug when it was idling to hear a drop in the RPMs and they all dropped except for #4. I pulled #3 wire, the RPMs dropped and I placed #4 on #3 cylinder and it didn't come back up which would mean a bad wire to me. However when I was holding #4 plug wire while the engine was idling I was leaning over the top hatch of the engine touching the metal lip and I got electrocuted which means it is getting power through the wire. Even though I was holding the rubber part of the wire I could feel each time the rotor send power to it. When I placed the plug near the tins I could see a spark jumping from the wire to the metal. I KNOW this is my problem but after replacing the plug AND getting a new cap it's still doing the same thing. Any suggestions? I'm going to try replacing the spark plug itself

Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:01 am

Your post is confusing, did you swap the wire to #3 entirely? or just stick the end onto the other plug without moving it on the distributor?
If a wire is shocking you while you hold it it's likely bad, good wires don't do that.
How's the compression on the offending cylinder?

Tue Mar 29, 2011 8:17 am

I was confusing myself writing it a little. Yes, I just swapped the plug from #4 on the distributor cap to #3 cylinder and nothing happened. That was with a new cap too. I haven't done a compression check because it's a very smooth and powerful ride. I should do one just for shits and giggles.

I replaced the spark plug on #4 like I said with a brand new Bosch gapped to .028 in per the Bentley. That cleared the backfiring up actually. There's a very, very, very faint erratic popping and it really only shows up on the Dwell meter. I took it for a ride and I couldn't feel any backfiring either.

EDIT: Okay did a compression check:
#1: 110
#2: 120
#3: 100
#4: 100

That all seems fine to me. I've had better but I've had a LOT worst too!

Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:42 pm

Thats a nice looking bus.

I enjoyed how in your picture for the Hebert's Candy Mansion Volks-Vairfair your bus is behind a sign that says Bay Window buses Class-E. I thought yeah Bay Window Busses are classy :lol: I amuse me.

That family garage sale looks like one I would like to be at. Some records and a record player. Thats too bad about the job tho.

I am excited to follow this post. Keep up the good work.

Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:35 am

Thanks Crawdadman! It's been an adventure so far 8)

So my backfiring came back. I've changed the plug wires, plugs, cap, cleaned the rotor, checked all my vacuum lines and FI connections and nothings changed. I'm THINKING it might be the AFM. When I turn it on it idles perfectly for about 10-30 seconds then automatically drops RPMs and begins backfiring. I'm stumped really. Any help?

Fri Apr 01, 2011 8:46 am

The AFM doesn't really effect idle leave it alone, have you tried another TS2? Do you have access to a Co meter?

If you have a few hours this may be helpful reading: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=441592