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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:55 pm Post subject: |
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August 2008:
| don.ville wrote: | I bought a new one from local Street and Sand Toys in Ft Lauderdale.
That thing wore out in under 2 months...(symptoms are LOTS of side to side play in shifter while in gear.)
I put the damaged one that I took and put it in a bench vise and crushed the two halves back together (the steel started to bend and allowed the two halves to move around a bit).
Now I have had that in the bus for some months, and I feel the play coming back.
WTF????
What the heck am I doing wrong going through 2 rear shift rod couplers in 6 months?.... |
_________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD) |
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:17 pm Post subject: SEATS!!! |
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April 13, 2008 I scored Bay window middle and rear seats from a local junkyard...$65 for both with seat belts!
The bottom needed some welding (Thanks MIKE!)
Fitting Bay window bus seats into a split:
Not a direct fit, as new holes needed for mounting bracket
Got seat belts from the same bus too.
The Chrysler middle seat with integrated child seats stays until kids are grown up (for now). The bay window middle seat stays in the garage covered until later... _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD) |
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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Spray cans from PaintScratch.com are a good match. But they shipped clearcoat and basecoat in separate cans. I only applied the basecoat so far.
Also bought a single quietpack so I could install the stock bumpers I got from the classifieds.
_________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:36 pm Post subject: |
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August 23, 2008:
| don.ville wrote: | Nice time...No car show at Tower's, but die hards were there.
VW krew, and 4-5 BMW M5 guys.
dubtype1 and me drove down.
On the way back hit the turnpike and could not get into 4th.
dubtype1 and I pulled over after Sunrise exit ramp to check.
Cable frayed and too much slack...crawled under the lowrider and got a few turns out of the wingnut...good enough to get it home with some clutchless shifting, almost like the move Little Miss Sunshine (hey, the wife made me watch it and there was a VW bus in it).
Had a spare in the toolbox, so i installed it this morning....Clutch clevis pin was worn out too.
New cable, wingnut, clevis pin, and lots of grease.... (already had new bowden tube). |
_________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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September 2008:
Seat Frame:
The carpet (still have leftovers) prevents the springs from poking thru the sponge
Using the wifes blowdryer to heat up the material (shhhh)
Hog ring detail
 _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Tue Dec 16, 2008 11:51 pm Post subject: |
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September 2008:
| don.ville wrote: | I got a Pyle plmr18 from Ebay.
It is a MARINE radio with no moving parts (no CD mechanism). Just a USB and SD slot for mp3s, aux input, and AM/FM (What more do you need?) . Coated circuit board for when the water starts to flow past the safaris. Even comes with a remote control for the rear seat passengers.
Then I bought a dual voice coil speaker to put behind the factory speaker grille. (8ohm/coil) (stereo sound from a single speaker).
For an antenna, I just cut of a 7 foot length of house 16 Ga wire, stuck it in the antenna hole in the radio, and ran it up the A pillar on the passenger side, no antenna hole...good enough reception, not great.
Radio
Speaker tie wrapped to speaker grille
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I have since bought an amplified stick on antenna from Advance Auto parts that I hide under the parcel shelf. _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:03 am Post subject: |
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Aftermarket carpet was glued in pretty damn good. Can't get that stuff off yet, Peeled carpet off, but glue stays behind.
To be welded in
Test fit...
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:06 am Post subject: |
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Bus has been running great so far. About 26-27 MPG, and I have accumulated about 6000 miles since taking ownership.
I drive it to work almost every day.  _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 12:10 am Post subject: |
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Getting ready for the Bulli Brigade in November 2008.
Got the engine firewall tin installed, adjusted valves, changed oil, fuel filter, and adjusted timing (two degrees retarded from exisiting setting of 30deg at 3K RPM).
Added too much oil, and had to drain some off. Did that! _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:00 pm Post subject: |
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Friday morning all geared up for Bug Jam in Pasco county Florida, and Bulli Brigade in St Petersburg, FL.
Friday, on the 200+ mile trip over, engine bay is sprayed with the excess oil leaking from my last oil change (level is still too high).
Friday night I drain some oil and level seems OK. Clean out engine bay at car wash, and head to the Rare and Unique Party in Bradenton.
Saturday, drive to Bulli Brigade, then start heading up to Wesley Chapel but turn back for dinner and shopping with family.
Sunday morning, check out, load up bus, and hit I-75 North for the journey to Bug Jam in Dade city. About 30 minutes into the trip, doing 70 on the highway the engine starts to loose power. I look in the rear view mirror and see smoke, so I pull over right away, and quickly rush to see if I need my extinguisher. A fellow VW driver pulls over, and I start it while he looks and he said its spraying oil from behind the crank pulley. At that point, I decide to just avoid further issues and call AAA.
Tow truck arrived in 30 mins
Taxi arrived in 40 mins.(I had me, wife, and 2 kids):
Taxi followed tow truck to the Avis rental at Sears in Brandon, FL
We picked up a Hyundai, jammed everything in it, drove to BugJam, left the bus at Sears
Called AAA on the way back from Bug Jam and had the tow truck follow us back to West Palm Beach.
The bus started after rolling off the tow truck, and I was able to drive it into the garage.
An expensive weekend for sure.... _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:22 pm Post subject: |
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November 23, 2008:
About 2+ weeks go by before I even do anything at all with the bus. Besides, I had my other 2 cars to do work on. Transmission filter change on mine, and heater hose failure on the wife's ride kept me busy.
I finally decide to take the engine out to see what happened.
Looks like piston #3. If ever there was some failure of this type (looks like overheating or detonation), #3 would be the first to go....
Cyclinder #3 showing burned piston.
Melted piston parts:
Piston out of car;
I again decide to give the bus rest. Was sucking too much money in one month... _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 8:30 pm Post subject: |
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With the engine out I noticed one of the clips that hold the throwout bearing in place was broken and possibly bouncing around in the bellhousing.
Broken clip:
Throwout bearing hanging in there:
 _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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RAMZROD Miami V-Dubs

Joined: February 06, 2004 Posts: 6616 Location: In the garage
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Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Don glad you and the fam made it back safely from BJ weekend. I wasn't aware of your incident? Looks like you're on track to getting it back on the road. _________________ |o\®/o|
looking for vintage plate from Ramsey, NJ
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:38 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah ,It was just me and the family driving so, good thing it happened during the morning so I could actually get a rental and a tow that quickly and spare them any roadside drama.
All my preparation and spares would not have helped in this situation...
I would have preferred to be using new stuff, and opened the case, but I am working with some free parts, and a limited budget, so I am doing what I can... _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:48 pm Post subject: |
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One of the problems I had with the engine was an apparent lack of cooling, so I wanted the engine tin to be in tip top shape and as unadulterated as possible from OG design.
The tin that was installed was hacked for a type 4 oil cooler, so some key parts were custom fit, and others would not fit. So I had to get new tin.
Here I am modifying the cylinder tin to include a little deflector that is often missing from aftermarket tin.
I drilled it out from the aftermarket tin that was on the bus, and riveted it to the new Scat cylinder tin.
Test fit
 _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:51 pm Post subject: |
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Engine is out, so I took the change to remove the fuel tank to repair the sender, and give it a good cleaning.
I had just filled the tank before hitting the road for Bug Jam, so I had to drain all 10 gallons _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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I found out why the fuel gauge was not working. Not only was it not the correct bus type sender, it had a bad spot that would cause erroneous readings. (I ran out of gas twice due to the faulty fuel gauge.... )
Look and you see some melted plastic running over the strands of wire that cause the impedance to change to give a gauge reading.
 _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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don.ville Samba YardMan

Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 2289 Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Posted: Mon Dec 22, 2008 9:11 pm Post subject: |
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Cleaning up the engine bay...
I got some straps from a parts bus at JB Bugs in Jensen Beach, FL. Thanks Paul !
Time to get rid of the plumbing straps...
 _________________ 67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
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