My new '74 Westy- Getting her in working order

[box12360]

I purchased this wonderful machine a couple of weeks ago with. Boy I didn't know what I was getting into but have learned so much about it. I'm excited to get her back road worthy and camp!! Thanks to my Dad's knowledge, he had helped tremendously and I've learned so much.

So far I have:
-Fixed the wiring to the Brake Lights (I Have Brake lights now )
Question regarding Brake lights. They only work with the ignition on is this normal? We put them on a fuse that only works with the Ign on.

-Fixed the wiring to the turn signals

-This was a Huge pain as I learned that VW's have different wiring than American cars. (Brown is usually ground not Black which is ign. power red is hot all the time)

-The PO did not know this and end up wiring things up backwards Huge pain to figure this out be finally did thanks to the wiring diagram archives
Picked up some engine tin that I was missing from a bus in a local junkyard. ( could not believe that it was there the three rear pieces and the shroud that goes around the crank shaft belt.)

Electrical Pic

Missing Tin Pic- found and put in

-Had exhaust leaks so took the exhaust manifolds off to find the leaks and filed down the areas that were effected. Everything was filed and straight. Unfortunately I did not have the copper gaskets they were not in there nor did I purchase some in advance to removing the manifold from the head. We used some high temp RTV as a gasket.

- The PO had purchased an aftermarket EMPI/GT Muffler system brand new. Installed this but after reading reviews This seems to be a very crappy muffler. With the EMPI/GT muffler on its not as loud as straight manifold but still pretty loud. I feel like it's a little quieter than before with the known exhaust leaks. I don't think I'm getting exhaust leaks from the head to the manifolds as its not to loud there. Anyone know if the EMPI/GT muffler system is supposed to be very loud? I don't really have a reference point on how loud the bus is supposed to be as I know it had exhaust leaks before. I can actually somewhat hear the motor ticking away now.

-When I first got it i attempted to siphon the old gas (3 yr old) out but there wasn't much. when I would pull the hose out of the tank it had rust flakes on it. The electric fuel pump that came with the bus did not a filter between the tank and pump. Needless to say it went bad after a couple of laps around the neighborhood. Installed an electric Fuel pump from autozone (B-day present from my dad who was visiting) which I assume is is ok at 35 gal a min, not sure of the psi. It had a filter before the pump which I think will save it just got to keep it clean. Works like a charm. There is a filter between the progressive card and out going side of the pump.

Old Fuel pump below with filter between the pump and Carb.

-Had to get a new battery as the 3 yr old one sitting in the bus was bad.

Went to Hook the Wipers back up and noticed the motor was missing! Time to hunt down a new wiper motor!!

Next project is to clean out the interior of the bus and find out what I have and what i need. There's a huge box with what looks like seals and heater parts.

Stay tuned for more progress!!

[wcfvw69]

Nice bus. So the fun begins as you go thru all your new bus's systems. I'm doing the same w/my new to me bus as well. The link is below.

I'll say it first. CHANGE all your fuel lines! You have no idea how old they are and you can find a thread in here on bus's and fires. My new to me bus had the old, dried up fuel line leaking under the tank.

Keep posting pics of your progress. Everyone love's pics.
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Contact me at [email protected]
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
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**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Nice bus and cool colour! Ditto on fuel lines. I am replacing some on a new bus at the moment and I could break them in half with my hands Have fun!
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[box12360]

I've been searching on here and came across a couple threads about pulling the fuel tank. I would like to do this and not pull the engine as the PO said it had been through a couple years ago and seems to run fine. They could have even put new fuel hose in but i want to make sure. I'm in the process of purchasing a bentley manual and i figure that will answer many of my questions but for know I'm curious if i can just pull it out?

[Red Fau Veh]

You can remove it without taking the engine out, but, you should just drain it and try to see if it is clean. Sometimes you can just use the tank and replace those filters around 5 times or until they stay clean, it might be ok.
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1971 Deluxe Sunroof Bay 1905 stroker, dual idf40's, 74mm Scat forged crank, engle 110 cam. CB 044 heads, AutoCraft rockers, chromoly push rods
1973 Orange transporter stock type 4 with dual 40 Dellortos and Empi single quiet pack
1969 Adventurewagen blue whale Gene Berg 1776 built by Dave Kawell dual 36 DRLA's, Vintage Speed exhaust, Bosch 019 screamer
1961 Swivel Seat camper, L345 grey

[mtcamper]

Nice bus! Looks like you have got a lot done. One thing I wanted to mention is that there is slim to no chance your exhaust manifold will seal without the copper gaskets and just rtv .

[busdaddy]

Spend some time reading here while you wait for your Bentley manual: WWW.Ratwell.com
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Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[box12360]

[Banjoben]

Nice looking bus. I've spent the spring getting the 74 Westy I just bought, on the road. Now I'm tooling all over the countryside having a blast. I hope you get there soon too. I've been happy with Bus depot. they are good about their parts.
Do NOT use a pool noodle for an engine gasket. That is asking for a fire. Get used to spending a bit of money. It's far better to pony up the extra for the right parts in the first place. (And this is coming form a major tight-wad) It's just a lousy fact that these things take a few bucks to get them up and running.
I would also recommend re-locating that fuel pump and filter somewhere outside the engine bay.(Fire hazard)
Do not skimp on fuel lines, or tires. When these things come back to bite, they bite hard on Busses.
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1974 VW Westfailia Campmobile Deluxe (Clementine)
1970 VW Type 3 fastback. (Abby Normal )
2008 Passat Turbo Wagon Lux
ASE Certified Advanced Level Master Tec / Toyota Master Diagnostic Tec.
Head Boffin of the legendary(does it really exist?) Stray Cat Vintage and Custom Garage. Home of "The Bomber Squadron"

[box12360]

Does anyone know what this hole is???

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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[box12360]

Installing a new old wiper motor from a 69 bus to a 74. I was able to look at the wiring diagrams for both years which the amazing German engineers changed some of the wiring colors around. No biggie I just marked the wires coming from the steering column which were listed on the 74 wiring diagram. As far as the wires coming from the wiper motor I was able to clean it off well enough to see the printed 53 53a 53b. Note to anyone working on the wiper motors for the first time, in order for them to work you need to ground the actual motor or at least a 69 model wiper motor.

After testing to make sure the motor worked (and dropping it) i installed it to the lid wiper mechanism which I found out was very sticky and did not like to move. It blew a fuse so I took it off and tried to give it a go with out the mechanism and it blew another fuse. After reading a wonderful write about taking your wiper motor apart I was up for the task. I took the motor housing off and found a lot of crud in the housing and some actually caked on the magnets. I clean it off and took some sandpaper to the bushing to clean it up. Tomorrow I will clean the top gear housing of the wiper motor in hopes that it's not as hard to rotate and cures my fuse blowing episode.
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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[busdaddy]

The hole looks like a relocation of the canister purge line when A/C is installed.

You may find no amount of cleaning and lubing will cure the fuse issue with the wipers, 69 uses a really different circuit then a 74, better get into the science of the 2 systems and see what you can do to adapt.
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

Слава Україні!

[Wildthings]

Relocate the fuel filter before the pump instead of after so that the filter protects the pump. You will probably want to use a larger filter so that it will catch more crud before clogging. You don't need or want a very high pressure pump, 3-4 psi is sufficient. Use Gate barricade fuel hose and locate the filter so it is easy to change. The chance of a fuel pump in the engine compartment adding causing a fire is nil, there are lot of other much more likely reasons that a fire will start than the fuel pump location. It is likely you are going to want to pull the tank sooner or later. Removing the carb and lowering the engine several inches to get room is pretty easy to do, no need to separate the engine and tranny to do this.

As others have said the silicone used to seal the exhaust isn't likely to work long and you need a properly made foam engine surround gasket. You will probably want other parts as well such as the fuel filler neck elbow so make a list before you order. In the long run the shipping will not amount to much. Don't discount your local auto parts when wanting small parts like the copper gaskets. I am often surprised with what I can find locally.

For just the copper gaskets, you could probably use the phone (instead of the internet) to order the gasket and ask that they be sent first class mail. Not only is this usually cheaper for a small light item but you save all the time you would waste ordering on line.

[box12360]

This weekend I made a little progress on the bus. After trying to reinvent the wheel making a 74' wiper switch wiring work on a 6 wiper motor I decided to use the 69' wiper switch until I'm able to get a correct motor and wiring. Below you can see the switch on the right near the glove box. It's not ideal but it will work.

I also hooked up my emergency brake Handle. After pulling the handle back I realized that they do not work what so ever. Next weekend Check out the Brakes and learn how to adjust the emergency brakes. There is resistance and I can hear the cable going to the back I'm thinking it has to do something with the brakes since it's kinda hard to stop lol.

I also attempted to hook up the 69' instrument cluster on the bus and pretty much nothing worked lol. The fuel gauge would randomly switch over to full when I would turn the headlights on. None of the blinker lights worked. Question on the blinker lights. Are they supposed to come out of the blinker relay? I have one light coming out but it did not work when I tried the blinkers.
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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[Wildthings]

You can not properly adjust the parking brake unless the rear brakes themselves in good working order and properly adjusted.

[box12360]

That's my project next weekend. Working on the brakes and going through the wiring on the instrument cluster again. The PO had bought brakes but not installed them. So i have new brakes ready to put on. My first truck was a 69' Ford f 100 that had drum brakes and I've changed those a couple of times. Its been 10+ years though, so this should be a very good refresher. I'm going to have to purchase the tools for the job which i should be able to get from the local hardware store. That should make things easier.
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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[Manfreds78bay]

The body looks like she is in goo order. No dents or dings.
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1978 2.0L FI Campmobile

1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI

[box12360]

Ended up buying a 74 instrument cluster and once again attempted to wire it up. On the grey wire with red stripes (dash lights) I found out that my light switch is not original. The current light switch has a 58e marking on the back of the switch which did not come standard to my knowledge on the 74 bus. After checking all the pin lights and all had resistance I turned the bus ign on and switched the front lights to the on position and none of the dash lights came on (head lights work). (E1 grey wire red stripe) I turned the Dial to adjust brightness and still nothing on the dash lights. Also the hazards only work when one of the blinkers are turned on doesn't matter if it's left or right. The dash lights gray wire red stripe crosses over to the hazard lights thinking this may have something to do with it. Side note none of the other lights work except for one which I'll have to check later for the specific wire color.

If anyone has a 74 instrument cluster pic with the wires and lights that could be helpful. The wiring is kicking my butt!!

Positive note new speedo hooked up nice.
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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[box12360]

I'm missing part of what I assume is metal below. I purchased a engine compartment seal and once I get to this point (pic below) there is a very large gap with what looks like something missing. I have searched and not found anything I can replace or put on the gap (original). There is a screw with a piece of blk plastic on it and I can't find or know what it's called. What am I missing?

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'74 Westy Pop Top "old yeller"
1700cc progressive carb
009 Dizzy with Electronic ignition

[hercdriver]

Your bus had air conditioning at one point. That is where the compressor sat. It looks like you still have the two lines hanging next to where it used to be. You'll need to weld in a patch to keep the hot air below.

PS Add your location to your profile and you may get a local guy to help out.
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1966 Beetle with sun roof
1975 Westfalia Deluxe