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Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:42 pm

Bumper looks great.
Good job
Tcash

Sun Jun 21, 2015 2:14 pm

Summer semester has been in full swing so there hasn't been a lot of progress on the bus other than collecting parts and fixing little things.

I installed a billet shift coupler after getting tired of dealing with the china brand crap with poly inserts that had too much play to confidently find the gears. Its nice to not have to twist the e brake lever to the side to have the clearance required to get into first gear.

Finally got around to thoroughly cleaning the door mechanism and adding a few welds to fix the worn slider. They now work effortlessly and for the first time since owning the bus they both lock!

I also gave up on the stock fridge from the vanagon, it really only worked well when it was running for several days on 120V. On propane it would work but even in the garage with little to no breeze the flame would constantly blow out. And on 12V it drained to house battery faster than the alternator could keep it charged. After pulling the old unit out we went with an Engel MT45 cause it runs on both 120V and 12V with very low power draw. To make sure the batteries stay charged we also picked up a Renology 100W panel and charge controller.

Finally after several months of dealing with the engine issue I believe Adrian and I have reached an agreement on a way forward with the next iteration of the CS clone. The last go-around was cut short after the large metal shavings were found after the first 20 minutes of startup along with very low oil pressure. The motor is going back together with a new oil pump, oil cooler, new Type4Store cam and lifters. Hopefully the motor will be ready for pickup in the next several weeks... hopefully. As reliable as this 1776cc has been its not cut out for pushing a heavy bus in this desert summer heat.

We are planning to take a trip up to San Fransisco at the beginning of next month to see family and cruise down Hwy 1 on the way home. We have found a few potential remote camping spots that will hopefully be nice for a few days of relaxing and studying by the coast. If anyone has any good suggestions on camping spots between LA and SF that are near the water we are all ears.

Mon Jun 29, 2015 9:23 am

Very impressive thread. I found it by looking at the thread you made about putting a vanagon interior in a bay. The person in that thread trimmed all the cabinets to make them fit. Did you end up trimming the bed instead? Any issues with two people on the bed sleeping?

Mon Jun 29, 2015 8:40 pm

Thanks for the compliment.

I ended up using the early bay z-bed brackets with some modifications to fit on the opposite side. The vanagon cabinets required some trimming to the backsides but it wasn't that much really. The vanagon snare more square so the back of the cabinets are much flatter than the sides of a bus. We sleep two with plenty of room. The cabinet that holds the grey water tank took the most trimming to get to fit while still maintaining the tank functionality. The vanagon a must be a bit longer between the rear deck and the back of the drivers seat.

I have not measured a late Westy bed width but I imagine it is very similar in width. It's easliy sleeps two without crowding.

Tue Jun 30, 2015 7:06 pm

levi20AE wrote: Thanks for the compliment.

I ended up using the early bay z-bed brackets with some modifications to fit on the opposite side. The vanagon cabinets required some trimming to the backsides but it wasn't that much really. The vanagon snare more square so the back of the cabinets are much flatter than the sides of a bus. We sleep two with plenty of room. The cabinet that holds the grey water tank took the most trimming to get to fit while still maintaining the tank functionality. The vanagon a must be a bit longer between the rear deck and the back of the drivers seat.

I have not measured a late Westy bed width but I imagine it is very similar in width. It's easliy sleeps two without crowding.

thanks for this as i was actually going to PM you with questions about the cabinet trimming and exactly what seat brackets you used.

i noted that earlier in your thread you made mention that you trimmed the most out of the rearmost cabinet, are you referring to the wardrobe?

and to clarify, you're saying that the backsides of both the water storage and stove/fridge unit need to be rounded somewhat to fit tight up against the driver's side of the bay?

thanks again for the pics and jumping in there and doing this mod. i was on the fence about what to put in my highroof and this awesome setup of yours totally inspired me to go this route as well.

Wed Jul 01, 2015 6:02 pm

I was actually referring to the closet with the water tank that sets next to the fridge. It took a good but of trimming to make fit. Yeah the backside of the stove and water tank cabinet need to be trimmedto fit the rounded interior shape..

I ultimately ended up not using the wardrobe closet because i found it wasn't that efficient at maximizing the space. Instead I built a few shelf's from aluminum.

Good luck on your project, I can get specific pictures of areas if you need them.

Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:35 pm

Just got back from a week long road trip along the coast to escape the Las Vegas heat. To prepare for the trip I did a typical valve adjustment and oil change but this time decided to pull the rockers to check the torque of the head studs. I should have probably done this several thousands of miles ago, there has been a few perpetual leaks from the bottom of the cylinders at the case mating surface. The torque was maybe a little greater than finger tight on more than one nut!! After torquing the lower nuts little by little to keep the stress even across the head and cleaning the case and cylinders, it didn't leak a drop the entire trip.

Before taking off I tested out the 100W solar panel and the Engel fridge to see if it could actually produce enough power to run the fridge and several electronics. The panel made enough sun in the afternoon setting sun to bring the fridge from 110 down to 42 in less than 2 hours. I also plugged in a tablet to charge and radio to add load. The panel made 5 amps in direct sun and in the shade it was still making between .5 and 1 amp. during the trip we had plenty of power to run the fridge and keep the food at a constant 40 degrees and power the laptop for school work.

Here is our not so direct route we took to get off the interstates as much as possible. The first night we stayed in Tehachapi where the elevation is greater and the night time temps were in the low 80s by midnight.

The coast was socked in with fog many of the days so we did our camping up in the hills each night above the fog bank to stay warmer and dry.
Bixby Canyon Bridge just before heading down the back roads.

Old coast Road amazing and full lush forest and several older bridges.

Nacimiento Fergusson Road up above the fog.

View from one of the campsites. We may not have been able to see the ocean but it was still beautiful.

Leveling the bus was required most nights since the trails and spots were not prepared camp sites.

The trip was overall a success with lots of miles covered and few issues. the alternator is going to have to come out again cause something is rubbing. I'll be so excited to get rid of this type 1, motor has been great but the alternator/cooling fan combo has been a pain in the ass. We have now logged 14,000 miles on the "temp" motor in the bus. Hopefully Adrian gets the type4 done before the next big road trip.

Tue Jul 07, 2015 6:45 pm

Great pics of a great looking trip!

Now that you are back what's your plan for dropping the engine to torque the rest of the head studs?, doing only the lowers is worse than doing nothing at all.

Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:06 pm

I thought about that before torquing them down, spent a beer debating the possibilities... The uppers that I could see around the tins looked dry and tight, could still see some lock tight. I'll check the uppers soon when the motor comes out for the swap.

Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:10 pm

Looked thru here and didnt see details of your solar set up. Could you share?

Jealous of the Engel. Currently searching for a used fridge/cooler or i may spring for a new Dometic CF-025 as they fit in the fridge cabinet (cabinet next to bed).

Tue Jul 07, 2015 7:24 pm

I decided to go with a portable setup to swap between cars and not have to park in the sun. The fridge has been great thus far and sure beats soggy eggs and bread.

http://www.renogy-store.com/mobile/product.aspx?Pr...s100d.htm=

Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:24 am

Well got the Type4 back and it runs pretty good on the test stand but still has dismal oil pressure at idle when warm. If I hold it at speed long enough to get the oil temp up to~180-200 and then let it drop back to idle the pressure is probably less than 5 psi. I'll install a tach this afternoon and see what the idle speed is to ensure its not too low. I'm really bummed about the pressure and figure I'll have to start digging into the pump to confirm clearances. The solid lifters have the lubrication holes which the builder attributes to the low oil pressure but I don't have the same issue on the 1776 with drilled lifters.

Anyways to pass time and I built a rack to store the firewood and the jerry cans so they are no longer eating up interior floor space. I'll get the bumper, rack, and spare wheel powder coated soon.

Sun Aug 30, 2015 3:22 pm

Here is a clip of the new motor warmed up to illustrate the oil pressure. I got the tach wired up to better characterize the oil pressure issues. It seems to make acceptable oil pressure at RPM but if the idle dips below 750-800 rpm the oil pressure light is solidly on. This is with a new Melling 30mm pump that the builder said had .004 clearance. I'm used to seeing ~60 psi at cold start and this motor makes maybe ~45 psi when cold at idle.

Sat Sep 05, 2015 12:22 pm

Awesome. Simply great. I envy you, I am so ready to be man, bus, and adventure. This was a great read.

Mon Sep 07, 2015 11:51 am

Thanks man, your project is looking good too!

Got a little more work done on the type4 this weekend. I swapped out the AL108X alternator for a rebuilt unit with increased amperage to keep all the on board accessories running. The old alternator was still working but made some noise, my just swap bearings and keep it as a spare. The new unit was a rebuild from BNR in Van Nuys, CA. It didn't come with the pulley with the fan like the original one had, so i went to swap the pulleys and found that they didn't even use a woodruff key... not a good start. I'll report back for sure if this thing turns out to be a piece of junk. Better get to ordering new bearings for the old one.

Got around to swapping a mechanical oil pressure gauge onto the motor as well as the electronic VDO. Both gauges are mounted to the same tee off the stock oil pressure gauge hole and both read almost identically, except for the mechanical one has greater fidelity (its full sweep). So I'm convinced the oil pressure is what the gauges say it is and that the idiot light works as advertised when coming on around 3-5 PSI. Here is a pick of the oil pump, it doesnt leak but has plenty of RTV. I can see parts of the paper gasket in places but maybe the extra RTV is increasing the clearance enough to reduce the oil pressure. I'll look in the Tom Wilson book to see if this is one of those places RTV is forbidden. I seem to remember using a very light coat of Permatex on the pump face when building the type1.

Another issue i noticed was that the A/F gauge has been pegged at 8 which is ridiculously rich. I figured there was a wiring issue but the other day I let the motor run until it ran out of gas and sure enough just as it started to pop up through the carbs the gauge started to bounce to the other extreme. Pulled the lambda sensor and sure enough it was covered in soot.

I went ahead and ordered some 32mm venturis, main and air jets to start tuning the 40 IDFs. Currently its running 28mm venturis and the jets are drilled to whatever he felt appropriate.

Thu Oct 01, 2015 5:47 am

levi20AE wrote:
Also installed a bottle opener and magnet to catch the caps.

This is the very best thing you've done to the bus! Mad genius!

Sat Oct 10, 2015 6:56 pm

Took some time to play with the bus today. Pulled the trusty Type1 and cleaned the engine bay. It was supposed to be the temporary motor but it ended up serving for nearly 15,000 miles. The motor was great aside from the alternator/fan needing to be pulled. Went ahead and got a Berg welded and balanced fan for the next car it ends up in.

Got the bumper and spare wheel back from the powdercoater and everything came out looking great. The finish is a perfect match for the other GoWesty components.

The Roadshower2 finally showed up after being on back order for ~3 months. I'll be mounted to the Westy top so that the extra lift provides additional water pressure when the top is popped. Also got a new canvas top in but unfortunately the wood in the top has to be replaced so that will turn into another project. Time to learn fiberglass repair...

Sat Oct 10, 2015 7:39 pm

Holy cow! That's a rear bumper! What's the bad boy weigh?

Sat Oct 10, 2015 8:46 pm

The bumper feels like it's about 50lbs. The extra swing-always probably add another 50 lbs. then add 10 gallons of fuel and the weight penalty of moving the spare from the interior to the exterior. The hi-lift jack is the heaviest part probably.

Sat Oct 10, 2015 8:53 pm

This thread is fantastic and an inspiration. Road trippin' is exactly what I intend to do in mine when I trust it enough. Keep up the amazing work and keep sharing, it's guys like you that make others get off their asses and save these vehicles! =D>