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geopanoramic Tue Sep 10, 2013 3:31 pm


so this is how things turned out....


and where the accelerator cable comes through... seems like a nice, secure fit.


and the ugly through-tank tap assembly, which is now holding its first gallon of gasoline in over 10 years, with no leaks.
This fitting assembly can always be replaced from below by something better (bug like, but not Bus like - NLA). I'm getting tired of getting nickle & dimed on it all this year.

These photos are placed for the record (and future owner). The project at this point is only a minor project and it has stolen huge doses of August/Sept.

The engine is about ready to go in - your help/suggestions are much appreciated. Speak now or hold yer tongue :P :D

1967250s Tue Sep 10, 2013 11:32 pm

Are you sure you don't want to hook up the blower to the heater boxes? Do you have the fan housing close outs to the heater boxes? I see you're in Idaho- it will be very cold unless you have done a bagload of heater mods. If you're not going to paint/undercoat- spray down hidden areas with oil, spray all bolts with rust penetrant. I'd hit everything in sight with rustoleum, your choice color. ;)

geopanoramic Wed Sep 11, 2013 9:03 am

hey thanks for the reminders - there are too many missing parts to put the heat system together for now, including the blower motor, which went into my 75.

I don't have the fan housing closeouts to the heater box (the 2 little swinging shutters on the bottom on the fan shroud) that I assume stop reverse flow of warm heater box air into the fan) :?:

I also am not installing the heater box close outs in the front of the heater boxes (I've only got one that will fit), and I assume the fan will push cool air over the heater box fins and out, adding to cooling instead of letting it build up in there :?:

My thinking is to leave everything open and blowing air, and seal anything that needs division of air. I just noticed a large round 1 inch hole in the front lower left part of the shroud. :?: :?: Seems like it needs a plug that was never reinserted... one more bother, but I am trying to stay focused on the key items.

Undercoating etc will happen next time :P - it's a pretty friendly environ here, and the bus isn't going on the road yet.

1967250s Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:24 am

You can make the little flappers yourself- very easy, there was a thread where someone just made them up. _found it-http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=566112
The hole on the right/left? front of the shroud might be for the cooling bellow to the alternator?

geopanoramic Wed Sep 11, 2013 10:26 am

AH :idea: the mysterious hole is the air flow rubber boot that feeds the alternator. I guess I need one of those.... or I could forget about it as the last yahoos to work on this rig did.

:idea: EDITED: I found my old one that I replaced - so I'll install that one :D

I did buy one a few years ago for the 75, so they should still be available, but a quick search at Bus Depot made me think I dont have the right word for it. I think I am going to skip it for now, becasue i need to get this motor back in before fall weather & work.

geopanoramic Wed Sep 11, 2013 11:05 pm

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=566112


thanks! We will when we get serious about this motor.

The motor went under the bus today, amid chaos. The tent came down at night. Time has run out; I'll come back in the October rain and finish it. I had hoped to get further,. Many details were dealt with, too insignificant and numerous to recount! So much time; such drama!

geopanoramic Tue Oct 08, 2013 2:23 pm

Sept 11 was about a month ago. Made it back for some mild early October weather. With Moscow buddy got the motor in without much drama (Type 4s are always a fight it seems). Got everything hooked up. Placement of accelerator cable works well. It's raining hard now & quite cool.

FUEL PRESSURE REGULATOR (for Carbureted rig)

Before starting up these Dual Carbs I reckon I need to pay attention to the directions from Kaddie Shack:

I.E.: " 1.75PSI +/- 0.25 PSI for these carbs to work properly.... "

The NAPA pump I routed under the bus likely puts out 3.5 or higher PSI. According to my local Napa parts guy. So I need to buy one...

On the other hand the old fuel pressure tester I have registered only 0.5 PSI on the other side of the 1/4 inch lawn mower fuel shut off valve that I installed (after contemplation of chronic gasoline-down-the-arm during the early years....). :? :?:

Thoughts/ Suggestions?

EDITED: FYI - Busdaddy suggested something like this on the stupid question thread


geopanoramic Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:41 pm


December 12, 2013
So we did get the motor in, in October, but then had to take off again. Project was dropped right at the point of a possible start...

We pick the saga up again following a mild Thanksgiving window, when we ascertained PROOF of LIFE! That was followed by another hiatus and extended arctic period (0 degrees F) into early December. Now just shy of Christmas, during warm inland pacific NW temps, we had some days suitable enough for wrenching...

BusDaddy - we decided to punt. I just bought the apparently crappy, dial-a-pressure regulator for 25$. Once installed we went to fire up the bus & it turned out that maybe my initial fuel pressure check was right! The NAPA fuel pump wasn't delivering more than a light airy dribble to the carbs (probably part of the original, inherited combination of the catastrophic gas tank rust + nightmare fuel system).

So, instead of spending money, I threw on a late 80s electric subaru fuel pump that was lying around, and the new Kadrons brought the motor to instant running life! Works good for now (a running bus was the primary goal). Of course certainly not as awesome a story as that thread on solenoid-killed gas tanks, and complete metal fuel line replacements.... (etc). See here: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=578216&highlight=solenoid+fuel+line

Back under the bus, as I adjust the regulator between position 1.5 and 4 - it makes a difference on starting... We will have to experiment further when the weather is nice. Other than that, it's on to fuel mixture, idle and balance...

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have this shred-ready, self-maintained 300K soob that is a turn key operation. Can you say Schlussel-Fertig? Sure you can...!


The soob above comes winter complete with an ugly, git-er-done ROCKET BOX FIX using epoxy, aluminium from a downspout, rivets, cloth & fiberglass resin, and covered in black undercoat. (Ya can't see it the picture nor or at 60mph).


Fun times at Camp Idaho.... Carry On.

geopanoramic Tue Dec 17, 2013 9:26 pm

Nice not to have any questions for a change....

Even the question "where did the word BAY come from" recently got a "from England possibly," when it popped up again in another thread. Wow - Answers!

Here instead is a trip into memory - oh what a long strange trip indeed... For me, it all started with a buddy's BAY (of course we just called it a BUS, which it's not I understand). Still, originally I got the sense that it came from "FAUW VEH BUUSS" as pronounced in German. (Of course when I go hang with my German cousins today, they are using the word Der Bully!) Is a Bus an it, a him or a girl? Life is just so confusing....

Anyway, my buddy's bus (the 1972 Westy seen below) we called, "DAS BUS." We had all our carpentry tools in that box we built. We started in Maine, spent some time in New Jersey and went WEST. That was simple enough. We were gone a year, and a lot happened. I'd like to know what ultimately happened to Das Bus, but I'll not bore you will ALL the details, and the wild Dead Shows we found ourselves in. Likewise, the following buses all had their stories too: here are a couple of PHOTOGRAPHS. One of these buses blew up a motor on I-95 in NEW HAMPSHIRE and another I was constantly underneath after my buddy sold it to his brother, who eventually sold it to me.... yada yada....


Das Bus on a Missouri River levee in LOUISIANA with new friends from Baton Rouge


Das Bus at dawn - dish-washing and skiing in Park City, UTAH


Das Bus and her/its occupants going surfing in Santa Cruz on a weekend, while working in Monterrey, CALIFORNIA. The For Sale sign was an ominous sign that we'd discovered more Vee Dubs!


Here we are back in Berkeley, California selling a 66 Utah Bus that had a blown motor when we picked it up. Crashing with instant friends - a magician, a musician and a girl called Foxley, the bug motor we put in also got some new heads. It was there that a low key yellow BAY window transporter mechanic dude stopped by to lend a helping hand - I later inherited the identical craft (also a long story).


Back in NEW JERSEY, this 1963 became my first real keeper, later needing a trans-axle in Maine, and continuing to Bar Harbor and a new owner. Note the 3/8th tongue & groove cedar interior; extra from a side job.


In between, this 1967 bus was bought from a dude in Turners Fall, western MASSACHUSETTS - Mohawk Motors. I put a 1500 in it at his place, and we went to a VW swap, post hypnotherapy :shock: . I later put a bug's 1600 doghouse dual port in there, after the 1500 blew up in the middle of the spooky night.


Here's the 1967 - The nose ding and the emblem are mine, as are all the mistakes in this life. I put a new clutch in that rig in the middle of the NORTHERN VIRGINIA winter.... I also learned what multiple deteriorating electrical components mean in terms of trouble shooting.


My Bavarian cousin, me and girlfriend from Austria, taken on a cold January morning in Phillippi, No. Virginia, just before we left to parts unknown. Thanks to the lovely Mrs. Kerr with whom we stayed, her contacts got us parts and space at a warm garage to put the new clutch in. This is a nice polaroid taken by Mrs Kerr in 1991. Our lives were very much out there in front of us; now they are mostly behind us.


Here we are reaching Boulder, COLORADO after a cold january crossing of the mid-west. That Bus later went to NEW MEXICO, and ended up in Crested Butte, CO. It might still be around there.


One of the things we came back with from Monterrey California was this 23 window bus (we came back with other cool stuff too). A Long story - but this buses' original name was Bula. Here she is camping with friends in MAINE again. She's around there still, I bet, but the rust..... (!?).


Here is the same bus working the summer with VT kids in the woods in VERMONT (VYCC). Later four of us did a western tour that took us through Vermont, MONTANA, TEXAS, ARKANSAS, ETC. It was an EPIC September road trip, taking us to Yellowstone, right after the big burn there! Fun times (in part).

geopanoramic Thu Jan 02, 2014 3:59 pm

Captain's log, 1st January 2014.

The enterprise received a boost today when the prodigal boychild, upon a fair weather holiday return, proposed replacing the accelerator cable. In our mechanic's 'onesies' we fired up the 72, and took it for its first drive in... 14 years.... (although I did originally miraculously drive and tow this bus 4 years ago, after initial struggles, the 5 miles from Moscow out to the mountain. Here, the tank and fuel system finally imploded, and the original carburetor was taken off and put back 5 times, until I decided to replace it last year).

Meanwhile here is photo of the 75, as copied over form the Buses in Snow thread:

here is a good snow 'hat' from a 27th Dec 2008 snow event. This season 2013-2014 has turned out somewhat differently with a deep, long continental cold period (zero F) that most of us felt, and a ground rain/melt/freeze that followed more normal Thanks Giving and early December snow events. Although we have just some shady remains of snow, our driveway has been a treacherous ice rink for almost a month.

(Copied from the Buses in Snow thread)

Thrasher22 Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:05 am

Congrats on getting it running! I can relate to working in the cold, spring can't come soon enough :D

hagermanfolley Sat Jan 11, 2014 2:57 pm

did you say you fixed pin holes in the gas tank with jb weld? Just curious as I had a yamaha 650 20 years ago, the tank had an amazing paint job, one day riding home from class, my leg started to get wet, to my surprise i look down and fuel is flowing out of the tank, you guessed right holes patched with jb weld and then painted over. I had flash visions of becoming the human torch. take it for what you will just some first hand experience with that stuff.

geopanoramic Fri Jan 17, 2014 1:50 am

Well until a nice tank plops down in the driveway, or one of us figures out how to weld ancient sheet metal, it will have to do. Small holes they were, and the suggestion came from folks here. The key however is that the POR 15 is working rather nicely on the inside. That coupled with paint on the outside and the tanks location within a mostly sealed compartment.... maybe it will actually work for 20 years?

hagermanfolley Fri Jan 17, 2014 9:24 am

maybe it will and I have no idea how the repair was done on my bike as I didnt do it so who knows how it was prepped, There was no internal tank tx either. Also he hole on my bike was rather large about the size of a pea. Great build by the way I love watching the way you are tackling this and think it will give many ideas to others.

shiningstar76 Fri Jan 17, 2014 9:18 pm

Awesome thread. I've been lost in it. By the end of next week, my ass will be commuting in a 300k mile blue legacy too. Cheers.

LOVED all the old bus photos and tales....

geopanoramic Wed Jan 22, 2014 12:23 pm

hey guys thanks for the compliments and concerns! :D And earlier answers to veedub conundrums! I am sure this coming summer's outside work season will see more actual tech questions and photos and such. Yea, this thread weaves a bit and is a combination "scrape-booking / getting her fixed up:"

1) Writing down what we done on the 72, so that when the next owner - "the lad" - drives away, there is a record for him to go back and review.

2) A mini retrospective on my 75, earlier adventures, and even subaru fun.

One of the primary goals was to have a running, cleaned up / kitted out Riviera so the 2, now 3, next 4 year old will enjoy some happy summer time back yard camping and loft sleeping before the Riviera takes off.

That will seal the deal :wink: :twisted:

Shiningstar76 - what year? I may have another doner on the horizon... ( of course you are probably in alabama! (I'll have to go check).

geopanoramic Mon Jun 02, 2014 1:33 pm

2014 Spring Up-date.
Well the January 1 test drive was ok, but a lot of flat spot/no power was had.

We made it back into the driveway and parked it till Spring.

We have almost reached the penultimate goal of turn key starting and around the driveway/property movement and camping.

QUESTION / DIARY LOG: Starts and Idles well, but bogs out under load...
Timing?? (Dual Carbs, stock mechanical advance distrib.).

1) Checked timing. Supposed to be for this engine 5 AFTER Top Dead Center. But runs nicely at 8 BEFORE TDC....(?). Tried it more retarded, but Bus not happy (remember these are dual KADRONS pretty much out of the bag - so lots still to adjust/balance there and not that stoked about it).

2) Checked points. Pitted, but 0.016 & dwell was spot on at 50 degrees
Put new points in anyway and got them close enough. Drove around - better, but still more to sort out - i.e. distributor ok?/ fuel adjustment/ fuel pump type (!!!using a 88 subaru pump presently with cheap adjustable regulator!!!).

End of Spring Log. Comments/suggestions much appreciated!

PS. Anyone got a couple of bumper bracket solutions for this bus? I was going to try put my 75 bumper on, but they are different.

geopanoramic Wed Jun 04, 2014 4:29 pm

Oil change, pertronix, and while I've got the distributor out, fix the damn quit oil senser on the 75 today (light has been out all year... @#$#).

So how to remove an oil sender from under the shrouding?
Trix? I put it on the dumb question thread too.

rustbus Wed Jun 04, 2014 10:01 pm

geopanoramic wrote: Oil change, pertronix, and while I've got the distributor out, fix the damn quit oil senser on the 75 today (light has been out all year... @#$#).

So how to remove an oil sender from under the shrouding?
Trix? I put it on the dumb question thread too.

I think this task is why I own a 24mm deep socket. SUPER carefull not too tight! Still makes me nervous when they pair a 24 socket and 10mm tiny pipe threads...

geopanoramic Wed Jun 04, 2014 11:09 pm

My 22 and 24 deep sockets didn't fit the 12 sided sensor, and my 27 didn't fit through the shroud hole. But they are heavy half inch drive sockets....

I'll try the 24 again manana (I think it fit thru the shroud?). Otherwise I reckon I need to buy a 24mm or maybe 26mm 3/8s inch drive deep socket). That would about a one inch socket in these parts I suppose....

Yea, pipe threaded little thing = one must be careful. Thanks for the help. I guess I wont rip off the intake & everything after all....



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