TheSamba.com :: View topic - Reviving my 76 Canadian Market Automatic Westy

Mon Feb 14, 2022 9:28 am

Sway Bar upgrade

I needed to replace the clamps and bushings so I went with a new HD sway bar. Used penetrating oil for over a week but still one side wouldn't budge so I broke the bolt head off and had to drill it out.

Tue Feb 15, 2022 7:43 pm

Headlight upgrade to H4s

Thought I would upgrade my headlights to H4s and bought a set of EMPI's from CIP1 but they were crap and CIP1 wouldn't allow me to return them even though EMPI said I could.

Bought the Toyota Koito H4 kit for less than CAN$75 and happy with the upgrade.

Crap CIP1 EMPI H4 patern
High Beam

Low Beam

Nice Koito H4s from Toyota patern
Low Beam

High Beam

Tue Feb 22, 2022 10:34 am

Road Trip

After recently dialing most things in that needed to be done, decided to take the bus on a 650 mile test run to Revelstoke and back for a 3day weekend.

Drove over the Coquihalla pass (4000ft edited) and had a mix of dry, foggy, rain, and snow/ice pack and temps from 40F to as low as 5F and a 30mph head/cross wind on the way back. The HD sway bar upgrade made a noticeable difference in the cross wind!

Easily maintained 60mph up all the hills and passes and didn't have to use the truck lane. Cruised at 70mph when traffic allowed and had no issues with the snow and icy conditions.

Camped in the bus Friday and Sat nights and stayed in a hotel at the resort Sun night. Snowboarded in 18" of fresh powder with my wife, son, & daughter. What a great trip!

No issues at all with the bus and I feel I can take it anywhere now.

Mon Mar 07, 2022 9:50 am

For those considering swapping to Subaru gauges

VW gas gauge ohms run 79 empty to 10 ohms full

Subaru gas gauge is 90 empty to 2.5 ohms full.

Added a 10 ohm resistor but need to switch to a 15 or 20 ohm as I found out that I could only drive about 2 miles after the empty warning light came on and the needle was at about 1/16

Tue Mar 08, 2022 1:57 pm

respect for the road trip especially doing Coquihalla hwy. Guy who rebuild my engine says you can only do Coquihalla couple times haha :) It sure is different in winter I guess

Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:57 am

Magion wrote: respect for the road trip especially doing Coquihalla hwy. Guy who rebuild my engine says you can only do Coquihalla couple times haha :) It sure is different in winter I guess

Thanks. Who did you use locally in the Lower Mainland to build your engine?

Wed Mar 09, 2022 1:01 pm

Shonandb wrote: Magion wrote: respect for the road trip especially doing Coquihalla hwy. Guy who rebuild my engine says you can only do Coquihalla couple times haha :) It sure is different in winter I guess

Thanks. Who did you use locally in the Lower Mainland to build your engine?

Ed @ The Bug Shop, he is the best!

Wed Mar 09, 2022 8:07 pm

Magion wrote: Shonandb wrote: Magion wrote: respect for the road trip especially doing Coquihalla hwy. Guy who rebuild my engine says you can only do Coquihalla couple times haha :) It sure is different in winter I guess

Thanks. Who did you use locally in the Lower Mainland to build your engine?

Ed @ The Bug Shop, he is the best!

Yes, Ed does good work!

Fri Mar 11, 2022 2:39 pm

Love this build! Pro job.
How's the 010 holding up? I know it's a Vanagon version with the external fluid cooler attached. There's a certain amount of members who run their stock air-cooled 010 with no fluid cooler. I'd go that route if I ever have to Subie swap.

Fri Mar 11, 2022 5:29 pm

Gregg in the 603 wrote: Love this build! Pro job.
How's the 010 holding up? I know it's a Vanagon version with the external fluid cooler attached. There's a certain amount of members who run their stock air-cooled 010 with no fluid cooler. I'd go that route if I ever have to Subie swap.

Thank you. I ran the original 003 while I was getting the 010 rebuilt and it was fine but from what I read and talking with the Trans rebuilder, heat generated leads to shorter transmission life and makes the engine run hotter so I looked for a Vanagon 010 for the external oil cooler.

The torque converters don't lock up on these so as long as you are driving normally on mostly flat roads I'm sure it would be fine but we have a lot of mountain passes here and I pull a small sport trailer so it made sense to get one with an external oil cooler.

Mick at Busaru said he beats on his auto all the time without issue but I had the chance to buy a Vanagon 010 at a reasonable cost and pulled the trigger. I've only got about 8000 kms on the swap so time will tell.

Mon Mar 21, 2022 8:34 am

Dashcam install

Bought a 10" Jansite dashcam with both front and rear recording. Mounted the rear camera inside at the top of the back window. Can have the curtains closed and have a full view. Works well.

Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:32 pm

Switched back to the original rims and D rated 14" tires to compare how it handles and noticed that the steering is easier with the narrower tires but the bus feels less stable than with the 16" Nokians. Going to get an alignment done and see if I need to replace any front end parts.

Mon Apr 18, 2022 7:31 pm

Road Trip

800 mile trip over the Easter Long Weekend into the BC Interior for some camping, hiking, and biking with friends. The Bus ran like a dream cruising at 70 with a few faster tests up over 80.

Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:20 pm

OK, been following in the shadows. Good for you to turn a BC turd into a usable product WITH Suby power nonetheless.

Looks like an enjoyable outcome. Enjoy. Its better than what it was by far. 8)

Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:00 pm

Shonandb wrote: Road Trip

Drove over the Coquihalla pass (7000ft) and had a mix of dry, foggy, rain, and snow/ice pack and temps from 40F to as low as 5F and a 30mph head/cross wind on the way back.

I know the Coq is tough, and I drove my Bus on it when I picked it up, but I'm pretty sure the Summit is more like 4000ft not 7000ft. Fun road though!

Tue Apr 19, 2022 5:22 pm

Globespotter wrote: Shonandb wrote: Road Trip

Drove over the Coquihalla pass (7000ft) and had a mix of dry, foggy, rain, and snow/ice pack and temps from 40F to as low as 5F and a 30mph head/cross wind on the way back.

I know the Coq is tough, and I drove my Bus on it when I picked it up, but I'm pretty sure the Summit is more like 4000ft not 7000ft. Fun road though!

You are right Globespotter, my mistake. I must have googled Coquihalla and got the mountain height not the pass itself. Seemed high but didn't think too much about it. I've edited the original post.

It's an easy climb (5-6% grade) driving from Merritt to Hope but a fair bit steeper from Hope to Merritt (7-8% grade). Subipower makes it all easy now though.

Tue Apr 19, 2022 5:30 pm

notchboy wrote: OK, been following in the shadows. Good for you to turn a BC turd into a usable product WITH Suby power nonetheless.

Looks like an enjoyable outcome. Enjoy. Its better than what it was by far. 8)

Thanks. Still a few things to do but we've been using it most weekends and camping at least once a month.

Next up is new ball joints, alignment, and steering link work.

Tue Apr 19, 2022 9:32 pm

Shonandb wrote:
It's an easy climb (5-6% grade) driving from Merritt to Hope but a fair bit steeper from Hope to Merritt (7-8% grade). Subipower makes it all easy now though.

Lucky for me, it was mostly downhill, as I hooked over from Vernon via Kelowna and down to Hope. Glad to here the Suby handles it well. I just got my 2L Type 4 rebuilt and it's pretty good on the hills now, but it's no Suby.

Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:21 am

hello from a fellow vancouverite, great read, looks like youre having fun with the old bus... thanks for sharing!

Wed Apr 20, 2022 8:07 am

Globespotter wrote: Shonandb wrote:
It's an easy climb (5-6% grade) driving from Merritt to Hope but a fair bit steeper from Hope to Merritt (7-8% grade). Subipower makes it all easy now though.

Lucky for me, it was mostly downhill, as I hooked over from Vernon via Kelowna and down to Hope. Glad to here the Suby handles it well. I just got my 2L Type 4 rebuilt and it's pretty good on the hills now, but it's no Suby.

Having a newly rebuilt 2L must be nice. If my bus would have had a 2L, I would have rebuilt it but the PO swapped in a 1.7L (that was completely beat) and it would have cost about $6k with all the work and machining I would have had to have done so went the Subaru route as I wanted a project that I could do myself and the cost wasn't much more, especially when rolling the dice on Air Cooled parts these days.

Recently saw a couple 2L engines for sale here in BC for a reasonable price that would have knocked $1k off the rebuild cost but really happy with the Subaru swap, so no looking back.

However, it is all reversible except for the air cleaner mount, but I have the piece I had to cut that could be welded back on.