TheSamba.com :: View topic - New Bus Rebuild

Tue Mar 25, 2025 6:00 am

I posted a couple months ago about getting my hands on a third bus, and put up a couple poor photos.
It is already named Bento - as it was used as a promotional sign in front of a Food Hall.
We will probably keep that name. It sort of seems to fit the bus.

Life cascaded over our family for a while so I could not pay any attention to this new member.
But....I went over to look at my new vehicle with Emma yesterday - for another five minutes - and of course forgot to take the keys.
I'll get back over soon. Photos will appear after my next visit.

First - I need to address some missing important bits. (and get this to my house)

This is a '78 Westy
Automatic
Air conditioning.

I could open the engine hatch and have another look.
I knew it had the F.I. removed and a single carb installed.
That is going away and F.I. going back on. Thankfully I already did that once before with Murphy, so I have a little handle on the process.

There is no ECU present so I need to source one.
Is there a specific ECU that I need to obtain for an automatic? Six pin? seven pin? I'll take all the advice I can get.

Photos will be here soon and I'm sure that will prompt some other comments.

Thanks
andreWTF

Tue Mar 25, 2025 10:53 am

I can't answer if a an auto ECU and manual ECU are compatable or whether a manual ECU will work well with your auto but I do beleive you are looking for a 7 PIN box. I believe the 6 pin boxes were for FI Beetles.

Tue Mar 25, 2025 12:50 pm

The ECU for your automatic is different from the '78 manual transmission unit. The AFM is the same AT and MT.

Tue Mar 25, 2025 12:54 pm

andrewtf wrote: I posted a couple months ago about getting my hands on a third bus, and put up a couple poor photos.
It is already named Bento - as it was used as a promotional sign in front of a Food Hall.
We will probably keep that name. It sort of seems to fit the bus.

Life cascaded over our family for a while so I could not pay any attention to this new member.
But....I went over to look at my new vehicle with Emma yesterday - for another five minutes - and of course forgot to take the keys.
I'll get back over soon. Photos will appear after my next visit.

First - I need to address some missing important bits. (and get this to my house)

This is a '78 Westy
Automatic
Air conditioning.

I could open the engine hatch and have another look.
I knew it had the F.I. removed and a single carb installed.
That is going away and F.I. going back on. Thankfully I already did that once before with Murphy, so I have a little handle on the process.

There is no ECU present so I need to source one.
Is there a specific ECU that I need to obtain for an automatic? Six pin? seven pin? I'll take all the advice I can get.

Photos will be here soon and I'm sure that will prompt some other comments.

Thanks
andreWTF

Keep those flames! They make Bento look fast.

Fri Apr 25, 2025 12:49 pm

Got it home last Thursday.
Did some investigation to see what I'm up against.
An Automatic with Air Conditioning......

a few other photos in the gallery if anyone cares.
The previous Owner was planning to use the bus for 'vending' at events - but never quite got there.

On Saturday, my sister was visiting so I put her to work and we got this accomplished. I pulled out a mile of speaker wire, and the 120v outlets in the back were all installed in metal conduit. The white stuff is actually Corian and the large sheet weighs about 80 lbs.

Admittedly, I haven't yet figured how to remove the under dash Air conditioning yet - but I'll get there.

We have ideas for the rejuvenation and I'll share as we go along.

This bus sat outside at the local Food Hall - as a piece of 'Bling' for more than five years..... never moving. On Wednesday AirSchooled arrived to help me make sense of this new family member. Yesterday he got it roaring (whimpering) to life after a couple hours....... and moving under its own power a few minutes after. When I figure out how to link a video, I'll share.

Then before dinner - we removed the engine, separated it from the transmission, and got it on my stand in the garage. (I highly recommend a chain hoist for this operation). I'll do the big cleaning over the next few weeks and do the work necessary to get Bento to the body shop for a new look (but the flames definitely stay). The engine had been converted to a single carb and I am going to re-install the F.I.

I'll update as I'm able.... in a less rambling manner.

Fri Apr 25, 2025 1:22 pm

Nice! The floors look good, just surface rust by the looks of it.

Mon May 19, 2025 11:27 am

Just a little update.
I don't really feel a need to relate this entire experience.
So - I'll just give a highlight or two - every so often.

I got all the windows out, seals removed, etc. in preparation of the trip to the Body Shop. Here's about forty pounds of old crusty rubber.

Unfortunately, the windshield was subject to a bit more force than it was capable of withstanding. The fact that it was glued into the seal, which was glued to the frame did not help.

This morning it left the driveway for the three miles to the Shop.
Stripped naked with the doors bungie corded closed.

I've been spending evenings cleaning bits and pieces and making list after list.
Its rewarding and therapeutic.

Sat Jun 07, 2025 7:12 am

Did the body shop give you an idea how long it will take?
Hopefully it will be quicker than Murphy! :lol:

Maybe I missed this in your thread...
How's the engine?
Were you able to check compression?
Do you have all the FI parts you need?
I still have boxes of extras so lemme know if you need something.

Sat Jun 07, 2025 8:56 pm

Miss you guys in IUC, hope to get back sometime soon.

They scheduled Our spectroscopy seminar right on the biannual Munich show so I had to send the minions to that since I’ll be in BeerLand.

Hope all is well on the Homefront.

Sun Jun 08, 2025 6:42 am

since you asked........
just a short update.....

We checked the engine before removal and had compression of 150+ in 3 of of the 4 cylinders - and I think 145 or so in the 4th. I did learn that the engine was rebuilt by a shop in Indianapolis. Most I can offer in terms of what I got is Robbie commenting on how well built it seems to be and the quality of parts installed. A persnickety engineer owned it before - explaining some of the attention this engine seemed to get. I got lucky with this one.

I'm not sure I mentioned it - but this was parked for at least 5 years - never moving and the service sticker on the windshield says it moved 55 miles after that service (which would include the tow to my house).

Thankfully, I've done this before so I have a notion of what I'm in for, and a garage full of bins to pull parts from. I've been cleaning all the parts that I'll be reusing and assembling the bits I need (and there are a lot of them). I am down to a handful of items still needed - that I know about. And there will be a million things I'll need once things start to go back together.

The only real unknown so far is the interior colors and materials. I'll be getting Sewfine seat covers and door panels and we're working on colors. This one will be a green base vehicle - as of yet not precisely determined......
However - with a green base and the flames denoting the shear speed of the bus, Emma is pushing toward changing the name from Bento to 'The Flaming Mallard'. Its growing on me.

The bus will (!!!!!) be back from the body shop (same one as before - since he will actually work on a bus) by mid September - for AirSchooled to assist (or direct) the engine and transmission install in early October. I won't get it fully operational until spring - I'm sure - but I hope to be going up and down the road before snow. Of course the body shop is loving to be able to give me the news of "oh boy - this is way worse than we thought". I was ready for that.

Ironically - one of the reasons I got this bus is because - while my wife could drive a stick - she didn't like to with the bus. Its an effort to muscle a bus around - so an automatic was just the thing for us to enjoy the fun together. We love to camp! And we'll each have a bus to take (but sleep in the same one).

So - Steve asked - and I have not put this out (not that many of you know me or have much of a reason to care) but my wife Deborah passed away exactly three months ago today. It was long and difficult and heartbreaking to see someone who is almost your entire world dissolve away as you helplessly watch. We had 45 years of marriage and a few years before that. If you were lucky enough to know her, you understand the force of nature she was, and might begin to understand how hard this is, and will, be for every day that I have left. She was an artist of some international acclaim, and a life partner like no other. Saying that I miss her terribly is an injustice to the English language. I don't need sympathy....just time.

However - this project comes at perfect time to allow me to spend a good amount of time on a project that provides me joy and a sense of accomplishment.

thanks - Andrew

Steve - Emma is further south in Germany now - maybe close enough to Munich to visit. But I assume your time is not very plentiful.

Also - while I'm here.......
Other driving adventures.......

Last Friday, driving Murphy home from work, going about 40, my accelerator cable just snapped. I coasted into the next parking lot at a small grocery store. I had a spare cable - but where to do this? I was kind of nervous because I've never done this before and my bus was really (I mean REALLY) rusty on the underside when I got it. I didn't want to struggle for hours in the parking lot. I thought about inching home on the idle because its only about a mile and a half. But I have a sort of steep hill to get up - so AAA got me home. That's why I have it - after all. My nervousness was totally unfounded as the entire process took maybe 20 minutes?..... it ended up being probably the easiest, difficult thing I've done on any bus so far !

Whew - if you got this far - thanks for reading.

Mon Jun 09, 2025 7:06 am

While never having the pleasure to meet Deborah, I feel I've known her since meeting Emma before her Mexico journey. Emma was dealing with a cold and spent a couple days being catered to by Sven while she swayed happily in a hammock strung between palm trees in Palm Springs. She spoke very lovingly about both of you and the encouragement you gave her for many passions.

While she was recuperating, Sven and I spent a few hours getting to know each other while trying to discover the cause of a hesitation they were sporadically experiencing.
(Spoiler: It was due to bad fuel from a gas station out near Coachella.)

Before they left, Emma was kind to give me a small framed quilt-like artwork that Deborah had made. It's sitting happily among books, plants and other memorabilia collected over the years (decades? :shock:).
So I'm sure Deborah's legacy will live on in many hearts and places.

Fri Jun 13, 2025 5:45 am

The bus has been at the Body Shop for about two weeks now. Things are progressing and some replacement panels have been ordered.

I don't think there is anything new here - so commentary seems unnecessary.
If anything noteworthy crops up in this process, I'll let you all know.

Fri Jun 13, 2025 12:28 pm

Thanks for sharing the news and all of our condolences , of course.

I actually have to drive from Munich to Innsbruck so maybe a visit could happen.

Sun Jun 15, 2025 1:41 pm

From my untrained eyes Bento looks like there's not many large patches of rust.
Which panels need replacing?
How's the underside looking?

Tue Aug 05, 2025 9:00 am

just a mid shop update.......
Everyone here has done and seen this before - and nothing new is happening with this one............. so we're just catching up.

repair panels going in.
The windshield is there to adjust the gaps.

Last week was the first interior paint
Closing in on a final color selection for the exterior.
Comment if you want - but the exterior color I'm heavily leaning into is "eruption metallic green" (as seen on a 2022 Ford Bronco) for below the beltline and white above. We already have red, yellow and blue, so we need a new hue.

There are a few more photos in my gallery.
And - I hope to have this in my garage in about 8 weeks.

Stay tuned for news !!

Mon Sep 08, 2025 1:35 pm

Time for a Monthly Update:

I have a house full of stuff.... waiting for a painted engine bay to get my engine built and stuck into. So - here are just some photos of the piles of stuff I currently have assembled to build this thing.

Piles of parts went to the Amish Metal working guys.
They are a few towns over in Arthur - where there is currently a Broom Corn Festival happening.
This business's access to the phone is only on Thursday morning - so you leave a message and on the next Thursday morning, you get a call. Drop everything off and -
Then - some random Thursday in the future, you get another call saying the job is complete and come get it.
Just dodge the buggies on the way there.

The tin - sandblasted and powder coated.
I've never had tin powder coated before - so I'm anxious to see if there is and difference.
Is it easier to keep clean?
How pissed will I been when I scratch it?

Exhaust and some other parts sandblasted and left for me to paint.
These were parts I wanted stripped - and didn't want to do myself.
Since I was taking a load anyway............

Those parts painted. All the exhaust got high temp primer and top coat.

And for kicks:
I have mounds of stuff in three different places in my house right now.
Unluckily for me - there is no one to complain anymore about tripping over a fan shroud on the floor or the kitchen smelling like gasoline and motor oil.
All in all - I'd rather have the complaints.

Waiting to put the engine back together.
A few small items still missing.

Random pile of brake components, glass, interior panels and ?

Most of the rest of the pile.
I've gone thru all the locks, latches, blower motor, wiper motor, lights, lenses, CVs, all the bits and pieces...........................
I ultrasonically cleaned my ass off.
FYI - nuts and bolts in a rock tumbler come out pristine!

This certainly didn't happen with our first two buses, (thank God)
But I am keeping fastidious track of the spending on this beast.
I am keeping a running total of what this cost to get back on the road and will be sharing that spreadsheet when I'm all done.
It can be sent along with 'The Bears'

Reality's a Bitch
For those following along - This total is currently at $20,600
I still have:
~$6k to the Body Shop
AirSchooled cost to assist in engine re-assembly and install
Interior door cards and upholstery (custom).
and all the stuff I don't know I need yet.
Guessing - Another ~ $12k to make this a sweet ride.
The Bus was FREE (sort of)

Tue Sep 09, 2025 6:20 am

I do often say to new people looking to get a bus/van
the cheapest are often the most expensive..

but your doing great work and it'll be a bus to cherish once done.

Fri Sep 26, 2025 1:09 pm

I got a green engine bay.

The shop has another week to progress before I snag the bus to try and get the engine thrown together and stuffed in it.
Then back to the shop for final prep and paint.

This is not necessarily my preferred sequence of construction - but sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

Give me two weeks or so and I'll show off my shiny new/old engine..........

Fri Sep 26, 2025 3:43 pm

Looking good \:D/
And it's moving a lot faster than Murphy!

Can't wait to see more.

Yesterday 5:40 am

On an unrelated note; It sure was cool seeing Big Emma pull into my driveway last Wednesday :)