1965 SO42 Westy

[Squilly]

I've put lots of miles on this bus this summer, from Big Sur we drove it to San Luis Obispo for a few days, then back to LA where I prepped it some more for a trip to Colorado and then Idaho. I got some 1 5/8" heater boxes from CB Performance since I had the 2332 hooked up to some stock heater boxes, but didn't have time to put them on before we left. Oops.

We drove out overnight but lost a lash cap and the rocker loosened up after we got up Baker Hill. Re-did the valve adjustment at a gas station and got back on the road. Drove till 5:30am when the sun was coming up and pulled down into a canyon to sleep. Turned out the hill we drove down was way softer and had to air way down after the 4th try. Hung out in St George for the day to avoid the heat and went the rest of the way to Colorado starting at 3am. Made it to KCW without any other issues but decided to give it a full tune-up to be safe and put the new 1 5/8” heater boxes on. Found the lash cap in the oil sump. We re-torqued the heads and it seemed like we got a bunch of turns on them. As we were leaving for a river trip in Salida my bus got super hot and slowly died in front of the shop.

ore into the motor to inspect the heads and pistons because we could hear a small clicking noise when turning it over. It was also super hard to turn by hand. Everything looked good though, so said what the hell and put it back together, re-torqued heads in sequence and did valves blah blah. Clicking seemed to be the rocker not seated correctly. Stabbed the motor back in, seems to be running fine now? No weird noises, not too hot.

We had it all put back together and had it all dialed in for the trip to Lava Hot Springs in Idaho, but only a little way into the drive it was hesitating a bit and getting hotter than usual. Just kept driving though since we didn’t have any major issues until we pulled into a gas station 80 miles from the Lava. It was barely idling and clearly running on 3. We pulled the valve cover and #4 exhaust was super tight. Loosened it up and kept going to the campsite. Pulled the rockers later that weekend and #4 is sticking way out. Bummer.

I decided to not blow up the rest of the engine, so we AAA'd back towards Pocatello, Idaho where we got a U-Haul and towed it back to Colorado ourselves.

Going to put some 94mm Panchitos and stock rockers on to tone things down a bit on since this is basically a drag racing engine I'm using in a camper... But CB is out of stock for a while so my adventures are on hold for now. Hoping I can get this back in action for fall camping!

[srfndoc]

Definitely putting some miles on it and some great memories. Good luck with the rebuild.
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[BarryL]

[Two Glove Boxes]

Your build was awesome and great to see it getting put to use especially on the PCH. Very cool getting it knocked out at KCW with John and crew! Congrats!!!

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1950 Deluxe Sedan Build

1951 Split Standard Hoffman Build

1960 Dove Blue Double Cab Patina Build

Two Glove Boxes IG

[Squilly]

[Squilly]

Finally got this thing back on the road again.

Here are the new engine specs with the Panchito heads:
2332cc – 94mm bore – 84mm stroke – 68cc chambers – .040 deck height – 8.8:1 compression

I'm hoping this will be a better road trip setup than the old heads, which were way too hot rod for this use case.

First break-in trip was the drive back to LA from Grand Junction. Stopped off in Zion along the way and made it back without any major issues. The second was out to Joshua Tree for a few nights of camping. Looking forward to more trips soon!

[AS350driver]

Gorgeous pic of your bus plying through the Joshua’s. March is the perfect time, too.

[earlywesty]

How do I find a girl who works on buses like all your pics, I think you are hanging with a large percentage of the population lol.

[Squilly]

Used this bus recently to drive from LA to Mammoth for closing weekend - nothing like camping, hot springs, and skiing in a split!

My next project on this one is adding an electronic fuel pump. I'm having some leak issues with my Webers that I suspect are stemming from fuel boiling in the mechanical pump after I shut the engine off. I've messed with the floats some but it's weird because they never used to leak before. I figure an electronic pump won't hurt anyway, and could probably be located at an auto parts store more easily than the vintage-style one in a pinch.

[von_hansel]

[Squilly]

[Squilly]

Been using the SO42 quite a bit so far this year. It's made 3 trips out to Joshua Tree, a few trips to San Clemente and San Diego, and one HUGE trip from Venice Beach out to Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

I broke my own rule about driving it in temperatures over 90 degrees. It was 105+ all the way from Baker, to St. George, and basically until we got through Zion National Park. The whole time I was anticipating the engine to just give up and die but it just kept going. Although it's' loud, this bus drives so so nice. Smooth steering, cruises at a good RPM, and great stopping power from the Old Speed disc brakes.

Joshua Tree trips were fun, too. Went out once with a buddy from Flag and another time with Audrey (KCW) and her dad's silver bullet Kombi.

This 4th of July we drove it from Steamboat to the town that I originally found it in for a bit of a "homecoming". Queue the photo dump:

[mtnbus]

beautiful shots and fun trips !

It can be nerve racking with the high temps. yikes
hope to catch soon willy ! bus looks amazing. great job

[LAGrunthaner]

Wow great pictures and a great Westy. Keep these coming as we all live through your adventures. Not to mention how motivating it is to turn our wrenches and live the dream.
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