SO4420 FlyNgrab - Escape from Florida

[Kommercial]

I was asked for an in-progress road blog so people who have helped me can check in on our adventure. It will also serve as a build thread.

Warning- This will be as long as my drive home.

While working a deal on a so42 in sanford FL, I spotted this jewel- a 1966 so44. Pretty rare beast with alot going for it. It was also made on both mine and Bex's birthday's - 420, so I had to have it and we decided to fly out and drive it home to Arizona down Route 66 for a week. The challenge has been to escape from Florida, before the rust takes anymore from the bus, and get it back to dry AZ lol. There's still time!

Left on july 4th evening, was cool seeing the fireworks from the top side! Got to St Augustine the next morning and rode out to meet Robert Kennedy of Bulli Brigade fame who was the current custodian of the bus for the last year or so after Grayson pulled it from a barn.
Bus status- 1600sp 6volt, now runs great but history unknown. Occasional starter issue. New starter, battery, fuel tank, tires, petronix. Let's go for it!
Arrived last Saturday the 5th and picked up the bus.

Getting into some specs-
66 so44 poptop, only 500 kits made, still 6volt with original interior, original engine, still working Blaupunkt radio and Water bottles, Speedo says 20k....... more on that later.
Mcoded for;
374 N.A. package. Tourist delivery
025 belts
056 steering lock
119 Ebespacher
181 chrome caps
Westy painted Cumulus White over Sea Blau
Delivered to Gottlob Haberle in Heilbronn Germany

Drove it down to Sanford to stop and see a so42 project I had previously bought, then on to Sarasota to see family and say our hello's. Ran like a dream. Stopped at a cool Dealership - Bob Boast VW.....

Sunday afternoon we headed out, and around midnight tragedy struck around Brooksville- loud rattling and then engine blew and locked up solid.

Got towed to a hotel 1 mile from us that we could see from the highway and crashed out around 2 am.

Next morning after posting an update in a facebook group, an amazing man named Michael Harmison volunteered to jump in his truck and come get us and tow us back down to Sarasota where I had found a used long block 1600DP at a local shop. Mike is my hero! But finding Turnkey on the weekend proved difficult but luck was now on our side and we got the lead thanks to Robert scouring his phone book to help us look. The turnkey was an unknown 1600DP that came from a customer car and sat on the shelf. Good end play and what they said was 175psi compression.

Made it to the shop and we dropped the bad motor that evening out in their shop so they could get finished quicker.

In the meantime, Mike volunteered to host me at his spot, and him and his lady Julie showed us around town, his VW's, and the beach.
Also got to meet a local Wayne who showed me some of his cool collection, Wolfsburg 55 pg and a wide bed bolt on kit he bought in Austria.

3 days later they had finished the swap. Also put new ebrake cables and repacked a front wheel bearing. I had drop shipped them a 6v hard start relay and ebrake cables which they installed after having to weld the ebrake holder brackets back onto the backing plates.
They had decided to throw a new Chinese KIPA carb on it to save potential tuning time which I didn't like, but it was running great so off we went. Headed back to family 20 minutes away and it ran great.

2 hours later I fired it up to leave and noticed it took a little longer to start and started popping and what seemed like missing under load. Drove for a bit into Gainesville then bellowing smoke started from drivers side. The valve cover was dumping oil. Pulled it off and I realized the gasket was garbage and they hadnt changed them. Stayed at a hotel in Gainesville and in the morning I checked the valves....all of them were at zero!

Also I was sure they didnt change the plugs either so I found a local shop- Werkshop49 which I limped to and was very good to me and got my parts in and installed. Asked them to tune on it and he spent 5 hours even after closing, trying different things. It seemed to get worse the more stuff he tried (carbs, dizzy etc). His smoke tester showed leakage out of the boots which also hadn't been changed, but were bought off as good by the last shop. A local guy Lorne came by to give suggestions as well.and lend a hand, much appreciated. The only thing harder to find than a 1600 on a weekend is dual port boots on a Friday night. I cant escape Florida.
Werkshop49-

Limped it to a cool local spot - Satchel pizza. Wild place!

Boomerang time- back I went Saturday to where it began on another tow to the seller Robert's house who just HAPPENED to have dual port boots being delivered to his house by none other than Doctor David Bogel, carb whisperer. Factory trained so I knew we would get it. I did the boots swap in the bus, and Dr. Dave with the help of Robert, whispered to my engine long into the night. He thought the needle/seat was sticking so eventually replaced that as well.

Sunday morning Dr. Dave (as I call him) was tinkering again and had it running great. Also had a special guest drop by, Cunado! He ruthlessly car jacked someone from their cool restored Austin buggy and took the gang on a roadtrip around the block while we slipped out across the countryside to follow the sun.

Almost to the border! Thank you to all the Florida people!!!! Next stop Dothan Alabama

[gondiwindi]

Awesome story! So cool to read your adventure. Safe travels for the rest of it.

[von_hansel]

First; Congrats on the SO44. I really like this bus and I am super excited to see what you do with it. The plaid interior does it for me. I am looking forward to your updates.

Secondly; What an adventure! I can't imagine the emotional roller coaster you have been on the last week.

Last (but not least); Earl is a great guy. He is EVERYWHERE, And always willing to lend a hand.

Safe travels home. You guys are brave to be taking a long distance road trip in the peak of summer.
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[DanM]

Killer bus. Looks like you're on your way. I'm looking forward to updates. Good luck!
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drive it. break it. fix it. repeat.

[zuggbug]

Wade, that is a beautiful bus. Glad you were able to get things sorted.
RK, Dr. Dave, Michael H. And Earl are all great guys. So happy you were able to get back in the road.

Looking forward to updates on your journey

Love the SO44.
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
58 15 window
56 westy

[campingbox]

Safe travels Wade!

[Clara]

[EverettB]

Wow, that is a cool interior.

Dang, what a headache on getting things going but glad it all got sorted out and hope you are ok the rest of the way
_________________
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"Water is the only drink for a wise man" | "Communication prevents complaints"
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Lind]

Awesome, safe travels. Road trips are always and adventure.
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Wanted:
Idaho VW license plate frames or other dealership items.
VWoA literature and early dealership or distributor literature/pictures/information
.

[ryans65]

I love seeing or reading these fly and drive stories unfold. I see a few familiar faces in your photos, lots of good VW people down here.

Safe travels.

[BulliBill]

Yay! A road trip! So where are you now? And where will you be joining onto Route 66? St. Louis or farther west?

I hope the rest of your journey is full of fun and wonderful moments, and no more mis-adventures that thankfully turned out fine.

Bill Bowman
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[Kommercial]

Thanks for the well wishes guys!
Currently in Arkansas, gonna stop at Polk Bug Vw and see if I can score a backup 6v coil.

Some of these roads are bumpy! just noticed the fuse for my brake lights had fallen onto the floor as I hadn't put the cover back on it lol.

Plan to join up on route 66 in Tulsa

[srfndoc]

Epic trip. Hopefully the rest of the way will be uneventful.

That Earl dude is everywhere. He always says 'chrome will get you home' so maybe check on getting some bling for that Westy.
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[BonTonRoulet]

[Kommercial]

Update-
Had an uneventful drive up to to Sallisaw yesterday to see some relatives, stopped at Polk's Bug shop and grabbed a backup 6v coil for cheap. Chatted a bit and checked out what he had going on. Super nice and even cooler dog. He even texted us to wish us well on our trip the following day. Complete stranger but we just keep meeting awesome people! While there I pulled a couple Mcode plates from nearly non-existant lonely 66' split walkthru's that weren't as fortunate in life as my 66.

Pulled driver headlight apart as the adjustment screw heads were stripped (phillips) and it was way off. I just happened to grab a headlight ring from a project I bought back in florida, so I swapped the ring but it wouldnt adjust properly as it didn't have anything besides some loose tubing holding the screw heads to the replacement ring, so I did the 4mm locknut trick. Should adjust great once nightfall hits.

Adjusted valves- drove a little over 1000 miles and # 3 had both tightened up. The rest were still good except for #2 exhaust had become tighter. Running Doghouse on the replacement engine. While I was under it I noticed I was now missing a strainer plate capnut, so back over to Polk's Bug Shop to grab more spare parts.

Engine still running good apart from now usually needing to blip the throttle to wake it up off idle circuit before leaving an idled stop.

**Overnight Arkansas gas station comedy-

Stranger: "is the engine in the front?"

Me: " No, rear engine"

Stranger: "ya'll from around here?"

Me: "No, we are driving home to Arizona from Florida".

Stranger: "ya'll hippies?"

Me: "No"

Stranger: "Deadheads?!??"

Me: "No......... I just collect buses"

Stranger: **sneers in a disgusted wtf manner, then suddenly becomes enlightened and wide eyed with a grin, and then in a serious tone says- "Ah, I see. So ya'll are hoarders then."
I just looked at him and he nods and walks away, as he had successfully completed his need to categorize me, and felt personal closure on the conversation.
Haha


Currently staying in Tulsa then onto Route66- only 1 week behind schedule!

[pondoras box]

I am very much enjoying your adventures on here thank you for taking the time to post these.

I am definitely in the hoarder category! I either have too much stuff or not enough space to keep it.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[mtnbus]

only one week behind schedule !

right on tiime.....in a vw hahhahaa
great trip, beautiful bus

safe travels

[BulliBill]

"Hoarder"? Sir, you aparently haven't tried to see or walk thru my garage and basement!

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[Kommercial]

Some more junkyard pics

Check out what's left of the phantom top on the fastback. This yard had the most type3s I have seen in one yard. Won't bore the splitty owners with that though

[Malokin Martin]

I wish we had more of this on here. This is rad.