67 Standard Peach Kombi, West Palm Beach, FL

[pyrOman]

[don.ville]

[don.ville]

So for the last 16 years I’ve been driving this bus I never had any license plate lights.
A third brake light was located where the license plate light should be.

There are also two extra square holes above the 4 screw holes for the license plate.

I wasn’t aware the previous owner cut the hole above the tag to make it wide enough for a third brake light from a Mark1 Rabbit cabriolet.

I ordered a white bus license plate light to replace the red brake light, but once I saw the hole they cut for the third brake light I realized I would either be welding it back smaller, leaving the light, or replacing the decklid for the correct style.
I choose to leave the third light as is.

Brake light on (aimed downward)

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

I decided to find tiny LED lights to fit into the two square holes to light up the tag.

Before

AFTER:

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

Drove 3 hours to Florida Bug Jam 2025 this year.

In true swap meet style, I found a Mk1 cabrio brake light lens.
I had to buy the whole cabrio decklid, but left it behind for scrap and removed just the light.

Removed the slight curve in the lens with a heat gun, and now i'm back to 1990's pimp my ride status

Before:

After:

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

since the bus is running great, it's time to take it apart and fix it.

Engine out

Fan shroud and intake manifold off

Mexican engine oil cooler made in Germany

The intake manifold heat riser tube has a leak, and the throttle cable tube is rubbing against the oil cooler.

Flywheel removal

Rear main seal appears to be leaking

Old seal out

Got a replacement Elring

Installed it and added some RTV to the camshaft plug seal

OM (Original Mexican) oil cooler seals

Got replacement Elring

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

Fixing intake manifold preheat tube leaks using JB Weld epoxy

_________________

67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

Next I don’t use the thin metal dual port intake manifold gaskets,

I started to cut my own from a thin cork gasket sheet from the auto parts store.

Each time I cut it I used to trace it from a paper gasket, then I realized the paper gaskets aren’t cut that well, so I ported them by matching if to the exact size of the intake port holes for an extra 10 horsesh*tpower

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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[don.ville]

I replaced the foam headband around the oil cooler

The I noticed the hard fuel line had some wear marks at the firewall tin even though I had a rubber grommet there.
Looks like it wore through the rubber.

I split an extra oil cooler seal (the large diameter ones) and used it for a grommet.

When installing the clutch and pressure plate, one of the bolt heads broke off.

Torqued the rest to 18 ft/lbs spec

Installed engine, adjusted clutch cable, installed bumper, changed oil in engine and the air filter, changed the valve cover gaskets.

The muffler had a small leak at the rear of the can, so I welded it up.
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67 Standard 11 window How I Keep My Bus Alive
04 Jetta TDI Page (SOLD)
01 Mexican Beetle Hello Kitty Rescue (SOLD)
29 Ford Model A Rat Rod (SOLD)
2015 Audi A8L TDI Quattro

[Bobs67vwagen]

You know I have never snapped one of the pressure plate bolts over many years of doing this. I have also never used a torque wrench on them. I always carefully tighten them in a cross pattern with small graduations each time. Being 10.9 grade, you would not expect them to snap like that but I guess 60 years of tightening and heat has a cumulative effect on them.

[don.ville]