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John, the Engineer - '77 Champagne Transporter Build/Travels
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:04 pm    Post subject: John, the Engineer - '77 Champagne Transporter Build/Travels Reply with quote

Hey Y'all.

I wanted to start a thread to share my build, share my travels and ask questions that I cant find through search (Don't worry, Tcash, I'll search first! Laughing ).

Back in September I decided I wanted to find an bus to help me throw away all my money away. Found a couple buses but they just didnt 'feel' right. Mid October, I came across a transporter locally and went to see it. It shifted a little different than the rest of the buses I drove, it scraped the ground, and the interior was a little rough, but I felt 'it' (or maybe I was just impatient and antsy). Anyways, I drove John, the Engineer home that night.

The previous previous owner was named John, was an aircraft engineer, and had engineered quite a bit of things on this bus (tubbed wheel wells, custom roof rack (not included Sad ) notched frame, gene berg shifter, seats moved in for wells, shaved antenna, shaved front turn signals, shaved rear pass signal for battery tray fix, and other items) so the previous owner named it after him.

On the ride home, I lost power at a light, and after the POs help, we figured out the negative ground was corroded out (side note: the PO came to help me and brought my money and the tow bar incase i wanted to reneg, but I politely declined. One hellva guy). The next day the transaxle came loose and I had to get a tow home to figure out how to fix that issue.

Since then I have got the Bentley and Muir to avoid further easy fix strands like this.

Just quick Info:
The engine is 2.0 webber carbed with a top end rebuild maybe 5-6k ago. It has a 6 rib tranny. BRM wheels, Hanook tires, and Wagenswest drop kit. Gene burg shifter (have not double checked this).

How about some pics? Everyone likes pics
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here he is the day after I got him. Notice the hanging blinkers? Yeah, broke those on my driveway real fast. Replaced them with sealed LED blinkers for a motorcycle.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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Found a used Zbed and got that installed, Ditched the rear seat.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Found a roof rack. Perfect for the car carrier (Look how happy my girl is with that).
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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Took the bus camping with the girl and the dogs.
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Speaking of dogs, Penelope loves the bus.
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Added mirrors, eyelids and tinted the fogs.

So fast forward to today, had some issues with carb lock. I dont know if its getting too hot or if there gas in the oil, or what. Someone suggested getting a heat shield, but dont know if the aircooled with with this. I changed the oil again and found this in the oil cap. Searched, but found no answer for the reason for the corrosion.
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I think Im going to have my mechanic put the EFI back in to get rid of this issue. Most things on the bus I enjoy fixing, but I'll let the mechanic do this.
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airschooled
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:32 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, thanks for the pictures. Glad your family is having a good time with the bus.

Single Weber or dual Webers? I think either way the bus will drive better with the FI setup.

The condensation under the oil cap can be a mixture of water and/or acids from the oil. The important thing is to get the oil hot enough to boil out the contaminants on a regular basis. This often means an extended run on the highway, especially in the colder months. Perhaps a thinner oil would help; what weight are you running? Do you how the thermostat and flaps are supposed to be set up? Do you have them?

I look forward to seeing more trip pictures as they pop up.

Robbie
ps- with a cat allergy, that's the only place I would let one ride Twisted Evil
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:29 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Robbie. Glad you're here. I've followed your awesome thread and saw some of the replies you've made in other threads and was hoping you would post.
It's single weber and have been using 20w-50.

Glad to here it's prolly just water. I drive him a lot and some on the highway too. But moisture could still be in there. Flaps are present but there is no temp gauge (yet).

I should mention that I crawled under Saturday, I noticed the heat exchanger (I think that's what it's called) was cracked right where it connected w the muffler... This probably lets hot air in the engine compartment. I don't think it's been cracked long.... But as I type this, I realize I need to change that immediately ....
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So the other day I started my interior build.

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This is the beginning

Striped out
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1967250s
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Cool Bus, Man! Really like the look. You say Weber carb? Is that a single Carb, or duals? The stuff in the oil cap is condensation from the oil, not rust. That typically means the engine is running too cool and not long enough. Make sure the thermostat and flaps are there and working. There should also be a breather hose from the oil fill to the carb/s. Did you get a Bentley manual? Critical to longevity of your Bus. Can you post good pics of your engine?
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:58 am    Post subject: Re: John, the Engineer - '77 Champagne Transporter Build/Tra Reply with quote

BusPriest wrote:
Hey Y'all.

I wanted to start a thread to share my build, share my travels and ask questions that I cant find through search (Don't worry, Tcash, I'll search first! Laughing ).

Back in September I decided I wanted to find an bus to help me throw away all my money away. Found a couple buses but they just didnt 'feel' right. Mid October, I came across a transporter locally and went to see it. It shifted a little different than the rest of the buses I drove, it scraped the ground, and the interior was a little rough, but I felt 'it' (or maybe I was just impatient and antsy). Anyways, I drove John, the Engineer home that night.

The previous previous owner was named John, was an aircraft engineer, and had engineered quite a bit of things on this bus (tubbed wheel wells, custom roof rack (not included Sad ) notched frame, gene berg shifter, seats moved in for wells, shaved antenna, shaved front turn signals, shaved rear pass signal for battery tray fix, and other items) so the previous owner named it after him.

On the ride home, I lost power at a light, and after the POs help, we figured out the negative ground was corroded out (side note: the PO came to help me and brought my money and the tow bar incase i wanted to reneg, but I politely declined. One hellva guy). The next day the transaxle came loose and I had to get a tow home to figure out how to fix that issue.

Since then I have got the Bentley and Muir to avoid further easy fix strands like this.

Just quick Info:
The engine is 2.0 webber carbed with a top end rebuild maybe 5-6k ago. It has a 6 rib tranny. BRM wheels, Hanook tires, and Wagenswest drop kit. Gene burg shifter (have not double checked this).

How about some pics? Everyone likes pics
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here he is the day after I got him. Notice the hanging blinkers? Yeah, broke those on my driveway real fast. Replaced them with sealed LED blinkers for a motorcycle.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Found a used Zbed and got that installed, Ditched the rear seat.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Found a roof rack. Perfect for the car carrier (Look how happy my girl is with that).
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Took the bus camping with the girl and the dogs.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Speaking of dogs, Penelope loves the bus.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Added mirrors, eyelids and tinted the fogs.

So fast forward to today, had some issues with carb lock. I dont know if its getting too hot or if there gas in the oil, or what. Someone suggested getting a heat shield, but dont know if the aircooled with with this. I changed the oil again and found this in the oil cap. Searched, but found no answer for the reason for the corrosion.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.



I think Im going to have my mechanic put the EFI back in to get rid of this issue. Most things on the bus I enjoy fixing, but I'll let the mechanic do this.


You MittRomneyed the cat!!!

Very Happy Very Happy

Looks like the typical milkshake of moisture in the oil from sitting or short trips. Change the oil after a hot run, see if it comes back. It can take a few changes to get water out of a sitting engine.
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Very cool bus. Love the look. Whats the interior plans?
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DrKamikazi
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 9:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice bus! What is the seat in the back that keeps moving around? In the first pic it is against the wall behind the drivers seat. Is it VW or some other seat thrown in there? I modified my rear seat in my Riviera to be there so I could have more storage room, but it took a bunch of work to get it there and that looks like it fits nicely.
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So, regarding running my bus for long times to kill water: I have recently driven from Dallas to Houston, Also done some 45 minute drives on the hwy.
Here's engine shots
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Dr -
The seat that moves around is the second row seat just not attached properly to the floor. Its coming out for the interior build.

Kirk-
Hope to run into IRL. This is Jacob from the Swap meet FB page.
For the interior:
Por15
Al's Roll on sound deadener paint
Fatmat and B quiet (couldn't decide so got both) all over
Jute in walls.
Wood floor
Birch panels w red stain
z bed with new front panel and recover z bed with red/tan tweed
sound system (bumpin)
front tray and other doo-dads up front
custom copy of westy cabinet over the spare tire well
small cabinet next to z bed
eventually a bench seat along driverside wall with storage under, but that's not this month.
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jtauxe Premium Member
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PostPosted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

BusPriest wrote:

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I would recommend giving your air intake system a good cleaning and replacing your air filter, after seeing all that dust in the horn.
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1967250s
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 11:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is it just me, or is the flap control rod missing? And the tubes to the side heater ducts, too.
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 7:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ok time for an update.

I have not got the oil situation figured out yet, as i have spent all my time on the interior.

heres what has happened. . .

POR15 the floors. Man, this stuff is nasty..... i accidentally got a little on the outside paint... its not coming off...
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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My work then got stopped by some bad weather.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Next came the sound deadening. I decided to use Al's roll on sound deadener/heat reducer along with 100ft of fat mat and 100 ft of b-quiet. The fat mat seems to be thicker and stick a little better, but im not sure if one is better than the other. The Al's spray-on/roll-on liner was a waste of time and money.
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Oh and I also used some Jute, as you can see above in the last picture. The black that you see painted in the later pictures in Rusto Spray in truckliner. Did not know what else to do in front to cover the Als Sound deadener.

Ok. So my corners were all messed up. I read on a thread here of someone with a tin top westy (i think?) taking the liner off the seat pedestals and painting them. Well, I wanted to do that to my corners and posts.
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they were all nasty and rotten
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tore it off and scraped it with a razor and citrus cleaner.
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had some help sanding.
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tested the color. This was without primer... with primer, it was much closer.
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final product.

Next was the build out of the inside.
Started from the bottom.
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you can see on the above pic that i also painted the walk in part on the bottom of the floor.

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Reinstalled the zbed. Promptly ripped off the cabinet door and all the parts of the front. (if you need the cabinet door or tag or vent, holler.)

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Cut the doors and cut the panel to go infront of the bed. Only did these first because im trying to get my stereo installed asap... the other panels will be done shortly

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Plastic with flap that everyone says is required.
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Door panel tacked on with 3 screws.. might have to pull off for stereo, so i did not want to put 10 more in there yet.

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modern seatbelts!


More to come soon: Door Seals, Stereo, Panels, Seat covers in rear, rear pad, cabinets, then move to body stuff.
I love this bus Smile
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Thu Mar 19, 2015 9:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

1967-

Not sure about flap control rod. Will have to Bentley that and get back on if it's there
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:37 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

These engine don't have a particularly good crankcase ventilation system to start with and yours has been badly compromised by the swap from FI to a carb. Add to this that it does appear that the control rod for the flaps it missing which would indicate at that the right flap is also missing and the left one is at best in the "hot" position. All this mean is that during anything other than the warmest summer weather your oil isn't running hot enough long enough to boil the water out of the oil and that the water vapors are not being quickly removed from the crankcase.

The flex breather hose that the PO has running from the breather box to the air cleaner is going to cause problems because it sags in the middle and will thus fill with watery oily crud. Once the crud blocks the flow of crankcase gases then the pressure in the crankcase will build up and you will likely have oil start blowing out of any available orifice. You need to redo the crankcase ventilation line so that it slopes back into the breather box so that hopefully any crud will drain back into the engine where it can be revaporized and sent on its way again. I would not use corrugated hose for the breather when you go to fix things, as the corrugations are just going to hold the crud in place and make it harder for the crud to drain.
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thank you wildthings! It has blown oil out before. I will try to address this today.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 7:56 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I do have to say, I like your PO use of the stock air cleaner with the aftermarket Weber setup. Can't tell how well done it is from the pics. Too bad he didn't incorporate some kind of intake air preheat into it.

I do have a complete and working thermostat system, but have also made another mod that largely keeps my oil free of moisture. I mention it in this thread:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7...ce#7541556
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DenverB
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 12:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

great thread/inspiration.

I did the pedestal/corner clean up and paint recently as well. rAzor blades and orange cleaner as well. The callouses on your hands eventually heal.... Wink

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=611821&highlight=

It looks like youve got holes (rust?) in the rear of the pedestals in the curved part, yes? If so, what did you to with them?
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'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
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BusPriest
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 2:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Denver-

You were the inspiration for my posts. I bookmarked your build. Thanks for the compliment.

My pedestals are terrible, but no rust. They were banged out during the tubbing of the wheel well. That whole area is getting covered in a wood panel.
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Wildthings
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just going to give the rust a clear coat and keep going?
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DenverB
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 20, 2015 3:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sheeeit. Thanks man!! Very Happy

I'm glad I could help someone else out with my ramblings. Those corners look great though, I love how beautiful the rounded parts are of these buses when smoothed out (same goes for the indent in the back of the pedestal). Also, killer dog -- I've got a radar-eared pooch as well.
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'67 bug (Santos - VW Blue)
'84 Vanagon Westfalia (Pink Flamingo - Pastel White/Pink)
'88 Vanagon GL Westfalia (Frankie Says - Wolfram Gray)
'02 Eurovan Weekender (Green Apple)
'95-'03 Eurovan full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'84 -'91 Vanagon full campers and weekenders (rental fleet)
'72 Porsche 914 (Greta - RIP)

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