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Almost have a Bus -- My Story
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ateneo
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PostPosted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 12:48 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

The rust condition of your bus is way better than mine. My bus is a rust theme park. Smile

Don't be afraid of rust. Let rust be afraid of you Smile I am sure your bus is happy to have you as its new owner.
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1966 Riviera camper Bus
1967 EZ camper bus
1971 Westfalia bus
1971 Deluxe bus
1969 Bus
1962 Bug
1963 Bug
"Rust free" means Rust is FREE. The rest is junk.
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 16, 2017 11:16 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Okay 11 months -- I guess it's time for an actual update on what's been going on with me and Sunshine.

Not Much. Sad

I ended up getting kinda discouraged with the rust, then came like 10 months rain....

Anyway, the good news that I've finally found my motivation to dive back into this project.

I've just finished rebuilding a set of stock carbs. I re-bushed the throttle plates myself -- not hard, just took some patience. My new pitot cutoff solenoids came in the mail today (yay!) and I have a stock air cleaner in the mail. Soon, I'll have all the parts to get the stock intake system back in place.

BUT BEFORE I DO THAT!

I was thinking and looking at my oil leaks again tonight...I started pulling tins today to get at the oil cooler, saw a good amount of oily residue behind the fan. Everything is cruddy everywhere. I'm thinking of just pulling the engine and chucking it on the engine stand -- that'll let me go over it in detail and really clean the decades of crud off of everything. Bonus, it'd also let me scour and paint the engine bay. Smile Is there a downside, I'm missing?

Um, but before I do that, I realized, I never ran a compression test on this engine. I'll be doing that before anything else to get a baseline.

One last thing, sometime over the winter a friend of a friend was getting rid of a few Rivi interior bits. I scored the flip down kick panel for under the rear seat and a SECOND rear seat bed. I'm going to do a Riviera Split Bed setup in the back, because awesome!

Currently, trying to sell my car trailer to do a big parts buy (mostly rubber and metal repair panels).
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 18, 2017 6:27 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Pulled all 4 plugs today for a compression test.

#1 was a little black with carbon, #2 was a little damp (It was also only finger tight), #3 & 4 looked pretty good.

Results:
1 - 115
2 - 125
3 - 125
4 - 125

Pretty happy with those results. That's on a cold engine that hadn't run a few weeks. Happy with the consistency.
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 9:56 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

I started pulling everything off the engine today in prep for fixing oil leaks and a carb swap.

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


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


I wonder how many CFM can actually blow through the oil cooler? Yikes!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I had an idea to paint the engine bay:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


But it's actually cleaning up pretty well, a little surface rust and missing paint, not withstanding:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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Abscate Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 2:13 am    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

M-jay

While you have engine out, maybe think about pulling fuel tank, clean and inspect , and replace rubber parts?
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 8:20 am    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Abscate wrote:
M-jay

While you have engine out, maybe think about pulling fuel tank, clean and inspect , and replace rubber parts?


I'm not planning on pulling the engine at this time, just going to pull the exhaust as well...

For the tank, I need to drain the tank anyway to replace the super dry fuel line. My fuel level sender is erratic AF. Can I get the tank out w/o pulling the engine? With all the intake stuff off, I'd think I should at least be able to slide the tank back far enough to get at the sending unit.
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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richparker
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:13 am    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Takes under 30 min to pull an engine and is way easier to work one out of the bus.
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 9:55 am    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

richparker wrote:
Takes under 30 min to pull an engine and is way easier to work one out of the bus.


Understood. I have uneven gravel/dirt driveway. Pulled a bug engine once in a driveway like this, I have zero interest in repeating the experience.
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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TomWesty
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PostPosted: Sun Jul 16, 2017 12:14 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Should be able to pull the tank with all of that removed.
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RONIN10
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 17, 2017 10:52 am    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

TomWesty wrote:
Should be able to pull the tank with all of that removed.


Agreed. Done it before myself.
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Oscar: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper, 2.0L FI, Manual Transaxle
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 3:20 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Update time!

The last couple weeks have been super busy. I finally finished collecting all the pieces to put the engine back together with the factory Dual Carb setup. I"m mostly there, just looking to source a DVDA Distributor as that's part of the key to getting the Central Idle Circuit working right. Anyway, other it's starting right up and running smoothly, though idling much too fast. No big deal, I get to that.


Today, I decided to start working on the Rivi top. So today we pulled the top off, so I can address some water damaged wood and clean/patch/paint the fiberglass. Have a new Tent ready to install too!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

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


Pulled the luggage rack off as well. I ask you, who in their right mind installed this thing with a 4 inch bolt sitting 2 inched above the driver's head!?
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I found this under the luggage rack -- looks like about 40 years worth of pine needles and debris to me:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I swept off the roof and my heart sank, it's like this on both sides:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Many expletives have been uttered in the last hour since I uncovered this.

Anyone have any words of Advice, or should just go cry into my beer at this point?
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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KentABQ Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 5:13 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

Well, it could always be worse. Take a look at this posting:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=673081&postorder=asc

In particular, look at the last couple pages of the thread. His roof was in similar shape, and he was able to fix it.

I feel the pain you're experiencing right now, from dealing with all these unexpected problems. But my recommendation is to focus on one issue/repair at a time and resolve it before going on to others. If you keep at it, you'll be camping out with your family sooner than you think.

In the end, you'll reflect on the work you did and feel pride in your accomplishment.
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-Kent-
1976 Riviera, 1.8l FI chrome yellow VAN - "Chloe"

"I must say, how can you be in a bad mood driving this vehicle full of vibrant color.
Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!"
---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
Very Happy Shocked Mad Sad Embarassed d'oh! Pray Brick wall Pray Dancing Dancing Dancing ---williamM
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mechanicjay
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 17, 2018 10:51 pm    Post subject: Re: Almost have a Bus -- My Story Reply with quote

KentPS wrote:
Well, it could always be worse. Take a look at this posting:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=673081&postorder=asc

In particular, look at the last couple pages of the thread. His roof was in similar shape, and he was able to fix it.

I feel the pain you're experiencing right now, from dealing with all these unexpected problems. But my recommendation is to focus on one issue/repair at a time and resolve it before going on to others. If you keep at it, you'll be camping out with your family sooner than you think.

In the end, you'll reflect on the work you did and feel pride in your accomplishment.


HA! Yeah, I've read through that one before...dude is nuts. I'm feeling much better about it now than I was this afternoon.
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1973 VW Riviera Camper - "Sunshine Daydream"
1981 Ford F100 - In family since new!
1983 Rx-7 - The Sports car.
2006 Jeep Wrangler LJ - The wife and kid mobile.
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