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Wasted youth Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2012 Posts: 5134 Location: California's Hot and Smoggy Central Valley
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:04 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Fuel line... I use Gates Barricade Fuel Injection hose that is rated for ethanol blends. I get that from OReilly’s Auto. The FI hose from Autozone is absolute crap.
The difficulty in starting where you put two batteries in parallel (I hope) indicates to me that your wiring from battery to ignition switch then back to start solenoid is questionable. Some people eliminate this common problem with a “hot start relay” but both times I have experienced this, I fixed the problem by cutting back the wires enough to crimp on new quality lugs at all points. Verify also that your transmission ground strap is clean and tight. |
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Spike0180 Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2015 Posts: 2269 Location: Detroit, Michigan
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:23 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Awesome trip. I hope to make a trip similar to this in my bus sometime in the near future. Ideally with my wife. We would drive to Toronto-NY-Maryland-Maine (for Lobster and a sunrise, which is the purpose of the trip)-back to New Hampshire-NY-Niagra-back to Detroit. I'm hoping it will be next year or the year after. But I have to finish the interior and finish up some little things on the bus first. I like your engine RPM's at highway speeds much better than mine, I might have to look into a freeway flyer. Or maybe just bigger tires.
Anyway, enough rambling, Awesome trip! Way to get out there and thank you for sharing. Those of us that don't have the resources (time and or money) currently thank you. _________________ Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp
Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic" |
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TomWesty Samba Member
Joined: November 23, 2007 Posts: 3482 Location: Wyoming,USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 6:36 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Wasted youth wrote: |
Fuel line... I use Gates Barricade Fuel Injection hose that is rated for ethanol blends. I get that from OReilly’s Auto. The FI hose from Autozone is absolute crap.
The difficulty in starting where you put two batteries in parallel (I hope) indicates to me that your wiring from battery to ignition switch then back to start solenoid is questionable. Some people eliminate this common problem with a “hot start relay” but both times I have experienced this, I fixed the problem by cutting back the wires enough to crimp on new quality lugs at all points. Verify also that your transmission ground strap is clean and tight. |
But before you do that, remove your ground strap from the battery, then disconnect it where it bolts to the body. That bolt may be rusty and may break when you remove it. At any rate, take some fine sandpaper and shine up the side of the ground strap that touches the body and shine up the steel of the body where the ground strap contacts it. Now, before you put the ground strap back on, disconnect and clean up your positive connection to the battery both on the battery end and the starter end. Reconnect the positive, then reconnect the ground. In other words, you are cleaning BOTH ends of BOTH cables. If that doesn’t help it to start better, now disconnect and clean up both ends of the transmission ground strap. Let us know how things work out. Best of luck! _________________ If you haven't bled on them, you haven't worked on them.
Visit: www.tomcoryell.com and check out my music! |
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static Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2002 Posts: 1831 Location: The High Desert
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 9:38 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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I get quite weary reading non-stop posts about repairs and modifications written by the Tech-Weenie crowd. I am thrilled to see your photos and read about your trip.
It was great to read about someone using their Westy for what it was designed for.
Thanks for all the time and energy that it took to let the rest of us live vicariously thru your travels. |
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Tcash Samba Member
Joined: July 20, 2011 Posts: 12844 Location: San Jose, California, USA
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:20 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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1) In Spokane, the engine started making a “ticka-ticka-ticka” sound at low RPM under heavy load, but the sound went away at high RPM. I did a valve adjustment in Coeur d’Alene, but still heard the noise the next day driving to Bothell. The engine was running fine. In Bothell, I thought “maybe it’s an exhaust leak?”, looked underneath and immediately saw the exhaust nut that had come loose. Duh. I tightened that, no more noise.
-It is a good idea while you are under there adjusting valves to put a wrench on all the 13mm fasteners. You have the wrench in your hand and it takes just a few minutes. Especially the engine mount bolts.
2) While doing the valve adjustment, I noticed one of the gas lines looked wet. I checked closer and the line was soaked in gas. After removing it I found the rubber line was split open about halfway around. This was the german-style braided line, and the braiding was the only thing holding it together. I had replaced all the fuel lines less than two years ago and never expected any problems with that. Some people on the Samba have commented that the german-syle line nowadays is crap, now I have experienced it. This was the line connecting the metal tube from the fuel tank to the fuel pump, and runs right above the distributor. I’m so thankful I saw that when I did. I replaced it with US fuel line from a local auto store. I need to replace all the rest of the fuel line.
- Gates Low Permeation hose.
Fuel hose Gates Barricade Fuel line
3) On the first day driving when it was so hot, the starter would struggle to turn over the engine.
- Starter system testing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXENKujYtc
4. Sometimes the engine did not want to start. The starter would turn the engine fine, but it wouldn’t fire up. This seems to be random except it never occurs at the start of the day when everything is cold. Most of the time, it started when I connected both batteries together. If that didn't work, I always 100% of the time got it started by connecting a wire from a battery directly to the coil, and it started immediately. My guess is something to do with voltage drop when the starter is pulling down the battery voltage.
- This is due to a voltage drop as you guessed. Run the test above.
Good luck
Tcash |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22670 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 1:22 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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static wrote: |
I get quite weary reading non-stop posts about repairs and modifications written by the Tech-Weenie crowd. I am thrilled to see your photos and read about your trip.
It was great to read about someone using their Westy for what it was designed for.
Thanks for all the time and energy that it took to let the rest of us live vicariously thru your travels. |
Strongly disagree. More DIY are the only way these cars will stay on the road.
Unlike Social Media, the Samba is not invading your private life and info, you can come, go, check in, check out, lurk - all as you please.
There is also expertise here which is just not resident on FB. When I goof-balled why AC doesn't work under 35, someone corrected me and told me why with a solid reference, unlike the linked together know nothings on social media _________________ .ssS! |
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Spike0180 Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2015 Posts: 2269 Location: Detroit, Michigan
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Posted: Mon Jul 09, 2018 4:28 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Abscate wrote: |
static wrote: |
I get quite weary reading non-stop posts about repairs and modifications written by the Tech-Weenie crowd. I am thrilled to see your photos and read about your trip.
It was great to read about someone using their Westy for what it was designed for.
Thanks for all the time and energy that it took to let the rest of us live vicariously thru your travels. |
Strongly disagree. More DIY are the only way these cars will stay on the road.
Unlike Social Media, the Samba is not invading your private life and info, you can come, go, check in, check out, lurk - all as you please.
There is also expertise here which is just not resident on FB. When I goof-balled why AC doesn't work under 35, someone corrected me and told me why with a solid reference, unlike the linked together know nothings on social media |
I don't think anyone was saying there shouldn't be diy stuff. We all appreciate what thesamba is, that's why we are here. Static is just saying he also likes the travel reports. And I agree with him. I don't like the van life travel videos with sound over, those are just obnoxious and not well done. But a well documented road trip with some good van pictures, sign me up! Especially if it has van specifics about breakdowns, camp sites, parts the person liked or disliked. I'm all for those. And if say this one lies in that category _________________ Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp
Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic" |
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justcruzin Samba Member
Joined: July 31, 2005 Posts: 1493 Location: United States
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22670 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 6:44 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Quote: |
I don't like the van life travel videos with sound over, those are just obnoxious and not well done. |
Agree, and I ignore them, and in extreme examples, put posters on my ignore list. Most people don't "like" the dicks here with the expertise, until they are in trouble, and then suddenly they are nice. _________________ .ssS! |
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22manybugs Samba Member
Joined: March 30, 2006 Posts: 373 Location: Yorba Linda, Calif
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Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2018 10:48 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Thank you everyone for the ideas and suggestions on the starting issue. I have to make some time to go through it methodically, these give me some places to start.
static wrote: |
Thanks for all the time and energy that it took to let the rest of us live vicariously thru your travels. |
That's what I do, live vicariously through the travel stories! I love the road trip/adventure stories here! Whenever a new posting gets loaded about a trip, I have to drop everything to read it. There's some long ones (Hasta Alaska and GoBigEmma come to mind), many shorter ones, sometimes the posting is good, sometimes it's bad, occasionally it's "oh no!", but that's what makes the story. I posted my trip hoping that others get the same enjoyment I do from these stories.
justcruzin wrote: |
I love you box for your luggage rack and the way you access it. Can you take close up's of it? Would love to try to talk hubby into making something similar for my bus. |
I'll take some pictures of the box and post them soon. _________________ Lon
1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper |
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Tcash Samba Member
Joined: July 20, 2011 Posts: 12844 Location: San Jose, California, USA
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Posted: Wed Jul 11, 2018 9:29 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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I would suggest that when you are ready to tackle the Starting issue. You start a new Thread on that subject.
GD
Tcash |
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vwwestyman Samba Member
Joined: April 24, 2004 Posts: 5688 Location: Manhattan, Kansas, USA
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sodbuster Samba Member
Joined: August 08, 2004 Posts: 1086 Location: wherever my baywindow takes me.
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 12:32 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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I blew the motor on my 71 a week after getting home from BBB. That was January. I humped through the rebuild and all the other stuff I did when I had it apart. I took pics and posted my work here on the samba. Then I dropped off the map. Why? because I was out using that sucker like it should be used. I went camping several times. went to Featherly park and Blackstar too! getting out to the eastern sierras next month to get a line wet and catch trout.
Why have I said all this? simply put I am going to vow here and now to post more of my travels in my bus. She's no "trailer queen" and I should document that fact more.
Thanks for posting up the great travel recap. I did a very similar trip in my bus back in 2005. The Columbia gorge was a big highlight. We drove the road down the southern shore to Portland. Great trip that year.
{In the California redwoods 2005.}
And funny thing also, I was in Yosemite with the family last week myself. We stayed at the Wawona hotel so the bus stayed home that trip. Love that place. My wife and I were married there and we go back every five years for our anniversary. |
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Tcash Samba Member
Joined: July 20, 2011 Posts: 12844 Location: San Jose, California, USA
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Posted: Thu Jul 12, 2018 9:16 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Please do post your travels.
It seams all we ever here about is the breakdowns and I know there's Busses out there taking their owners on worry free adventures.
I don't get out much, but when I do I seem to forget to snap some pics.
I will commit to doing the same.
Safe travels
Tcash |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22670 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 2:46 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Across all Fora, the thread updates that make my day are sunnydogs family Bay, the Toaster, and Sanchius and Tuna. I enjoyed Emma and her trip, too.
I hope a Samba keeps attracting Both trips and experts on these vehicles. _________________ .ssS! |
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22manybugs Samba Member
Joined: March 30, 2006 Posts: 373 Location: Yorba Linda, Calif
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Posted: Fri Jul 13, 2018 1:13 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Ohmygosh, I almost forgot:
I never name any of my vehicles. But this bus introduces herself by name to everyone she meets. Check out the license plate in the photos.
Of course... her name is "Kora". It's greek origin meaning "maiden".
I think that's a pretty cool name. _________________ Lon
1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper |
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22manybugs Samba Member
Joined: March 30, 2006 Posts: 373 Location: Yorba Linda, Calif
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Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2018 11:55 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Some details of the cargo box. The box is 3 ft x 3 ft x 12 inches tall.
The frame is 3/4" x 1-1/2" wood. The surfaces are 1/8" plywood. I doubled-up the plywood for the top (1/4") to be more rigid.
The hardest part was making the 30-degree angle to the lid and keeping it rigid. I added several support pieces at the bend to support it, with lots of screws to hold everything together.
This photo shows the main hinge for the top (from Home Depot). The top has a lip all around to help block rain, and a hollow "D" plastic seal between the box and top to keep water out. The brackets to tie down the box to the top of the bus are called "footman loops" (available at Home Depot).
The three spring-loaded supports are supposed to keep the lid up, but they don't. The springs must not support the rated weight, I'm sure I calculated the load correctly. The springs just keep the lid from crashing down as hard. I added the latching hinge to hold up the lid, but it is difficult to reach and latch when the box is on top of the bus. I'm planning on replacing all this hardware with some inexpensive air struts I just found on Amazon that should keep the lid up.
The straps to tie down the box to the top. (from Home Depot). They come with several feet of strapping attached to a clamp, but I needed less than a foot of material for each strap.
I used leftover straps to make the lid clamps using plastic releasable catches (also from Home Depot).
_________________ Lon
1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper |
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22manybugs Samba Member
Joined: March 30, 2006 Posts: 373 Location: Yorba Linda, Calif
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 4:56 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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I finished another big camping trip a few weeks ago. I haven't had time to post since I got back because I had to catch-up on work that blew-up while I was gone. Here are some photos from the recent trip.
My dog copilot passed away last year. The entire family was very upset, so we ended up getting a puppy not too long after that.
Say hello to Summer, she's my new copilot, she was 11 months old when she went with me on this trip. Just me 'n the dog on this trip!
She did good on her first camping trip. She didn't know what to make of the first couple nights, but she was a pro by the end. She still has to work on not eating everything on the ground, especially sticks with lichen/mold/fungus on them that she thinks are quite tasty!
This trip I had to change plans a lot due to cold/rainy/snowy weather. I had a few night reserved at Yosemite, that's where we started. It was raining most of the way to Yosemite, then stopped just as we arrived. This was arriving into the valley:
We got to the campground, I went to the bathroom, and when I came back there were three deer in our campsite! This was within a few minutes of arriving.
Summer didn't know what to make of the deer. She just wanted to go play, but the deer were watching her VERY carefully.
The next day started sunny but very cold.
The weather forecast was for clouds coming in at about 1 pm, rain starting about 3, then snow starting at midnight and continuing straight through at least 9 am the next day. That's as far as the near-term forecast went. Right on time, the clouds came in at 1. I decided to get out before the weather turned bad, I did not want to deal with a young dog in the snow and nowhere to go but sit in the bus, or trying to drive out in snow. This was the middle of May, there isn't supposed to be snow!
We headed north and drove to Black Butte Lake to camp. By the time I got there, it was nighttime and pitch black. I was driving very slow looking for the turnoff to the campground, maybe 20 MPH, I noticed movement in the driver side rearview mirror, looked over and there were two deer running beside me! They were running mostly parallel, but at an angle approaching the bus. About the time I was thinking "they MUST see me, how can you not see a bus?"... BOOM! they ran into the side of the bus. Stupid deer!
When we got to the campground, nobody was there. There were big warning signs at the ranger station to there was a lot of rattlesnakes and coyote activity, so be careful. The campground looked completely deserted, it was pitch black except for a light near the bathroom, and I couldn't even tell where the campsites were marked. Great. So I get out with my flashlight looking for markings, all the while expecting rattlesnakes, coyotes or renegade deer to sneak up on me at any moment! It's funny now, but it wasn't funny after just having deer run into the bus 5 minutes earlier.
When the sun came up, then I had a chance to actually see the lake. It was a very nice campground with the lake all around.
It turns out there were a few people camped, but the campground was so large that there was nobody anywhere around me and it felt completely alone. I noticed, though, that every spot was reserved for the next weekend (Memorial weekend). It was going to fill up in the next couple days.
Next we headed to Fowler's campground about half-way between Lake Shasta and the Oregon border. It was drizzly/rainy most of the time, so I don't have many pictures. The awning that I bought for shade worked great in the rain also, it's waterproof, I just had to lower the posts so the rain wouldn't collect on it. There were often deer going through camp. Here's Summer modeling her raincoat and not being too happy about it:
I finally pulled the hood down and she was happier, even though she was getting more wet.
A couple pictures from Bend, Oregon.
In amongst the clouds are snowy mountains. I think these are the Three Sisters, but could be mixed up - there were a lot of snowy mountain peaks.
Now I was at Memorial weekend and campground reservations were not available. I started heading west into the mountains, I had a few campgrounds on mind that had no-reservation spots, but then found out all the mountain roads (except the main highways) were snowed in, so all the campgrounds were inaccessible. I ended up at Delta campground off highway 126 that had some no-reservation spots. It was a nice campground, really felt deep in the woods even though it was right off 126. The weather continued to be dreary, but it wasn't raining.
Continuing west on 126, there was a covered bridge. There was constant traffic through the bridge, a couple cars had to wait while I ran out to take the picture, but they didn't seem upset. They probably get people taking photos all the time.
_________________ Lon
1969 Karmann Ghia convertible
1971 Westfalia camper
Last edited by 22manybugs on Sun Jun 23, 2019 6:30 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22670 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Sun Jun 23, 2019 5:09 pm Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Hello Summer. Let your owner know his last dog is fine in Dog Heaven by saying ...woof woof
Sorry for your loss, 22manybugs _________________ .ssS! |
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Spike0180 Samba Member
Joined: June 06, 2015 Posts: 2269 Location: Detroit, Michigan
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Posted: Mon Jun 24, 2019 7:04 am Post subject: Re: Camping trip in a 1971 Westfalia |
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Sounds like an awesome trip, the pup looks like it will be a trusty companion. Thanks for posting, I enjoy reading of your travels _________________ Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp
Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic" |
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