Should I buy this bus?!? '74 Campmobile

[SamboSamba22]

Today consisted of some preliminary maintenance and oversight getting the bus ready for next weekend, that being the 26th Annual Eureka Springs VW Show!

Besides adding a bunch of new stickers, I added rattle mat to the front doors and rear hatch, added some more door card tabs to keep them from bouncing around as much, cleaned up the top half of the doglegs, popped on some new side mirrors, repainted the wheels with rattle can white, washed it down.

Using the rattle-mat in the rear hatch, I’m hoping with that and adding the denim insulation in the hatch, it’ll keep some road noise down and prove itself worthy in the fall and winter months camping and keeping my toes from getting cold.
Lubed the slider door track, graphite to the locks, replaced the rear vent side window seals, fixed a couple buttons busted on the fridge locking tab, wiped it down, double-checked the tools and spare parts bin, organized it all under the bed, tossed in a couple of spare quarts of oil, and Rain-x’d the windshield.

Looking forward to seeing some familiar faces, some cool rides, meeting new people, and hopefully some “gotta have” bits to bring home.

Hope everyone’s summer has been solid, whether the prices are going up or down, owning a bus is an experience, and it comes with a wonderful following here and our local communities.
Happy cruising,
-Sam

EDIT: With the vacuum leaks caused by the intake stud issues, I went ahead and pulled the spark plugs, and changed them out since I was in there. I basically have heli-coils across the board now on these heads, so I'm on the market for some decent 1.8 heads with Round Ports if anyone has anything available.
Here are the plugs, the layout seen here is as they are installed FR- Cylinder 1 / Bottom Left - Cylinder 4

Here is the replacement VW side window seals, this one was actually pretty challenging, it took three tries to get it in there, but with the two right angles against the vent window, it was expected. It can be done!

Current stockpile of Bay Windows, mind you the 69 Delta Green is still for sale.

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The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[SamboSamba22]

To all of those living in Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma (or wherever else you call home!) bring your rears to Eureka Springs, AR this coming weekend August 24th,25th, 26th for the 26TH Annual Volkswagen Show, located throughout town at three locations, conjoining three shows into one killer Dub weekend!
I hope to see as many of you here, there, please come say hello!
I'll be in my 1974 Brilliant Orange Westfalia with the Westy tent located at the Inn at the Ozarks lot, down the hill!
Happy Cruising,
-Sam
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[SamboSamba22]

Today’s frustrations consisted of the impossible abilities to dial in these carburetors! This is the worst it has ever ran, and I cannot get these things synced up.
All gears have no rpm “umph”, they’re all just flat through the rpm band.
Where once I had strong climb through the gears, especially 2nd pulling strong all the way through 30mph, 3rd would normally kick in and run peppy all the way until 50mph.
Not today. And the weekend adventures are getting awful close!

Any idea guys? Dual Solex PDSIT stock carbs on a rebuilt Stock 205N distributor with working canister. Timing is set at 30* when rpm’s are 3500.

Wiggle your noses, say your prayers, I’m needing help.
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[Clatter]

I'll say check thru your hoses and anything obvious that mighta got bumped.

If it suddenly happened when you did you plug change,
I'd say it was something like a hose getting knocked loose,
Especially your distributor vac hose.

Sometimes they can be loose and sucking air and not look like it.
Or a crack..

ALso remember that th crankcase evac on a type 4 can cause vacuum leaks.
Things like the oil cap being loose, or that little rubber bellows at the bottom of the dipstick.
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[airschooled]

[SamboSamba22]

[SamboSamba22]

Scored some cylinder heads this past weekend in Eureka Springs show, since I am needing to drop my engine ONCE more to address my compression issues on the current worn out heads.
Part #’s on the replacements:
021101371J
021101371S

Measures 41x34 valves. I’m thinking of ordering stainless steel valves, new valve guides, retainers, clips, and lapping the valves into the heads, validating torque specs on ALL studs, and getting this motor back together with, you best believe it, correct compression and running behaviors!
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[Wasted youth]

[TomWesty]

[SamboSamba22]

[Wasted youth]

Yeah, we had that bus ‘til like 1986 or so. I wasn’t yet born when that picture was taken. That’s my older brother and sister in the playpen. July 4, 1969 at Big Bear Lake, Calif. The bus was bought at Econo Motors in Riverside, Ca. Mom says they had to special order the green, but I don’t know if that just meant none on the lot, or what.

It was pretty thrashed by the time my brother sold it, but hell yes I wish it was still in the family!

[SamboSamba22]

Anyone have any resources for some 1.8 Cylinder heads? The pair I picked up from the swap turned out to be a bit more worn that I initially thought, with the valves guides worn and having been replaced once, the seats needing to be ground, and one replaced, the local friendly machine shop would have $400 dollars into the set, which would bring no promise with the used units.
So....AMC heads run $500/piece, which everyone claims they have seat dropping issues, wheres a fella to source heads?
Thanks for any insight guys, I greatly appreciate it, camping weather is coming upon us and I got to get this bus moving!
-Sam
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[Tbob]

I faced the same problem 2 years ago while rebuilding my 1973. I even had a set of heads that I had rebuilt by Rimco back in 2009, but Rimco provided no documentation nor could I get any on whether any seats were replaced, what valve springs were used (I requested best quality new), whether my old valves were ground or replaced. I decided it was too big of a crap shoot, and as the rods I got from them about a year later proved to be unusable, cemented my decision to not take the risk. Rimco seems to have gone through a bunch of changes in the last 10 years, hopefully, they are back providing good work. I will say, rebuilding my type IV engine while living in the middle of nowhere has proven to be almost impossible due to lack of qualified and competent suppliers. Only 2 of the parts providers that I used proved to be up front and competent, and those were Web-cam and now to finally answer your question, HAM(Hoffman Automotive Machine), who remans new AMC heads. Pricey, but he replaces the seats, valves and springs, and provides what appears to be the best solution for our old Busses. I paid $1550 for my heads, IIRC, and that included machined groves for Cyl. head temp senders. That was a lot of money for me, but I knew that the heads were the place where I should not scrimp (indeed, scrimping on old VWs seem to always end up in a bad way). The quality and care that went into these heads is evident, and Mr. Hoffman told me he buys AMC heads by the pallet, and replaces all the lower quality components with high quality parts. He is in Georgia, and is the supplier that Jake Raby used back when he was doing type IV's.
Also, I hear mostly good things about Headflow Masters out in California and Brother's Machine Shop also in California. I think most of the local machine shops no longer have the care and understanding to rebuild our air cooled heads so they will provide years of service. In my area of the country(not to far from you) if it doesn't have the Chevy Bowtie on it, they can't do it. Even Fords are suspect, and at our local pic and pull junkyard, Saturns were put in the import section, not in the GM section. Volkswagens throw them, and I couldn't even get my flywheel resurfaced correctly.
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1969 Deluxe, owned since 1973
1973 Westfalia, owned since 1983
1980 Westfalia, watercooled conversion
1985 Westfalia, stock!
1986 Westfakia, Audi I-4 conversion
A couple of trucks and a couple of Jeeps

[SamboSamba22]

For SAG, I ran a compression test on the bus today.
Cylinder 1 - 105
Cylinder 2 - 105
Cylinder 3 - 85
Cylinder 4 - 105

Mind you that the bus hasn't ran in forever, and the battery was a bit weak, so I do believe those numbers would be a tad higher, but not much. Cylinder 3 is looking a little suspect...

Called Bus Depot, the use AVP for rebuilt cylinder heads at $199 + $95 for a core, that's $300/head though I haven't read really any nice things about their work, seem to be subpar or a business that moves units by thin lines.
I was thinking maybe sending my cores I picked up at the show $40, sending those in to cover the expenses of core rates, and receiving a set of supposedly good heads, and tearing them down here, and inspecting the seats, guides, and valves.
Thoughts?

AMC castings are really the only true option, I spoke with Lin at HAM in Georgia, the work done and shipped I'm looking at $1750/set. Though I truly believe his work is validated and worth it, my situation is a little different as the bottom end is 50/50, I just can't drop that much into the top end and have no intentions of doing bottom end work, let alone splitting the case.

Buying just the AMC cylinder heads from various vendors, sets me out $1000.
Pursuing the set from Bus Depot (AVP units) and rebuilding myself worth the difference, or from stated opinions of you guys, the risk too great?

Hope everyone has had a happy weekend, camping season is among us!
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[orwell84]

[wcfvw69]

[SamboSamba22]

Pistons and Cylinders are stock sized 94mm AA units that I installed about 3 years ago when I did the top end Rebuild initially. The heads that are currently installed were never broken down, removed valve and inspected seats and guides, etc...three years later, and they began to spit out intake studs.
I dropped the engine twice about three months ago to address head issues, and though I didn’t successfully address them, I did replace all the leaky seals and visually inspected the case to see no ill issues.

So I have a leak tight, lower end that has a few year old P and L set needing some heads. And being a 1.8, it’s actually a little harder/more expensive to find the cylinder heads I need.

If it came down to a complete rebuild, I’d rather leave this motor alone and start from a good inspected case while driving this one one every cylinder until she crapped out.
_________________
The Bus Barn Ltd. Co.

Oct. ’67 Double Cab (’68 Crew Cab)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44412.png]Click to view image[/URL]
March '69 Delivery (Panel Bus)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-44414.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[orwell84]

[Abscate]

[SamboSamba22]