Children of the sun

[TDCTDI]

At Bonneville Salt Flats.

After returning from the grand trip across country…

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=792499&highlight=hey+y%92all

I thought I’d start a thread to show the day to day improvements and/or my personal hackery of yet another great Volkswagen.


While looking for plane tickets for that trip, I learned that “Spokane” was Salish for “Children of the Sun”, which was the name for the indigenous people that settled there. So… there’s the name for the new beast. (Besides, I always liked that song).


Upon returning home, I began adjusting, repairing, & replacing things that irritated me the most on the trip.

First off, the obvious, oil change, adjust the valves (with a feeler gauge this time), adjust the points (since the feeler gauge was still handy), make a shepherd’s hook for the distributor, set the timing (with a proper timing light.)…

(Disregard the fact that the vacuum advance is still connected, I resolved that after the pic)

The next day, I replaced the carb with a newish one ( it had previously been on a new engine that sat in a shed for 9-10 years, so I had to clean it out & free up the accelerator pump check valves.)

Because the carb was different, I had to create a new harness for it.

After that, I decided to lube the front beam, however, one of the Zerks fittings was broken.

So I pilfered one off another beam & pumped about one tube of grease into each fitting on the beam before any of the old grease began to ooze out.

I also filled the center pivot.

While under there, I remembered that I had a pedal pan hanging around from the “Crusty Pig” days & bolted that up.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[timvw7476]

I like your tire treads.
Very 'Baby Unimog'. : )

[TDCTDI]

Next up, dealing with the collapsed driver seat. After stripping off the previously replaced seat cover, I found that almost all of the seat springs were broken.


(Broken springs seen in red circles)

Not having another bus seat to scavenge parts from, I snagged an ever-so-rare rear seat bottom from a convertible beetle.

And disassembled it.

These support springs are slightly different, a bit thicker wire, slightly narrower wavy profile, & they have a different bend in the rear edge.

(Convertible spring seen in blue circle, you can see the slight difference in gauge & profile.)

This is easily straightened by hand.

And after the excess is cut off, I bent the end to match the bus profile.


Unfortunately, in the heat of reassembling the seat, I forgot to take pics, but I laid the seat cover over some high density foam that I sourced from a fabric store ($20), traced the out line onto the foam, trimmed the foam to fit, & then shaped the foam with a sanding disc on a die grinder

Once shaped, I stuffed the cushion into the cover, & stretched it onto the frame.

The holes in the seat cover were where the broken springs protruded through, so while still not perfect, they at least sit better for now. These will eventually get restored with WW sisal seat pads & new covers.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

While rummaging through the miscellaneous bits & pieces that came with the bus, I found a new fuse panel. Sweet, I was just about to order one.

Now I can do something about the old one dangling under the dash.

After plugging the new one in place, I started replacing the sketchy connectors with proper ones.

With that out of the way, I replaced the turn signal lenses…

And swapped out the sealed beams for some better illumination.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

With the driver’s seat sittable, I turned my attention to the remains of the back seat & removed it.

Having a rear bench that I removed from a bus years ago that was in
slightly better shape, I slipped it back in place.

And then wrapped it in a sheet to hide the ugliness & keep the pooch from destroying what’s left.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[alaskadan]

Nice work on the seat spring fix. For those without a donor seat to scavenge from, the springs in question are called no sag springs. It comes in a roll. Most upholstery shops should be able to cut one to length and bend it to shape for you. Probly pretty cheap too.

[PatJr]

nice work
thanks for posting with all the pics
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1970 Transporter a orange one
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[TDCTDI]

[TDCTDI]

With the arrival of some new door seals, today I set about chiseling out the petrified remnants of the original ones.

Needing to coax the old seal out without gouging the paint, I found an old plastic timing chain guide rail & whittled it down to help in the task.

I then installed the new door seals.

While I was at it, I tossed on some window visors that I had laying around.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

Next up, let’s see what we can do about the dual key ignition system.

Unfortunately, I had to address this a couple times. Initially, I purchased a cheap ass replacement ignition switch that turned out to be a dud, but I at least got rid of the more modern POS lock cylinder that was seen here.

Additionally, it turns out that the steering lock assembly & the ignition lock housing were fubar.

Fortunately, I had another of each from a ‘68 laying around, & I stripped a lock cylinder & an ignition switch out of a ‘70 beetle, mated them up & bolted it all together

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

Since some more seals showed up, I stripped the old hatch seal out…

[img]https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/2520911.jpg[/img]

And crammed a new one in its place.

[img]https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/2520910.jpg[/img]
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[wcfvw69]

Wow.. seeing your work reminds me of going through my 70' bay 10 years ago! So satisfying getting those things fixed and repaired.

Nice job.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

40+ years of VW repair, and VW parts and vehicle restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[TDCTDI]

I traded off a set of Kadrons in need of a rebuild for a stock oil bath air filter & new hose & installed it in the bus .

Then, after hearing a “t t t t t” turn into a “tick tick tick tick tick” turn into a “TACK TACK TACK TACK TACK”, I ripped the EMPI header off.

(Yeah… I still haven’t taped that bare connector up yet. )

You can see where the gaskets were failing.

And replaced it with a stock muffler

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

I received a few more goodies. First up, let’s swap out that not-so-correct wiper arm.

It’s hard to believe that this wiper arm has only been on the bus a few weeks, the paint has already degraded substantially.

Here’s the new early bay style…

Since the bus was missing the interior rear view mirror, I had temporarily installed one from a Beetle, but it was pretty crispy.

So I procured a proper one…

And I also scored a new release lever for the cargo door.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[calvinater]

nice job on the van/bus.

Any word on the Flixable?
_________________
"Albatross"!

[TDCTDI]

I’m still trying to find a shipper, recent quotes are for twice what I paid for it, that kind of money would go a long way towards parts needed to drive it back.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

Since the paint on the Z-bed parts had cured (at least the parts that got painted.) , I couldn’t wait to mount them in the bus.

Having the remains of an old cargo mat from my ‘64, I put it to use & tossed it in & trimmed it around the bed extensions.

Oh yeah, no more sleeping on the floor.

_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

After installing the Z-bed & back seat, I was left with the remnants of the rear cargo floor mat.

You know, that almost looks just right to be used for the cab floor


So I grabbed a piece of cardboard & mapped out the passenger side.

And after transferring it to the mat, I flipped it to the other side & traced it out again.

I then dropped it in & made a few cuts around the pedals.

It ain’t perfect, but it’ll keep the paint from being worn away until I find something else.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[TDCTDI]

Nothing exciting…

But I replaced the steering wheel cover.

But hey, it’s something.
_________________
Everybody born before 1975 has a story, good, bad, or indifferent, about a VW.


GOFUNDYOURSELF, quit asking everyone to do it for you!


An air cooled VW will make you a hoarder.


Do something, anything, to your project every day, and you will eventually complete it.

[DocNexil]