65 Bus Restoration - "La Macarena"

[Yannvanh]

Any updates on this one Martin?
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'66 vw splitbus project:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Instagram page:

yannicks_splitbus_project

Always there to help!

[vwpyro]

just stumbled on this thread. Amazing work! If possible Please keep going!

Love love the creativity!
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- cheese
1971 221 Bus w/ EJ25 from 00 Forester - WIP
1982 Vanagon Diesel CHC Camper
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[url=https://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate2-26734.png]Click to view image[/url]

[Jimb0w]

just read the whole post, amazing metal work ! low budget splitty is so rare now ! =)
Congrats !

[zozo]

Wow. Nice job getting that one out.

[firula]

Hello everybody!

Next thing to fix ... differential drain plug. Someone attempted to open it with hammer and chisel... Looking at dents marks I think they failed...

I made this tool:

And also I made more room for the bolt head, hammering with a chisel: P, hammering a lot, this plug is hard!, tried to hit as unscrewing way, did not moved a bit.

I tried unscrewing...

Really hard ... it did not work out ... I heated it with gas torch for a while ...
Let it cold down ... tried again, nothing.
Heated again ... tried while still hot ... success !!

Oil drained was super dense... just as mud.
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Restoring "La Macarena"!

[Abscate]

Ouch - that is truly a horrible piece of work.
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[firula]

Someone hammered on the clutch lever onto the shaft...

So I made a tool to extract it, because it was really tight...

Extraction wasn't so hard with the tool, but after that, I realize this person missed one thread, and put it wrong position... of course this could not contribute to get it in place softly... afterhand, hammering it was more appropriate...

They never had to use the c-clip

Moreover... that bushing is going to cost me a good headache.
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Restoring "La Macarena"!

[firula]

[firula]

Sandblasting and painting:

Looking better
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Restoring "La Macarena"!

[firula]

[BarryL]

[firula]

Thank you!!

I got one question, yesterday I measured fulcrum plates to axle clearance (without removing snap rings, I lack of this tool). Measure 0.010'' and 0.012''... I understand maximum is 0.008''...They looks in good condition as far I can see, no corrosion nor dents.

The problem is that get new pairs are too expensive to me. Can I assemble anyways, drive the bus some time and replace them later?

I want to move on, altought don't want put all new box bearings to take all apart again really soon.

Opinions?
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Restoring "La Macarena"!

[type2rescuemaine]

[oakman]

[firula]

Hello people!! Well, has been a while... 2 years since last post... Lot of things happened since then. I obtained my private pilot licence, a pending duty back since I have memory. Also the birth of my second son... yes, I'm getting older.

Some days ago, I dreamed I drove the bus, all my family riding, in a trip to someplace... woke up and knew it's time to get back on project again.

So today I took reduction boxes and carry them for sandblasting. Will paint tomorrow.

I was far away from buses stuff this years... I got a mess of bolts, boxes, little things to repair... and so on. I'm already feeling the panic, the adrenaline and the beauty of restoration process.

I'm happy to be here again, wish all of you the best and I will start uploading pictures soon.
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Restoring "La Macarena"!

[superalex]

found you thread today. amazing job you're doing
i'm in a middle of a 61 wich is almost in the same phase as yours

i'm working in the gerabox as well

you can disassemble it a little more to visually inspect the gears

take the differencial covers off and remove the diff (there are also some more things to disassembly, but it's easy and you'll see them right away)
is also advisable to have a gearbox exploded view drawing around

there are 2 tipes of locks for the secondary shaft: the early one wich as 4 bolts and 2 locking plates, wich is the easiest to remove. the hardest has a crowned nut wich if you don't have a special tool you can take out by unscrewing it by tapping it with a hammer and a chisel

after doing that you can remove the nuts of the gearbox and with the help of a jack (if you don't have a special tool) you can press out the entire gearbox assembly

don't need to take out the snap rings of both shafts ends unles if you are removing the shafts ou of the gearbox assembly for changing damaged or weared parts

gear boxes are almost all the same for that period. they are also the same as the bug or type 3, so if your's as a visible problem is easy to find a replacement

another thing to take in mind is when you assemble the diff back in, check for the position: if you are using the RGB's the diferencial is inversed to the bug (probably in the inverse position of the drawing that you will use)

keep up the good work

[williamM]

Just found this thread- you have great skills and glad to see your getting back into it.

I just took 3 sets of Big nut RGB's apart and had one bearing in all of them that was good. It seems the rgb is kind of a dirty sump for the trans and torn axle boots. -- all the crap has to go thru those big bearings before settling in the box. I'm going to run2 of them with $9 russian bearings and 2 with german bearings. Hopefully the results will be miles down the road.
To check prices- visit King bearing website- then there is "Bearing finder" who show you lots of choices for a small fee.

nobody seems to service the RGB's- one of mine had the outer small bearing race cage completely disappear- having been ground to a powder by the gears.

They are important as "dangerous bus" almost lost theirs due to bad reduction box.

Keep track of the fulcrum plates as "wheelie pete" on his way to alaska had the darn thing slip and cause trouble with the crown gears.

For some easy ways to get it back together - see my gallery and there are some ideas for reassembly.

About the trans- I would just run it- It's way easier to finish your bus and need a transmission than it is to put all your work on the back burner while you work on a problem that may not exist. I've run noisy, pop out of gear trans for months while I found the cash to get another one.
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some days I get up and just sit and think. Some days I just sit.

opinion untempered by fact is ignorance.

Don't step in any!

[novetti]

Go as further as taking the snap ring off that holds the crown gears/fulcrums.

Inspect those (check for cracks in the crown gears, wear in the plates), also have a good look inside the diff spider gears (check if they look worn etc), and have a good look at the ring gear teeth. You might find more problems or all might be ok.

The syncros is hard to tell, but if you don't have the tools or skills I wouldn't bother now, I would put the whole thing back together and continue the restoration of the kombi. That way you progress further in the restoration to get the car rolling on its own power again.

Worst case will be if the further items in the transmission were bad and will require you to take it out again and send to someone to rebuild it for you. It's 4 hour job max to get a transmission out, so don't let this hold you for days or weeks now from progressing further.

Saludos

Julio

[BarryL]

[firula]