A few questions, A/C, suspension, brakes...

[82-T/A]

Hey guys,

I've been back in school for the past year and a half, and through pretty much most of that time, my Bus has just sat in the garage without being started. I'm going to have a bit more time soon, and I'd like to figure out a couple of small issues I'm having, and make some decisions.

1 - First, I have a problem with my brakes. It developed slowly over time, and now it's flat-out. When I apply my brakes, the rpms shoot up, and I get no brake assist at all. Without having done ANY diagnostic work at all, I'm assuming that perhaps this means the diaphram in my brake booster is shot and that I need a new brake booster. Is there a quick way to verify this? Where's the best place to go? It seems like they don't sell new ones?

2 - The second thing is, the rear end of my Bus sags a little bit. Not much, but it does still sag somewhat. What do I need to do to fix this? In my 2002 Ford Explorer Sport, the rear-end used to sag a little bit. The option was to replace the leaf springs, or just buy a pair of air shocks and use them to adjust the proper ride height. That worked well for my Explorer. I looked on Rock Auto and couldn't find any air shocks for the VW Transporter. I did a search on here and found that someone said to use adjustable spring shocks. Is that still the best option? What do I need to do to actually fix this problem correctly?

3 - I'm thinking about installing A/C in my Bus. It's not a huge priority really, but seeing something like 30 Bay busses go through my local junkyard over the past 5-6 years, I've snagged pretty much everything I need. I've got a Bosch A/C compressor with a bracket that allows me to mount it flush to the side of the Type-4 block (incidently, the previous owner of my Bus actually had a huge chunk of sheet metal cut out which I replaced with tin-work). I also have this massive dash component that sits directly underneath the factory dash. It actually looks pretty decent. It comes complete with two hard-core heavy duty blower fans and the adaptor pieces to connect the unit to the fresh-air ducts from the front of the Bus. (also intercepts the hot air coming from the heater blower fans and delivers it through there too, with or without A/C.

It looks something like this (not my bus), but matches the dash much better.

http://www.joescoolcars.com/images/Pic54.jpg

Anyway, I know how an A/C system works, and it appears as though at one time in my Bus's life it might have had this anyway. I'm just curious to hear from you guys what you think about having A/C in your Bus. What kind of drain does it have on the engine. Anyone have one of these under-dash mounted units like this? How do you like it? I haven't seen anything like it anywhere else, but it matches the factory dash in my 73 Bus exactly. The texture, the color of grey / charcoal matches my dash exactly, everything.


Thanks!!!
_________________
Todd,
(Fun cars)
2002 Ford Crown Victoria LX-P74
1987 Pontiac Fiero SE / V6
1973 Volkswagen Type-2 Transporter

[Opossum]

[82-T/A]

[aeromech]

1) The booster's bad.. If you hurry you might be able to send it to the guy in Texas before he retires.

2) Coil over shocks are the quick and dirty way to fix the sag. The best way is to adjust the torsion bars/spring plates.

3) A/C = good luck with that mod. Sounds like a lot of work.
_________________
Lead Mechanic: San Diego Air and Space Museum
Licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic
Licensed Pilot (Single engine Land)
Boeing 727,737-200-300-400,757,767
Airbus A319,320,321
DC9/MD80
BAe146
Fokker F28/F100
VW type 1 1962,63,65,69,72
VW Type 2 1971 (3 ea.) 1978, 1969
VW Jetta
VW Passat
Capable of leaping tall buildings in a single bound

[moxnix]

IMHO 9 out of 10 buses that had the rear torsion bars adjusted didnt need it. Lots of fussy work to do it too.

They are designed to sit nose high so when you have 2 people up front they run level going down the road.

My bus had its rear bars indexed up by the PO- and if I had the time to fart around with it I'd put it back to stock.

When I bought the thing it destroyed brand new rear tires in a matter of days because the rear wheels were toed in so far before I figured out what he did. (this toe-in issue was corrected by a shop in Phoenix not me- I was on a road trip)

Also it makes the rear suspension verrrry stiff and when I'm driving with a passenger the front rides pretty low with the tail up in the air...

Get some decent (stock) shocks and call it a day
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Ritterlich im Kriege, wachsam für den Frieden

[aeromech]