My 1966 Split Sea Blue Bus

[type47fan1]

Hey Guys.I was registered about 6 years ago but a week or so ago I could not remember my password and my email was long gone so I had to re register.
At any rate, I have been looking for a Split on and off for about 5 years. By off I mean I would get sidetracked and look for some type of Porsche project instead.

So this morning we started out at 4am to go get a 66 bus that I had only seen one picture of and did not have any clue what type of shape it was really in. The owner just said that it had a nose repair, cut rear wheel wells, and a little bit of rust
A good Friend of mine and my 16 year old son started out for the roundtrip run. We had a really good time and the entire time we were thinking we are going to get there and it is going to be rusted into the ground. Also for the price I kept thinking I will believe I am buying it when we get it on the trailer.
The story on the Bus is pretty Cool. The owner bought it from the original owner in 1988 and drove it up until 2007. He put it down and started saving parts to restore it. I could tell by his tone that he really loved the bus and he kept asking me to send pics when I fix it and get it on the road. He said he paid $50.00 for it. He had a ton of new parts and a Bentley manual he gave to me as well. No rear bumper and he kept apologizing for not having it.
I think the Jerry Garcia sticker is cool on the coil and there was a very old Grateful Dead Sticker in the rear window.
My plan is to get it running and driving and working on the rusty parts as we go. We just got home, so I did not tear into at all tonight. Kinda beat from the 12hr ride.
Has 6 pop out windows on the side.
Heres some pics, what do you think?
Phillip
Here is the M CODE PLATE I have an old book that decodes some of it, is there a updated list? I could not find what 002 was.
07 3
425 002 081 114 130
UP(may have wrote this wrong) 2512 121 872 611 5484

[Snoop Bob]

Nice deluxe...Way to go.
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[bleeds_ink]

nice deluxe bus find
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1957 vw beetle
2012 vw gti

[hitest]

That's my bus' twin! Short middle, minimum popouts, W/T, etc... Nice center mat- and great panels. Welcome to the Sea Blue crowd.
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[scottvw]

Very cool. Looks very similar to my 66 Sea Blue Deluxe project. Just to let you know, that interior is pretty rare, especially the blue mats. Take good care of them. The color is called Aero Papyrus. It is a 2 year only color that is not reproduced at this time.

Keep the pics coming!!!!

[type47fan1]

Thanks Scott. I have been following your build and hope I can get mine just a little close to how nice yours has turned out. Thanks for the heads up on the interior, When I was pulling it out my Fiance was going are you going to go ahead and throw that away and I was telling her I plan on using everything that came out of it.
I will get a ton of pics, just had to do some family time after 12hrs with the boys getting it.
It will get some deep cleaning and then do an inventory of parts needed for a brake rebuild.

Thanks
Phillip

[zuggbug]

congrats... nice bus
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
58 15 window
56 westy

[BenTen]

Very nice, wish I could find one like that around here.... I would be driving instead of sitting in my shop staring at a DC on jack stands.

Nice to see the 914's in the background as well, I've only had a dozen or so of those over the years!

[RPGreg2600]

Looks nice. Is the nose skin riveted on instead of welded?

[type47fan1]

Thanks for the compliments. Going to try and see if I can get the brakes squared away and see if we can get it to run this weekend. Also what type of battery do you recommend? It is 12 Volt.Spent some time cleaning it up inside and getting an inventory of the parts I have.
Floor is very nice aside from the 3-4 inches at the rocker. He included a repair part for that. The seat is also some sort of fold down bed type seat.

I cleaned a small section of the headliner with some simple green so I feel I an get it pretty clean.

A little bit of soap on the door panel to see if it will clean up.Before and after.

Thanks
Phillip[/img]

[type47fan1]

[type47fan1]

Also, this is down the road but, what size drop spindles can you use with RGB. I am not sure I want to go narrow beam as I will probably keep the factory steel wheels.

Thanks
Phillip

[61TXghia]

You can straighten out the interior panels by wettng them, put them between two sheets of plywood and park your car on top of it. Great find, I love the stance
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62 Standard Type 2 (Nothing Fancy)
my bus: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=464719

[kingscory]

[type47fan1]

[d-rick]

Nice 13 window. Welcome to the Sea blue club. Yes save all those interior panels!
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1959 mango-trailerbus
1962 single cab *1/2
1966 13 window
1967 panel/camper
1968 cig-panel *1/2
1968 passenger bus *1/2
1969 beetle
1969 dormobile
1978 sage green Westy
1990 DoKa
2002 Golf TDI

[type47fan1]

Swung by a local parts house (MYCO) today. Picked up everything I need to rebuild the brakes minus drums. Hoping I can reuse them.
Got a new ignition switch, so I figured I would see what would happen when I tried to crank it.

I turned it by hand and it turned over really nice and the oil actually looked ok.The previous owner had ran it up until about 6 months ago. I turned it over with no plugs attached to see what I was up against. As you can see in the photo the fuel lines were shot. I drained the tank and installed new lines.
I was able to get it to run. The engine actually kicked off pretty quick. There are no knocks and the valves were pretty quiet.
There is an ignition issue I think though. I replaced the plugs, but have not replaced anything else. I can get it to run at the carb if the throttle is wide open but even then it seems like it is barely above idle, maybe 800RPM.It seems like it is dumping plenty of gas,while it is running it is certainly rich. While playing with it, when I come off the throttle just a little it actually seems like it goes up in RPM's. Any quick checks?

I revived a 912 motor that was not running for 11 years, but that was mostly due to carbs being shot.

Fuel soaked lines.

New dry lines. I need to find some better clamps. All the FI clamps I have are 8MM, so I did not have any small enough.

[tasb]

thee is a nice project. I have had my 65 for over 20 years now. Looks like you have an extra top row of jail bars in the window by the spare tire. Not stock but not a bad idea either.
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Roads Scholar &
1957 Kombi low mileage 36 hp governor equipped M 178 Slow Drag Winner 2014, 2015, 2018

1965 hardtop Deluxe Microbus owned since 1990 M 620 factory 12 v 1500cc

1961 (October)Single Cab- Road Trip Workhorse

[type47fan1]

Thanks. Got the poor running figured out for now. Carb was junked up. Spent some time cleaning it and got it to run right. Will order a rebuild kit, but it does not appear to leak, was just nasty.
I am rebuilding the brakes this weekend but really wanted to see if I could get it to move on it's own power.
Used a 60lb barbell to hold down the brake pedal after I pumped the pedal and ran back and let the air out (no one was home to pump brakes, I really need a bleeding kit).
While no where close to perfect I just wanted a pedal that would stop it.
I rinsed it off so I could see, Cranked it up and took a deep breath and released the clutch and off I went through the neighborhood. That was the first time I had ever driven a bus so was pretty happy. Shifted fine through all the gears and came to a stop each time(with some pedal pumping)
Took a pic at the end of the neighborhood for proof to some friends I got it running.

Phillip

[BenTen]

I love that bus! Want to trade for a DC?