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1977 CE1 Rebuild thread (barn find)
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webwalker Premium Member
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 8:27 pm    Post subject: 1977 CE1 Rebuild thread (barn find) Reply with quote

I first saw this bus about 18 months ago when it suddenly appeared a shop I pass by weekly. Buses appear and disappear from the side year all the time; customer vehicles, whatever. But this one came and stayed.
And stayed. And stayed.

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Pretty soon the itch to find out the back-story became overwhelming, so I stopped in and chatted up the mechanic. The bus had been in storage in a barn in downstate Delaware for a decade until a divorce brought it, and its owner, back up to the Southern New Jersey area. (Marlton, Mount Laurel.)

I looked it over and while it was 'all there' it was clearly a barn find. It had lichen. The engine hadn't turned over in a decade. Mice had been at work at some point. And the whole frame was covered in surface, non-penetrative rust. Battery box was showing daylight. etc.

I inquired about the availability and was told a price that I guffawed at, and then handed over my card and wrote a dollar figure on it. Then I crossed that out and decremented it by $1000. This bus had 'project' written all over it.

And I didn't hear anything. I sold my 1972 Super Beetle that I had taken eight years to restore and which had won trophies throughout the mid-Atlantic region. I pined for a bus, but all of the timing was wrong: lay-offs at work, pressure cooker environment, backlog of work at home, plus two high-maintenance, developmentally delayed children. Who has time? Or resources? Or even the oomph to keep going with what you DO have on your plate? And I still heard nothing from the owner of that bus, but this had falled far below my radar at this point.

Then I wrecked my clavicle in a car accident in early November. And that put an end to any idea of doing anything I didn't need to do for a long while.

About the time I started to get back on my feet at work, at home, etc. An email shows up....Still want the bus? At this point, I may as well have gotten the message out of the blue. I was not expecting that old dead lead to jump to life again.

My wife and I hemmed and hawed and I decided to take a second look. This time I came away with different observations. Though red below the belt line, then M-plate IDs it as a Champagne Edition 1, With 70Amp Alternator and BA6 heater. Most importantly, the body was quite straight.

We struck a deal and the bus has now changed owners.

So welcome 'Ferdinand' so named for the bull that would rather sit under the cork tree and smell the flowers rather than fight. (No, F. Porsche didn't figure into the name....much.)

Job #1: Transport to our locale.

Plans for future jobs as time and responsibilities permit:

Job #2 A complete cleaning, inside and out. Probably a 12 hour job if done quickly.

Job #3 Leak-down test on the engine.

Job #4 Drain the fuel tank

Job #5 Power up the fuel pump and test it for sufficient throughput. (Fed from a jerry can.)

Job #6 Dump the oil and refresh, reset the valves, check all of the other fittings for tightness and then, feeding from the jerry can, see if I can re-wake the engine with a new battery and fresh shot of fuel. Extinguisher standing by.

If it can be made to run, then we'll spring for all new vac and fuel hoses and then do calibration tests on all of the FI sensors.
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77 Deluxe
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Congrats on your purchase...

Have fun restoring it and keep us posted
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vdubluvah
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nice!!
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webwalker Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 8:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I intend to use this forum as my primary log and query for issues. I'm quite jealous of all of the resources available locally to folks on the West Coast.

I did get a little bit of a shock today when performing the title change from Delaware back to NJ. Ferd' came into the USA at New York port and was sold first to a family in NJ. Title was transferred to the PO in 1997, but Delaware did not record the number of miles on the vehicle. When I moved the title back this morning, I got dunned on two items: The paint color (bottom is now red instead of Agate Brown,) and the mileage. When the vehicle was first transferred to the PO, it was registered in NJ, then moved to DE. At the time of title in NJ it was listed as 144k. I entered 67k, which is what it stands at now.

So I DON'T have a low mileage bus. I have a high mileage bus. I don't know if the engine is numbers matching (I haven't gotten the birth certificate from the AutoMuseum) but somehow I see a new engine in the near future. I think it unlikely that I'm just going to clean up the engine and FI, fire it up and roll off into the sunset. Confused

I'll have some better pictures up later in the week.

In lieu of a roadside service, does anyone know what the going rate is for a flatbed tow these days?

M
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secretsubmariner
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 9:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Whoa dude. Bum deal on the repaint.
High mileage? No surprises there. At least you got the special Harley Davidson edition. Those are hard to come by Wink

Jokes aside, I only chimed in for towing advice. I called around to literally 10 different places (local and corporate companies) and found a place that would tow anywhere in city limits for 50 bucks flat rate. Of course this is Oklahoma-where the tow comes sweeping down the plains. I have no idea what it's like in the northeast. Search and you will find!! Good luck.
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1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
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Collie
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Woohoo! Another CE! Now, all we need are pictures of the interior too so that we can nitpick and make sure.... Very Happy

If you are so inclined, remove some of the red paint and see if the brown\red paint is still under there and maybe the stripes too...unless of course you like the new paint job.....

There are a bunch of CE bus (original) pics in my gallery if you need....
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secretsubmariner
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Collie wrote:
Woohoo! Another CE! Now, all we need are pictures of the interior too so that we can nitpick and make sure.... Very Happy

If you are so inclined, remove some of the red paint and see if the brown\red paint is still under there and maybe the stripes too...unless of course you like the new paint job.....

There are a bunch of CE bus (original) pics in my gallery if you need....


Well Collie, bro-dawg, the bus in question is a 1977 CEI, which won't have the 78's brown/red/stripe combo you speak of...also it's a camper. Juuuust the brown and white. But let's see that dash Twisted Evil

But seriously folks, we do need interior pics for nitpicking, verification, etc. Laughing

Do you know where the M-code plate is? how's a bout runnin' them numbers for us?
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1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
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Collie
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 12:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

secretsubmariner wrote:


Well Collie, bro-dawg, the bus in question is a 1977 CEI, which won't have the 78's brown/red/stripe combo you speak of...also it's a camper.


Sure dont look like a camper.....but I could be wrong for the 2nd time today Wink

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pozz907420
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 1:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

most of replies are usually just bs.But this is important...
When you drain the fuel,be damn sure not to get gas in your ear.Be damn sure.Not even joking.Worse thing EVER
If you do,lay on your side and fill your ear with oil.Veggie oil,baby oil whatever.Keep that in there for a half hour or so to put out the fire.The heavy oil will have the gas rise to the top to flush and stop chemically burning the inside of you ear.
One year later my ear is still FUBAR.I now use a ear plug when Im down there.
I'm sure you already knew this but I'm sure someone reading this might think twice now.
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secretsubmariner
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 2:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Collie wrote:
secretsubmariner wrote:


Well Collie, bro-dawg, the bus in question is a 1977 CEI, which won't have the 78's brown/red/stripe combo you speak of...also it's a camper.


Sure dont look like a camper.....but I could be wrong for the 2nd time today Wink



D'oh!!! you got me man. Laughing

I wasn't trying to be a dick or anything!

Thanks for watching my back Collie. Mr T would pity me, for I am the fool.

Anyway-enough of the games. Let's see those pics!


Since I've had to eat my words, I went and reread the first post.
Sounds like you have a solid plan there webwalker. If it were my bus, I'd do fuel lines closer to top, as it's fairly cheap and for SURE a very important step.
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webwalker Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pozz907420 wrote:
most of replies are usually just bs.But this is important...
When you drain the fuel,be damn sure not to get gas in your ear.Be damn sure.Not even joking. ...snip...
One year later my ear is still FUBAR.I now use a ear plug when Im down there.
I'm sure you already knew this but I'm sure someone reading this might think twice now.


I remember when you first posted this and hearing about it made my ear ache. I'll be *very* careful because I expect what's in that tank is a serious witches brew....
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'll try to get the rest of my pics up tonight. I don't have a perfectly clear shot of the m plate so I shot a bunch of pics to make up for it (wires for the BA6 in the way)

But the long and short is that the interior is original and complete (including the parchment white seats,) but trashed. Think 'barn find' and then multiply by 12 years. M plate tells me it was shipped to UN (New York) port and was Agate Brown and Atlas White, with the 70A Alternator and the BA6 heater. I don't know anything about the curtains, but the floor is carpeted. The seat pedestal covers are a lighter brown, but shot. Dudes, there be LICHEN on and IN the bus.

After looking at my options, I'm probably going to call AAA and uprate my service. The difference costs about the same as either a cheap tow (about $50) or a uhaul flatbed rental. (also about $50.)

The only thing that smarts is the questions about the engine. But I won't get those answered until I do the leak-down.

I wouldn't choose the Red/White combo. Too 'leap and scream' for my tastes, but I doubt I'll repaint it. The paint is in quite good condition all things considered, and I don't itch to go through the repainting route again. My last resto seriously put me off of that.
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secretsubmariner
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 3:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

webwalker wrote:
I'll try to get the rest of my pics up tonight. I don't have a perfectly clear shot of the m plate so I shot a bunch of pics to make up for it (wires for the BA6 in the way)

But the long and short is that the interior is original and complete (including the parchment white seats,) but trashed. Think 'barn find' and then multiply by 12 years. M plate tells me it was shipped to UN (New York) port and was Agate Brown and Atlas White, with the 70A Alternator and the BA6 heater. I don't know anything about the curtains, but the floor is carpeted. The seat pedestal covers are a lighter brown, but shot. Dudes, there be LICHEN on and IN the bus.

After looking at my options, I'm probably going to call AAA and uprate my service. The difference costs about the same as either a cheap tow (about $50) or a uhaul flatbed rental. (also about $50.)

The only thing that smarts is the questions about the engine. But I won't get those answered until I do the leak-down.

I wouldn't choose the Red/White combo. Too 'leap and scream' for my tastes, but I doubt I'll repaint it. The paint is in quite good condition all things considered, and I don't itch to go through the repainting route again. My last resto seriously put me off of that.


Reasonable man, indeed. Good luck with that engine...I hate the feeling of an unknown engine Evil or Very Mad
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webwalker Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So here come the pics everyone was requesting: be kind. I shot them with my darned phone. Confused

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Look, ma: Agate brown inside!

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167k on the clock, assuming that it is still accurate.

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Mplate

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Paint not too bad

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Crunchy!

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Floor mats trashed, pedestal covers trashed, seat upholstery shot.
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Last edited by webwalker on Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:29 am; edited 7 times in total
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PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2012 11:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The pics or the links aren't working.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 12:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

ya, post those pics on the samba picture gallery so we can see them forever more! Very Happy
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 10:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pictures now fixed.

The gallery is the bane of my existence.
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:24 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thank ya! Very Happy
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PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2012 11:36 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Lookin' pretty good, webby. Very nice.
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 12, 2012 6:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Even though Kodak is going away, the phrase 'Kodak Moment' will live on.

Here's one: The little girl meets the bus for the first time. She doesn't know that Daddy owns it. She doesn't know it is coming home in a week. But she's curious and wants to see what's inside. So she's got her nose pressed up to the glass to count the seats, and 'see what she can see.'

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