Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos.

[Charla]

Upholstering the bench seat. My conservative taste won out on this one because Ben wasn’t with me. Simple cream colored vinyl.

Foam is expensive so we kept what was there that probably wasn’t original.

My regular sewing machine handled this vinyl easily but vinyl is unforgiving. Once you punch a hole with a needle it’s there forever. I didn’t want to ruin $50 worth of vinyl so I didn’t fuss too much on the corners.

[Charla]

A contact of mine through work gave me a SMOKING deal on a case of Hushmat so we went through and hit the panels we could reach. This is some awesome stuff. I’d probably even pay full retail for this stuff if I had to.

[Charla]

Demo of front doors with and without Hustmat. No door seals or interior panels.

https://charla.smugmug.com/LeroyBrown/Rust-RepairBody-Work/i-7xBPhSt/A

[Charla]

Insulation, vapor barrier, panels...

[Charla]

Old water damage on the back edge of the closet.

It’s hard to fathom that all this stuff goes back in to that tiny space.

[Charla]

First very short test drive. There may have been one or two laws that we ignored to take this drive but we were too excited not to!

https://charla.smugmug.com/LeroyBrown/Rust-RepairBody-Work/i-x6X5Dmp/A

[Charla]

Installing the furniture.

Ben picked me a flower.

Enjoying the fruits of our hard labor.

[Charla]

We’re so close we can taste it now. Wheel studs have been swapped and all legal fees have been paid so it’s time to grab a few drops of fuel and take a real test drive. We went out to the next town and back on the two lane highway which was about 10 miles, then out to the opposite town and back about 15 more miles with a little bit of high speed interstate thrown in. Ben only though the bus was on fire once but it was just primer burning off the exhaust.

https://charla.smugmug.com/LeroyBrown/Rust-RepairBody-Work/i-kDgMM4w/A

[Charla]

After our successful short test drive in true Bendejo fashion our next test drive will be just a little overnighter up to Nederland.

150 miles round trip. High speed interstate, city, and mountain driving all in one go. Should be fun. Oh yeah, we’re camping overnight at 9000’ in April. Better pack the warm gear!

Here we go!

Had to get a little creative with the entertainment system.

We made it!

[Charla]

We chose Nederland as a destination because our friends from Salida were coming up to play music at Salto Coffee.

We hadn’t made any plans to meet up because we had no idea when we would be arriving. Ben was a little stressed out after relearning how to drive LB so we stopped for a couple beers to kill some time.

As we were wandering across the parking lot Ben overheard a guy say to his group “You see that one? It’s probably worth about $18k.”

Ben shouted back “SOLD!!!”

We met up with Duke and Tami aka Pint and a Half for lunch before the gig and they had a chance to check out the new and improved LB.

Fun show. A few other friends stopped by that we hadn’t seen in a while so it was cool to hang out.

After the gig we followed Duke up to the spot where they were camping and settled in for the night.

This is Duke’s pic of our rigs together, I think it’s hilarious.

Heading down the mountain to the coffee shop in the morning.

And a couple glamour shots before heading back down the mountain.

[Charla]

Driving back through Boulder.

The transmission has been finicky not wanting to shift into 1st from neutral at a stop but is ok with downshifting into 1st from 2nd while rolling.

We stopped at the Flea Market for a stroll and picked up a stereo deck and speakers.

Home! Another successful test drive.

[Charla]

It’s May now and we’re almost caught up with this story. Unfortunately all is not puppy dogs and rainbows. After a few more commuter type test drives the transmission started getting stuck in 4th gear. Not just sticking, done stuck. The only way it would release was to shut of the engine and roll backwards.

The transmission is fragged AGAIN, same problem as before. After all this work the last thing we were worried about was the transmission.

We talked and talked. Was it time to do a 5 speed swap? Or even a new conversion with a full drive train? I was damn close to going out and buying a whole doner car when we finally decided that we didn’t want to throw away our whole summer of camping in LB to dive right in to another huge project. Ben decided he’d repair the transmission himself, so it was time to get to work!

Elapsed time 2.5 hours. This guy is a beast.

[Bendejo]

Huge thanks to Charla for all of the help and support during the process and also for getting the Sambans all caught up on Leroy.

Best.
Wife.
Ever.

[Charla]

Now if you’ve followed along from the beginning you might remember that Ben is a diesel mechanic by trade and acquired his ASE Master Medium/Heavy Truck Technician certification a couple of years ago. He has experience working on diesel transmissions but this is his first crack this particular transaxle. It’s been so fun watching him research the mechanics of the thing, he’s like an insatiable sponge soaking up information. He’s excited and obsessed with the whole thing.

He tries to share his knowledge with me, but unfortunately my pea brain only absorbs about .00000001th of a percent of what he’s talking about.

Taking measurements.

Testing leverage

Birthday present ideas!

[JimmyJagged]

I am thoroughly enjoying this thread! I have been reading it all weekend. So much work has been put into your LB that it made me tired just thinking of all of the hours.
Keep up the good work and enjoy the ride.
_________________
Current:
1971 Tin Top Weekender Bus
1973 Squareback
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon (my 19yo son's first car. father/son project)
1985 Pop Top Weekender Vanagon w/ 2.5 Subaru

Past:
1976 Rabbit diesel (my first car). RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1973 Pop Top Westfalia Weekender Bus. RIP. Blown engine due to 25yo ignorant of VW maintenance (me).
1986 Vanagon Transporter. RIP. totaled by drunk driver (not me!)
1987 Vanagon Syncro. I never should have sold.

[Charla]

He’s an early bird, so on Saturday morning by time time I got up he already had hours of work into dismantling the transaxle.

Almost there

When he hit the limit of what he could do at home we packed up and headed to his work to use the press.

His work tool box is smaller than his home tool box.

I got to man the press handle while he caught the parts.

Shrapnel

The source of the problem. The damn synchro catch keys were disintegrating. These stupid $3 bits broke apart and damaged the synchros and a few other parts.

He placed another parts order and so far we’re at about $300 for some nice upgraded bits and $180 for the pinion nut socket.

And there you have it, we’re all caught up. Ben spent the day yesterday rebuilding the transaxle and installing it, while I spent a gazillion hours updating this thread. Today he rested.

He might slap the engine back in tomorrow after work and take a test drive. Cross your fingers that everything got put back together correctly or a 5 speed swap may be in our future after all!

Fixed pix Tcash

[Charla]

[Stuartzickefoose]

Next time he is bored...look up a peloquin LSD for that trans. Sturdy and fantastic.


Great work! Bus looks amazing!
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Charla]

[Stuartzickefoose]

Not a drivetrain swap, an upgraded differential, which he’s looking at anyways it appeared...the WEDDLE parts. Peloquin diff is lifetime warranty on the parts if you can break it they will replace the part. You eat labor but still...about a $1600 investment with a much improved traction and cornering for the bus. It’s a part that goes in the transmission you already have
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]