71 Westy -- bought new in London by my father, rolls again!

[Abscate]

...adding to this.. You can probably tell where they were developed by looking at the watermark on the back too.

My money is on. " Boots" for those Coventry pix.
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.ssS!

[sunnydog]

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'71 Westy w/ a 1776 singleport, 34P3 & 205Q. Points.

[sunnydog]

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'71 Westy w/ a 1776 singleport, 34P3 & 205Q. Points.

[pierrox]

Alqxzys a pleasure to see this bus on the roads!
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Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[airschooled]

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Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
www.airschooled.com

[sunnydog]

Yesterday turned into a gorgeous sunny day here in Southwest Washington and I skipped out of work early to get home and get the bus out of the garage for an evening sunset drive. I thought I was backing carefully out of the garage, but I looked over just as the side mirror was going to catch on the door frame... I stomped on the brake just as it caught, then carefully pulled forward again. Look, I bellied out the mirror mount on the beltline.

Had been texting my daughter who also wanted to go on a drive and dashed down to the local market where I waited for her to arrive. The evening sun had some nice side-lighting bus the bus.

Drove by the lake just as the sun was going down on the opposite ridge. rested the phone on my shoulder and took this sidewindow/sidemirror shot at 35 mph.

Drove down to the Columbia River for the sunset there, ran a few stop signs on the way and then parked in a handicapped spot. (I'm a bad, bad sunnydog like that. Also a bad role model for my children. Daughter #1 told me so herself.) Then I tried to take a picture of the sunset, but she was in my way, so I took a picture of her taking a picture of the sunset. How meta.

Got out of the bus to take a whole picture and got this with the lampost and trees and the handicapped sign all backlight by the sunset. I've posted pictures of this spot before, but whatever, it's good one.

Then when I got back in the bus the door didn't sound right when I closed it. and it didn't close right, and it didn't open right. And then it happened again when I got the bus back in the garage. So maybe I put enough leverage on that door with the side mirror incident that the whole thing got torqued a little bit? It looked like the gap at the back of the door actually widened. I'll have to take a closer look next weekend.
Good thing the slider still works because tonight looks good for fairweather driving as well! Maybe this time I should try to keep from rolling it into things?
sunnydog
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'71 Westy w/ a 1776 singleport, 34P3 & 205Q. Points.

[pierrox]

Sorry about this little incident.
Doesn't driving just give you a big smile?
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Our bus is on Instagram
instagram.com/biencuitbus

[Abscate]

It’s just a car Sunnydog. Dad wanted it to be used and loved, even if that means a booboo on occasion
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.ssS!

[Spike0180]

[sunnydog]

[lhwood]

Just dropped in to say Hi! I read this thread (more like a story) a while back. Great adventure, memories and subject matter. Haven't been here in a while and thought I would see if there were any new posts since I last visited.

It was like seeing an old friend.

Awesome.

Keep it going Sunny Dog!

[71whitewesty]

Great stuff Sunnydog. Always enjoy the new editions. Almost took mine out for a spin it’s been so nice. Hope to see you as the weather improves. Still in sno cat mode....
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71 Westy 1600 DP, all stock Bus 1
1970's Snow Trac 1600 SP (sold 12/2016)
1968 Tucker sno cat, sold 2021
1969 Tucker Sno cat 542
2017 VW Alltrac
71 tin top stock 1600 DP (project but runs)
Twin 71 White Westy, Bus 2, that I pulled from a 15 year slumber in a dry eastern WA field in 2015.
1966 Sundial Camper "Boomer"

[Spike0180]

Sunny, we weren't trying to say you weren't driving it, or even give you a hard time. On the contrary, we were encouraging you not to let that little ding get to you. You do an excellent job getting your bus out and about! Keep the posts coming.
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Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[Hikelite]

My favorite bus story

Glad to see you're still getting her out on the road. Hopefully our buses will meet along some back road someday. Mine drove under it's own power yesterday for the first time since 2001.
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~Kevin

My 1968 Campmobile

[Spike0180]

[sunnydog]

[Xevin]

sunnydog and I meet up for a beer at a strip mall. Beer was good. Hanging with a bro was better.

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Keep on Busin'

[sunnydog]

Well now that Xevin posted a photo and sent me a link to my own thread, I suppose I gotta show up to post an update...
Here's what has been going on lately: I finally got a complete set of '71 thermostatic flaps (or vanes) from Avery's. Two weekends ago I was a bachelor on a very rainy weekend, so I started at 2 in the afternoon and pulled the motor. Please note the artful use of milk crates and 2x4s as a motor stand. Yes I supported the transmission with a jack and a tow strap.

Then I installed the vanes and the actuator rod in the fan housing:

Then the return spring was the wrong length, so I drilled a new hole in the intra-vane crossarm:

While I had the motor out I cleaned up the motor box because it had gotten dusty in there, heavens! Made pizza, farted around, drank beer, a little bit o' this and that, then went back to reinstalling the motor that evening. Got it all back in but not hooked up and went to bed. The next morning I got some eggs and coffee going through the bloodstream, then sat down to hook everything back up. Replaced some electrical connectors here and there and added some shrink wrap over nicked wires on the original wiring. Took a good long look then started it up with no mishaps, nothing forgotten, and verified the thermostat was expanding (had previously verified it in the hot water test).

How to test it? Drive the flaps to the FLAPS and replace everything I used up; new engine degreaser, shop towels, blah blah blah. Here I am without the rear bumper back on yet:

My problem all around has been that the motor runs too cool. Never seemed to get up to temp, so the idea here (beyond just stock geekery) is that the vanes will help it warm up faster and operate in a narrower warm happy range. My cousin lovingly restores one-of-a-kind Italian sports cars, and he told me I could have a job in his shop anytime because "you are apparently the only person in the world who figured out how to get an aircooled, rear-engine bus to run too cold".

Last night was one of the first sunny evenings of this 2018 Spring and I tried to get out of work early and meet other bus owners at the Lucky Lab in Portland, but did not make it. I need to reset my timing and idle, so I did that when I finally got home, then sent Xevin harassing texts right as he got home from the LL. I convinced him to come out east for another beer and some catching up. I pulled up in the parking lot and stood in front of the bus. Right as Xevin pulled up and parked, a group of folks walked out of the restaurant and walked by and one of the ladies said " I want to go for a ride in one of those! They look fun!"

They are fun! But, "You'll have to learn to drop the engine" said one animated bear to the other. "Are you prepared to be covered in oil and grease for much of your life?"

But seriously, after shooting the breeze with Xevin for bit, and then headed on my way home, I had the biggest grin on my face the entire way, listening to that smooth raspberry purr of the motor, dreaming of summer evenings, long drives and baywindow vistas.

Its 81 degrees today and I'm thinking of leaving work early!
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'71 Westy w/ a 1776 singleport, 34P3 & 205Q. Points.

[Abscate]

You meet the nicest people at the LL.....
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.ssS!

[wcfvw69]

You should consider installing a stock muffler. It will help your carbs heat risers get hot and warm up those long carb intake manifolds. It will run much better when the engine is cold. You can also hook up your fresh air hoses to the heater boxes and get some heat in the cab.

It looks like you're running a DVDA distributor with a 34-3 carb. You will really notice the difference. I had a header and single muffler like you. They don't provide hardly any exhaust heat through the carb manifold. My bus ran terrible until it got up to temperature. When I took the header and muffler off and installed a stock muffler, I was really shocked about how much quieter it was inside the bus. I made sure my heat risers were clear of carbon. The engine runs so much better when it's cold in the am.
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Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

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