Just shoot me.... 70 deluxe project

[notchboy]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

everyone should be use to one of my threads leaving someone all butthurt

so, lets see....

when I was building the bus I had gone through a ton of vent windows to find the best of the best, and I did. but, one window had some nasty pits, almost like welding slag hit the glass. it was so bad, it looked like streaks of bird shit.

so, as much as I hated to do it, I cut the window back out and replaced the glass

I don't have the photo of the old glass. it was hard to show the detail of how nasty it was. but, it's all put back together now.

building this bus and looking for the best of the best was quite a challenge. you wouldn't believe in all of the glass I saved, there was only a handful that didn't have some sort of damage/ scratches.

but at the end of the day I am glad I swapped out that glass. much better now!
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

well, that's it.

went for a ride today before the big spring nor'easter and the fresh air vent whistle was just enough to drive me batshit crazy....

off came the flaps. when I did this the first time, I sorted through my best vents and found the ones with the best seals.

when I took them off, I had found that the drivers side (the one that was making the noise) had the seal come unglued in one of the corners. so, I stripped both of them

prime

re paint and re seal

sadly, by the time I got it back together I just didn't feel like going for a ride. so, hopefully this will stop the dog whistle from the left vent. I ended up doing both of them. figured what the hell....

my to-do list is getting shorter. next up is to install the washer jug/pump and the modified switch.
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[airschooled]

I have found that with my home-made sealing efforts, nothing quite worked perfectly. Even my Super-Duper-Custom-Fit foam that worked for a month eventually started dribbling cold air at night. What worked for me was an extremely thin washer under the plastic mounting clips. This prevented the top of the new seal from contacting the lip first and not allowing the bottom to seal due to crush. Now my closed-cell foam contacts the lip in careful choreography. And the painted contact lip is kept clean and waxed.

I recently discovered that my '76, though significantly cheaper in general build quality, has a "hyper extended lock" feature on the blue lever. If you push the lever all the way up, it will exert tension on the closing rod, similar to locking your knees when standing up for long periods of time before you pass out. Does your '70 work like this? I haven't tried it with my '69 yet.

Robbie
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

interesting mr.robbie. I don't think my levers hyperextend like you speak of, although I am sure with enough playing around on the cams and their several holes you'd be able to do just that.

upon assembly, I shut the vents and the seals left a nice imprint of the profile in the sheet metal of the bus.

cold air is a non issue to me, as I can make enough heat for myself, 2 westy's and a high roof

the whistle was just getting to me. no joke, my bus is whisper quiet going down the road. that noise was just driving me nuts....if I cracked the lever jussst a tiny bit, the noise went away. but doing that bled in a steady stream of air, so it was just on the cusp of opening the flap to make the noise go away.

if anything, I wish I could have found foam a hair thicker. this was 3/8 iirc, 1/2 may have been a bit too thick. I will find out once the weather cleans up some.

I have started to make replacement foam for the dash vents too. that has proven to be a bit difficult as the "on/off" lever/flap assy is oblong and the foam has to be made bigger to seal off the metal tube.

kind of figure may as well go all the way, right?
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[vwwestyman]

I finally just now read through this whole thread. As I told Skills a day or two ago, I had refrenced parts of it several times, but never sat down and read the whole thing.

What a nice Bus! Sure makes my TDI swap look like a junkyard threw up in it!

After doing the window channel de-rust project in my '73, though, I've decided that there is no way I can really undertake a proper restoration of a Bus until I have a much larger shop/garage. So for now it'll just have to be maintenance/preventative projects.

I need to get in the rear window channels of my '78 because I know for a fact that they are rusted enough to let water in the bus. And I've got a pair of rear slider windows to stick in there!

I did pull the old turbo last night, it was blowing lots of oil past the seals into the intake. Enough that large amounts of oil was seeping out at boost tube connections and making a gigantic mess all over the back of the Bus! The turbine shaft has all sorts of play both axially and radially, which explains the problem.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[vwwestyman]

I can also say that in general with a swap, I can relate to Skills' comments about throwing money at trying different things, trying different stuff out, and on and on.

I've decided for the '73 that I will keep the Type 4 motor going as long as I can without a rebuild (it does seem to be in good shape) while slowly stashing away parts for a swap in it.

Also, I have to say your willingness to thrash it astounds me a bit! I spent a good deal of money on rebuilding my 091 trans--4.13 R/P, taller 3rd and 4th and a super diff so that thing makes me a little nervous! Its probably fine, and I am getting into the boost more, but it still freaks me out a little bit!
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[vwwestyman]

Fair enough. And I do generally take the attitude of "what good is it to have the vehicle if I don't take it out and use it?"

I think part of my apprehension is having blown up both the engine and the transmission along the way, and not wanting to experience either again!

Though, I guess I need to remember that the engine blew up due to an error on my part of putting the cooling system together. And the transmission didn't exactly blow up, but I shouldn't have been (and wasn't, really) surprised when it went kaput.

I knew it was old and worn out before I even started that project.

So I suppose I need to lighten up a tad with the TDI bus! I probably won't go trying to peel out or anything, but I do admit to enjoying getting into the boost now and then.
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[jtauxe]

[Stuartzickefoose]

Skills...you should do a diesel swap
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Nepenthe88]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[srfndoc]

Hey Skills,

First off, mad props on your build. Secondly, have you done this swap on a split window bus yet? Engine compartment is even smaller than an early bay so I'm wondering if its even doable without making any heavy modifications.

BTW, I've seen them done in splits, just curious if you have done with one with same mantra of 'don't make any significant changes that cant be undone'.

This one seems to be fairly un-modified from what I can tell:

Thanks
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[airschooled]

That orange(?) engine bay appears to have some cutting done to the sides of the apron. It looks neat enough, and they even managed to cover the sharp edge with trim molding, which is a nice touch to the somewhat "home garage" look to the engine bay.

I'm not saying my engine bay is the gold standard like some people here actually have, but it cost me five cans of spray paint, some scrubbing pads, and a few hours of time to make it far nicer than what I was working with before. I guess if you have more money than time you end up with an engine like that, but the festooned chrome in that engine bay isn't doing any favors when there's flagrant dirt and grime surrounding it.
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Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
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[skills@eurocarsplus]

[srfndoc]

[fogoo]

Hey Skills, if you don't mind saying, what muffler are you using for your swaps. I like that you keep it tucked in behind the wheel and not wrapped around the front... errr back of the engine
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64 Single Cab
71 Bug.....sold
73 Bus......sold
75 Panel Bus - converting to Subi power http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=651073&highlight=
78 Kombi Camper

[Brian]

Hey Skills, so when can we expect to see this thing going offroad
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Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[richparker]

^It's for his adventurers on roading...


Link


Oh the comedy, sorry Skills...you and your bus are awesome!
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