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Devon camper & the highway to Spain
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dooker
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 12:31 pm    Post subject: Devon camper & the highway to Spain Reply with quote

Evening everyone!

So i have to begin from the start. Years ago i got a sweet '79 RHD Devon camper from a friend. it has been on and off the road ever since for number of reasons. this summer i returned home from Italy (i live in a small place called Estonia) and me and my family decided to make a little change. we will move to Spain for 3 years. for now i have sold all my cars, all the spare parts, everything. all except the '79 devon, because flight to Spain was not an option for my wife, we had to drive there

since then i have taking my time off to work on the bus. i swapped the stock 1600c engine for 2000 (it was FI engine but i equipped it with carbs), also i swapped the 3-ribbed gearbox for 091 one. it has been quite a story with all the parts - 091 was broken and it has been fixed (just today found it a bit leaky), the engine has been trouble from the start. i ordered new EMIP 32/36 carb on it which turned out to be faulty

but everything aside - i started today, small trip for starters, tomorrow i will leave Estonia - me, my wife and kids - 2y & 7y. and we will try to reach Spain, Valencia soon enough. i also will try to keep this log updated, and yes there will be pictures as well

i will try to keep the track of the progress and if anyone is on the road or near it please cone and say hi or just wave Smile

sorry if the text is messy or anything like that. i've been packing and building and fixing and selling for the last 2 months and getting really tired already Smile
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Juancho
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 12:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

God speed Dooker. Can't wait to read about your adventures.
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Boesen
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 10, 2013 2:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Safe travels and many memories to be made for you and your family! You picked a great way to travel! Wink
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oorwullie
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 11, 2013 12:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

that's a cool trip, all 3600 kms of it. Laughing

i expect you won't drive thru' switzerland, but if yo do, i'm here till the weekend then i'll be going down to the med in france near toulon for a week at least.

maybe seeya somewhere along the line. Idea
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dooker
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 8:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

oorwullie - not sure about the Switzerland Smile BUT! we had the idea to drive through Saint-Tropez. So Toulon will be on my road anyway. And just about beginning of next week. General plan shows that i intend to be near Barcelona 20-22 sept, there is some bigger VW meeting - http://www.bugbus.net/et/events.html?&cmd=detail&id=399

so this is how we started from Elva, Estonia
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Bauska racing circuit
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and the two reasons i can only go about 400km max a day
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bus is holding on pretty nice. still has oil leaks, rear side is covered with dots. also noticed that gearbox had a little leak so pretty soon i will check the oil level of it as well. fuel consumption... well it's bad. about 20l per 100km in town, ~13.5 on the road. reasons? rather heavy load on the bus. and the fact that the carb is not adjustable. but we will keep on!
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 12, 2013 9:12 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good stuff, a trip like that can be a memory that lasts a lifetime. I see in the first pic that you sedated one of the passengers, good call, they can be trouble on a trip like that. Razz
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dooker
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 13, 2013 11:50 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

landed in a motel near Łódź, Poland. The motel is still under construction but good enough. need to wash some cloths and kids need a warmer night. it's been raining for the whole day here

Even got lost in Warsaw, well let's call it a little detour. Just lost some time, some fuel and had a great drive during rush hour. Even met some very nice guys - who ever You were in white van, who stopped next to us under traffic lights and handed the football pennant - Thank You! Smile

tomorrow - no idea yet. either Prague or straight to Germany. we'll see Smile
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dooker
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 17, 2013 1:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

finally! sun, warm - my kind of place. and i really like the north-Italian traffic, suits me well

the bus did the Alps, with some struggle. the uphills weren't that good. but the down hills on the other hand! on the "bahn" witk 100km/h and hills the bus did a bit more than 14l per 100km. well... not that bad, but when the fuel litre costs 1.99 it IS bad Smile

anyway we are over the Alps, in the Mediterranean sea, now just follow the coast line and all is good!

word of advice - if You drive from Milano to Genova, don't use the highway. we followed the SS35, small road. in the dark, it climbed again and again, bus had it's problems... but then there was the downhill road which was just f*** masterpiece. turn after turn after turn. even brakes started to feel a bit less productive in the end. and it seems You don't really need map or GPS in cities. we used compass in Genova and got out good Smile maps are too mainstream!

the images:

one of the buses along the road
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morning in Austria. i just have to mention that it was raining in Poland, in Germany and in Austria. whole 3 days. damn weather
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but once we were in Italy it was summer!
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with the mandatory pizza stop
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and this morning, at the sea
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dooker
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 11:48 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

it's been quite a nice ride so far. nice views, even met some more buses

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so far was the windshield wiper arm only thing that let me a little down. now is the big stuff - engine. yesterday morning there was no #4 cylinder. still missing. why - no idea. spark plug works, hydraulic lifters work... but cylinder itself is not. and there is noise, bad noise. and there was quite a lot of blue smoke. so i would say it's bad. so one little guy was taking nap while i was checking it out. as it was hopeless and not checkable in highway gas station there was a nice truck driver who spoke a little English. who translated another nice old guy who despite his white shirt dug himself into engine, returned and said it's the valve. truck driver then remembered his friend from VW club and gave his number. VW club friend told that he is too far but gave a workshop number. which also spoke English and i managed to drive to city Vallauris. and who turned out - the Bug Shop! drove to his office and he gave me an estimate - about 1000€ as there may be cylinder head problem, need to order new one

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so now is the question. the price is a bit over my budget. couple of days wait is also bad. drove away now and will settle down for the night to figure it out...


all this was yesterday. we decided to do one thing no proper VW owner would do - keep on trucking. bus drives, but lacks power. especially on the hilly coast line roads. well... right now i'm in Spain. yesterday night i decided to spend on some small French gas station parking lot - almost big mistake if not my dear wife was not able to hear suspicious sounds. some asshole broke into my car, broke the driver side lock as well (up until this point i had bus that had only one key for the doors... now i need new lock and additional key). but thanks to my wife the thief fled empty handed

so tomorrow i hope to get to the Spanish event - if anyone from Spain reads this, and will go to the event or knows anyone who will go - please spread the word that one used late type4 cylinder head would be useful. i have had diagnoses from broken valve to broken head. so i think a spare head will do no harm... i must remove the engine and disassemble it anyway to see the cause of all the problems. let's see what tomorrow will bring Smile
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 2:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Good luck, great pictures and keep us posted!
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PostPosted: Thu Sep 19, 2013 3:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm really sorry to hear this, still looks like a nice place to break down in.

Every minute you run that is asking for trouble, if it is dropping a seat and it lets go or jams sideways you'll be replacing alot more than just a head, how's your budget for that?. It can be replaced with the engine installed but sometimes it's easier just to drop it and have room to work and do the job right.
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 8:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Looks like a blast!
Get that head replaced, and good luck! Smile
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1967250s
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your steering wheel is on wrong side!
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PostPosted: Fri Sep 20, 2013 10:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your steering wheel is on wrong side!
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dooker
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 21, 2013 8:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

another camping side, another WiFi connection... this time in Tossa de Mar, at Spanish VW event. We made it here! First time during trip, during preparation, basically 2-3 months i have free day. Just the pool, sweetest weather - relaxation!

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So during last update my little guy had his second birthday & in France we saw rather big forest fire. And after some more fuel (bus is thirsty now) and oil fill-ups (oil is leaking even more) we arrived here

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About the steering wheel - yes it's on the wrong side. Although her majesty people and the down under folks will disagree... but it's ok, i can handle it. overtaking is a little problem but i can do that in right corners (then i can see what's going on in front of me)

so the event will last until tomorrow evening. then there will be the last ~500km. and then - engine tear up!
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dooker
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 11:26 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so some more pics from the event are here - http://eastsidecustoms.eu/blog/das-event/. i will not tear the page load time down by uploading them all here
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 1:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

i made it to the event and i kept on. and i arrived to town called Cullera, about 50km south from Valencia. i had there a place booked. the town looked nice, they even had proper advertisement for car wash

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the oil leak was getting worse, ending up like this
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so i added some more and crawled again up the hills to my new place with way fancy garage

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just to remove the engine and find the problem - #4 outlet valve seating was gone. also looks like i did bad job on the autobahn gas station repair as one of the pushrods managed to get out and broke the head lower part. well... i need a new head anyway. also there was some problems in the #3 cylinder too

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so now the big question. i need new head, no question about that. but would it be a good idea to get a new pair? they are not cheap, but new ones are new ones. what would be the general opinion on this?

also - anyone reading this here from Spain? from Valencia? anyone knows anyone close to Valencia? i may need some help Smile lack of tools is just one of the issues...
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 2:06 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep, I would say that head is bad. Shocked



Great pics!
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Great tale so far! Yes Id have to say the head is bad Laughing

Thanks for sharing the adventure with the fam.......and for Christ sake, put a shirt on, eh!

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PostPosted: Sat Sep 28, 2013 2:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hey dooker, congrats on making it to spain and a fine garage to work in! Smile

i don't carry spare cyl. heads with me even if we had managed to meet up............

i wish you and your family all the best, maybe catch you another time. Idea

and i hope the spanish seewater is warmer than the french med, i went swimming only once this trip. Shocked
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