Dave's 1973 Wild Westerner Project

[vwwestyman]

I had a little time to work on it last night. I finally separated the old transaxle and the engine. I was thinking that since it wasn't that long since I had put it together, I'd not worry about the engine oil seal or clutch or any of that.

Well, it had other ideas. The seal was leaking and had made quite a mess in there, so it needs to be replaced. Also the clutch disc was worn enough to warrant replacing that too. Might as well get a pilot bearing too, even though that is also pretty new.

Oh well.

Also, the little square nut that holds the thermostat cable is stripped out. Does it have to be a square nut, or would a simple nut and bolt do for this?
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Over the weekend, I applied the Master Series silver primer. It must be some pretty good stuff, because I got a little bit on my arm and that is not coming off!

Once it dried, it did seem to be very hard and secure.

For the whole project, I've just been working on the window frames, so nothing really visible. I taped off right at where the edge of the window rubber will be so even the tape lines should be covered.

Because my main goal is just to stop the rust and keep water out, and everything will be hidden by the window rubber, I didn't worry about making it smooth and pretty. Just stopped the rust for now with grinding and acid treatment, and the Master Series.

This is what I used to apply the mixed-by-code paint I bought:
http://store.preval.com/collections/preval-sprayer/products/preval-sprayer

I would say that overall it worked pretty well. The paint color is much closer than the mixed spray paint I ordered at first. This time it is regular automotive paint, pushed through the Preval sprayer.

I forgot to take any pics of the Master Series before painting most of it, until I was ready to paint the windshield area. Sorry they're a little grainy.

_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Work yesterday and today.

Lets see...

Yesterday I wired up a relay to turn the radio on when the key is in the ignition and worked on the slider hinge/roller. Can't finish that until the new bearing(s) come in.

Today I painted the dash. In my What to do with the windshield out and dash off thread it was suggested that I have it powdercoated but I decided that rattle can satin black would work fine for now.

I was going to install the new washer squirters, but when I popped off the old ones, I found some rust underneath. So I had to touch that up first.

I also got in the engine compartment and installed the air box holder and cut the hole for the computer.

Sorry I don't really have any good pics of any of this, but I did go back out to the garage for something and discovered I left the work light on from when I was cutting the computer hole. It left a cool jack-o-lantern type effect.

I'm hoping to have the engine installed tomorrow.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Did some more work on the bus today.

The main goal was to get the engine into the bus.

I got real close.

For those following along, there are lots of little differences in the front tin that would have to be dealt with to install FI. I didn't buy different tin, I've been modifying the current tin.

I had to drill a hole for the pressure regulator. There was one that appeared to be in the right spot when the engine was sitting on the floor. However, it ended up that the nipple was interfering with the frame, so I had to drill a lower hole.

I also have elected to run both the brake booster line and the fuel line through the left side of the tin. On the '73, the booster line was all that went through the tin. On the FI buses, the booster line went through the body. I put a second hole in the tin, one for each.

I had to block off the old carb preheat hole on the right side. So I cut a piece of metal and bolted it in place. The riser is still there, just blocked off. The metal blocking it is sandwiched between the riser and front tin.

From pics I could see, it appeared that the accelerator cable went through a rather large hole that was closed up by a piece of rubber. So I made that.

The big problem was when I bolted the motor up.

I didn't remember that the accelerator cable went through the upper motor mount. I looked at it all and just decided it must be routed between the top of the bellhousing and the mount bracket. Oops. It was totally pinched in there by the time I was done!

Luckily for me, I have a later mount from the '78 in the garage, so it'll go in this week. By the time I realized my mistake, I was too tired so I showered and wrote this!
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Here is a list of some things to consider if going this route (installing FI on a pre-FI Bus) that may or may not occur to you:

You'll need to cut a hole to mount the computer if you want it in the factory position. Otherwise you'll need to come up with an alternative way to protect it.

You'll need to attach the airbox mount. I've started by welding a bracket to it and screwing that to the body, but that may or may not be secure enough as time goes on.

You'll need to cut/drill a hole in the front tin for:
*vacuum line
*fuel pressure regulator
*accelerator cable

You'll also need to block a tin hole that was for the carb preheat.

The accelerator cable on FI routes through the upper bellhousing mount. You'll either need an FI mount, or drill a hole through yours in the correct location and attach a tube.

Mounting the fuel pump.

I also discovered that with the additional depth of the 091 transmission, the alternator to starter wire may be a couple inches too short. I need to double-check that it isn't caught on something.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

This one was a little weird. I expected that swapping in the upper bellhousing mount would be simple.

However, the '78 mount wouldn't go in as easily as the '73 came out. The rubber mounts had the same part number and all that, but I had to swap the '73 rubber mounts to the '78 metal mount to get it to go in. The '78 rubber mounts were a couple mm longer despite the same part number. Maybe the '73 were a little compressed from hanging the engine while the '78 haven't had any weight on them in a couple years? Weird.

I also got the fuel pump side of the double relay wiring fixed up and in the bus. The hole in the bus for the wiring was sufficient to pass all the wiring through, but it required a grommet with a larger ID.

In crawling under the motor, I found a bit of extra wiring slack on the alternator wiring and I think that will be enough to hook that up.

Getting closer to hearing the engine run again!
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Well it was a long-ass day of working on the Bus but I think I made a lot of progress!

I've got the engine installed and all put together. As it turns out, I think I bought some Vanagon FI parts mixed in with the Bus stuff I (thought I) bought. For example, the S boot, which seems to be shorter than a Bus one.

Oh well, with some pieces of copper pipe and rubber hose, I think I have all the large vacuum lines plumbed up.

I got the shifter hooked up, and axles reinstalled. I had to replace one of the axle boots. What a messy and nasty job. Ugh.

I finally got to where I could try to start the engine. I poured some gasoline in and gave it a shot...

No fire just yet. Rats. I know that the fuel pump runs when I push the flapper door, and I'm also sure I heard it run when I was cranking the starter. So that is a good sign.

I dumped a little gas in the boot and got one or two coughs each time but that was it.

However, by the time I got to that point, it was super late so I called it a night and took a shower.

When I went back to the garage to grab a drink, though, I thought the smell of gas was really strong.... I took a peek under the bus to see that there was a pretty strong drip/stream of gas leaking!

So I changed into work clothes (I've got a box out there) and was able to reset the fuel line and clamp to stop the leak. Unfortunately, I got some gas on me and had to take a second shower.

Tomorrow I plan to finish working on the slider door rear hinge so I can rehang it, then I can work on diagnosis of why the engine doesn't want to run yet.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

Progress this weekend.

I got the engine install buttoned up but I'm having a hard time with getting it to run.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=650213

I did install one window last night by myself, and it worked out OK though the seal did tear a little bit in one small section. I guess I need to re-read the installing windows thread!

I also freshened up the wipers a bit per Colin's post, though I didn't open up the motor itself. I installed a speaker to the dash as a center channel. I'm hoping it will fill in the gaps a bit from the two speakers that are mounted fairly low.

I was hoping to have the dash on yesterday, but somehow managed to scratch it! Damn! So I had to touch up that spot.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

I forgot to post pics of the underside of the dash with the speaker installed.

I ended up going with a 6" speaker which fit pretty well other than needing to notch the sides of the speaker housing to avoid interference with the heat tubes. It is wired up as a center channel so as I said, I'm hoping that it will bounce some of the higher frequencies off of the windshield and fill in for where those sounds get lost by the lower speakers that are under the dash.

As you can see, I put some Reckhorn mat on the underside of the dash too, to avoid having it buzz/vibrate. I also put some foam weatherstripping along where the speaker touches the dash to further avoid buzzing, etc. Because it is white and was partially visible from above, I covered it with a piece of electrical tape.

_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[vwwestyman]

I spent several hours with the Bus yesterday.

The projects included installing a pump for the washer fluid, and a switch to operate the pump

I also installed the rear defroster heater kit I had ordered previously.

I finished the dash install.

I got the back window as well as a couple of the slider windows installed, too.

The seals seemed to fit well on the back windows, but there is a gap in the front bottom corner of the middle window of the slider. I had a hard time with installing the slider windows. It wasn't the worst thing ever, but I think the seal did catch and slightly tear in somewhere on each one. The back window installed significantly more smoothly. I did all of the windows (two rear sliders, middle slider, and back window) by myself.

I'm hoping that will possibly settle in a little bit as time goes on and I start driving it again. It actually did look like a little bit less of a gap this morning compared to last night.

I'm having a friend come over to help me with the other middle slider and the windshield this afternoon.

Once those are in, the main thing to do before I can drive it is just wait until the injectors are re-cleaned and returned. 3 of the 4 injectors were frozen stuck shut.

I do have upgraded headlights with relays I may install while I'm waiting for the injectors.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[skills@eurocarsplus]

oops! the speaker I told you about was for a early bay. sorry about that

looks like you have it sorted, and you will be amazed by how that one center channel works
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[vwwestyman]

[skills@eurocarsplus]

in my deluxe I have the dash speaker, 2 in the rear hatch and 2 10" subs.

in the westy I have dash speaker and 1 in each front door (p/o install)

the deluxe has a real clean sound. the 2 in the rear hatch make a huge difference.

the deluxe was a challenge to run the wires. I HATE, HATE,HATE wires all over the floor so I spent a ton of time snaking wires all over the place.

the hatch wires run along the roof and down the A post. then the sub wires also run along the roof, but down the C post...that was a huge challenge. add to that the amp power wire, which also runs down the C post.

it was not a fun project as you had to drill into the C posts from the roof...there are like 3 panels that come together in there.
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[jtauxe]

[jtauxe]

[vwwestyman]

[jtauxe]

[jtauxe]

[vwwestyman]

[vwwestyman]