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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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 Posted: Sat Apr 17, 2021 4:42 am Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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After some of the recent work, what I’m doing now feels much easier!
One more hole for the outlet vent for the heater, and you can see that is the only hole that will be visible externally, so maintaining originality.
The new central heater duct is fitted, and I got a length of Eberspacher insulation, so I’ll see how that goes. If it ends up getting soaked and staying wet I’ll remove it, although it’s not in contact with much bodywork.
The throttle tube and cable slid back in nicely, and I put fuel hose at the rear end to seal the connection, as it was before. The front still has the original concertina rubber seal so I have just cleaned and soaked in glycerine to preserve it. vw part 211 721 579b
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:07 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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So, today was all about mudflaps.
Or, more precisely, mud flap brackets.
The old brackets I had were I think for an earlier bay. The attachment near the engine is different (the top bolt in the pictures) and the outer end clamps onto a section of bodywork. Not very elegant or strong. Also they are made out of thin metal strips and were badly rusted.
I had the correct, newer brackets, but a test fit revealed that my engine mount bar does not have the necessary holes in it and because of the body at the rear quarter there is not enough room to drill the hole without dropping the engine.
So in the meantime I decided to sand back, straighten and repaint the old brackets until I could get around to fitting the correct ones. Browsing online though, I could see that there were some alternative ways of making it all fit together, so I tried a few combinations and found one that would work. I knew I needed to drill two holes in the rear wheel well closeout, but I also needed to drill alternative holes to make the two bracket parts fit together, and a new, lower, hole in the engine support mount.
I didn’t take pics all the way, but a mock-up test fit looked good and so I am now priming and painting the brackets with underbody sealant before the final fitting.
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2021 1:36 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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Getting closer!
Painted the mud flap brackets with aerosol underseal and cleaned up the accordion tubes and the rubber mud flaps. I’ve used bumper and trim gel on them which gives a nice shine. Forgot pics though!
Then I had a false start, fitting and torquing the shock absorbers and then realising the CV boots would be easier to torque with the shocks off. Off they came. Then put the wheels on so that I could brace against them to torque the CV bolts and realised that one wheel was locked solid. Handbrake? No. In gear? No. I finally figured it must be the brake adjusters as the brakes might have altered when I bled them. Yes. Fixed the issue.
So, Axles and CV joints fitted, accordion tubes fitted, shocks fitted. I even started the engine (to try and free the wheel) so that was reassuring!
We’re away tomorrow to visit my mum, so I’ll get back to the final few things in a couple of days.
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
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richparker
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Joined: November 24, 2011
Posts: 6981
Location: Durango, CO
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:31 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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First things first.
Momentous day today!!
Finally got out of the garage after nearly six months. Delighted. There were a couple of final jobs underneath which I’ll detail separately but the joy of the Kombi blinking in the sunlight was huge. She’s filthy of course, but I just cleaned the windows and headed off on a test drive to the supermarket down the coast. Running very nicely and the modifications to the heating system have been a success. The air from the dash vents is now so hot that I can’t hold my hands closer than six inches!
Anyway, some pics of the day and the first attempts at washing the rust and grime off.
We are starting our travelling adventures straight away, tomorrow we head the other way down the coast to meet some friends for a walk. Get ready for scenic pictures!
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 1:45 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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I’m trying to remember what I did this morning before the Kombi made it out of the garage!
The two heater diverter boxes have been painted, and I didn’t think I could salvage the insulation wrap, but the rear one went on ok with zip ties and the front one got wrapped in black ‘stove rope’. It should provide a bit of insulation and protect from stone damage.
I tested out the diesel heater too. Sadly, I managed to spill some kerosene connecting and priming the lines but I’ve cleaned most of it up. It works really well with the two outlets under the rear seat. I didn’t duct an outlet forwards and luckily my stock heating is now working better than ever, so that was a good call!
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
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Location: Gullane, Scotland
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richparker
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Joined: November 24, 2011
Posts: 6981
Location: Durango, CO
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 1:59 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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Sweeeeeeeeet!!!!! Stoked for you guys!
We can compare notes on Sunday, we are headed to Canyon Lands Utah in 2 hours.
Happy weekend!
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
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Location: Gullane, Scotland
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RalphWiggam
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Joined: February 02, 2018
Posts: 906
Location: SouthEast
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| Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 5:32 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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Nice work seeing it through! Bet it feels nice to get it out.
Keep up with the traveling pics! |
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 1:32 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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Ok. Confession time. I’ll tell you about my garage (near) disaster, and then I’ll post up some pics of the weekend camping trip?
Last week, I wanted to put the Kombi back up on stands, so that I could do some rewiring in the engine bay at a comfortable height. As usual I drove the front wheels up onto the very sturdy ramps and I need to steer a little left lock at the end to clear a workbench. Then I lift on a trolley jack at the rear and put jack stands underneath. ‘Because it was a quick job’ I didn’t need to drive completely into the garage but I didn’t see that the front wheels (not yet chocked) were on the edge of the sloping part of the ramp...
So, the front wheels rolled down the ramp, shifting sideways because of the left lock, the trolley jack rolled back and slightly sideways, towards the wall and the door frame and the bus fell off the jack stands. Luckily the wheels were still on, and there’s no way I would have been underneath at that stage, but it was a stupid mistake.
Amazingly, none of the bus was damaged, but the garage door frame ended up wedged between the rear bumper and the ‘roo bar, so I couldn’t go forward or backwards. I ended up using the trolley jack sideways (very carefully!) to lever the rear of the bus away from the door.
Scary stuff indeed!
Anyway, after all of that I managed to fabricate a new mount for my auxiliary fuse box and make a mounting point for strain relief for the wires and repaint the inner panel where I did the work. Also to undo a mess of badly done wiring for the trailer lighting socket and solder a new seven core flex, which will go into a NOS trailer socket and tidy up the rear end. I have found the original tow ball as well, so I have removed the old (chromed) one and repainted the mount tab on the roo bar.
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 1:56 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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On a happier note, we are now allowed to travel within Scotland, and so we took a trip up to see Shona’s brother and his family in Dundee (and camp on their driveway!)
It’s about two hours away, but we stopped on the way for a walk around Loch Leven, which was pretty, and we got up and settled in our camp spot. We’re not allowed to go into their house, so we ate outside on the decking.
The temperatures are still dropping to below freezing at night, so I was very glad of the new diesel heater, which we left on ‘low’ overnight and it kept the Kombi beautifully cosy, but not too warm. We agreed the heater is a great success!
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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mcdonaldneal
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Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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mcdonaldneal
Samba Member
Joined: June 13, 2013
Posts: 2648
Location: Gullane, Scotland
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| Posted: Sun May 02, 2021 2:22 pm Post subject: Re: 'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!' |
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From Arbroath harbour everyone else headed home, but we wanted a walk along the cliff tops. The first pic is where we parked next to the ‘sea baths’. Not a temptation. We were rewarded by great views out as far as the East Lothian and borders coastline where we live. Hard to believe it was three hours drive from where we stood! We also saw a pod of dolphins-the others should have stayed (no pics).
I remembered that a good friend from school, that we hadn’t seen for nine years lived nearby, so we messaged and managed a half hour catch-up. Outside, as COVID dictates, in the freezing rain! Lovely nonetheless!
The next morning, we persuaded some of the family to take a hill walk in the Sidlaws, North of Dundee. We kept an eye on the Kombi, as we could see her almost all the way up the hill.
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1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper
Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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