Second Bus and First Engine Drop. Need guidance!

[busdaddy]

Looking good!
Those tubes you welded to the HE's are pretty big, any plans on stuffing the gaps with wood stove door gasket or something?

Did you oil the pistons and rings before installing them?, they sure look dry from here.
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[TomWesty]

I thought maybe he would cut some v notches in them and bend the ends down to the main pipe and then weld the gaps. In essence, make them conical.
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[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Thanks. Hmm, I oiled up the pistons and rings the first time it went together so they wont be bone dry... I did re-oil the bore this time around, but I did not do the rings again. Darn. I've turned it over a few times and its still smooth, hopefully its going to be OK.

Tom, that would have been the smart thing to do. I was in a bit of a rush by the end and instead heated and hammered the edges until they met the manifold and welded it up. Its not very pretty.
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Working on replacing the battery tray etc and have moved that bit to the body/paint forum for some advice from those guys.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7633104#7633104
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

OK, time for an update, have had some time to make progress.

Engine is ready for a test run once I get flywheel on. I have a horrible feeling that one of the exhaust studs started stripping before it reached 16 ft pounds, so I stopped and will check for leaks, cross my fingers.

Had to do a bunch of metalwork while replacing the battery tray, good practice...

patch started on the inside at the front.

forward of this I had to patch inside the wheel well.

bit of a large gap on this one.

will need some filler, but it hammered out to near correct.

I couldn't get rid of a large warped and dented area after hammering at it and using stud puller, so I just removed the whole area

Took a few tries to get the right patch panel.

tacked in...

more welds...

final grind. Not perfect, will need some filler for sure.

battery tray in and coat of epoxy mastic. Will give a coat of orange later.

One issue, carb linkage bar is not staying put on right side and keeps falling out. Have the ~1 cm long plastic insert, but its not long enough. Is there normally another spacer in the bar here?
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

(^^^ figured out the carb linkage issue, there is a spring that slots into the passenger side of the linkage before the plastic insert. Found in my miscellaneous found bits bag which is luckily now nearly empty.)

First two start attempts have failed.

I have not been able to build oil pressure. I read the Tom Wilson book many times but missed the importance of priming the oil pump. I ignored my gut instinct and didn't check the pump while I had everything off. Beginner mistake I guess

I tried cranking over using the starter with plugs out. Oil filter was filled first and good level in the case. Indicator on sender light would not shut off. Tried a different sender with the same result. Tested first sender and its good.

Next session tried a few tips from Samba pages including taking the sender out and putting oil down the sender hole and rotating counter clockwise to try and purge air. Also put front of trans on block to tilt engine backwards and flood oil pump. I was hoping to get oil puking out the sender hole in no time.

The only movement I see down the sender hole is an air bubble coming up every ten seconds or so, nothing else. The initial kick in with the starter sends one up but they don't keep coming as I crank.

Im going to let things settle overnight and try again in the morning.

Is there anything else I can try at this point before having to strip it back down?
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[old DKP driver]

It seems you are close and hopefully sitting over night and having patients
have helped.

nothing that I read suggests you screwed up with the build.

Make sure battery voltage is up before you try again to start it.
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V.W.owner since 1967

[Wildthings]

Remove the oil filter and see if you get oil gushing out when you crank it with the filter off.

[scrivyscriv]

How long did you crank it?
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

I had tried the first time to crank for maybe 5 minutes with breaks for the starter. Second time was four or five times 20 seconds each adding more oil down sender hole each time.

Third try. I took the oil filter off and in 5 seconds it was gushing oil out. Screwed filter back in, watched down sender hole and in a couple seconds oil flooded up and out going to put plugs back in and try and start it soon.

Do I need to put gas in carbs for first start? Or just run gravity feed down from jerry can? Original mechanical pump.
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[scrivyscriv]

Good.. And yes fill up the carb(s). You can syringe gas down the impact tube in the top if you don't want to split the carb.
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Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[Wildthings]

This is why I don't think much of the idea of prefilling the filter, unless you unscrew it until the gasket is loose when you first crank the engine. Note that you can not fill the galleys through the oil pressure sender port and expect to get oil into the pump by turning the engine backwards. The drain back valve in the pump will prevent this.

I also think that it is a bad idea to let the engine sit overnight with the oil drained out just so you can get that last bit of old oil out, oil that is actually not hurting a thing. Couple this with prefilling the filter and you are asking for trouble.

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

^ Yes, I don't think the sitting overnight was what did the trick (the case was full of oil, I was hoping that the air would make its way out of the sender port); having the oil filter off made a world of difference.

It starts! it was a happy day on Friday. We got the fuel pump primed and made sure the carbs were jetting, and it fired right up, purging all the sandblasting crud out of the muffler and who knows what else. But after a few good revs it settled down and it was surprisingly quiet once we plugged the brake booster vacuum line.

Have a couple little oil leaks to check, but there were no surprises. Other than it actually running .

Now for more fine tuning and getting the bus finished up and ready for it.
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Trying to find time to get this bus going, I think I'm almost at a year since I picked it up and I have never driven it

I am trying to finish the engine bay/rear end repairs and then will be ready to install the engine (shift bushings, cv's etc etc ) and get it to idle and then actually move! Hopefully in the next couple of weeks

In the meantime, I'm keeping metalwork photos in the body/paint forum:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=624466

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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Got some more body work done over the weekend:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=624466

Here are some before and after pictures from the engine bay, it looks a heck of a lot better than it was...

Took out the shift rods and redid the front bushing, two rear bushings, and the two rear rod boots. After getting a crapload of grease everywhere I tested out the action and it sounded kind of gritty. I think some of the undercoating or rust from the rod got stuck in the tube, so Im going to take it all apart, clean everything again, and redo. Argh. Most of the time was spent figuring out which parts to thread onto the rear shiftrod at what point during install. Here's under the front pan, nice and clean:)

Got the headlights in and it has a face again:) I was stoked and needed to pose. The crappy roof seal is going to get replaced and the roof will get painted.

And finally, got the engine loaded up and to within a few feet of its new home:)

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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

So close now...

We redid the rear shifter bushings and its nice and smooth now! Took about 15 minutes the second time (instead of 1.5 hours), heh heh. The order for install that we found worked the best was:

1. front boot over front of rear shift rod housing
2. push rod from back through frame
3. rear boot over rod once its through frame but before it enters housing
4. wire ring (because it cant expand enough to fit over rod
5. front shift bushing (greased)
6. push front shift bushing through while making sure ring stays back
7. rear shift bushing (greased), fit with ring
8. slight tap to get rear shift bushing into housing
9. fit rear shift boot over housing.

Then we tackled getting the engine back in! The wind and rain decided to start up again on the West Coast. Things were getting blanketed in drought killed pine needles as fast as we could blow them away.

Tarped up:

Re-did the filler neck:

Got the gas tank in and replaced and clamped all the vapor lines.

Painted the firewall and put the screws in. Bottom screws in first is easier!

Prepared to roll forward, atv jack under the rear, roller jack on front.

And in!

Hoping for a test drive next weekend!

Still need to do:

- Electrical
- fuel lines/ emissions stuff
- tailights
- rear hatch seal
- CV's
- check brakes

and eventually
- aux fan/ heater system
- finish rear bodywork (although its waterproof now)
- swap roof for other bus roof/ new canvas
- swap as many door/window seals as possible
_________________
Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[busdaddy]

Woooooo....., exciting!, getting close!
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

Слава Україні!

[whatdoesthisbuttondo?]

Yes! Very excited!

Took the Kony shocks and heating components off the old bus (that thing is turning into more and more of a parts bus:( , but I might as well use the bits I spent hard earned money on!)

Then took off drive axles from both busses and inspected all CV joints. Everything is worn, but I think I can flip some of them and get some more miles. Out of 8 CV's, 4 were trash, 2 off of each set. One wheel-side outer race was cracked at 3 bolt holes, that was interesting, forgot to get a photo though. Inner race damage on junked ones included:

The one below was off of a Lobro from '83.

One question I have is regarding the cage, and which side the larger interior facet faces. Is there a right and wrong way for the cage to be installed? On some CV's, the larger facet was towards the driveshaft, and on others it was towards the wheel/trans. I will need to re-install the same way as they came out anyways, as the bearings each wore to their particular spot, but I'm curious.
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Orange 1973 Campervan. Rebuilt 1700cc with dual Solex carbs. Pertronix electronic points on stock distributor. Engine rebuild in progress (fall 2023).

[Wildthings]

The bevelled side of the cage goes towards the axle shaft.

[Abscate]

You might be surprised how long CV joints will run even with horrible marks on them. Once you crack the bolts, the worst part of the job is over, so I always feel like giving them a try.

Of course, I'm out of IRS VWS at the moment....


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