1973 Bay with Buick Flare

[thewalrus]

[Tcash]

[thewalrus]

Put around 330 miles on her this past weekend. Went out to North Adams, MA to visit a friend and see a concert. Drove a good part of the Mohawk Trail and got some nice pictures.

King Philips Bridge. Erving, MA:

The Elk on the Trail Monument. Florida, MA:

Scenic stop overlooking North Adams, MA. Those are the Blue Ridge Mountains in NY and VT also:

Coffee break in Bennington, VT:

Scenic stop in Florida, MA. According to the Map, the view was over 60 miles:

I don't have any immediate plans for right now. I am having a sporadic Hot Start problem that I believe is the starter. I've already cleaned and double checked all connections too and it only happens after long drives when the engine is really warmed up. Quick trips around town it's totally fine. I'm pretty sure it's the starter on it's last leg...

TransporterFest is Oct 11th. I'll be vending what's left of my parts there and then putting here away for the winter. I'm planning on removing the engine and cleaning absolutely everything. I don't think I'll be ripping into the engine too much but I would like to replace the hard to get seals while they're accessible. Probably powder coat the engine shroud again and definitely clean up the rims and bumpers. Can't believe the season is almost over...
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[orangebug60guy]

[quote="thewalrus"]

[thewalrus]

Just checking in. I'm starting to do some small indoor projects which, weather permitting, will lead to larger outside projects. I'll be updating my progress more frequently on Instagram so, make sure you follow me at "CaptainJack8875" for regular updates. Lost in store for 2016!

Also, NOS goodies are the best

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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

Lots of progress made lately. Usually we still have a few feet of snow left on the ground but this weekend was 65* and I was in a t-shirt. No complaints!

First things first, I had to track down a replacement tailpipe and gasket. The original tailpipe rusted off back in the fall:

The NOS Tailpipe and gasket:

I forgot to take an "After" picture but it bolted right in place.

Next was the slider door, which was a huge learning curve for me. I actually hadn't messed around too much with the adjustments of one before but there wasn't anything too unusual that wasn't covered in the Bentley.
Found a correct latch for a '73-'74 in the classifieds:

New one on top compared to the incorrect '68-'70 version that was installed:

Slider all cleaned and prepped:

All greased, adjusted and reassembled:

I repainted the fresh air mesh black too:

...And added a few more goodies
NOS Dash clock:

and side luggage bars:

Thats it for now. More to come soon though
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

Kicked off the 2016 season a few weeks ago

Replaced the spark plugs too and did a general overall cleaning of the engine. I don't think these had been replaced the YEARS. The Gap was almost .30. Yikes!

Took her to a DustOff Cruise with the last owner too. She definitely preformed better on the highway with some new Plugs:

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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[secretsubmariner]

Excellente!
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-Tony
ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ
1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
1970 Auto Fastback FI

[orangebug60guy]

[thewalrus]

Went for a scenic cruise up 1A in Mass, New Hampshire and Maine last weekend

WWI Memorial Bridge in Portsmouth, NH:

1A Scenic stop overlooking the Gulf of Maine in North Hampton, NH:

Rye Harbor State Park in Rye, NH:

Nubble Point in York, ME:

I think next weekend I might change the brake pads and steering damper. She needs some attention upfront.
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

Not a whole lot of news to report. I did change out the front damper and check the brake pads and rotor. All seemed OK! I swapped the lower torsion arms and ball joints out. The ball joint boots were ripped and instead of taking the torsion arms out, pressing the old ball joints out and new ones in, I just bought a whole reconditioned set off Wolfgang:

https://www.wolfgangint.com/store/product/reconditioned-ball-joint-arms-211405371bwg/

Excellent product and super fast shipping! I'd highly recommend doing this rather than pressing the ball joints in/out if you don't have the machinery. Here's what everything looked like when I got it down to the spindle:

I forgot to take after pictures but it looked the same. Just with shiny new arms! I repacked the front wheel bearings and pumped a few tubes of grease into the beam too. Damn those things hold a lot of grease! She rides incredibly smooth now.

Went to a few car shows too.

Skips Classic Car Cruise in Merrimac, MA:
(I was able to park near this beautiful '77 Transporter)

Volks-Fair at Heberts Candy Mansion in Worcester, MA:

That's about it really. Stay cool everyone!
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[zoobum]

Nice! Good to see your making good use of the bus!
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-Zach
1979 CA Riviera 2.0L FI

[The Dubbernaut]

Nice bus! Just added you on Instagram, ZunkerCustoms

What did you ever do about the heat exchangers? All the photos on my end say "image reduced in size" but shows nothing... Ive got some heater boxes that need reconditioned too with new hardware and seals. Trying to think of powdercoating them or high temp paint.
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2012 Tiguan 4motion
2 Corrado's
3 Beetle's
76 Bus
2 Baja's
66 Pigalle Squareback
80 Rabbit
80 Rabbit Pickup
and still collecting!

[chabanais]

[60vwnewengland]

What are your plans for the bus in 2017 Jack?
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77 Westy - Cape Cod Sage
LLAP

[thewalrus]

Hmm.... Well I have lots of new parts to install including a Pertronix Electronic Ignition and a few small interior pieces I've tracked down. I'm getting the bumpers sanded and repainted so I'll be able to install the Euro style bumper guards to make it more accurate to the L-Clipper package too. I'd like to have the rims blasted and powder coated soon-ish. I'm headed to the locksmith sometime this week to have the slider handle re-keyed too. Sick of having to always lock it from the inside
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

OK...Thread update! Where do I begin!?

Right after I posted that last update, I got laid off. I hated the job anyways so it was a positive. Got a job very soon after BUT I had to uproot my entire life and move to the south shore of Mass. Needless to say, the bus didn't get a TON of attention last year but I did get some adventures in... until it broke

Going Chronologically, over the winter of 2017 Mr. D cleaned up and re-stained my old roof rack from Maggie. It came out fantastic!

Jack also had a great Bachelor Party that summer. May 2017:

At my new apartment. She had some other German company. June 2017:

Exploring the south shore. Hull, MA July 2017:

Went camping for Bear Week 2017
Bourne, MA:

Provincetown, MA:

Later that summer at Jack's wedding with his brother Dan:

Jaffrey Fireworks with friends August 2017:

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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

After that point I'd noticed it was giving me some popping issues at idle. Nothing crazy and I assumed a tune up would fix it but as is the case, life gets in the way and since I was newly moved money was also pretty tight. I couldn't get the idle pop to go away and started messing with the distributor:

That seemed to fix it for the time and since it was now October, I didn't put much more thought into it. A little more south shore exploring.
10th District Brewing Abington, MA

Old Colony Brewing Whitman, MA:

It was getting cold so it was time for hibernation before the salt came out. My work let me store her inside for the winter too:

Come this past spring she was running OK but the idle pop issue was back. I had the distributor sent out and rebuilt in March 2018 since it was all original (Minus wear and tear items):

When that came back it was running like a champ... For a little while
Back to South Shore exploring.
Union Brewhouse Weymouth, MA:

Barrel House Z Weymouth, MA:

April rolled around and Dan (the sexy beast from above) had his wedding down on the Cape.
Wellfleet, MA:

Provincetown, MA with Mr. D's bus:

After the wedding I stopped at the Nauset Beach Lighthouse in Orleans, MA which is the same Light house that's on the bag of Cape Cod Potato Chips:

I installed the trailer hitch I bought for Maggie YEARS ago too:

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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[thewalrus]

I don't have a ton of pictures from after the hitch install through the Summer... because she was basically off the road. I was chasing the idle pop / backfiring issue most of the summer so she was in various states of dismantle most of the time. I also removed the ENTIRE Smog / air-injection system on the engine thinking there was a leak somewhere in the system, which did absolutely nothing except waste my time, money and patience.

I did manage to get her to the Hebert's Candy Mansion Show in August 2018:

...But then she died on the way home and needed a tow

On one of my test drives around town, I lost the shifter. It wouldn't shift out of 4th with or without the clutch engaged. Coasted back home and ripped apart the front end and noticed this too:

A completely missing vacuum line that runs DIRECTLY back to the engine and gives vacuum to the brake booster. I replaced that she ran smooth... I just couldn't shift

After literally checking and replacing EVERYTHING outside on the shift linkage I found this:

A VERY bent shift cage coupling. At this point I knew the shift rod had moved too far out of the transmission and was stuck on the plate and the engine/trans needed to come out which required it going back to my parents:

This was the first time the engine had ever been out of the too. Obligatory engine removal pictures:

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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[Abscate]

Get Thee those PDSIT carbs to Tim for a rebuild whilst they are out.

Ride of the Venturi, the God of Good Running.
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.ssS!