69 bay bus "Weld Busler"

[chabanais]

Truly awesome.
_________________
"I spud therefore I yam."

[airschooled]

Try the "Engine Enamel" instead for more colors. The Pro Enamel cans are larger, but frankly I think EE aerosols lay down and finish nicer without color sanding. I can't tell a quality difference between the EE white and the Pro Enamel white. Of course, all Rust-Oleum products here. The Duplicolor EE line sucks.
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[Yarkle]

Chanabis: thanks!

Robbie: Cool, ill have to check those out.

We've got about a day and a half cleared this weekend, hope to get the majority of the beam work done
_________________
Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

So, anyways..we started working on the electrical, basically just trying to cut out the PO shenanigans and we spent some time doing the stuff in the aforementioned wiring thread. Figuring out what went where, etc..

The caption for this should be : "Dad, why did you take apart the dash while i as at school..are you sure you know where these wires go?"

then we switched gears and decided to start on the front beam..I think we were (are) waiting on a part.

The sway bar had been cut, so i went to clean up a used replacement..tried to get the mounts off--the bar was nice, the mounts were crap :

DAMMIT!!!

the grinder didnt break--I showed them mounts who was the boss!

Caleb degriming the steering box

nasty knuckle

more grime and crud

Caleb battling the shock mounts..today we learn about leverage

In honor of Leonard Nimoys passing, i labelled the shock bolts, Spock bolts

tie rods took some kroil and a puller

knuckle out, more degreasing...IT was super nasty, everything still needs more cleaning, but its a start..forward progress

-I used this as a reference:

http://www.type2.com/library/suspens/balljoin.htm

Once we got the torsion arms out-

3 were good..SgKent had said look for wear...we found this on the last one

My wife is convinced the "ring of bears" had chewed on it. Get it, bearing, ring of bears..?

BTW, i posted this in another thread, but heres a few helpful hints we found while going through the process of getting the arms off:

1. PB blaster or Kroil all of the nuts for a few days prior. you are still going to have to use a breaker bar and cheater pipe to get pretty much every nut off.

2. the bentley is wrong on a few things...

a. they tell you that its a 7mm nut on the spindle clamp..its not, its a 6mm...use a 6mm allen socket instead of an allen key or wrench.

b. (not wrong but easy to misunderstand) Also, they say that its a left hand thread on the drivers side..what they are referring to the actual spindle clamp, NOT the allen screws that lock it into place.

c. Bentley says to remove the tie rods on the steering kuckle, then the ball joints. I found when i did that, the knuckle swung all over the place when
We tried to remove the ball joint nuts. I think the best way is to pop off the tie rod ends, then just tighten them back on a bit to keep the ball joints from flipping around when you try and loosen them.

3. i found the lower ball joint stays put when you try and remove it, but the upper spins..i put some channel lock pliers on the eccentric to hold it.

4. use a 8mm allen socket on the torsion grub screws..i had to dig the caked on grease out of mine with a dentist pick. (which i stole from my dentist and will return next visit )

5. When you remove the upper arms, alot of tutorials make it sound super scary. i did as the type2 (mike gensler) tutorial suggested..remove snubber clip, raise with prybar, remove snubber, Wd-40 the metal where arm now lies, then gently knock off with a hammer until it clears the metal mount, then do other side, then pull the arms out once there is NO TENSION on either arm..

6. Once you do once side, I found the other side took less than half the time
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

Another pic of how nasty front end was..note cut sway bar:

greasy torsion leaves

did i mention grease?

Leb crafted the spatula tool..

once most of the chunks were out, he switched to a baby bottle brush with a sock on it, soaked in brake cleaner..several socks later- we could see the needle bearings

but one was pushed back a good 1/8+ inches..probably what chewed up the torsion arm

a few more swabs from the sock, and then we flushed out the bearings with brake cleaner until after you rolled them over with a rag, no more grease came out (this is a bit out of order)

SGkent was kind enough to loan us the tool needed to pull the bad bearing and reinstall, plus a nice used bearing. We crafted the puller using the tool, threaded rod, nuts, washers and my slide hammer

you kind of let the tool slant, then push it into the tube, then pull it taught against the bearing

more pics later
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[ping349n]

Great work so far. Will be following this one closely as I'll be bringing home my own 69 deluxe in a couple weeks!

[Yarkle]

heres Leb pulling the bearing out

he reports it was super easy to do. I already posted a pic earlier of him with it out, but here it is again:

Once the bearing was out, we needed to reinstall it. with SGKents patient advice, we put the bearing in the freezer for a few hours, then lined it up, and used the tool as a drift--using a piece of hardwood flooring from home depot to protect both the tool and the bearing from the hammer. We did have to tap it a bit from side to side at first

and

pretty much, the tool kind of bottoms out when you are in the specs

and

I used a 7mm allen key as a handrail

once the bearing was in, we used easy off, mostenblockers, and mineral spirits to get the crud off the beam..we used rubber corks from ace hardware to keep the crud out of the celan torsion tube..probably should have cleaned outside first

grease seal retainers and the area behind were NASTY!!!

after ALOT of scrubbing, scraping, etc:

we were ready to put it back together:

So, I read up on the various methods of putting the torsion leaves back in..BTW, we removed, cleaned, inspected and regreased.

So, after an hour of fighting with it--tried the zip tie, mechanics wire, etc..it just wouldnt line up right...we could get a few leaves through the center, but not the whole thing

What we ended up doing was putting the torsion arms on either side of the leaf pack:

Why? because te inside of the torsion arms has the correct "profile" that matches the cut out in the middle...its EASY to slide the leaves onto the end of the arm.

Once they were lined up, We put one zip tie on either side of the arm, then one right next to the end of the leaf

get those zip ties as tight as possible

this part helped, ALOT, but..I pushed the leaves in, and they still wouldnt go in!!!

THIS IS THE TRICK: Have your helper (or kid..the actual owner of the bus)..get on the other side of the beam, shine a flashlight down it, and have him (or her) line it up..you just hold it and follow their directions--once they can see the leaves are touching the center cutout, they RUN around the front of the bus, grab a rubber mallet, and tap it in.while you keep it level and lined up.

once we realized its almost impossible to try and feel your way though it by yourself and push it and keep it level, we used this method and had both sets of leaves installed in under 5 minutes. SO..use the trosion arms to get the corret profile..four zip ties, use a helper to line it up, and rubber mallet

Once the leaves were "in" we pushed it as far "right" as theyd go, then pulled them back as far left as we could without it falling out of the center, and cut off the zip ties...they slid around pretty easy.

At some point, we ospho'd the bare metal n the beam, and then put the trailing arms in...that was actually pretty easy..but like an idiot, i forgot to put the grease seals in, so i actually installed the top ones twice...I kind of panicked, but SGKent assured me (and from robbies (asiab3 )posts), its not a huge deal..you just have to pull the arms back out, put the seals on, and reinstall..
My concern was that without the seals, the arms might go too far in, and perhaps thats how the damage to the original arms occurred...but, my fears were unfounded..arms popped out, needle bearings fine, slid on the seals, put arms back in..

We then eastwood chassis blacked the bare parts of the beam, then Leb went to soccer camp, so hopefully this week well get more of the front end back together.
_________________
Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[airschooled]

Nice work! It's fun to see these kinds of processes, because nobody seems to remember to grab the camera when they're all greasy. I guess you technically being Caleb's "assistant" makes it easier?

The allen grub screw in the center of the beam centers the torsion leaves, and the allen grub screws on the torsion arms set the arm depths. The seals are indeed along for the ride. Did you get new seals or reuse the old ones? I reused mine, after cleaning them up found them to be smooth-lipped and supple.

Were your old torsion leave ends still tack welded together? They were at the factory, and if the weld is good then the bundles just slide right in… Trick is, the weld has to fit within the profile of the leaves and "pattern" that the torsion arms (and center guide) have.

What are the next projects on your list?

Robbie
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Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
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[Yarkle]

Yeah, i try to document stuff so its easier for the next guy. I would have pictures of tapping in the arms, if i wasnt running around like a beheaded chicken when i thought I broke them cuz of the grease seals.

We need to put this back together, im gonna try to remember to get a pic of lifting the arm so you can install the bumpstop--some people seem to have a hard time with it, i thought that part was easy.

I try to make a list of things i need to remember to do, then i forget where i put the list!

Assistant: LOL!!!

Torsion leaves: one had no tack weld at all, the other one had it, but the leaves were all split off from it except for two, so it really just made things harder.

Grease seals looked pretty spent...there was ALOT of crud around the retainers, and the seals i got were NOS with the VW logo and part#'s on them.

Arms were form wagenswest BTW

Projects: We didnt really get to drive it much when he first got it, so im not sure how the center pin is? Given everything else is pretty shot, im debating on doing that next once i get the actual beam back together once Caleb is back from camp.

then putting everything front end wise back together..tie rods, drag link, etc.

koni shocks!
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

Had a few non Vw related setbacks, but got back to the bus

heres how it looks after cleaning and chassis black:

So i figured we'd put on the bump stops and check the play in the steering box and the center pin.

When we pulled them off, the bump stops seemed to come out easy, i remember we used this crowbar, and i thought it was just like this:

I put a rag on it so it didnt scratch off Lebs nice paint, but that seemed to make it too slippery. Caleb could get it pretty high, but not high enough to install the stop. He just couldnt muster enough force, and i certainly wanst going to risk his fingers with me lifting it.

Puzzled over it for a bit..I remember we used THIS crowbar to get it off, and It was easy, couldnt figure out why everyone said it was so hard.

Fought with it for a bit, and managed to pull off one of the balljoint boots and discovered a loose retaining ring, (i used the joint as a handhold to get my fat butt off the ground) which i spent another 20 minutes fighting (need to get a new ring, this one is knackered).

I then resigned myself to just waiting until i had it reassembled and hoped the weight of the bus would allow enough room to reinstall

Then I remebered Captain jack Sparrow

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3mxjk5Y8i1qjhjdwo2_r1_500.gif

"Its all a matter of finding the proper leverage"

So i went back into the garaj, Leb in tow, and got my 5 foot tanker bar. Which happens to have a bicycle handgrip on it, which was nice and squishy so it didnt scratch the paint (also has bitchin' skulls on it):

that two feet makes a HUGE difference:

Spindly Caleb lifted it with ease, and all four stops were in in under a minute.

Moral of the story..if you cant raise the arms to clear the bump stops..be like Captain Jack sparrow and get more leverage- use a longer lever.
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

So, we kind of shifted gears for a bit, because our work schedules arent aligning...The bus has a respray, which is actually pretty good, but Leb wants the white top (going down to the belt, not the just white top the 69s had--like Randy said, its gonna be a fun bus, not a show bus!)

So I showed him how to strip paint, after referring him to the removing paint to get to OG thread..

we tried mostenblockers, but it didnt seem to work with this particular paint, and Leb started with scotch brite, but then I got an idea. We switched to goof off professional, and it just EATS through the paint. Like Godzilla on Tokyo..just spray on, and wait for it to bubble a bit...Also took off some POR15 im goign to replace with masterseries

and it had a nice citrusy scent , instead of the nasty mostenblockers nerve agent

scotchbrite and rags

and i got this tile scraper..with the razor edge, it kept hanging up, but with the dull edge:

and WOW! it works REALLY good:

from this:

with this:

to this:

and this:

Its tedious, but its something he can do on his own when he gets a few minutes or hours to spare.
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

post 1 of 3 (long update)

Been tackling the center pin and a few other issues..as an aside, someone randomly stopped in and asked for directions on how to get to canada yesterday. Ok, its Maine, but im not THAT close.

I said to Caleb.."you know, the guy must have said, look two VW's in the driveway, they must be cool, ask them!"

Leb replied: "Yeah, nothing more friendly than two dudes working on a VW bus on a hot summer day, with a basset hound lying underneath it"

I asked this question in one of the ball joint threads, but if anyone following this thread has a suggestion: One of the new ball joints is stiff..I can manipulate it, with effort..other three are easily moved..i suspect it may have been put in slightly off..

1. roll it?
2. double nut and spin it?
3. drill a zerk in the top?
4. other?

now for some pics:

started with the center pin. Basically, im trying to expand on Tcash and Colins excellent writeups for the "slower in the uptake" amongst us:

this is how i lined up the c clamp..you do have to fiddle with it a bit

this is the tab you need to bend up before you remove bolt on top

then get your socket in there

doesnt take too much to get it off..if you are struggling, you probably dont have enough tension on the c clamp..

didnt strip it!

found this:

and this:

per SGKent, im going to try and dremel that back into round..the cap came out, but it was mangled..

BTW, when under the bus, I highly reccommend Pyramex I force goggles..they seal to your eyesockets, but have a funky vent so they dont fog up, even in 85+ and humid..

continued next post
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

center pin, continued: (2 of 3)

Im trying to keep the posts managable, so ive broken this up into a few posts:

***I found removing the front shift rod made this Waaaay easier..I just couldnt get the 36mm socket lined up right..gotta change shift bushings anyways.

this is what you are building with the threaded rod tool...using this, i had both bushings out in under 20 minutes..and that was with petting the dog and getting a drink in the middle..i didnt get a good picture of the very beginning, but this shows the whole thing

starting it:

progress

this picture is bad, but you can almost hear the thing in the background: "When are you going to work on me?"

Leb wrenching on it:

After a bit, you run out of socket, so you add more: (you do need to take the whole deal apart, but its only a minute or so)

eventually (like i said, not even 20 minutes), you are rewarded:

Once the second bushing was out, I fiddled with the damaged grease cap retaining ring, but then sent up a samba smoke signal for help.

continued next post....
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[wcfvw69]

On your ball joint question, did you buy rebuilt arms and exchange your old ones? If so, do you know what brand ball joint they installed.

I installed my ball joints into my arms. I used Nakata's after doing some research about the ball joints that are good and don't bind up. After I pressed all 4 in, it didn't take too much effort to spin them with a wrench on the nut. I was curious if any where binding after I pressed them in.
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
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[Yarkle]

continued...3 of 3--there are many engine pull pics on other threads so i just added a few for prosperity--posterity!

While I was waiting for advice on the center pin, we decided to pull the engine.

need to add sled tin, i suspect a crank seal leak, and pushrod leaks. Plus I need to run the wiring harness and do the CV's..etc..

No cooling tin under the push rods (motor only has a few miles since a top end rebuild tho)

Watched a few videos..this guy makes it look super easy:



Link


didnt go this smooth..this vid doesnt show the removal of the apron, tin and the heat riser covers...he also can apparently just touch a nut and it spins off..maybe if we wore cowboy hats..

or maybe hes got an octopus or something underneath helping him. I was doing the creeper rodeo and kept getting entangled in the extension cord while Caleb kept trying to free me and hand me tools.

Anyhoo..SUPER easy compared to a beetle or a thing..that removable apron is DANDY!

and

Whenever i see those blue connectors on wires, i feel like the Sioux warrior on the old 1970's dont litter commericals


Link

Still, easily less than a a half hour:

but we did find this:

again, used the "samba lifeline" to help me decide what to do..My mettallurgy skills are lacking, so i got a nice used one on the way.

one of the bolts was broken off in the case, but i just hit I with the bolt extractor..didnt even cut in and it spun it out..case threads look good.
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Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[Yarkle]

[airschooled]

Hi there,

You two work quick! I feel the same way about the wire connectors… The double crimp ratcheting tools are still available, and there are folks here selling the proper spade and ring connectors to make 100% factory-style crimps. It really polishes off an engine installation.

There's no real way to test the quality of a ball joint by hand. There's just no way to simulate the forces it will be subjected to without installing and testing it. Ray Greenwood posted a while back, some that feel tight loosen up immediately, but some that feel loose by hand load up and get stiff in the car. I believe it, as mine were fairly to easy to spin by hand, but were smooth, and it the car they were quite stiff to start off. A year later and they've loosened, but they're still not as loosey-goosey as I would like.

Keep up the solid work! The engine ancillaries, like the carb, smog equipment, and distributor, suggest that someone cared about this engine when they last fondled it. There is a lot of PO hackery, but I wouldn't be surprised if you did a cosmetic clean-up and found it to run well. New pushrod seals might mean removing the heads and inspecting, or using the JC spring-loaded tubes. Either way, clean clean clean is the rule to success on an engine that sheds heat to the air around it!

Robbie
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Learn how your vintage VW works. And why it doesn't!
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[Yarkle]

Robbie-Thanks!

Engine ran when we got it! Until the battery cable shorted out on the firewall--looks like someone was using it for a ginzu knife demo, but you couldnt see that from the engine side..

I think we swapped a battery or something and I must have pulled it forward enough to short it. I dont remember exactly what happened

i got the crimper and connectors form germansupply awhile back--

We did get ALOT of work done this weekend. I do get easily distracted, but if i can concentrate and focus, which Caleb is good at helping with, im like the energizer bunny. I guess I have "heavy inertia" --so ive been trying to work on something until i get stuck--info, parts, whatever, and move on to something else instead of waiting around, which has been a problem in the past.

Leb also has 2/3 of the roof stripped.

We were kind of like that story about the "shoemaker and the elves"..We were like vW elves this weekend..too bad there arent VW elves that just show up and work while we are sleeping!

Overall, most of the problems are just deferred maintenance. Yes..Caleb is going to have alot of heavy cleaning in his near future!
_________________
Tilda the Mustard Tigress 1973 Squareback (o'''^'''o)

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=771024&highlight=

[wcfvw69]

[Vee Dub Nut]