Ben's '59 Panel Project

[ernstben]

[BarryL]

[ernstben]

[Spike0180]

Ben,

I hope you will take down your for sale ad, you have a sweet bus and are so close to being able to just enjoy it this summer. It's just a starter issue, take a weekend and "hammer" it out. You can do this, it'll be working soon.
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Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[ernstben]

[ernstben]

Great success! I had installed both starters multiple times over the last couple days, but never had any success getting the new one to fire. Had the bright idea to test it in the spare trans I have and found that it was extremely sensitive to orientation for some reason. Installed one way, it wouldn't kick out the bendix, a slight twist a mm in one direction and it would. So... we repeated that with the new one in the car and wirh some twisting and prying, got it to be both bolted up and functional! Woo hoo!!
_________________
Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[Spike0180]

[ernstben]

[SixVolt]

It seems when someone acquires a "new" VW they start a thread detailing the project and future plans. I just acquired this bus from Ben and thought it might be nice to just keep chronicling its history right here.

I was actually looking for a split single cab, but when I saw the ad and went to look at it I thought the panel would be a nice balance between the single I wanted and my old '59 Westy that I regretted selling several years ago.

Ben turned out to be a super nice guy. He did a ton of work on this bus and its all quality. We both agreed a replacement trans is likely in my future and with that trans will have to come a more powerful motor. I'm pretty much a stock guy, so were not going crazy.

Ben had a bunch of other VW parts, including engines and what will be extra transmissions, so we worked out a deal for everything and I trailered it home with the help of a friend.

Its going to need a repaint, (probably in a matte finish) but the color works well with my '57 oval.

I'll keep the story of this bus going in this thread.

[ernstben]

Happy to see it settling in to its new home nicely. I can't help but think that it's happier being surrounded by so many of its own kind.

Super excited to see what you do with it!
_________________
Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[ToolBox]

Sean, It's so nice of you to buy Fergus a new shaggin wagen....

[Spike0180]

SixVolt, Congrats on the new panel. I'd say this is a nice looking bus and was at a very fair price. Glad you're keeping the thread alive, we look forward to more updates.
_________________
Brutis Patches Izabich: 1970 VW Transporter - 1776cc DP
Current State: Projects never truly end...
Location: Grosse Pointe, Michigan
Other cars: 2003 F150, 2003 Jetta GLI vr6-6sp

Sambastic: adj; the quality of being nit picky, elitist, expecting everyone to do things the way they believe is best with no regard to situation, "sambastic"

[SixVolt]

I’m in a little over my head on the electrical. The ignition switch and starter were replaced by Ben. The headlight switch is original. Fuse box new. Original wiring harness.

The sometimes starts/sometimes not persists. Normally I’m the idiot who throws parts at problems, but this time I’m counting on an expert from our local LEAKOIL bus club who knows automotive electronics.

So I’m sure Bruce will fill in the specifics of what he found, but along the way I learned a lot about voltage drop tests and how important they are.

I took the bus out to his shop and The evaluation of where were at started.

First observation was what nice work Ben did and how this really is a now rust free west coast bus.

One thing I did was blow up and laminate a wiring chart. Roughly $20 for everything from Staples or Office Depot.

Still have to work through that leaking rear seal.

[oakman]

[SixVolt]

Just a quick update on the bus. As I indicated, I took the bus to my friend's garage where he has a lift and he was able to go over a few things.

The starter issue was caused by voltage drops on both the positive and negative side of the starting circuit. The grounds had to be cleaned and in some instances wires and connections were replaced including those at the headlight switch and ignition switch. I wasn't savy enough to do it, but knew someone who was. Once that got sorted out, she starts fine. Ben already put in a new battery, a strater and cables, so it was just having a pro work through the issues. The bus will need a new wiring harness this winter.

That pesky leaking rear axle seal leak has been (hopefully) eliminated. The axle threads were pretty buggered and the nut wouldn't tighten. My buddy Bruce went through that and added a new seal and cleaned it up so we have our fingers crossed. The tranny is going to have to come out anyway, so we'll live with it till the end of the season.

Turn signal switch is kind of funky. If you turn left and allow it to self cancel it puts out the driver's side brake light unless you play with the arm a bit after the turn. When the harness comes out, a new switch will go in.

The fuel tap issue is caused by the cable not opening the valve all the way in the normal (non reserve) setting. When hooked up and you have the knob all the way down, the wire doesn't open the valve fully to allow full fuel to the fuel pump and carb. It creates a starve fuel issue. I've disconected the wire and I'm physically leaving it full on for now and leaving the barell nut off as Ben did until I get the cable to work right.

The motor runs like a top. Very smooth and responsive.

No matter the problems, Ben did a great job on this bus. These are the things everyone has to work through.

Enjoyng the bus. More to follow!

[SixVolt]

A little more on the bus. After experiencing some additional electrical 'gremlins' I decided to pull the trigger and go for a new wiring harness now rather than waiting until winter. I'm pretty weak on electrical, (Heck, I'm pretty weak on everything!), so I enlisted the aid of one of my fellow LEAKOILER'S (our local bus club) who's an expert in automotive electronics.

When I made the decision to get a new harness, obviously the choice was a Wiring Works model, but instead of going with the stock screw terminals and the 6 fuse box, I decided to upgrade a bit. While I'm pretty much a stock guy, I like some improvements that offer greater reliability (and hopefully) safety. So I bought a '58-'63 harness and with that this bus is now getting wired as a '63. My buddy Bruce fabricated a fuse holder for the later 8 fuse spade terminal box that will make my eventual transition to 12V a little easier down the road.

One thing I did was download the diagrams for both the '59 year and the '63 year and had them blown up and laminated. You can email them to Office whatever and they have them ready in an hour. 16" X 20" in color is a lot better than squinting.

My buddy has a lift in his shop so this makes things a lot easier. He has it under control. All I did, besides cleaning some parts and removing or instaling componenets, was watch and stay out of the way.

The one improvement Bruce does to the wiring is he runs three separate wires off the main hot coming up front to independently feed the fuse box, headlight switch and ignition switch.

Here's Bruce's fabricated fuse box holder. Almost looks stock.

A new turn signal switch always seems like a must

One the wiring is sorted out its on to the big nut replacement that still needs to be gone through.

[Busted-bolt]

You could use some front mudflaps on that fine bus to keep some of the mud of of of that super clean undercarriage ya got there ! awesome bus ya have there
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[SixVolt]

[ernstben]

Nice!!!
_________________
Ben

'63 Ghia Coupe Project
'59 Panel Project
'56 Ragtop Project

[SixVolt]

Since we're in the dead of winter here in the Midwest, I decided to get moving on the transmission swap. I had a '66 drum to drum big nut sitting in my garage so I took it over to a fellow LEAKOILER'S shop and we broke it all down. I took the center section to a (somewhat) local VW shop (Jim's) and after getting it back, my fellow LEAKOILER Bruce and I got working on the rebuild.

The current trans is a small nut that is functional, but it pops out of reverse on occasion and the shift allignment is somewhat off kiltered, so it needs to be fixed. I've really enjoyed driving this bus well into the late fall. Ben did a great job on everythhing. I'm just trying to improve the safety factors and not get too far away from the stock set up.

My buddy is all about clean, clean, and more clean. Wire wheeling 60 year old axle tubes is no fun, but getting stuff clean pays off in the end.

Here are some pics of the tranny going together with the RGB's.