Help on the way... (1970 Camper Project)

[Gonzo1970]

Got a 1970 Camper, finally. Always wanted one since my parents had one while I was growing up.

Shes in good shape. Surprisingly rust free, but not completely. Front Floor needs replaced, thats honestly about the extent of it. Doglegs are good, cargo floor, rear floor.. a little patching needed around the battery area, but that is to be expected.

Needs canvas for the top, tires.. your normal stuff. No surprises yet.

Figured I would start off slow. Brakes, Suspension, and Steering first. Stopping and Steering are more important than making it Go at this point, but the engine is (supposedly) fresh.. Ive got no reason not to believe it, but you never know.. then I got to reading here, and about 8 hours later, decided that the top wouldn't be a bad place to start since Im waiting on tires and some other misc parts.

So, I popped the top and got to work.

As the Good samba Says... Soap, Water, a little Bleach, and some elbow grease..

Came cleaner than I thought it would.

ALMOST left it at that, but couldn't resist throwing a little paint on it..

Used Rustoleum 2x Ultra Cover.. Did fine. I sanded it a little, but not a ton. Should I have used a good primer to fill some small cracks and sanded it again? Probably, but Im not after show-quality, really.. Im good with it. Threw it back on the roof, and put two bolts in it to hold it because next up is the luggage rack and taking out some ancient piece of hunk Air Vent someone put in a long, long time ago.. and replacing it with something newer, with a fan.. then sanding down the top and rain/drain guttering and painting the top. Will take pics of that progression.


Dug around in the bus a bit.. I knew it needed a Distributor, and almost bought one from Aircooled.net, but Im glad I didn't because look what I found in the glove box along with a Bosch Blue Coil....

205M the the correct replacement according to old volks, and a Bosch to boot.. SVDA. Its got a 34 PICT3 on it.. (dont know the brand, Im not un-familiar with engines, but at Air cooled Engines, Im an amateur)

Engine really looks fine to me, Im just a little hesitant to put power to the vehicle without looking over some of the wiring, as it has been... *cough* modified...

Pulled the dipstick as well..

Leaning a little more towards that "engine is fresh" statement..

Checked the steering.. upon wheel movement, there is about a 1" dead spot in the middle.. which I don't think it horrible, but way better than I was anticipating. Will still go over the entire suspension. Clutch pedal works and feels like its working.. shifts into all gears (including reverse *gasp!*) rather easily..

Overall, Pretty Happy with the starting point.

In the sink were two manuals.. a Bentley and a Compleat Idiot.. I was happy as hell to see those.

Other things I found in the bus:

all four wheel cylinders
all four high pressure brake hoses
all four sets of brake shoes
two sets of brake hardware (not sure if one set = front, one = back)
gasket set, including the pushrod tubes and the ends for them
couple tail light chrome rings (stamped VW - good shape)
Bunch of keys - none of which work.. I only have a key to the passenger door and the bastardized ignition switch (hence that... modified comment in the wiring above).

Future plans include a AC/DC Fridge, Solar Panel, controller, 100-125ah deep cycles.. inverter/charger.. Wife bakes, so looking at a Propane Stove. Going to have to plan all that out a little.. maybe ditch the jump seat behind the driver and/or the sink/ice fridge in it. maybe just build one big unit to sit behind the front seats, I dunno yet.. Don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

Will keep this thread posted with progress.

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Question:

Door Lock Sets. I would like the keys to match the doors, rear hatch, engine compartment (Isn't a lock on the engine compartment yet) and sliding door. (Ignition isn't the same, Im ok with that)

Is that possible? I see lock sets for the two doors, but nothing about matching for the sliding door nor the two rear hatches..

Maybe 1 key for two doors and sliding door... one for rear hatches?

I dunno.. and can't find much info in the thousands upon thousands of hits when I search.

If I gotta live with 4 different keys for everything, I guess I could.. just thought to ask because right now, I can't even lock it up.. and want to be able to lock it up when I get this thing fixed up, obviously..

Thanks!

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Abscate]

Gonz - there is a go-to guy here on Samba who will make all your key worries disappear - we will find and reference here..

Snap ping...

[busdaddy]

[Gonzo1970]

New Shoes came today!

Things are... *cough* Rollin' now!

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Little work before the rain tomorrow.

Grinded off all the screws from the old vent, sanded it down pretty good.. New vent didn't come in today, so just gave it an initial shot of primer, letting it dry then will sand again and tackle the whole top and gutters.

Here is a pic of "that damn hole some idiot put in the roof a few decades ago".

Going to rain here for a few days, but hopefully Sunday I can dig into the brakes a bit and maybe cut out the old, rusted floor for a bit easier access to the brakes and steering components.

A little at a time.. I'll get there..

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[ToolBox]

[Gonzo1970]

Just saw that in another thread.

Got 4 boxes.. I will have to run the numbers on the boxes to see which 4 I got. I could assume 4 for front, but it would be just that... an assumption... until I run the numbers.

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Did a walk-around vid..

Take it with a grain of salt.. Its what I got to deal with, and in all honesty, Ive seen much worse, so.. Just thought I would do a quick phone vid.

Enjoy (or cringe)


Link


Anything you see, questions, etc.. feel free..

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Always nice to get a box from Bus Depot..

Bosch Distributor... Well...

Side Note: I like Bus Depot. Shipping is a little high, tho.. I thought $15 was a little high for that. Ordered 4/17 received 4/22. But Im not going to argue about a few bucks.

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Been awhile, but life tends to do that from time to time. Progress is being made tho..

Painted the rims, mounted the tires with new valve stems.

Replaced both the front brake wheel cylinders (well, all four), both sets of shoes, new hardware, new hard lines and new soft lines.

Next up, the rear brakes, as long as I can find a socket for the hub..

After all 4 wheels are done as far as brakes, I will put the new Master Cylinder on it and bleed the system.. Hopefully, issue free..

Got the top hole issue fixed with a exhaust vent for a RV. Fit perfectly, even has a little 12vDC fan I can hook up for a little airflow. Sealed it good, no leaks. Sanding the roof down and painting it probably this week, then the pop top and luggage rack can go back on.

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Gonzo1970]

Oh, and I got 6 solar panels that are around 15", rectangular.. They were add-on's for a dealership to sell with new cars.. one will keep a charge on a car's battery, supposedly.. But the add-on's never really sold, and they ended up with cases of these things, so a buddy of mine who works at the dealership got me 6 of them.

Tested them, and they came out to 14.1v @ 1.2a (Good, Direct Light)

They will fit something like this (Obviously not to scale)

I will run them in Parallel to up the Amperage and keep the volts at 14, but bump the Amperage to 7.2a.. Not Quite where I wanted to be, but good enough considering I was looking at Two big panels putting out 8-10.. I do have a 20a MPPT controller, so that should be plenty and being MPPT, the most efficient.

One of the benefits tho, is that these can be Under the top of the luggage rack so they wouldn't be exposed to direct wind from the vehicle movement. I will think of some sort of cover for them for protection during transportation, and when they're not in use.

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Wildthings]

You should check out the cost of new panels. New panels with a few dead cells sell for very little and will put out way more power than 30 year old panels will. In particular they will work much much better under partial sun conditions.

[Gonzo1970]

[mattlockwood]

I think with a 205m dizzy you'll want a 30 PICT carb, not a 34. Smarter minds than me will tell you for sure tho.

Project looks awesome.
_________________
1970 Bay Window Bus.
110 hp 6 cyl Aircooled automatic

[Gonzo1970]

Everything I read said 34.. Besides, thats what it came with, so...


Tinkered with it today.. Drained the fuel tank, (Varnish) put a gallon of fuel in the tank, drained it... better..

Put #1 at TDC, put the distributor in after new points, cap, condenser, and rotor..

Put the battery to it. Checked for smoke (laughing, but semi serious).. turned on the key, and the only things that worked were the headlights, Wipers, and dash lights... Oil and Gen Light on..

Crossed my fingers, said a little prayer to the VW Gods, and kit the key for a sec... it cranked.

and cranked... and cranked...

After checking for spark (yep!).. No fuel. Mechanical Pump wasn't doing its job.

Got a 2.5-4psi electric, hooked it up to a switch. Turned it on, and checked for leaks.. and leaks there were... 4 of them...

Got line (not the right ones, but we're just testing here, purists) and fixed the leaks.. Ran it again... waited, and hit the throttle, and heard a squirt. Oh boy...

Cranked and WANTED to start, but the timing was off.... got the wife, and told her to just hold the key.. fiddled with the distributor until it finally started.. Get it a bit more close to in time, let the fuel flow a bit.. two wasp nests popped out the exhaust.... adjusted things a little, and....


Link


The belt, obviously, is screwed.. hence the rattle.. I did take the belt off and ran it for a minute to check, and yep... sounded great.

NOW WE'RE COOKIN' WITH GREASE!

-Gonz
_________________
Sometimes the lights all shining on me
Other times I can barely see
Lately it occurs to me
What a long, strange trip it's been

[Tcash]

[wcfvw69]

Nice thread and nice work bringing your bus back to life.

Your 34-3 carb is not a match for the 205M distributor. The 34-3 pulls tons of vacuum vs. the mild vacuum required to move the vacuum advance on the 205M. The 205M was installed on 1968 single port engines with Solex 30-2 carbs.

For that aftermarket 34-3 carb on your dual port engine, the best distributor would be a 034 SVDA distributor. It's a match for that aftermarket carb.
_________________
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Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
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[Abscate]

What's up with that fuel picture up thread? Something missing...block?
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.ssS!

[Gonzo1970]