'79 Canadian Camper

[oh didn't he ramble]

Switching allegiances after selling my Karmann Ghia - a vehicle I loved for the past decade but looking around the garage my wife and I see it, three motorcycles and nothing we can share with our two young daughters.

My wife and I are New Englanders and avid campers and have talked about buying a bus for as long as we've been together. Once we have it in good enough shape we're looking forward to touring the campgrounds of New England, beach days and maybe a tour up to Cape Breton, but first things first.

Bought this Canadian camper sight unseen, but the price after selling the ghia was roughly a trade, the vehicle was the best I could find within a day's drive and I was looking for something that would push my mechanical abilities without leaving me overwhelmed (This is the 4th vehicle I've owned that is older than me.)

So far it has been imported, titled, registered and insured. I have new flexible brake lines to replace the old, some koni shocks, H4 headlamp replacements waiting to be installed. I ordered new fuel lines through german supply and keeping an optimistic outlook. The bus will be nothing more than a playroom for the girls until then.

When inside the bus everything looks great - original everything. Ran an extension cord from the garage and plugged in, tested the fridge and it all worked. The faucet, water pump and the city water connection need some attention but will deal with that later.

Outside is clearly a repaint with seals painted over and some bubbling of the paint closer to the ground. The crumbling rocker panels and jack points were visible in the photos I saw before I made the purchase and I rolled the dice hoping it wasn't awful.

Trigger warning: The scenes you are about the see may be difficult for some West Coasters. Stop reading now and take solace in my automotive sustainability practices and that I source my vehicles locally. One less bus dragged from the West to our salty coastline.

Starting from the passenger side rear:

splash panel looks OK....

Rear outrigger not so much, tophat has lost some too.

What I'm seeing is that the channel the outrigger is welded to is in good condition. I'm hoping worst case is I cut out the outrigger and find rust isolated behind the connection.

Front looks about the same.

Shot of the deck makes me think that the first few inches may need some cutting, but after that might be OK. I'm going to replace the complete rocker assembly.

Driver side rear, looks OK to me.

Driver side front. Is part of the inner pillar gone?

Outriggers look the same on this side.

My plan is to replace both left and right rocker assemblies, all four outriggers and jackpoints as well as the floor near the rocker panel. There is rust elsewhere on the bus but I'm thinking deal with this foundational stuff now and worry about the less structurally critical bits later. I'm not looking for a show car here, I'm looking for a camper. I can deal with the rest as I go along.

I see that outriggers can be found with or without the jackpoints already installed. Is there a reason other than expense to purchase them without jackpoints? Does this affect the installation of the rocker panels?

What say you? Does this sound like a solid battle plan? Any comments/suggestions/tips/warnings appreciated.

Thanks in advance, you are awesome.
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d.

[Spike0180]

nice looking bus. Definitely some rust, but nothing un-repairable. I did a lot of those repairs and still have some to do. If you check out some of the restoration threads here on thesamba you'll get a good idea of how all these panels come together. And likely learn some body work techniques too.

EDIT: Ps, you may want to check out some of the work the split bus guys do. They have some really good restorations there. Funky truck for starters. and Skim did a really nice saving of an original bus too. The metal isn't exactly the same, but you'll get some ideas and lots of inspiration.
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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"

[dwill49965]

IMHO - your bus is in plenty good enough shape to camp in as it is. My bus was far worse in some of those same areas as yours, and I got several years of good camping out of it before doing a major replacement over the last couple of years of rocker panels, floor sections, jack points, and front wheel arches.
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Darryl
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'78 Westy, Boston Bob built 2.0 L, FI, MSD 6A

[Spike0180]

[oh didn't he ramble]

[ToolBox]

Call Bel-Metric for hose and clamps. Buy enough hose to do the evap lines too, they will be shot.

Hose
https://www.belmetric.com/multifuel-hoseethanol-approved-c-14_662/

Clamps
https://www.belmetric.com/stainless-steel-screw-clamps-c-15_143_1063/

[Wildthings]

Check carefully on the front beam where the steering relay (center) arm attaches. This area is know for rust and if the metal fails you will lose your steering.

[MorkC68]

that's a lovely looking bus, good luck with her & happy adventures!
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Major; 1977 Westfalia Campmobile
- Subaru EJ20
- Koni Classic adjustable dampers & Empi Heavy Duty Anti Roll Bar
- 180W Solar System

My blog: https://twolatebays.wordpress.com/

[Abscate]

You can always buy another again

The thing you can replace is the age 5-18 experience with your girls camping


Get your brakes and steering safe, fuel lines, leAve the rot for either the next guy or for when they are in college.

Savor every summer in beautiful New England and drop in if you get to the forgotten Wild West of Pittsfield
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.ssS!

[oh didn't he ramble]

[oh didn't he ramble]

[thewalrus]

Glad to see another bus in the area. I had a 2.0 F.I. engine a few years ago and have some extra Fuel Injection parts for sale if anything on yours is missing. Make sure you come to TransporterFest in October too!
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'73 Transporter 1.7L Dual Carb

[Abscate]

[oh didn't he ramble]

[Spike0180]

[oh didn't he ramble]

There it is!

I feel like I have arrived. Much better, thank you.
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d.

[vwwestyman]

I noticed the BA6 belly pan, and with that and the fuel line T, yes, you've got one, or at least the bus had one.

I installed one in my '73 last winter and can tell you it'll be nice to have working too.

Good on you for getting something the whole family can have fun in!
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[danfromsyr]

Sounds like you need a new mechanic..

give Stan a call
he's worth the drive. https://goo.gl/maps/kbxb4Q9MJMK2

also if you don't already know.. swing by Brookline for Transporterfest Sunday of Columbus weekend
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[oh didn't he ramble]

Spent the afternoon working on valve adjustments and timing. Odometer reads 54,000 km and I know rolled over once so that puts this engine close to 100k miles, i think.

PO had receipts for about $6k CAN for engine work. The receipts are all in french that I can't read but i see some valve work, new lifters and a new hydraulic rod in the list.

Checked the timing before getting under the valve covers. When I was checking connections while the engine was idling I got zapped good by the #3 spark plug wire. Pulled the wire and saw this:

Fortunately I still had some spark plug wires and caps in the garage and was able to replace it (as well as a second that showed some hairline cracking). Noticed the engine got ove a stumble it had at idle once the wires were swapped. Timing at idle was around 12-14 btdc.

In adjusting the valves I noticed the #4 intake valve adjustment screw was proud of the rest. It also looked a little stripped like it had been fiddled more than the others as did the securing nut.

I tried adjusting it hoping it was previously set incorrectly but got the same result as in the picture. Thinking it might be the lifter I tired setting the valve loose, idling the bus for a few minutes, then adjusting it again. No dice, adjustment is still about the same.

Came back to the samba to do some research and found this thread:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

Now I think I have a dropping valve seat and need new/rebuilt heads. Will this be enough? Thoughts appreciated.

Finished up the job and timed to 28 btdc wide open. Now idles around 5 btdc. Feeiling a bit deflated about the valve, but I knew this was a risk before I bought it, so suck it up right? Guess I was optimistic that the money the PO put into it last year would have caught issues like this.
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d.

[oh didn't he ramble]

Yesterday's troubles kept me up a bit last night so I decided to dig out the work receipt to see what work had been done. Thought I wasn't going to be able to make sense of it....

Engine work: c'est language universale

Names have been redacted to protect the innocent. Work is dated as July 1st, 2017.

I see plenty lot of work in heads, cylinders and cam. I think I see one reworked head and a lapped valve but I don't know which head & valve this refers to.

The PO left me with a Bentley that was never opened. I imagine he would take the same approach to the valve covers and that the last time valves were adjusted was with this mechanic. I doubt he didn't notice this. Is it possible he lapped the valve into a sunk seat? Would lapping one valve and not the others drop the valve enough to be noticeable during a valve adjustment?
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d.