My Aircooled Vanagon: Hated by All, Loved by Buggeee

[Vanagon Nut]

And it even has the fuel pump switch. Nice work!

I guess the price of those AFM's will go up soon.

Neil.

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

And, having found the floor of the valley, here is a menu of the methods used to climb my way back out....

First, all new fuel injection connectors for the injectors and the cold-start valves, etc. They are all the same. They come, now, in an available "spring clip" variety that makes it really easy to press and release when pulling them off the injector. Here is a picture:

I used one of these for each of the injectors as I have room enough by the intakes to have that spring arched above it and get my fingers on it to release it.

Compared to the original type that has a little wire spring, but does not have the arch for press and release convenience (sorry for the blurry but my eyes were crossing at all these little things so you can share the experience :

I used one of these on each of the three connections by the cold-start valve stuff near the air chamber/intake box. There is not enough room under there for me to use the arched spring, or to get my fingers over it anyway.

As it turns out, each of my local auto parts stores carries exactly ONE of each type of these connectors. ONE springy, for about $12 and ONE not-springy, for about $5.

I drove around town emptying the inventory of every store until I had enough. Now their order points will get all jacked up for about a year and they will have ample stock (tee, hee, hee).

For the corroded connectors, I set up a dish of phosphoric acid and a spray bottle of water. I'd soak the connector until it was bright and coppery and then I'd rinse it with the spray bottle and hit it with the heat gun briefly to dry it out thoroughly.

Here some are soaking:

Here are a couple examples of how they turn out.

This acid does more than just clear the surface of the connector, it gets in there and dissolves the green corrosion that is inside the strands of wire where they are crimped inside the connection.

Here, let me demonstrate a bit.

The fuel injection connections came with pigtails like 6 inches long or so. Also, some sections of wire just needed to be replaced. Stripping the old end of the original harness that would remain, I would find, predictably, that the copper inside was a bit oxidized - like so:

Before applying the ol' "lineman's splice" (Google it) to mate the new and old wires, I'd dip the old wire in the acid, just briefly:

Then I'd rinse it and dry it right away. It is like magic, and here is the result:

Clean and ready for mating.

Let's rest our eyes for a moment with a far away shot to relieve the muscle stress (I am aging as I breath it seems).

_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Buggeee]

I was scratching my head for a bit on how I wanted to handle the wear/heat marks I found inside where groups of wires had spent many decades working together in the close confines of the factory protective wrap.

Then I stumbled on this... liquid electric tape! How cool is that? It's cool.

So I just painted a few layers of this liquid rubber all over and into the groups of wires that had shown weakening of the white jackets. This shot is after a coat or two while it dries waiting for the next one.

The liquid electric tape (I happened to get this at Home Depot) comes in different colors too. The spring type fuel injector connectors did not have a shape that would have held the rubber boot, and seemed be sealed on their own. I decided to give them each a coating of appropriately colored green rubber.

After all the goo had dried, I laid out the harness as it would be installed in the van.

Then I installed varying sizes of wire covering to protect the whole thing. Here it is just before the final entombment in miles of electricians tape:

I think that shot really captures the "nervous system" plate for me. At this time of night (it was really late by now), the living nature of the organism had started to preoccupy my imagination. Time for bed!!!

In the morning, I killed many rolls of black electric tape and here is how it looked just before plugging it into the van:

_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Zeitgeist 13]

I recently rebuilt a problematic Vanagon engine harness similarly.

I also harvested a Fuego AFM years ago, and quite possibly used it on my '80 AC van...in fact, I'm positive I did. I think I assumed for a long time that all Bosch AFMs were the same after that.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Buggeee]

[Wasted youth]

This rabbit hole just gets better the farther I run down in it!

Outstanding find with the AFM! Total score!

Check this out: About a year ago I was fantasizing about a ‘test rack’ set up for my 1978 Baywindow. Like modeled after one of those giant Bear computers that you would see for the mechanic where he’d hook up all the test leads to the engine and start running his tests.

In that quest, I found an AMC/Renault/Chrysler test module that had the same exact Bosch multi pin connector... female on one side, male on the other. But I think there was something missing with it. It didn’t matter, because what I wanted was the female connector, and what I was going to do was feed all those leads into a couple of meters with a rotary switch. The leads would connect to all the test points, and the thing would set on a little wheeled cart. So I could select channels with the rotary switch and get dynamic information at different engine speeds without having to dick around moving test leads around. The envisioned console would also have a vacuum gauge and a fuel pressure gauge. Next to that would sit the LM-2 analyzer.

But I digress!

Anyway... I had a minor thought at the time to learn more about the relationships of Bosch/AMC et. al., and I was pleased to learn there was shared technology among the product lines. But I never pursued anything more, and the little module is still on the shelf.

I’ll have to get a pic of it to you.

[Wasted youth]

Ha!

You, right?!

https://m.ebay.com/itm/NOS-1981-1982-1983-Renault-...cvip-panel

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

An opportunity for personal growth has been bestowed upon me!

I have been bombing all over town in my Vanagon this season. Smiles, waves, impromptu conversations with people at drive through windows, gas stations, grocery parking lots. You know the drill, you drive a classic VW.

Then, while my Precious was left unguarded, parked helplessly out on the curb of a side-street with the great unwashed masses of daily drivers in a quiet suburban neighborhood.

We ate, exchanged gifts, warmed in the revelries of family, food and holiday festivities at the in-laws.

Blissfully, and selfishly, enjoying the holidays, fully unaware of my poor Precious nervously shaking in cold street outside, suffering the brutality of the wold around us and waiting for me to return to find...

Some Fool had caved in the side of my Westy and did't even bother to leave a note!

Thankfully, she gave just inside each of the seams. The seams are straight. By luck of poor weather I had not yet installed the replacement panel for the kitchen seam, so the Gorilla Tape gave readily, saving the line of the bottom of the rocker.

I can handle this. I will have my hands full, but I can do it. In the spring. When the heat in my head passes and the heat of the sun returns.

So...

I am going to be meditating on my Super Beetle for a bit until the resentment passes. Got some growing to do before I can fully indulge this repair in a healthy mind.

Man I hate opportunities for personal growth.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[jimf909]

Dang. That's not a nice Christmas gift. You do seem to have an unusually good perspective though.

Here's to growth opportunities!
_________________
- Jim

[Stuartzickefoose]

[Muftobration]

I just finished reading through the whole thread. Thank you for posting so many details and pictures! It makes me realize I should be doing the same with my van, which I've been restoring for a few months now. I love your writing style.

I actually just found out that my van ('84) was running rich due to a badly calibrated AFM. A previous owner, probably in an effort to fix the van's poor running condition due to a collapsed lifter and a failed fuel pressure regulator, had opened up the AFM, messed with all the calibration settings so it was reporting very high airflow (thus causing the van to run rich), and scribbled all over the contact patches with pencil! There are lots of crazies out there, and some of them owned our vans before we did.

[Scottn59c]

Been reading this thread on and off throughout the day as I get ready to take possession of an '81 AC Westy this week.

Man, I didn't see that hit and run coming - that sucks!

My van is going to need some body work, and I've done a little before, but if Buggeee is as descriptive as he was in all the other posts as he goes through the process, we can all learn from it.

I've been gone awhile and I'm looking forward to being part of this community again!
_________________
Farfignewton!

[Buggeee]

Fellow Star Trek Shuttle Fans.

I am shamelessly bumping my own thread today because I need some help and I have posted a thread in the engine section looking for insight. If you know what a rod knock sounds like, or if you know what a bad hydraulic lifter sounds like, would you hop over to that thread and share your thoughts? I don't want to destroy my engine so I'm trying to decide whether to crack into it before camping season. Here is the link:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716830

As for me, and thank you for asking, I am doing well. I have been in regular (almost daily) therapy sessions with my Super Duper Super Beetle and have a very good handle on my resentment over the @#$%#$@ who slammed into my Precious at Christmas. Sorry, little slip there. I'm close to being released to the side yard, however, to start in on the Vanagon repairs and am noticing the birds chirping again, etc.

Thank you for any help over there on the engine knock thread!!!!

P.S. -----

[Stuartzickefoose]

Posted
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Buggeee]

[Buggeee]

I'm going to be road-tripping her this summer, so I decided it was time to change the gear oil in the transaxle of my 1983 Air-cooled Vanagon.

For the life of me I could not figure out how to get an allen key into the fill hole. It is blocked by the shifter mechanism. For the life of me I could not figure out how to remove the shifter mechanism from the transaxle. I really didn't want to either, by the way.

Then I saw in some non-Samba thread somewhere that someone used a rod-nut from Home Depot to substitute as an allen key. I got one, and I cut it down to short, and I stuffed it in the hole with just enough sticking out to use an open-end wrench on it. Here's a picture of the gear I used. The picture will betray my use of the Thor Hammer to break it loose:

Then, knowing I could fill it, I drained out the old gear oil. To my surprise, it was light brown, not black, and it did not smell of oil-well fires. Fascinating.

I looked at the magnet on the drain plug to read the tea leaves like the true mechanics here on the Samba.

I felt a little sick at first, but then I touched all the sharp spiky things. Whew! (Why don't we have a "relief" Emoji?) They were not sharp spiky things after all. Only the long hair sticking out the top had any form to it. The rest was absolute dust that just smeared into cream when I touched it. The long one had no substance really, breaking into small bits, a minor shaving.

Well it does make a rumbling racket sometimes when engine braking, but its working for now and does not slip out of any gear. With fresh gear oil, I have done my good deed for the day.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Buggeee]

With the help of you Sambanistas over in the engine forum, I have found the need to be playing with my hydraulic lifters to chase down an on-again off-again ticking sound.

First, I pulled out the lifters on the driver's side and did my best to keep them organized so everything could go back in the same place it came from.

A little visual inspection quickly revealed a less than satisfactory push-rod end. Ouch!

The ol' straight edge across the face of the lifters told me these lifters were not new when the PO did his "rebuild" in the basement "about 4k mi." before tying her up out by the garage for a decade. Concavity rather than convexity. [Are those words? Didn't trigger spell-check so good]

Worse, one of them had clearly been dropped on the cement floor at some point in its out-of-body experience. Check the rough edge.

There were no burrs to catch the case but still, WTF PO?! No need to check the passenger side, these are going to go in the trash all the way around.

In the meantime, I had to move the van back into the side yard, so back in they go. I laid them out for bleeding:

...and filled them up for duty according to this thread here:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=331065

Then I pulled out the communicator we call a phone nowadays and promptly ordered some new ones.

This was Sunday before Memorial Day Weekend. No time to goof around.

Ebay Score with Fast-n-Free shipping - a set of Eight would delivered to my door for Sixty Bucks. Yes, you heard that right, the whole enchilada, Sixty USD.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764

[Buggeee]

They arrived at 11:30 Friday morning. We leave at 4:00 pm. Don't worry Honey, that gives us plenty of time.

Thankfully, in the midst of my bluff, I found the new lifters came pre-bled. Firm and full of some kind of oil. Here is a picture intending to capture a drop of oil dripping down the side after I pushed on it a bit.

I pulled the rockers, pushrods, tubes and lifters. For those of us Beetle owners out there, this is a really nice improvement. Pulling the pushrod tubes right out of the head is a great idea on the Type 4! I had a telescoping magnet ready to pull the lifters out of their holes and a full set of push-rod seals ready to stop the bleeding when the operation was over.

Along the way I found more smashed push-rod ends and a broken push-rod tube retaining spring that was just riding on the top of the push-rods. Really PO, Really? (I learned to say that from my ever-respectful teen brood)

I know mix-and-match is not a great thing for a fresh build, but this is not a fresh build and I have to be on the road before my best-friend makes me sell this girl, so I grabbed a handful of good looking push-rods out of the spare engine and got back in the rhythm of the adventure.

Here is a picture of how the situation presents after wiggling (with channel lock pliers) the push-rod tube and pulling it out. You can see down in there where the magnet will grab the lifter to pull it right out.

And, going back together, here is a picture with the push-rod tubes partially in place (on the right side) and wiggled/snapped down into position (on the left side). Or, maybe the ones on the right are snapped in fully and the left not so much. Well, anyway its a crappy picture so you can't tell the difference anyway. Just wiggle them until they fully slide down into the depth of the relief in the head. This was all new to me as a Type 1 dude so I found this to be fascinating:

Contrary to the PO's opinion, the spring retainer for the push-rod tubes does not ride loose on top of the moving push-rods. Instead, it snaps down into the bottom of the relief cut into the head for the push-rod tubes - holding them in place.

The rest I will leave to Bentley.
_________________
1966 Sportsmobile Camper https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
72 Super Duper http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=672387
(adopted out) 61 Turkis Pile https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728764