The Preservation of Lori

[drpete]

Yowza Yowza!!! You was grinnin' cause you was happier than Pavlov's dogs when a bell rings....
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Happy to be alive. Hey Dad, Mom, wish you were here to see all this.

Pete Keesling
Driving a VW every day.....

[EverettB]

[MillerMachining]

Awesome John! Nice work, what a blitz! I want a ride!

[johnshenry]

[BulliBill]

Just got back from a flight assignment, so I'm catching up on your thread.
Congratulations on the first real run around town!!! That's a big milestone! It's been fun to follow your craftsmanship and enthusiasm on your first Split-Bus experience! What a preservation! Great to see that old beast terrorizing the roads again...

You'll be at KP, no? See ya there in a week or so!

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[drpete]

[BulliBill]

We'll be seeing you VERY soon Doc!

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[johnshenry]

Passed inspection. Legal and legit now!

I ordered a custom magnetic "sticker" for the back of it, check it out in the pics.

So that re-do of the wiring harness. The main 8 gauge feed from the battery And another 8 gauge wire that goes up to the instruments has to fit in the single terminal at the bottom right of the fuse box. It is a bigger terminal/bore than the rest of the fuses, but OMG, trying to get those things in there!!?? You can see in the pics the cut-off piece of my first attempt. I did make it work by twisting the strands of both together, zip tying the wires together near the and to keep them from spreading apart, then soldering them together. Then I had to use the Dremel and a de-burring it to "carve" it a bit to get it to fit into the terminal block. So when I realized I was going to have to do this all over again.... I went looking for another solution.

In my stock of stuff I have to make split beetle wiring harnesses. I found a 3 wide terminal block with beefy brass connectors inside. So I drill out the rivets holding the plastic case on it, and extracted two of the brass blocks and screws. I tinned one side of each with solder, then held the tinned sides next to each other with a clamp, and heated it with a torch, quickly. Then using 3 of the four screws, I had the perfect "two to one" connector block. No pic, but I slipped 2 layers of heat shrink tubing over the connector when I was all done and heated it with a heat gun. Solid solution that can be taken apart later if needed.

I actually did the same thing for the "one to two" blocks needed for the SWF flasher turn signal wiring, but used the smaller blocks that came with the WW wiring kit.

I took the choke cable out to clean it up, and grease it. Interesting to find these tin "clamps" still holding the cable to the accelerator cable tube. Again, original details on this truck, and virtually nothing missing, hacked or modified.

The engine cover prop bracket was broken off. I got a complete prop with the truck and took the bracket off of it. Looking at pics in the gallery and classifieds to see what the proper orientation was, I see that this thing breaking off must be very common. So I opted to not to try to replicate the spot welds and instead welded the bracket around it's perimeter to the lid.

Questions:

How do I center the steering wheel so the spokes on the wheel are right and left when going straight? Mine is way off and the turn signal doesn't often cancel becasue of it. I took the wheel off thinking I'd just re-adjust it on the splines... then realized, duh, there are no splines. So how to adjust that? Unscrew the end on the drag link? Adjust tie rods?

I am missing the spring for the engine cover prop now. Is it the same as the prop on the treasure chest? Does it just slip on the bracket? I confess that I haven't studies it yet, looked for pics, etc...

So I am going to drain the tranny of oil for over week while I am away to the west coast for Kelly Park weekend. I will also set the timing with a strobe gun and check the points gap/dwell.....

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[EverettB]

[bally]

Excellent post John - great news. Excellent response Everett: every day's a school day!

[johnshenry]

Yes, thanks Ev, and everyone in this forum for helping me come up to speed on this truck and all the T2 stuff. It has been a blast so far. I did not realize how different these things would be mechanically from Beetles!
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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[drpete]

[johnshenry]

Back from an 11 day west coast road trip including Kelley Park weekend to try to scare up some parts for the truck, among other things. Found a good bit of the stuff I was looking for.

Engine long block was crated today and handed over to Fed Ex for an (expensive!) trip to Minnesota for a rebuild. In the mean time, I changed the tranny gear oil (again, it looked like it was replaced by the seller), got my engine lid prop greased and working, installed a passenger side mirror arm, and wrestled apart a $5 fuel tap that I got in the swaps at KP that later this summer will get installed and the ZAR cable hooked up.

A roof rack and a tatty floor mat is on it's way across the country now for this singlecab. I had hoped to use the mat that came with it, but it is not correct for this year. The pedal openings are different. Is it for barndoor, or some later model??

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[EverettB]

Yes, that is a Barndoor floor mat.
Where did you find that?!?
Weird thing to pop up, they are NOT easy to find in any condition
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[johnshenry]

[Rich's 50]

Nice John

[johnshenry]

Lowes run.

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[BulliBill]

Look at you, John! You're a Bus owner AND a Bus driver!!! Put it to good use AND have fun with it!

Bill
_________________
I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[johnshenry]

The roof rack finally made it's way from the west coast. Two of the clamps look original and are the same, the third looks like from another rack, but works. The 4th is missing. I think that I can make some good reproductions of the missing 2... if I can't locate originals.

Anyone know/recognize this rack? The securing studs are 1/4"-20, so I don't think it is European made. I actually found some copper 1/4" wing nuts in some drawers of hardware that the guy we bought our house from left 15 years ago. Those ought to patina nicely over time.

The back legs were bowed out a bit farther than the fronts, but not quite enough to fit the rails on my singlecab... so I had to tweak them a bit. Note the front "overhang" from the position of the front legs. I am thinking that a couple vintage 6 volt driving lights might look cool up there (???).

Disappointingly, the truck will not be able to take part as a stage in the Music Festival this Saturday..... I would have had to get it there WAY earlier than I had thought due to Police set up rules, security, etc. I have another commitment that morning. BUT, it will be used in a video for my friends band, and we'll shoot with it at various locations.

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab

[johnshenry]

Haven't posted in a while, but I have been having a TON of fun with this truck. It has been to one car show and a couple cruise nights. Always gets a LOT of attention.

Didn't make the music festival but a week ago we did some impromptu video shots with my friends band. We moved it around to a few spots in the city of Nashua NH. These guys are in with a city events promoter and have written a song about the city to promote the cultural vibe of it. When we get a full video edited, I'll post a link. Check out the custom cut rug, furniture, suitcases and lamp. We want to do a night shot with the lamp on.

Also, the engine is now in the hands of a capable samba member and friend and was torn down a bit tonight. Looks like the #1 exhaust valve got cooked at some point and grime is aplenty.l

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John Henry

'57 Deluxe
'56 Single Cab