Cross Country Westy

[JavaMachine]

Hello everyone, I'd like to introduce myself and my recently purchased '78 Westy:

This is my first air-cooled VW, although I've wanted one since I was 14 and a guy down the street was selling a rusty Karmann Ghia for $50. I couldn't come up with that kind of cash then, and the rise in values of ACVWs since then has always just outpaced my ability and willingness to pay for one. I'm a bit of an automotive bottom feeder in that I like to buy 20-30 year old European cars for cheap, make them look good and run well, drive them for a while, and then sell for something like break-even. My current lineup includes a '97 BMW 740iL, an '01 BMW 325i wagon 5-speed, an '04 BMW X5 6-speed, an '07 M-B E350 wagon, and... you get the picture.

So about 10 years ago my wife fell in love with Type 2s. Especially green late bays, but she loves them all. I told her we'd get one as soon as I came across the right one, which in hindsight probably meant I wanted to find a clean, rust-free example for $5k. Wasn't gonna happen, and certainly wasn't going to happen local to me. Fast-forward a bit, and I was thinking of bidding on a '68 Ford Country Squire station wagon on Bring A Trailer. The bid was more than I usually spend on a car, so I figured it would be best to get the wife on board *before* putting in the bid. She looked it over and said "Stop messing around and just buy a Bus."

Over the next several weeks, I shopped dozens of examples from various sources before arriving at this one in thesamba classifieds. After speaking with the seller, my wife, 12-year-old daughter, and I loaded up the M-B GL450 (another fixer-upper) for a 2500 mile, COVID-safe round trip to Texas to trailer it home to West Virginia.

So here it is in my garage. Sorry for the terrible picture. It's been cold and dark in the weeks since I bought it and I haven't had a chance to do a proper photo shoot.

[JavaMachine]

I'm super happy with the purchase. My main concern when shopping was to get one that was as rust-free as possible, and in that I think I've succeeded. It seems to have lived in Texas its whole life, and the only real rust on it is the battery trays, which have had patch panels riveted in. The price was reduced because it had a shifting problem and could only get 3rd and reverse. This kind of mechanical repair is just my kind of thing, as opposed to body work which I like to avoid. I did a bunch of reading and some crawling underneath and concluded that the problem was likely in the transaxle nose cone. So the engine and trans would have to come out.

This was fine with me, because I had read KentABQ's awesome thread about his bus Chloe:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=663898
and I had decided that it would be best to have a close look at the engine to make sure all was in order. We do a lot of driving vacations, and we'd like to make this new bus our go-to for all kinds of trips whenever there is no salt on the roads. This is why I titled this thread like I did- I want to make this bus reliable enough to do cross-country road trips. And I want it to look good doing it.

I'd like to use this thread to document the work I do, and to solicit advice from those who are more knowledgeable about Bays than I am (pretty much everyone on here). I'm going to be walking a fine line between doing everything that I need to do while the engine and trans are out, and still have it all back together before summer.

[JavaMachine]

After dropping the exhaust system, I quickly found the source of the fairly-serious oil leak that the engine had:

It looks like the rocker arm had contacted the head at some point and broken a chunk off, and someone had repaired it with red RTV. This made me glad that the engine was coming out. So it looks like replacement heads are in order, which leads to my first question (hopefully not stepping into a hornet's nest here)- what should I get? I want to keep things pretty stock but I think I'd prefer new over rebuilt, and I'd like to maximize reliability and cooling within reason.

[JavaMachine]

The rest of the engine and trans removal was uneventful, and I quickly arrived inside the nose cone to find:

the hockey stick bushing has seen better days. But everything else looked solid and I seemed to be successfully selecting gears using the selector lever that the hockey stick normally engages. The magnetic drain plug had a bunch of crud stuck to it (sorry no pic) but in my experience with other transmissions that doesn't mean much.

I ordered a new metal shift ball from Weddle and a nose cone gasket. I need a warm spell to come along so I can get the case cleaned up with the pressure washer, it's pretty nasty.

I tore down and cleaned the axles. Two CV boots were torn (partly why the trans is nasty) but after cleaning the grease out, wear on the joints seems minimal. Waiting for new boots to arrive before I grease them up and reassemble.

That's pretty much where things stand at the moment. Need to figure out a yoke to mount the engine to my stand and start tearing it down. I haven't decided to do a full rebuild just yet, but I'm prepared to do it if necessary.

[BUSBOSS]

Congrats!

My two cents. Get your new AMC heads refined by Len Hoffman. https://newsite.hamheads.com/

Also have a look at your tires. They look passenger car tires and if so are not safe for your bus. Get light truck tires that have the appropriate load rating.

Have fun!
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All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
1976 Westfalia
1970 Karmann Ghia Convertible (sold - but not forgotten)

[Wildthings]

If your heads are otherwise good, why not find a piece of aluminium, cut it to fit the gap, and and have someone TIG or MIG weld it into place.

[SGKent]

9 ft lbs max on oil strainer bolt if you remove it or risk destroying the engine.

OK. You can replace the ball, also get a metal plate from Weddle that goes between the nosecone and housing to push the main bearing back in place. The coupler between the shaft and nosecone can go bad and cause the issue. Also a loose grub screw can do it too. There is a stop plate under the shifter that can go bad, and a bushing. Other than new heads, none of these things are expensive. When you have done them all then try the gears. 1-2, 3-4 and Rev are all on selectors. It sounds like it is in the shift mechanism rather than the transmission to me.

Transmission
Donut - https://weddleindustries.com/products/004-301-241-A-HD/004-301-241-A-HD
Metal plate - https://weddleindustries.com/products/9372/9372
Check the selector bracket to be sure it is not broken - https://weddleindustries.com/products/002-301-239/002-301-239

Shift linkage rear
grub screw check tightness
coupler at back, they get loose and rotate. I have mine welded

Shift linkage front
bushing
grub screw check tightness

Shifter
stop plate may be broken. Make sure to get a bus one with tabs on it. Mark the old one on floor first before removing it so you have a starting point. The arrow is pointing to where they break.

Heads
Replace - get new ones from Len Hoffman at Hoffman Automotive Machine in GA. https://newsite.hamheads.com/home-2/
_________________
Canned Water - the new California approved parts cleaner (except in a drought in which case rub it with sand).

George Carlin:
"Most people don't know what they're doing, and a lot of them are really good at it."

Skills@EuroCarsPlus:
"never time to do it right but always time to do it twice"

[crownline]

Welcome, Nice Bus. Make sure you keep the push rods in order when you take it apart. Check all the fuel vent lines and fuel filler pipe as long as it's all apart.
_________________
1972 Bus 1700 cc Single Carb. But not a progressive.
Barelymuvin
Wish I still had the ones I got rid of.

"It"s got some dings and dents and neither of us is going to SEMA."(Update, I went to SEMA in 2019 but the Bus stayed home)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-8446.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[Abscate]

[KentABQ]

[Slip356]

Great looking Westy, see it’s a delux as well. I’ve had mine for over 15 yrs and do lots of camping over the last 40K miles or so.
Noticed the top tent material is pinched in the top, a no no as it will wear a hole if you drive it that way. Learn to properly pull the tent in, teach your wife as well as it’s not that hard but very important.

[Slip356]

You’ve got a smart wife, the best kind!

[alman72]

[VAEV1993]

Very nice looking bus. Good luck!

Yay - West Virginia !
_________________
1993 Weekender - Hula
2002 Golf TDI
2017 Golf Alltrack

[Globespotter]

I don't want to be the rain on your parade, but when I see a bus that looks amazing on the outside and has those kind of issues when you start digging, I see 'lipstick on a pig'.

I would be checking that bus out from head to toe to uncover any surprises before they surprise you.

I'm super cautious about buses that are painted up to look perfect.
_________________
1977 Westfalia - October 2015 - Current
1971 Super Beetle - May 2012 - Current
1979 Westfalia - 1986-1991
1971 Super Beetle - 1977-1980

1971 SB Survivor Story: https://globespotter.com/
Road Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=511800&highlight=
My 77 Westy Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=647114&highlight=

http://vw-mplate.com/mcode.php?lang=EN&id=30990
https://vw-type2-id.xyz/mplate/72067382

[HoboBus]

It's missing the little plastic caps on the wiper arm nuts.

I mean, really, what a piece of crap.


Welcome to the Samba. Great bus! Congrats.
_________________
Salt air it ain't thin, it'll stick right to your skin,
it'll make you feel fine. Makes you feel fine.
And I wanna be there. -- Jimmy Buffett

Just a beach-oriented camping Hobo with a bus.

[JavaMachine]

Thanks for all the replies already. I can tell this a great community.

[Abscate]

You could JB weld that hole in the head in place. Use brake cleaner to get it oil free. Let the JB weld plug the hole, then setup just above the sealing surface off the valve cover. Then Knick it down close to flat with a file

Somebody just prised on the rocker arm and gorilla’d that hole, I bet
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