Raoul the 65 singlecab

[70bus]

Pulled the bushings in the clutch support, using PedalWerks kit. No real problem getting them out.

but the inside one also popped out a circle of - what? Grease, mud, fibre and other debris I guess, as I don't see a seal called out there. VW logo, part number, Kolbenschmidt logo and T1 all helpfully stamped on each! Replacement bushings went in easily; inside one a little too easily, as it can be moved in and out with a finger. As it will be maintained in place by washer and nut, the only place it can go is back into the shaft housing a bit, so I won't worry too much. Real quick photos just to make sure nothing is connected wrong.

Scott provided a thin length of hose to replace the NLA clutch shaft seal. Fits perfectly. Brake shaft also has a seal, but a 'proper' one was provided.

Considering how blasted my clutch and brake shafts were, Scott did a fantastic job! WELL worth the modest cost; I opted for zerks to spare the next person the hell I had getting some of these things out.

I was about to put in my Butty's Bits accel linkage when I remembered the PO had left me a turd to deal with

I am going to have to cut and grind off at least a portion of that ebrake bar they welded on to the J section that holds the pivot, as it traps the pin and prevents removal to install new linkage. Why do I have the feeling that when I remove enough metal to free the pin, the entire J drops off? Not having a welder, that's gonna suck.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

Suggestions for best approach to this clusterpoop - drill through the Ebrake bar and make the hole big enough for my Buttys Bits bolt? Or cut above the hole for pin and try to remove whole lower section of Ebrake splint? Or…?

I am a little worried that drilling a big hole will be difficult in tight space, but more concerned removing a portion of the Ebrake bar weakens the J bracket too much.

Ironically, pin turns freely. PO had put the accel assembly on the outside of the bracket!

_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

Well, it was awful - but it didn’t go too badly….
Drilling a curved surface with little clearance is no fun. Managed, however. Drilling a hole vs. cutting was right move, as the bulk remains to continue supporting the J bracket.

Not quite yet; bolt head catches.

After some more cursing and whatnot, cleared enough out for bolt to go flush to original bracket.

I do appreciate the hippie/airman/whomever’s resourcefulness on the repair: cheap, easy, and the curve on the Ebrake bar let the head of Accel pin rotate. But I would have enjoyed my evening a lot more if they’d fixed it right the first time.

Not, you will note, that I did, either!
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

I am trying to button up electrics and cab before finishing (or even starting!) some jobs below…

Found that a Type 3 defog relay works the same as the 63-65 12v emergency flasher relay, and has nearly the same form - it merely lacks the hook at top of correct relay which both mounts and grounds it. A little creative engineering solves that.

I was just using 2 6v dry cells wired together, so I wasn’t expecting much….

Working:
dome light
Dome light in treasure chest
Wipers
License light
Low beam h/l
Hi beams h/l
Speedo hi beam light
Floor dimmer switch
Parking lights
Rear running lights
Shambulance fans
Speedo pod lighting
Headlight switch including dimmer

Partial:
Pull flasher knob, and dash light lights, as well as right turn signal (and extra led light in right dash), Stay lit; do not flash.
When t/s lever pulled down, left side led dash light and fried egg light; no flash. Same situation for right side.

Not working:
Turn flashers
Brake lights ( no m/c in yet)
Ignition switch(no starter yet)

I am hoping I am not getting turn signals or eflashers due to the low power of the batteries; they barely light the rear taillights and front fried eggs, so I think they do not provide enough oomph to activate the flasher can. I have a known-good 69 box I’ll swap in tomorrow to see if the can is just dead.

Of course, it ain’t all skittles and beer.

Measure six times; still cut wrong

As soon as I laid it in, I knew what I had done: carefully measured where the floor switch was initially… and then didn’t remeasure after finding factory measurements for switch and MOVING it.

Time for a beer or five.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

I figured the flasher circuits weren’t getting enough amps to work - I was using a 12v lantern battery for testing - so I grabbed a 12v 3 amp alarm system battery and hooked it up. Success! Mostly.

Left and right turn signals work properly, but speedo indicator light only comes on first click or two.
Emergency flashers work… most of the time. Same issue with indicator only flashing once. Dash light for flasher usually works, but I think the wire or ground is not always making good contact as it sometimes will start flashing if
I wiggle the wire. About half the time, the dash light flashes, but the turn signals do not, and I can hear the difference in sound from the relay; I’m pretty confident this is a grounding issue with relay . The metal can touches a ridiculously teeny spot on the innards to make a ground, and if I squeeze the can I can get it to work. I’ll probably have to solder a better connection.

I had dropped the headlight bucket grommet down the valence, so I grabbed a borescope and a grabber; found the grommet in a few minutes, and actually got the thing in the grabber on first try.

Of course it fell out and rolled off somewhere and is now lost.

Last, I noted when testing flashers that one taillight had the wires wrong - brake light was flashing - so I went to fix that; spade was really firmly attached to lug, so I was using a screwdriver to help pry it off.
A screwdriver which slipped and jabbed my thumb.
Which jabbed my thumb in the EXACT spot I had sliced open this weekend, nearly severing a small artery. Which bled a lot. Again.

Time to pack it in for the night.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

More minor work.
Wiring loom came with a dome light harness for passenger buses; as I have a s/c I just have a cabin light, but ran the extra length of wire down the door pillar and into the treasure chest. Turning on the speedo pod switch energizes the line, and the toggle switch of the light is just below the bed support. They have led festoons from Stoddard, who are the only people I’ve found with decent led color.

Worked on the flashers a bit more; swapped out the Wagner ‘Autobahn’ flasher can for a V W model.

Flashers are a bit peppier, and the e flasher circuit thwacks away like crazy. Dash indicator really only works when left flashers are selected, not right or eflashers.

Eflashers have all lights going in unison, but I think it’s supposed to be back/ front. Eflashers also stop when headlight switch is pulled; all lights stay on, but not flash. red dash light will sometimes flash.
I also tried using the modern versions of the eflashers - not a click out of them, and I know they work on the bench. Either something is miswired, or , I’m confirming my theory that 63-65 eflashers cars only work with body-grounded relays. Or it’s something else!

I did note that when I first connect the battery ground, the t/s flasher unit makes a click. No lights go on. Metal can didn’t do that.

Last issue was gas gauge not working; again, it works on bench, sender is nos Vdo and tested. I hooked a meter to the dash leads and can see voltage changing as I tilt the gas sender, so the wires are sending a signal of some kind! Light works at least.

The usual mixed bag of results…
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[BarryL]

[70bus]

Some progress.
Gas gauge sorted out; despite sanding down the back of dash, it just wasn't getting a good enough ground. Improved grounding and needle moves when sender tilted. Added a ground wire to bracket - in case it gets wonky again, I can put the other end on a solid ground. No weirdness when lights go on, so that seems sorted.

Going with a ground theme, I added extra ones to light housings. Front and rear driver's side just went to a screw in hole drilled into frame nearby, and passenger side lights went to grounding stars screwed to frame. Temporarily placed grounding strap. I know a lot of folks put rear grounds on neg post or strap bolt, but that is considered a no-no by many - might be more important for more modern cars, but decided to keep using chassis as ground path.

Put in rebuilt horn; not sure of the wire path for that ground! Sorta looks like it should run forward (based on retainer on steering box) and pass by clutch arm, but that seems to be asking for trouble by having arm catch it some day. Gotta dig through the gallery some more.

Wipers ready to go - just need glass. And arms (both of which I have). I'll point correctly after I see which direction they squirt.

Also put in the headliner - the PO-painted glossy grey originals are in front - because they made it this far! - and Clara's in back. I mostly didn't destrpy Clara's beautiful work getting it in, Did pinch my fingers a lot. 2 questions: what size screw holds up the stays? I HAVE mine, have had them for 30 years in a bag, saw them JUST last week...... where they are now, who knows???? I will find them the day after I buy replacements. EDIT. Found the right before I was heading to hardware store! Of course, only 5, and now the baggie of panel escutcheons I had is missing… sigh.

I found that the stays had a ‘set’ and definitely fit better on one side over another.

Also, how the hell do i put screws in the back? I thought maybe the board went behind the ledge w/ holes, but of course not I find after I have it up. I see people making some mutant-stapler looking tools to figure out where to drill. is that the only solution?

Now the real fun: the early-bay flasher box seemed to work properly, and the metal Autobahn seemed iffy, so am sticking with VW for now. When I first connect the negative, there is a click in the relay; this is as it should be, as the speedo indicator is now 'hot' even with ignition off, with current through the flasher box. I believe Telford Dorr mentioned that in one of the umpteen threads I read (again) last night. Probably same thread that mentioned the lights all staying on and not flashing when the lighting switch is on! Which was also my symptom with the e-relay I was using. Once, the dash lights were flashing in time w/ flashers!

So out that came, and I tried the K relay again; using the VW t/s relay, this tie not only did the K relay work, but the lights stayed flashing even with the lights on. So even though the T3 defroster 311963141a relay seems to have the same schematic, it may not actually function the same as the original 211953207 relay. I note many older relays have an arrow pointing different directions - in the defroster relay, it points up through the coil, but the 207 it points down by terminal 87b

Any idea what's up with that? Ground points?

Still a few issues - The speedo indicator will only light the first few cycles of a LEFT turn indicated, ONCE on a RIGHT turn indicated, and not at all when the eflashers are on.

Some caveats - I do not have the brake m/c or engine in, so the circuits are not complete. No regulator, generator or battery yet. I may connect a brake switch and the oil pressure switch, and see what happens.

At the moment, if the completed wiring setup doesn't reveal other issues, I can live with not having the speedo indicator light (PO likely installed the extra dash lights because they couldn't get it to work). But I don't like it. Either a part is defective, a wire is wrong, a ground is not, or I am correct and the damn thing only like metal relay cans. I'm probably just full of shit on that idea (my eyes ARE deep brown).
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[BarryL]

[70bus]

Thanks; I edited that 'red flasher' bit out to clarify symptoms. I'll check tonight to see if the speedo indicator flashes alternately... when it does.

Wired as factory, the speedo indicator is supposed to be hot from two sides, and the flashers switch one leg to ground to light it, so my LEFT turn flashing is getting to ground sometimes, and RIGHT and Emergency once or not at all. So either the right flasher circuitry is bad or the e-relay is. I'll try another. But hope yet remains for my loony theory about metal can grounds :) Actually, it might have more to do w/ brakes not in circuit.

Tomorrow I get the parts I need to wire up engine bay; I can mock up the brakes and see what happens, as well as put an oil switch online.

I also feel like I should waste a day or two and compile all the symptoms and solutions of those 25 'flasher' posts into one big post. It's exhausting to remember what bit I read where and dig back to get the one part that's relevant from a 4 page topic...
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[Who.Me?]

I meant to ask the other day when you posted this picture. Do those connectors have a specific name? Been trying to find one, but don't know what to search for...

_________________
Andy


Looking for info on my truck's history. Are you from Campbell California or nearby. Do you recognise it? ... http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=636786

[70bus]

Ground tree; easiest place to get them seems to be
https://gowesty.com/products/ground-tree-kit?_pos=1&_sid=5fdbbb448&_ss=r

and they also have some on their @mazon store.

I initially thought of running a separate ground line back to this, but
https://w8ji.com/battery_wiring.htm
convinced me otherwise. A TON of info on that site, some of it relating to cars. Site also inspired my love of dielectric grease, which is liberally applied to all my electric bits. My favorite thing aftre DeOxit G5. Fair warning: silicone dielectric greae will get all over your fingers, causing you to lose a grip on stuff and prevent paint from ever again sticking to any surface you touch.
https://w8ji.com/dielectric_grease_vs_conductive_grease.htm
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[Who.Me?]

[70bus]

More minor work.
Lookin kinda bussy

Put in headlights; even with an alarm battery they work. Parking lights are LEDs from Stoddard
https://www.stoddard.com/vin90114606.html
Which I simply took a permanent marker to and colored orange. Gotta find some clear nail polish to make it last… Wire from headlight switch to parking light has Flosser inline fuse added.

Thanks to garberdyne I have a 60s era 12mm switch to fill a hole in the dash; beats making hole larger to fit a stock switch

Found the original escutcheons for the rear screws on the large roof panel… installation was a pain and made a few mistakes but it’s in.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

Your air vent might not be square. So don’t assume your panels should have an even gap there!

It took much fiddling - and the terrible sound of Masonite beginning to tear - but the headliners are in, screws and all. I tried to get the gap along the air vent constant, but that meant the screws in corner would barely hit the panel. Finally compromised both gaps as best I could, but it makes me wonder if my whole cab is skewed…

My apologies to Clara for the insult committed upon her fine work. :(
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

Filled the trans with Lucas, which feel free to tell me was a mistake, but it gets dumped in 500 miles anyways.

Put in the trans - mostly - and found having one balky Jack and no helpers makes it take a bit longer than it probably should. I had a VWAlley engine cradle on the Jack, which is invaluable on my bay window, but on the split it managed to get in the way several times. I got the trans up on the studs but didn’t work on the RGB mounting yet. Came back the next morning to a mess on the passenger side.

Hopefully just the pressure being taken off the seal when I took off drums to prank with ebrake… but the other side didn’t leak :p

Dug out the hubcaps, which were painted the same white as the rest of the truck, over grey. So I hoped they were original or at least OG, but no. No stamped numbers, barely any ‘nubs.’ That’s ok, as the beat up shapes match the rest of the truck.Two drilled holes make me think someone used one as a wall decoration. All my others are chrome, and most are too nice to strip and paint. Might not run any, I guess.

Pulled out the emblem for fun; I doubt it’s original to the truck, seems VW at least, but it certainly has the same vibe as the hubcaps! I’m not sure if it was originally chrome, as the white paint flakes off easily.

I have a backup if this one’s too shabby; this one must be OG since Prosser’s hasn’t existed since what, 70s?

_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

So the transmission is… in. A leaky Jack and all by my lonesome made it a longer task than it should be, but nothing broke and I have all my fingers. Note is a reminder it isn’t completely filled.

Panicked when a huge leak poured out the passenger side whenI put the Ebrake cables back in; luckily the samba held my hand and gave me a clue - it cleared up when the seal was back under pressure with brake drum on. I did have one major problem; the forward bolt on the spring plates will NOT go in. Both sides. Doesn’t seem to be alignment issue as much as a thread problem but what do I know. Hard to see I there.

I used clamps to draw the plate to the rgbs and the other three on each side went in fine. I tried to run a thread chaser but it had the same issue: 3 turns and it was ejected or turned at an angle. I left them for now, with bolts partially in place to remind me not to drive off like this. As if this is going anywhere

Mmmmm billet-y

I have an OG, a Wolfsburg, and another company’s coupler, and all seemed a crap shoot these days. This might be noisy but it ain’t coming apart.
Note the fuel line; the replacement frame metal had no clip hole, so I’ll need to drill and mount one here to affix fuel line.

Mount nuts seem… shallow. Not enough threads sticking out. Split washers too thick?

Bigass ground strap. Goes to a midmount bolt on frame horn Not running actual midmount right now because 1) studs wouldn’t come out of trans and 2) my local shop owner was disgruntled I was bothering. He gets a certain look when he realizes I’ve been reading thesamba. LOL

Attached the starter wires. Not bothering with hard start until I get everything working stock. Not pleased with tension on wire to terminal30.

_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[BarryL]

[70bus]

My 70 sure did LOL Part of it is just wanting to shift ALL high current off the dash, so headlights and ignition go straight to destination. I may find I need neither after wiring up as stock.

I did try shifting things around via shock mount and gentle taps w/ hammer and I am fairly sure they holes are at least aligned enough to start a bolt. the issue is that a bolt goes in and then pops out of threads. The bolts came out fine when removing trans, so shouldn't be crossthreaded holes... but this bus has managed to toss surprises every time I touch it. I'll try fiddling a bit more tonight, but it is looking like moving things around enough to get a chase or -shudder- tap in there is necessary.

Like the bridge at Remagen; so close...
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams

[70bus]

Got the damn spring plates on. Left side was just a matter of more wiggling, tighten, loose, wiggle, tighten. Right side i had to take the RGB down, twist it enough to clear the plate, and run a tap through the threads in the hole. Still was a chore; the truck sits at a slight angle on the stands (nonlevel garage), and I think the right side RGB had a more difficult angle as result. Not fully torqued; 3/8 wrench only goes to 60 ft/lb, but I don't have a 17mm socket for the 1/2 that goes to 200. That's what the note is reminding me...

Also tidied up my concessions to modernity back here; wiring for fuses to front, and a terminal block for tach, oil temp sender, etc. I'll put male spade terminals on the other side of block for easy disconnect.

Tried to put in Bowden tube, but it looked wrong, and broke

slightly longer than what was on there, but still.

Problem might be tube welded to frame; it sticks out about 2" from bracket (replacement tube).

How long are your tubes? I hesistate to cut it shorter unless necessary. Of course I have all the brake lines in now. Manual says to remove nipple end, cut the Bowden shorter and put the metal end back on. They don't make them that way any more, tho.

Even tho it never had one, I'm putting in a reserve tap; mostly to shut off fuel when needed. Seat stand had a spot molded in, so drilled for knob

ran cable - I assume I tie to convenient tubes above.

and then pull out cable and cut sheathing to appropraite length. Still looking for a truck cable clamp, or some good ideas on cobbling one up. Don't want to cut my kombi clamp up for just the end.

Even though I loved my weird cockpit lights, the flat ones were more of a match for the time, especially considering the E-flasher light bezel.

Dislike them because the bulbs are not replacable, and they are plastic. Small enough bulbs they didn't mess with the flashers at all. Speaking of: put an oil pressure sender on the harness, and now I notice the oil light blinks when the emergency flashers are on! Not sure if that is supposed to do that... Also hooked up starter and tried key; loud clunk from back but no whirrr from starter. Not sure if the little 12v/8amp alarm system battery is the issue, or something deeper.

Went in to warm up and figured I'd 'dress' the engine hatch. As is typical for this truck, had a wrench tossed at me - lock escutcheon hole is too wallowed out to allow both tabs to grip. W/out a welder (or a local shop that uses one), any ideas? I tried a washer that had the same inner hole size, but it was too thick to close the tabs on.

Barring MORE fun obstacles tossed my way, I hope to have the transmission, shocks, cables and whatnot all done back here by Christmas. That leaves just the front end (surely that will go smoothly!), tossing in the motor, and seeing what happens.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people."
-Robert Williams