Hi! I'm DJ and I'm a Bus-a-holic

[drober23]

Took my trip to get the exercise machine, bus ran great!

I had a thermostat issue. Turns out, I managed to run the cable on the wrong side of the cooling boot for the alternator. This put it at a bad angle, and it popped off of the wheel, which took the tension out of the cable and left the flaps open all the time. Felt pretty silly when I figured out what I had done wrong.

Got that cleared up. Next is the sliding door! I adjusted it some recently, and got it quite a bit better. Going to do Colin's hinge refresh soon. Any insight on stopping it from rattling so much when on a bumpy road? I adjusted the upper roller as high as I could, and the helped quite a bit. The bottom roller looks to be adjusted pretty well. Something must be off, because I suspect vertical motion for the rattling.

Next is to go over the brakes again, then we should be good for camping season.

[poptop tom]

Are you sure it's not your jalousie's rattling?

[drober23]

At least part of it is the jalousies, I'll have to listen to it with a more discriminating ear on the way home today.

[drober23]

I listened to it, and tried to watch it, which is hard to do while driving, today. Definitely more than just jalousie noise. Seems to be coming from the rear of the door. Going to look there, and adjust some.

[Amskeptic]

I listened to it, and tried to watch it, which is hard to do while driving, today. Definitely more than just jalousie noise. Seems to be coming from the rear of the door. Going to look there, and adjust some.

Cables can rattle without their foam silencer pads. Damaged door seals can allow the door to rattle a bit in the latch, this is adjustable. The one I hate is a broken panel clip rattling inside the door frame/skin.
Colin

[drober23]

Colin,

Pretty sure it is door movement accounting for the noise that is not the jalousies. I have not pulled the panel off of it to inspect the silencer pads though.

The seal is new this spring (had one in my stash from a bus I bought 20 years ago), so that should not be the problem. The rattling got better when I changed the seal, and got even better when I adjusted the top runner height. Next step is to look at the rear adjustment like you mention.

Thanks!

[drober23]

Been enjoying the bus a lot this spring and now early summer! Not sure about anyone else, but I still get a kick out of those moments where your odometer has the same digit all the way across.

Yesterday was 33333.3! Of course, not sure if that is 100, 200, or 300 thousand. A fun moment nonetheless. I have put just under 11,000 on the bus since I bought it in 2010.

[drober23]

Time flies! I have put another ~6,000 miles on the '75 Westfalia.

But this weekend was time to work on the orange '79 Deluxe. I hit the rusty parts of the engine bay with rust catalyzing primer, changed the fuel lines, and dropped the engine I had sitting under a tarp into it. Need another hour or so to get everything ready to fire.

The engine has been sitting for about 2 years now. This is the engine that I had cooked a cylinder head on around 2000. I pulled the heads and had them rebuilt in 2009. At the same time I measured the pistons and cylinders and they were within spec, so I installed new rings, and put them back on.

I removed the cylinder gasket, but failed to add a barrel shim to compensate. I ran it this way one summer, about 6,000 miles worth. I was worried about something, and took the heads back off, and noticed they were running hot. I suspect the increased compression ratio, coupled with me driving it pretty hard, was adding up to a LOT of heat.

I had the heads re-flycut and set the compression ratio properly (measured the deck height, and 'ccd the heads). Then let the engine sit for 2 years. It's back in the bus now. The plan is to start it, break it in a bit, drive it just a little, then drive it to the barn for the winter. Hoping this next weekend is nice enough to get that done.

[poptop tom]

It sounds like the weather is suppose to hold up through Thanksgiving. So you should be good to go!

Good luck!

[Amskeptic]

It sounds like the weather is suppose to hold up through Thanksgiving. So you should be good to go!

Good luck!

No kidding, that drober guy has a LOT of work to do on his SEVEN OR SO Volkswagens all over his property!
Colin