Itinerant Air-Cooled

Thanks Randy. It is the driver's side door plate. I found one for $10 on Samba. I'll check out the engine lid part too. Thanks. It is coming slowly. It would come faster but I am having to paw through parts and then go look them up to see where they go. Anyway, I'll keep you posted. Did you get your cabinet?

Jack

No sand blast cabinet yet. I had forgotten that we need more rosebushes first.

jackstar wrote:[img]jpeg[/img]

Damn fine looking sliding door hinge, Jack.
Colin
(fine looking bus)

Why thank you Colin. That brown stuff is an old Snicker's bar I found on the back deck.
I am sending your email a couple of pictures of a muffler I am thinking of getting off Samba. It looks like the same thing I took off my bus. If I can't get the bolts drilled out then I may have to replace the muffler. Tell me what you think. Thanks.

Jack

jackstar wrote:Why thank you Colin. That brown stuff is an old Snicker's bar I found on the back deck.
I am sending your email a couple of pictures of a muffler I am thinking of getting off Samba. It looks like the same thing I took off my bus. If I can't get the bolts drilled out then I may have to replace the muffler. Tell me what you think. Thanks.

Jack

Get the bolts drilled out and use an original German muffler. I did just that last week on my '76. I scoured the west coast swap meet circuit and got a complete late bus exhaust system (minus the heat exchangers) for $50. It's a bit of a hack, since the muffler is welded to the tailpipe, and the cat is hollowed out, but the elbow pipe and crossover pipe were perfect. And the baffle in the elbow will never ever break.

Yes, I had to break off the rusty nuts and drill out the rusty bolts, but it is worth it, I promise.

Thanks Robbie, will do.

Jack

Amskeptic wrote:Looking flawless in the photographs there, Jack. I spied a bug reflecting in the paint.

Hit the edit button on your post and look at how the photograph addresses were condensed and bracked with image tags.

Good to see this thread come back alive. Poptoptom's record five year restoration pause may yet hold . . .
Colin

It's been a while since I have posted on the Restoration Thread of my Bus. Gap filler: I started out wanting to fix a small hole in the driver's door where you rest your arm on a nice day. That turned into a complete repaint inside and out after a soda blast to the bare metal and a micro minimum of body work and bondo. Next came nearly 3 years of trying to get my painter sober and motivated enough to finish the job. No luck. Finally found a guy that knew what he was doing and has finished what was started and it did not cost me a kidney in a dark alley. So she is back in my garage being put back together slowly. My 79 'vert was just languishing in the other stall doing nothing so I decided to sell her. I just delivered her this past week and I could not be happier. One because she will go to a good family and two, I have some operating capital in my pocket.
Back to the bus. With Colin's help I lowered the engine to pull the tank because it was full of varnish, old gas, and POR 15 tank sealer. See, when I first got the bus I ended up having to pull and rebuild the engine so while I had it out I POR'd the tank. I followed the directions like religion (old time religion, not that West Coast New Age shit) Anyway, I was real OCD about it. When I pulled the tank 3 years later, I found the POR was an epic fail. I don't know if it was the 3 year gas that did it or what. However, it came off in sheets with the back of it rusted. So, I am cleaning it out and I am just going to go back with plain steel and a full tank. Once I get that done this week, in she goes with a tank of fresh gas, filter, and battery. Then I will fire her up after 3 years and pray she holds together. Again, old time religion, clasped hands, bent knees, tithe in the waitresses tip jar.
If anyone is wondering what Colin is doing and where he is doing it, he is in Pensacola, Fl rebuilding his engine and recharging his own batteries. As soon as I make some meaningful progress that would need pictures I will post again. I would like to thank Asia3 aka Robbie for always being handy to answer a question without too much head shaking. It is appreciated. Until then, keep it going.

Jack

jackstar wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:06 am

Then I will fire her up after 3 years and pray she holds together.

Colin is in Pensacola, Fl rebuilding his engine and (dis)charging his own batteries.

Jack

I hope to be there for that august occasion, and I mean august, not August, because I won't be there in August.
Colin

Thanks for the update. :)

jackstar wrote: ↑

Wed Mar 22, 2017 2:06 am

I would like to thank Asia3 aka Robbie for always being handy to answer a question without too much head shaking. It is appreciated.

I would never shake my head at a question! But I sometimes shake my head at what people do with my answers…

Your experience with the fuel tank sealant is one more vote for "keep it clean and full of gas" I suspect. Thank you for being humble enough to admit failure on a public forum; many people lack that confidence.

Good luck with the, and keep on, trudging,
Robbie

Update on the gas tank. After getting it out of the bus over the engine I did a not so quick internet search on how best to clean it out. Remember I had a full tank of varnish, old gas, rust, and the remnants of a full POR15 tank seal. It came off in sheets back by the rust that had developed.

What got it clean? I rinsed it out with water and got the most I could out that way. A lot of sealer clung to various spots on the walls. I filled it with water and added 2 cans of crystal Drano and let it sit for a couple of hours. Rinsed it out and then used my 3000 psi gas powered power washer on it. 90% was cut loose and poured out. Next I had a gallon of unused full strength Muriatic Acid and poured it in and duck taped the sending unit hole.

NOTE: make sure you duck tape all of the nipples before you start any of the above. Wear multiple layers of rubber gloves and eye protection. After agitating the acid and letting it sit at various angles dump it out preferably on some concrete you want to clean. Rinse everything clean to get rid of the acid. The inside should be clean and smooth. Next put a hot hair dryer in the sender hole to help dry it out. Spray WD-40 liberally to help prevent flash rust. After the nipples have been unsealed and cleaned put her back in and fill her up. After I put her back in and reconnected the fuel lines I found out the fuel pump was also full of old varnish and crap. What to do?

I filled it with carb cleaner after I took it off and connected wires to the spades and to the ends of a good battery. It would thump for a second and stop. I just kept "bumping it" and banging on it forever. I even let it sit overnight with carb cleaner in the upright position. Tried it again the next day but no love. Next I shot PB Blaster inside and let it sit for a minute. I hooked it and it spun like new. I popped into the bus and flooded it with fresh fuel and the bus cranked for the first time in 3 years. Damn I got a woody. Now it is time to start putting it all back together in earnest. More later.

I am calling that progress!!

Randy in Maine wrote: ↑

Sun Mar 26, 2017 7:14 pm

I am calling that progress!!

Here's some progress, April 4th, Jack is driving his bus out of the garage under its own power to work on doors. Jack really is that short*:



(* without any seats in the bus yet)


And today, April 8th, what is that driving down the street?:




Why, it looks like Jack's Westy to me:




He looks taller in it because he got around to putting in a seat after rebuilding the driver's door. Hey, we don't pander to sofa hounds here at the Law Firm . . . :

Jack! Congrats!!!!!!

We're going to have to talk about that passenger-side mirror installation though……

Robbie

Robbie,

The mirror, needless to say, was a test run fail. However, after intensive scrutiny by Colin and numerous test hours in the field, it was tightened to specs. More later.

Jack