The Chloe Teardown

[Amskeptic]

This place is quiet. I am partly to blame.

I have gotten myself into a kerfluffle and it is growing by the hour. It began when I tried to re-tape the tear in the headliner of Chloe down here at the Law Firm. The tape would not stick. I thought to myself, "the BobD sure doesn't need tape, why should Chloe?" Chloe is a worthy worthy automobile. I can sense the classic old Volkswagen DNA strongly in this car, the build quality is superior to the BobD, and it is such a fun capable car, that I was seized with this notion that I must truly try to bring this car to the very highest daily driver perfection that I possibly can, like I almost did with the Road Warrior.

This time, however, I am twelve years more experienced. Chloe is getting a new proper bright white perforated headliner, a complete set of new old stock never-before installed interior panels that Mike bought years ago, man, it is TIME.

I have spent several days:

* removing the headliner like a classic car pathologist photographing the folds and tucks and seams and sisl and batting and hooks and the cuts in the vinyl where it needed to go around corners in the window openings




*removing all headliner adhesive traces along the window pillars and ceiling
sun-baked adhesive on the sills would not come off with chemicals, had to sand and reprime)



* stripping out every interior panel and accoutrement




*touching up all interior surfaces with primer



* disassembling front doors, and trying to get the vent windows to open and shut fully, leak-free

(tweaked frame)


(so I tweaked it back)


(eight hours just to remove all the adhesive from the inner doors)



(best I could do with these tweaked vent window frames)





* installing new improved door vapor barriers with extra flaps

* re-rivetting and painting each passenger cabin vent window and doing my best to make them leak-free






* repairing the rear vent window pivots where they tore out of the frames using the "wood cellulose technique" (this time a hapless paint stick instead of the twig utilized in Atlanta on greenolivemedia's choke) to fill the wallowed-out hole in the frame, then tapped the pivot in:



Ran JB Weld along the bottom of the window frame. I hope that JB Weld can take some torsion!


* painting the window frames




* removing the side windows and retouching the pinch welds, like the windshield jobs we all have been doing all over the country X 6

(photo to come)

*re-adhering the rubber mats along the wheel wells

This car is torn more apart than any car I have ever owned, but it is my one and only daily driver down here, so I will be sure to shoot a few pictures as I drive around town with no windows, during this fine cold snap. I praaaay that I get this back together, there are parts everywhere!

Gas filler door is at Sherwin Williams for what had best be a perfect paint match:


Many many many thanks to jackstar who has given me my very first Real Garage Time in 12 years.
I am availing myself, and that is why I have been a little scarce around these forum parts.
Colin

(the good news is, now that my valve adjustment sticker came, my engine is 100% complete)

[wcfvw69]

I have to say Colin, every time I visit this excellent site and see you in your full blown OCD madness, I feel like an utter lazy ass.

That bus is so over the top beautiful that it amazes me. I'm looking forward to your "attack" of the headliner and how that bus will look once it's perfectly installed.

[Amskeptic]

I have to say Colin, every time I visit this excellent site and see you in your full blown OCD madness, I feel like an utter lazy ass.

That bus is so over the top beautiful that it amazes me. I'm looking forward to your "attack" of the headliner and how that bus will look once it's perfectly installed.

Please . . . enjoy the mental health benefits that come with a proper balance of lazy ass and a Real Life.

No one should have to wake up in the middle of the night wondering how on Earth to line up the perforation dots along the window sills with serious adhesive making it a one-shot deal, sitting down at the computer at 3:30AM and looking at old photographs to see how the factory did with lining up the perforation dots along the window sills. No one.

No one should have to clang their head against vent window frames dangling from the cupboard handles on their way to a morning cup of coffee.

And some "lazy ass" sitting here better get back out to the cold garage to remove the remaining left center window, too.
Colin

[wcfvw69]

I have to say Colin, every time I visit this excellent site and see you in your full blown OCD madness, I feel like an utter lazy ass.

That bus is so over the top beautiful that it amazes me. I'm looking forward to your "attack" of the headliner and how that bus will look once it's perfectly installed.

Please . . . enjoy the mental health benefits that come with a proper balance of lazy ass and a Real Life.

LOL.. So much truth in your statement above. My momma always said that "idleness is the devils workshop".

But, as long as we are not "self inflecting" anxiety as we "fret" over such details that it's keeps us up late or wakes us in the middle of the night.

[Jivermo]

Since I was a lad, I have been hearing about "the devil's workshop". With a lineage going way back in Scottish Presbyterianism, I was subject to many "talks" where this shop came into play. Has anyone ever seen it? I'd really like to spend a day there. I'll bet that it is chock full of those interesting old tools that show up all the time on internet forums, with the accompanying question, "Does anyone out there know what this tool was used for?" Heh, heh.

[Amskeptic]

Since I was a lad, I have been hearing about "the devil's workshop". With a lineage going way back in Scottish Presbyterianism, I was subject to many "talks" where this shop came into play. Has anyone ever seen it? I'd really like to spend a day there. I'll bet that it is chock full of those interesting old tools that show up all the time on internet forums, with the accompanying question, "Does anyone out there know what this tool was used for?" Heh, heh.

Hell yeah, I seen it.

It's got a tv remote, a bag of cookies. That's it. Straight to hell you go.
Colin
( I should have come to MIAMI, it is freezing here in Pensacola, and my car is in PIECES, and so am I . . . where's my damn cookies and the remote?)

[wcfvw69]

Colin,

I was just admiring your 70 engine again. My 70 Westfalia engine has been changed to a dual port with a mis-match of components. Maybe one day I may build a "correct" single port engine for it like I did with my 69 bug.

You mentioned you installed the decal that was missing. With that bus looking so show room new, are you currently looking for the correct NOS Pierburg fuel pump, short, black Bosch coil and the VW logo'd clamps for the air hoses? You'd think with as much as you do for the VW community that someone would open their stash of NOS parts for you and your beautiful, original bus.

[SlowLane]

Since I was a lad, I have been hearing about "the devil's workshop". With a lineage going way back in Scottish Presbyterianism, I was subject to many "talks" where this shop came into play. Has anyone ever seen it?

Methinks the proverbial Devil's Workshop is alive and well on the Internet. In fact, one might argue that it is the Internet.

And not to be nit-picky Colin, but didn't VW issue the revised valve clearance recommendation to .006" on both intake and exhaust around 1970? Prior to that, it was .006" for intake and .008" for exhaust. Which does Chloe's new sticker stipulate?

[asiab3]

Is that where the sticker went at the factory? I haven't seen two identical locations.

And I'm surprised you haven't had an atack of Engine Enamel on the coil to make it black yet! Is the black fuel-filler spout original also?

So much to learn!
Robbie

[wcfvw69]

Here's a decal on the R/S of the shroud. I'm not sure which one it is as the picture isn't very clear. The other thing I didn't realize is this 70' bus engine has the plug in generator that i thought were 1967 bug only? Maybe is the more amperage generator? Seems odd seeing that in the 70's bus owners manual.

[asiab3]

[imgs]
Here's a decal on the R/S of the shroud. I'm not sure which one it is as the picture isn't very clear. The other thing I didn't realize is this 70' bus engine has the plug in generator that i thought were 1967 bug only? Maybe is the more amperage generator? Seems odd seeing that in the 70's bus owners manual.

The 38a bus generators have a dished backing plate, that accommodate their slightly larger size. The manual you posted is NOT a 38a generator, so it's likely to be the same plug-in (30a) bug unit. A lot of owners manual pictures were reused from year to year, and are often incorrect with regards to exact model year changes. I believe Chloe has a 38a generator; at least she did a few years ago.

Robbie

[wcfvw69]

[imgs]
Here's a decal on the R/S of the shroud. I'm not sure which one it is as the picture isn't very clear. The other thing I didn't realize is this 70' bus engine has the plug in generator that i thought were 1967 bug only? Maybe is the more amperage generator? Seems odd seeing that in the 70's bus owners manual.

The 38a bus generators have a dished backing plate, that accommodate their slightly larger size. The manual you posted is NOT a 38a generator, so it's likely to be the same plug-in (30a) bug unit. A lot of owners manual pictures were reused from year to year, and are often incorrect with regards to exact model year changes. I believe Chloe has a 38a generator; at least she did a few years ago.

Robbie

Aww, I didn't know how to differentiate the differences between the two. Good info. I agree, the pictures in the manuals do overlap from year to year. The engine in the pictures I posted are obviously a bus engine and with the bowden cable to control the pre-heat to the carb on it, the fuel pump and the carb and smog equipment all look like a 1970 engine.

Now, my curiosity is raised about the 'plug in wires' generator. What years it was used, etc. I know the 67 bug had it and I sourced a used one and had it rebuilt for mine to make it correct. I'll post a question on The Samba and see what people know.

[wcfvw69]

Well, my OCD flared and I looked thru the bus owners manuals on the Samba. That plug in style generator was used from 67 thru 70. The 1971 owners manual clearly shows the two male studs on it. The other nice thing was all three pictures of the plug in generators in the manuals were different and showed different carbs, throttle deceleration equipment, etc.

[Amskeptic]

Well, my OCD flared and I looked thru the bus owners manuals on the Samba. That plug in style generator was used from 67 thru 70. The 1971 owners manual clearly shows the two male studs on it. The other nice thing was all three pictures of the plug in generators in the manuals were different and showed different carbs, throttle deceleration equipment, etc.

Some of these photographs in the official VW literature are damn lies. Look at the 1971 Bus brochure! Moon hubcaps wide-five wheels no flared rear fenders and two tone paint? Shame on them. They also sometimes go nuts for reasons that are beyond me. The cut-away 1978 bus in that year's brochure, someone had to airbrush away the tailgate hinges for who knows what reason. The 1968 brochure has no chrome surround on the fresh air grill. They used some local German bus for the brochure.

So, is the engine shot merely a 1968-69 (not 67) bus engine . . . or might it be a Karmann Ghia?

My valve adjustment sticker on Chloe is where the emissions data sticker is supposed to be.

Slow Lane, the original 1500/1600 valve adjustment sticker was a .004" clearance. The only .006/.008 engines were the sodium exhaust valve-equipped Type 4 engines in 1974-75.
The modified 36 hp engines with the long rocker studs (1962 Beetle and early 60's buses) had .008" all around.

I would love to paint my coil, but no black until I find the correct brown plastic end. I have the Road Warrior's original black body/brown plastic end/Bosch sticker factory coil, but I need to do some tricky soldering on it . . .

Stay on your toes, folks, it's the little things like this that will separate the poseurs from the True VW Nutcases
Colin

[wcfvw69]

I agree that the manuals are not always spot on. I wish there were more pictures of new VW's back in the day that had clear, concise pictures of the little details. After reading Colin's last post, I was curious and looked thru both the Ghia's manuals and bug's manuals to see what years those showed the plug in style generators. As a side note, all the Ghia engine photo's that showed the plug in generators on them, "appeared" to be from a Ghia engine as you could see the body of the car as well in the picture. They were not the same photo's as the bus's engines.

So, according to the owner manuals-

67 bugs had the plug in generators

67-70 bus's and Ghia's showed the plug in generators.

I wonder if there's any mention of the generator styles in progress refinements? Anyway, clearly I like learning about these types of details.