Bumblebus Restoration Thread - '72 L11H Campmobile.

[chitwnvw]

I'm not so sure you couldn't salvage the bottom part of that bracket, but it is hard to tell from a picture.

[BumbleBus]

I'm not so sure you couldn't salvage the bottom part of that bracket, but it is hard to tell from a picture.

You're right. The only replacement part I think I need is the new sliding pin. The PO hammered flat the pedal stop, but I corrected that with some plier 'thority. The other bits are cleaning up nicely with dremel, electrolysis etc. However.. I think I made another '72 mistake. My BD "68-79" replacement kit has the spring in the photo below, which ain't working no matter how many beers I throw at it. Turns out I need this WW part for my '72.. son of a..



WTF?


Doh!! Anyway.. think I'm gonna just use my spring hack underneath, tighten up the cable slop and call it good. Anything will be a vast improvement at this point.



Brought out the stop again.. it had been pounded flat.

[BumbleBus]

Found this thread on the Samba (after *lots* of searching) about how to install that spring with photos, which seems so obvious when you see it, but I have a different pedal clearly. Easy solution is to snip my spring to length and create my own little u-hook to clasp onto the push rod. Duh.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=122844

[BumbleBus]

After copious liquid wrench I finally managed to get my front shift rod off and started cleaning it and.. damn.. rotten bottom.

Guess I'll just order a new one.

[Xelmon]

That looks... Gnarly.

[dtrumbo]

After copious liquid wrench I finally managed to get my front shift rod off and started cleaning it and.. damn.. rotten bottom.

Guess I'll just order a new one.

That's not rotten. The hole in the bottom is normal. I went through this about a couple of years ago. I'm sorry to say it's not the cause of your shifting problem. Save your money for what might turn out to be a tranny rebuild (or at least refresh). If it gets to that point, I highly recommend Daryl Christensen at AA Transaxle. http://www.aatransaxle.com/

[BumbleBus]

That's not rotten. The hole in the bottom is normal. I went through this about a couple of years ago. I'm sorry to say it's not the cause of your shifting problem. Save your money for what might turn out to be a tranny rebuild (or at least refresh). If it gets to that point, I highly recommend Daryl Christensen at AA Transaxle. http://www.aatransaxle.com/

My scraping around with a screwdriver to remove the gunk created the hole in the first place so I don't know if it's normal or not, but I'll defer since I know nothing about these busses yet. At any rate since they are $60 at WW and since I'll soon be getting 2 70's and can poach one from there I just re-packed with grease and re-installed and already the shifting is worlds better than before. The flat bottom of the ball isn't affected by the hole anyway.... yet. New guide pin bushing must help a little too. Having a little trouble with 3/4 still, but I know it's just because I'm still figuring out how to adjust the shifter plate. I did the 90deg vert lower shifter and all the way to drivers side with tiny "bunt" back as I've read, but it's still off. 1/2/R are smooth as butter though so.. progress. Will drive around tonight and get it dialed. My gas pedal is working awesome as well.. amazing how nice and light it all is once it's lubed and has new parts.

Thx for the AA Trans recommend. My tranny is actually one of the few things I'm not worried about since it was rebuilt by Brax Euro outside Divide, MT in '02.. so it's the "newest" part of this bus.

[grandfatherjim]

She's an early '72 with the short "eyebrow" engine lid, which I guess is fairly rare at this point.

I wonder if it is short or long on our 72...what's the significance??
Thanks,
Jim

[BumbleBus]

I wonder if it is short or long on our 72...what's the significance??

Short is just past the license plate area:


Long is to the edges of the whole hatch:


There is no significance other than the short lid was only done very early in the production run (or so I heard). The serial/VIN # on my bus is 1121 so a pretty early one for that year. Just neat to know a little history of the thing that's all. I also like that it's lived in Montana it's whole life... probably why there is so little rust.



Came with the original maintenance booklet as well... very neat.

[dtrumbo]

My scraping around with a screwdriver to remove the gunk created the hole in the first place so I don't know if it's normal or not, but I'll defer since I know nothing about these busses yet. At any rate since they are $60 at WW and since I'll soon be getting 2 70's and can poach one from there I just re-packed with grease and re-installed and already the shifting is worlds better than before.

Glad it's all working out so far. The reason I said it's "normal" is because when I called Ken Madson at The Bus Company, he told me that every one he has, albeit all used, have that same hole. I bit and bought the $60.00 WW one and it didn't fix my problem and, it seems, isn't adding to yours. Just cleaning and lubing does wonders, huh? Hopefully a little adjustment of your stop plate will get you into 3/4 smoothly.

[grandfatherjim]

I wonder if it is short or long on our 72...what's the significance??

Short is just past the license plate area:


Long is to the edges of the whole hatch:


There is no significance other than the short lid was only done very early in the production run (or so I heard). The serial/VIN # on my bus is 1121 so a pretty early one for that year. Just neat to know a little history of the thing that's all. I also like that it's lived in Montana it's whole life... probably why there is so little rust.

Interesting. Just went out and looked and ours is a short eyebrow too. Serial number ends with 81995....but starts with a 22 as it wasn't heading for Westphalia.
Could be a replacement engine hatch too. Who knows after all this time.
Jim

[BumbleBus]

Serial number ends with 81995. Could be a replacement engine hatch too. Who knows after all this time.

As you say.. who knows. I'll be the first to admit I have no clue what I'm talking about, but just going on what I've heard/read etc.

[BumbleBus]

Re-adjusted the shifter plate so 1234 are butter going up... feels so nice and am loving it! R is perfect too. However.. can't downshift into 2nd at all.. like.. not happening. 4-3 no problem and I can slide into 1st easy as pie <10mph, but no 2nd at all. Finding that a bit difficult with in town driving since 3-2 is so common. Not even double clutching gets it. Don't like lugging 3rd nor forcing 1st. Hmm. Syncros for 2nd maybe?? Anyway.. feels like a brand new car with the gas pedal light and dialed and the shifter nice and tight. So happy driving around town tonight!

[BumbleBus]

Syncros for 2nd maybe??

Blargh.. likely suspect then the 1/2 syncros.. gonna try the 4-2 trick to see if that helps.. tranny was rebuilt in '02, but that was a long time ago I guess.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=397581

[BumbleBus]

Finally starting to look like a proper cockpit for a bay pilot! Hand brake cable fix, horn ground wire fix and a stereo and it'll be 100% completely done. Now I can start moving my way back... and this front part only took like 9 months. Haha. Should be ready for camping by 2012 when it all unravels.

Before:


After: