The history of it is...
Bought by a couple in Colorado,
Took their family out in it a few times over the years.
As their kids grew older, the couple "sold" it to thier oldest son, who used it a few times every now and then.
( I think they rarely camped in it)
They had a favorite VW mechanic who did the work on it. The son asked if they could store it in his "garage" at his house. His "garage" could fit 2 colonial houses easily, maybe 4..maybe 5, floor area wise... was 2 stories at least.
It was stored there for many, many, many years, and the mechanic would take it out every now and then. Eventually the mechanic bought it, and he stored it along with at least 2 other buses, numerous bugs, and some nice antique cars from the 50's. He would take the bus out every now and then also.
The bus has only ~57,000 miles on it. The mechanic had & gave me copies of the original couple's and son's titles which reflect the mileage. It is pretty much mint except for some surface rust around the rear engine compartment and surface rust around door edges. The rest is solid. It had factory undercoating, which has pretty much mostly flaked off (Obviously they did not use high quality tar
). Everything that I can tell is original - except the front seat coverings, the mechanic told me they were pretty much discolored so he changed them. Mechanic said the bus was stored most of its life. It even had the original label for the sink, still in the sink. Crazy
Because of age, the following was changed out.
All gas fuel lines ( done by the mechanic before he sent it to me.)
I did the following
Dent repair ( hired)
New (truck) tires
Kone shocks all around
New CV ( did'nt really need it, as it was a bad shock that was clunking)
Shimmed door bracket to stop it from making a bad noise when opening & closing)
Cleaned it! 40 years of Colorado dirt gets everywhere, and becomes like cement.
New fuel filler elbow - which caused the EVIL chain-reaction maintenance....
Had to pull the engine out to change the rubber elbow, which was a big pain for this year bus.
So while the engine is out.. what do you do?..
Changed the pressure plate ( WHAT the heck are those rivet pins??!) ,
change the clutch disc,
change the throw out bearing,
change out the EVIL needle bearing
in the crankshaft. ( Had to modify a puller to get that out, and no, the ol' forcing the bearing out with oil did not work. Did not try bread, did not try caulk, did not try potatoes! I read it all. But got it out with that tool).
Change the rear main seal.. did you know there are 2 different depths of recesses for these engines? Did you know the main seals you buy may not have the correct depth? I live and learn.
Replace the O-ring seal in the flywheel, and hope it does not go "all Chinese on ya". If you get a graphite one, you do not grease it! If you do not get a graphite one, you "must" grease it.
Ok, I am in the death throes of trying to get the bus engine back in. Ted and I spent Sat 11 am to 8pm trying to get that in. we came across and caused a few problems along the way. At my wits end, called Michelle, who gave me Shawn's phone number. Even though we peppered Shawn with a lot of questions through numerous phone calls, he was very kind and more than patient with us & pointed us in a new direction of installing the engine, - by lowering the transmission. As both Ted an I had enough, we are planning on doing next Sunday, ..although now it sounds as if he may be too busy to help. This bus has sat in the garage for a month waiting to start again.
I am not a happy camper! No pun intended.
It is soo frustrating to spend that much time and really not get anything accomplished.. except for breaking the record in taking the longest time ever to put a bus engine in!
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Topic: New Bus??? (Read 14682 times)