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Need some help


Moderators: TN Jed, Lickity Split, docric, sweetbus, Tom., Collie

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bone_collector

Wed Sep 28 2011, 09:23AM

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New around here and I need some help.
a fellow owed me some money and I ended up with what I believe is a sold 66 camper van, I think its what I see you guys calling a westy. It hasn't ran in many years but it was sitting in a barn and is very complete.

I have moved the bus to my farm and have been trying to get it running but i haven't had much luck. Is this thing supposed to be 6 volt or 12 volt? I tried to jump it with my diesel truck but before i realized it was 24 volt I had already fried some things. i am in the middle of trying to repair that damage now. It has a carburettor that i don't believe is original.

can anyone point me where I can learn about these things? I have not had a volkswagon in many years and might need some help. the guy still owes me some money and he has more vws that i might end up with. where should I start?

TN Jed

Wed Sep 28 2011, 09:49AM

Slave to the bus

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The bus and engine have ID numbers that will tell you exactly what you have, there are books and online sources to run the numbers. If it is a 6v it may have been switched to 12 v over the years.
Pics go a long way here, we got some pretty smart folks that can tell a lot with a good pic or two.

What part of the world are you in, there may be someone right down the road that could hook you up.

Jerry Garcia said...

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil..

I mean, whatever kills you kills you, and your death is authentic no matter how you die.

And as far as I'm concerned, it's like I say, drugs are not the problem. Other stuff is the problem.
I think it's too bad that everybody's decided to turn on drugs, I don't think drugs are the problem. Crime is the problem. Cops are the problem. Money's the problem. But drugs are just drugs.

1962 Splitty Walk Through ~ Jelly Roll (project)
1970 Beetle ~ (un-named)
1971 Super Beetle ~ (un-named) daughters project
1972 Transporter ~ Riff Raff
1975 Beetle ~ Jerry
1975 Westy ~ (un-named)
1975 Westy Deluxe ~ Bertha (Daily)

1977_L63H_P27

Wed Sep 28 2011, 10:08AM

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Location: Bristol, TN
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A good place to start is with a Bentley manual.

IF it's a '66, it was already 12v. Boosting it off should have been the last thing on your list. Do it correctly and you won't have issues like fried electricals. Charge the battery, if you can't your FLAPS will do it for free. Drain the gas tank and add fresh fuel. Drain the jelly in the crankcase and add oil. It only takes around three quarts, don't overfill. Static time the engine, and check the valve adjustment. Now install your freshly charged battery and crank her over.

Since you didn't follow that sequence, now you can add a new voltage regulator to the list. I hope that's all you did to it. Welcome to the Full Moon and please ask before you do something else to that poor bus

[ Edited Wed Sep 28 2011, 10:10AM ]

1977 Westfalia P27

Fred

Wed Sep 28 2011, 10:22AM

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I suggest that you look at the wikipedia article
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_Type_2
and also visit the classified section of the samba.com to familiarize yourself with the various models.

Please do not apply 24v (unless its a military issue vehicle) and remember they have NEGATIVE ground electrical systems now.

Had too many vans to count
The best Bus tech site : www.ratwell.com

bone_collector

Wed Sep 28 2011, 11:11AM

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Thanks fellas. picturse would be nice, but all I have is an old polaroid these days. I moved way out in the woods a few years ago to get away from the world that I grew to hate. it took me a long time to finally get on the interweb but this new phone does it for free. I have been having to learn how to use it. I am located just outside of dahlonega georgia on an old hog farm. Good hunting and fishing but no interweb.

I was looking at that other string thats going here and think that my motor may not be what was there from the factory. I seen the book about how an idiot is supposed to work on a volksie and thought about buying it. is that a good book?
I fixed the stuff that the 24V truck fried and the damage from the fire wasn't bad.

can't find many people around here that knows about a VW motor, so I guess I'll have to figure it out by myself. I have restored a steam engine and have lots of exp. with heavy equipment but not this german stuff. that fella that owes me money says he has a bug with some really little back glass, he still owes me money and I might end up with it. what year would that be? with scrap prices up I guess i could get a couple hundred for it at least.

any of you boys close to me? I could use some help i believe. maybe i'll get some books and read up.

TN Jed

Wed Sep 28 2011, 11:24AM

Slave to the bus

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How to keep your VW alive idiot book is great to have
Also grab a bently manual for it
Online, Ratwell has tons of info and easy to navigate http://www.ratwell.com/
A oval window beetle in savable shape will bring more than scrap

Jerry Garcia said...

bone_collector

Wed Sep 28 2011, 12:46PM

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looks like i have that idiot book. i found it in the pop top along with a dead squirrel this morning. me and my neighbor got the engine to run and it runs pretty good. i changed the oil to some fresh castrol and just need a new muffler now. the brakes are no good so thats what I am doing next.

jimbear

Wed Sep 28 2011, 01:29PM

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Dominc and Amity are in your area and Jerome (meinvw) is close too. Look them up. Piccsss

STOP FRACKING STOP FRACKING STOP FRACKING
Rhode Island**74 weekender--stock, mostly...
The faster we go the rounder we get...
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Meinvw

Wed Sep 28 2011, 05:52PM

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Yup i am in Woodstock, was up your way yesterday picking a bus up. Any questions give me a shout, my info is in the Airs section on here. And welcome aboard!

The memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime.

Thu Sep 29 2011, 07:56AM

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Wow. You've got people lobbing Westie splits and oval window bugs at you from the get-go. Pretty lucky.

jt
"Insanity is like gravity, sometimes all you need is a little push." The Joker

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Meinvw

Thu Sep 29 2011, 09:28AM

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jt wrote ...

Wow. You've got people lobbing Westie splits and oval window bugs at you from the get-go. Pretty lucky.

Yeah, had to look at the calander to make sure it was not 4/1..........

[ Edited Thu Sep 29 2011, 09:28AM ]

The memories of a man in his old age, are the deeds of a man in his prime.

Kudzu

Thu Sep 29 2011, 10:57PM

Kudzu

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meinvw wrote ...

jt wrote ...

Wow. You've got people lobbing Westie splits and oval window bugs at you from the get-go. Pretty lucky.

Yeah, had to look at the calander to make sure it was not 4/1..........

Same here, Jerome !! BTW -Diesel trucks don't run a 24 volt system. They run two 12 volt batteries wired together in parallel. You still have a 12 volt electrical system, but you double the amperage for cranking purposes. For a 24 volt system, you would have to wire two 12 V. batteries together in series, which would be the same as having one large 24 volt battery - like the 24 volt systems that military vehicles used for years. My son-in-law has a Vietnam era USMC vehicle called a Mighty Mite. It looks alot like a smaller version of a Jeep, with an air cooled V-4 engine and an aluminum body. He uses 2 small 12V. batteries wired in series in it to give it the 24 volts it requires.

[ Edited Thu Sep 29 2011, 11:12PM ]

1986 Westy Syncro "Bullwinkle"
1986 Wolfsburg Weekender poptop w/ 2.5 Subaru engine
1984 Vanagon - donor vehicle
Will you look back on life and say: I wish I had, or I'm glad I did.

bone_collector

Fri Sep 30 2011, 09:21PM

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Made some headway on the brakes today.. It looks like I don't have a 4th gear unless I use a bungy cord to hold the shifter in place. The Motor has more power than I expected.
The guy that owes me money worked at bell Volkswagen for years and I guess he has had these cars for a real long time. The one with the small back winnow looks like is worth more than he owes me and he wants to sell it. I looked a few up and looks like the 2200 that he wants for it might be a deel.
Found a guy up the road that works for a shop near me and he is willin to help me with the brakes. I took the brakes apart but am puzzled how the brakes can have 2 sylenders. Back to the idiot book.
It looks like y'all have a lot of campouts and maybe we can have one here on my farm. My girl has a fancy camera and took some picures of the magic bus today and she says she can let me borrow them out of her photo buckets to show you.
A guy from Dan omega is coming by tomorrow with a big pipe wrench and a pipe to help me get that knuckle nut off the rear end so I can fix the brakes it seems to be real tight.
I might be driving it in the next week

GreenBus

Sat Oct 01 2011, 06:08AM

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Congrats! I can't wait to see the pictures!

"Where you invest your Love, you invest your Life "

www.HippyMotorsUSA.com
1987 westfalia "Abby Rose"
Windsor, New York, 13865

Sat Oct 01 2011, 08:25AM

Registered Member #124

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That nut is 46 mm (64 and later) and if your freind has big SAE sockets I believe 1 13/16 is an almost perfect fit.

Yes, there is one wheel cylinder for each pad on the front brakes. Your bearing cap should have a lip on it, making it look like a little greasy metal hat. That would mean you have 1 ton brakes which it should. If the bearing cap doesnt have the lip you have 3/4 ton brakes which someone might have swapped, seen that before. They take diffrent wheel cylinders, so order accordingly.

You probably have single circuit brakes so it might be a good time to upgrade to dual circuit, if you use a bug m/c it will cost about the same.

bone_collector

Sun Oct 02 2011, 01:10PM

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looks like i have that big nut 46 axle and the heavy brakes. my friend dan came over and helped me loosen it up and then we had a hard time pulling the drum off. I had a couple extra drums so I melted some holes in these with a torch so i could get my big 3 jaw puller in there to get the drum off and it did it. i'll get some parts to fix the brakes with this week.

dan told me that this is a forth type motor in the bus not a first type so I am trying to figure that out. the first type i guess is easier to fix but the forth type might be real strong according to dan and his wife marlene that have a forth type bus. as long as it runs i don't care and this thing sounds like a singer sewin machine. pix later this evenin.

maddog2

Sun Oct 02 2011, 04:37PM

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Welcome to the club.
You are in the right place to get all the info you need so you can get that bus on the road.

1973 Westy
78 transportor (The partridge family bus)
79 Westy (Suzanna Paige)

If it don`t fit force it if it breaks than it needed fixing anyway

bone_collector

Wed Oct 05 2011, 10:01PM

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Ok, I am back.. a couple more days and i have a lot more done to the bus. I found a bunch of recepts from some shops under the seats up front and it looks like this motor might have cost a lot of money when it was new. it is a forth type of motor and it don't look like the other ones i have seen.
i have drove it just enough to fall in love with it and now i realize that i just don't have the tools to do it. i found some guys at the athens vw club that said they would help me but i don't wanna put them out because its a ways from athens to my farm.
i have a great place to camp here at my place. i would like to pay someone to come get this bus running for me and spend some time on the farm. i want the thing right so money aint a problem.
who should i call? I don't want to just pay a shop I want to learn and hang with fun people.

Japhy

Mon Oct 10 2011, 08:03AM

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You could have a fix yer bus campout at your farm with your bus as the star. ?

Tue Oct 11 2011, 08:13AM

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First I would like a pic of the bus and engine. If you have a type 4 motor it will be very apparent in the pic, upright conversion or not. Given a 66 westie with a type 4 upright conversion. Lucky.

bone_collector

Thu Oct 13 2011, 10:20PM

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we could have a campout over here whenever you want. i need to get the picture linx from my girl so i can put them up here for you.
looks like the motor is a 4 type and wasput together by some guy a couple towns over who really knows these things.I am going to that place tomorrow and talk to the guy to see what he knows about it.
its running good now, has brakes and doesn't smoke wires when i turn on the wipers. I have learned lots in the past month or so thanks to you guys and p nut who came over to see my place and give me some help.

bone_collector

Sun Jul 29 2012, 04:21PM

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Hey guys,
I have been away for a while but have gotten the bus to a level that i am happy with. I had a hard time with the transmission rebuild and the funky brakes that had two wheel cylinders instead of one. Now it runs really good with the new motor that we picked up and its a blast to drive in the mountains around here so i guess it was worth having to refi the farm to pay for it.ha ha. since last year I have learned more about computers and engines both, so I'll post some pix of the bus soon.


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