Pushrod tube seals replaced, degreased, torqued heads, and adjusted valves. Time to stuff it back in.
My 1967 VW Camper
This blog is dedicated to my daily driver, a 1967 VW Camper. It's a conversion done by Riviera Motors in Oregon back in the 60s. I'll update this with pictures, video, and stories of the work I do to it and the adventures I have in it.
Ask Me Stuff!
January122013
7PM
Time for some R&R on this old motor. See if we can’t squeeze a little more life out of it.
March42012
Another day of wrenching…
Wherein one thing leads to another. Got the pulley taken care of and the belt adjusted. Then I decided to check the roof lights…no light. It turns out the battery’s dead! Crap…figured it was my reattaching the roof lights…but a good hour of futzing with the volt meter showed it’s my amp that’s causing the power draw. Battery’s on the charger, so hopefully all will be well after that.
My friend Kenny got me hooked up with a new air cleaner (bye bye oil bath) and I had the time to create the custom Shasta Mountain Rush coil cover I’ve been wanting to make.
So now I wait for the battery to be charged and have the rotors arrived from SoCal. With luck, the bus will be back on the road in time for me to start my new job on the 12th!
February232012
Frak These Gas Prices!
I’m in the Bay Area and just dropped $4.13 a gallon for regular…and that was just down the street from some insane place pimpin’ regular for $4.59!
What?!
The?!
Fuck?!!?
I totally had plans to head over to the weekly BLTN meet tonight, but when it’s going to cost me $17 in gas just to go there for a couple hours and drive back, I guess I’ll pass.
That sucks. A whole bag of dicks.
In other news, I at least get to spend tomorrow wrenching on the bus. Plans include tearing apart my disc brakes so I can finally get the rotors machined. And if that goes well, I’m going to swap out my stock pulley for a degreed one (that I bought almost a year ago).
December282011
The offending cap. That center bit there is a graphite tip that sends spark through the rotor and to the cylinders.
That tip has been totally ground down. It is no more.
November92011
The Heat Saga Continues
Driving to work Monday, I discovered I only had cold air blowing up into the cabin despite hooking up one heater box Sunday night. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why that was. Until I realized that there’s a tube missing on the driver’s side heater box and the air flowing under the bus was creating a negative pressure space that was sucking the heat out before it had a chance to get to the cabin.
Last night I pulled a complete hack job fix using a Ziploc bag, tinfoil, and duct tape to block off the exposed heater tube in hopes that I’d have hot (or warm) air in the bus this morning. I also noticed that the collar that holds the heater control to the body of the bus was loose, so I tightened it. Good me!
Today I had no air flow at all. What the math!? Turn it all the way left, nothing. All the way right, nothing! Mind you, I’m driving while I’m doing this…not necessarily smart. But I discover that my heater cables are so jacked up at this point that the only thing that will open the heater box is unscrewing the collar completely (see above).
Well, guess that’s one more project I don’t have time for. LOL!
October32011
Attached the tow strap, just because I could. New shocks up front. And a rather dorky looking me trying to keep my eyes clear and my hair free of grease and grunge.
October12011
Let there be light!
Well, at least some light. Today was to be a big wrench day for the bus as it’s probably the last easily available weekend before the baby comes. And I got a good bit of stuff done…and then ran into trouble.
- Installed trim piece and lamp (above)
- Replaced front shocks
- Inspected disc brakes (right one has some warpage for sure)
- Installed splash pan (winterizing)
- Rain-X’d the windows (Hey, it is gonna rain by Monday!)
- Tightened up a few loose bits
- …and then I figured it was time to go after the clutch return spring. Ugh. What was I thinking!? Even with help, it’s not done yet and we’ve got to figure out what to do about it tomorrow morning and just get ‘r done!
So, overall, a good start & a crappy ending. Tomorrow…we’ll see.
August312011
Score, dude!
1961 has bullet turn signals, small tail lights, and you have twin treasure chests! Killer! Congrats!
Honestly, if you’ve never owned a copy of John Muir’s How to Keep Your Volkswagen Alive for the Compleat Idiot, go buy a copy! It’s a great and easy to read starter book for old VW ownership.
Also, visit The Samba and sign up for an account there. I’m NorCalRiviera, so hit me up there any time. They also have the best classifieds section on the planet for aircooled VW parts and stuff!
Find out the nearest shop to you that supports aircooled VWs and go get to know them. Odds are you’ll be call on their help before long.
Other than that, give the truck a once over. Check all the hoses and cables. Change the oil and adjust the valves. Get the nose up in the air and check over your whole front end for sloppy parts. Driving a bus is light years different than driving a Type 3!! You will be driving slower than most, but also give yourself plenty of stopping distance!
Generally, when anyone buys a new old VW, I recommend changing all the hoses (brake hoses, fuel hoses, etc.), tearing open and inspecting the brakes, changing the oil and adjusting the valves (really, I’d say replace the adjusting screws to ensure you’re doing accurate adjustments, but that’s your call in the end), replace the accelerator and clutch cables, make sure all your lights work, and generally just listen to your VW…commune with it, if that helps. If something’s wrong and you’re listening, you’ll be able to hear it.
May102011
So the Bus is at Pop’s Garage…
…and by that, I mean his driveway. I love my dad…he’s a great tinkerer and has a great mind for figuring stuff out. Since I have a baby appointment to make this afternoon, he offered to let me take his car and he’d check the brakes over, cinch down the bleeder valves, and get stuff sorted.
The spindle ends grinding on the inside of the dust caps is a clear and present problem. Not sure if we’re going to fab up a spacer or find a way to use the old dust caps on the new hubs. We’ll see.
November152010
Post-Nose Reality
Well, I wasn’t in a position to work on the bus pretty much at all between getting it home Wednesday night and this morning. But I was able to get out there today and do the following:
- Install the speedo cable
- Properly wire the tach
- Put magnets on my dashboard people so they’re not permanent fixtures
- Remove some stickers on the back & add my Shasta Snow Trip sticker
- Get the CB radio wired up (was picking up Hawaii on skip, too!)
- Temporarily reattach brake circuit wires (my job from last Weds just fell off!)
- Attached the wiper arms
Went for a spin afterward to shake things down. Part way through, the tach, turn signals, and hazards decided to stop working. By the time I was just about home the turn signals worked again and the hazard switch light would flash (but not the actual signals!).
I went out later after some lunch and laundry to put a better ground on the tach as well as correct the power wire for it and that works fine now. Still can’t get the roof lights to work. Turn signals are still fine and the hazard switch light still is the only thing flashing in that circuit. Hrm!
April132010
Wrench Day Deux
So last weekend I had another wrench day to fix the broken stuff we found at the last wrench day. That’s never a good thing, is it?
It was a cold and rainy day all the way through. So off came the roofrack so we could get the bus in my friend’s garage. That was a big help, but the wind was sooo chill (and not that cool chill we all wish it was).
We replaced the transmission mount and adjusted the shifter a bit. Holy crap! I’ve never had any VW that’s shifted this well! It’s unreal, it’s so good! I’m expecting it to break or something!
The motor naturally came out to do that. It was cleaned up and the carburetor rebuilt. And I’ve now had too many people say “Wow, I’m amazed it was even running like this” too many times when looking at or working on my bus. Apparently my carburetor needed help. And it got help! It’s great now, but there’s a little bit of adjusting I still need to do to it. The idle is really slow to drop back down after coming to a stop.
We also installed a header system to help the air flow out the back end. Yes, it’s a little louder, but I need all the help I can get driving a stock bus with its (ideally) 53hp!
In awesomer news, my good pal Robert finally bought his first bus…a 1969 Westy camper. It’s a funky ride that’s had some interesting alterations done to it over the years, but I’m eager to help him get it back on the road!
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