Drew, Author at - Page 25 of 26

How does she know that?

July 14, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

Turn Signals work. Well not really, but it was fun to stay it with so much confidence. The replacement 9-pin relay I ordered from Wolfsburg West arrived, and I happily plugged all of the wire connectors in hoping for the best. When I turned the key and flipped the blinker switch down, the driver’s side turn signal started flashing regularly – Success! When I flip the switch up, the passenger side flashes, but its twice as fast. So not a total success, but still they light up! I’m going to clean/ replace the rest of the connectors to see if that solves the flashing problem.

After testing the turn signals, I pull the emergency flasher switch. Bam! I hear a popping noise and everything shuts off. GREAT. That’s just awesome. Once again, I’m pissed, probably threw a few things around, cursing this dumb bus. I think I blew the brand new 9-pin relay, and in the process fried the rest of the electrical setup. I’m so pissed that I just need to take a break. Stupid bus.

Enter Noelle; when I go back inside and tell her all about my troubles she gives me this weird look and says “did you check the fuses” … I’m like – “um … no”. First off – how the heck does she know about fuses, second off – of course that’s the problem, and as soon as I replace one of the 16amp fuses everything lights up again, third – if she’s so smart why doesn’t she get out there and fix that thing up instead! Anyways, I’m going to keep working on the turn signals, and try to figure out why the emergency flashers are shorting out. Fun times!

Spring Cleaning

June 30, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

More progress, more projects. This weekend I had an epic battle with the bus spiders; I fired up the engine for a while, and watched it run with my new friend Leo who owns an air-cooled bug and lives in the area; I drained a few more hours into electrical work, and started making a list of parts purchases I will be making soon enough.

My bus came set up as a transporter with a full bench seat in the back, and a 2/3 middle seat. I don’t think they are original, and are probably not 1967 because they don’t have the handles across the top that identifies that year’s seats. I won’t need them for the camper conversion, so I’m hoping to sell them at some point. However, before I can do that I need to get them out of the bus and cleaned up… starting with the middle seat. I mentioned the intrepid bus spiders in an earlier post, and the middle seat is their home base. From the pictures you can see that I have an infestation. I was able to get the seat out of the bus easily enough, and set it up in front of the garage. What followed was a few hours of cleaning out decades of spider nest and squirrel poo – fun times!

I started by soaking the seat in spider killer, then just starting cutting and pulling the fabric off. I had it about half-way done when I first spotted her… the mama spider… This thing was huge and as soon as she realized I had spotted her, she dug her way deeper into the filth. I kept going, and eventually got most of the debris cleared away…That’s when Mama came back out. This time she crawled up to the top of the seat and just stared at me. I apologize to all animal lovers out there, but this was a battle fo real. I grabbed the rubber mallet that I just happened to have lying around, swung at Mama and… totally missed. She falls to the ground, starts scurrying back towards the bus – I’m screaming (probably at a fairly high pitch), and finally ended things with a solid stomp on the garage floor. Mama spider is dead and I am now able to claim the rest of the bus as rightfully mine!

On a lighter note, I found this tool buried deep in the nest. I figured it was valuable because it was heavy and had “Germany” stamped on the side – I know, my immense intelligence sometimes amazes. Turns out it is a Hazet 2595 clutch cable adjustment tool, is worth some money, and is supposed make adjusting the clutch mechanism much easier. Sweet!

Uncategorized, VW

Wiring Fun pt. 2

June 27, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

Headlights work. That picture above reminds me of some creepy VW nightmare that I’m sure I’ll be having before this thing is up and running. This is another great story of the randomness that has made this project both fun and slightly unnerving. A few hours spent reading the wiring diagram, a while to figure out how everything connects, some more time spent cleaning the relay pins and connectors, hook it all back together and… nothing. no turn signals, no brake lights. The relay clicks regularly when I toggle the turn switch, but nothing lights up. The bulbs are brand new, and as a test, they light up when I touch the vl/ vr wires to the 30 wire coming from the battery. I’m thinking its time to get new relays! Before I cough up the cash for the big 9 pin relay, I was able to find a suitable replacement for the headlight dimmer relay at NAPA.

I bought the headlight relay yesterday, and after another trip or two to NAPA, modified the relay with a wire bridge per the instructions, and installed it in the bus.

When I pulled the switch, I heard a small spark and the driver-side headlight came on. Partial success! The lazy side of me wanted to call it good, but I kept messing with it. As soon as I turned the lights off and tried to turn them on again, I got nothing. I used the test light to make sure the relay was getting power, but the lights wouldn’t come on. I figured the connector head on the wires might be too rusted (even though I cleaned them yesterday), or maybe that spark had fried the relay. Either way I’m a little pissed, and so I do what I do when I get pissed and start banging things around, pushing buttons, and generally throwing a little tantrum. During this episode, I was prodding and poking around with the test light, and accidentally shorted the live 56 wire with the yellow 56a wire leading to the headlights. A big spark this time, and both headlights came on bright. Success! The headlights are now in functioning order. Once again, I have “fixed” something on the bus by bumbling around and getting lucky. At this rate, I’m going to have this bus out on a road near you any day now; just need to get the turn signals working, brake lights, engine generator, windshield wipers, e-brake, and most likely a lot of other things done first. I’ll keep you posted!

Wiring Fun pt. 1

June 22, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

So my goal right now is to get this bus in a drivable, street legal state. A big part of that is getting the turn signal and brake lights working. I’ve downloaded a free color wiring diagram for a 1967 fused bus from Samba, and have been trying to figure out what is still original, what has been changed, and how to connect everything to the 9-pin flasher relay. I also noticed that both the headlights and taillights are not connected to the dimmer relay, but are instead wrapped together in electrical tape. Of course when I plug them into that relay, the lights don’t come on. I’m definitely clueless with just about everything regarding this bus, but I also feel like I’m starting to learn my way around the thing! I’m going to disconnect the two relays, clean all the connections, reconnect everything correctly, and see if anything lights up.

How do I get this thing started?

June 13, 2013December 20, 2015 Drew

Today I finally got the bus running again. This is what had been happening: I turn the ignition key, and then nothing. I assumed the battery was dead or not holding a charge, so spent the evening trying to jump start/ charge the battery. I tried a few of the Muir tricks like pushing the bus backwards in 3^rd gear, and tapping on the solenoid/ starter. Every time I turned the ignition the two indicator lights would flash and then nothing. I checked the fuses, checked all of the wire connections I could find, checked the battery water levels, tapped on the carburetor, the coil, the ignition, kicked the tires a couple times. In my scramble to get this thing started again, I was doing everything I could think of; banging on the dashboard, shaking the bus, and then finally I randomly tried leaving the cabin light on while turning the ignition. I heard a small clunk! This was encouraging, so I pulled out the stopper switch that runs the taillights and headlights. They came on but were very dim, but after about a minute, something clicked and the lights burned bright. I tried the ignition and sure enough it started!

In my excitement, I ran to the back to see how she looked. To my dismay, dirty brown liquid was spraying out of the right exhaust pipe. I rushed to turn off the engine before I made too big of a mess. I also noticed that the left indicator light remained on while the engine was running (I know one is supposed to be green one red, but mine are both white…). I’m thinking this is the generator light, indicating that I have electrical problems somewhere. (this is also made obvious by the fact that I needed to have all the lights on, and it took me all night to get the thing started). One success followed by new challenges! I’m hoping the liquid is just some water that accumulated in the muffler while the bus was on the trailer (we hit a few pretty bad rainstorms). I’ll have to wait until the weekend to find out though, because I don’t want the apartment mgmt. to think I’m destroying their garage. More to come later!