Category: VW

Spent $500 at a local car shop this week… for a water pump replacement…

“But wait!” you say. “The bus is air-cooled, it doesn’t have a water-pump!” – you would be correct – but this repair was for Noelle’s Jeep Liberty.  We started hearing a weird ticking noise when the engine was running, and I wasn’t about to start taking that engine apart too! We took it to a shop and walked out with no more ticking noise, less money, and no idea how to fix the problem if it happens again… And that is why I bought a bus – because when we are out and about in that thing, I might hear a strange noise, and it might break down on the side of the road – but I will have the tools and the knowledge to get it working again.  Compare that to the Jeep – the car shop people know I’m clueless – its like they can smell my ignorance!  The place I took it to came highly recommended, and I was happy with their work – but I have also decided I really don’t like car industry people!  How many times do you take your car to the shop and the people act soooo superior with their massive automotive intellect.  They will sell you everything you don’t need, but don’t actually know any real answers – I don’t trust car people!!  This place charged me $20 to “charge the battery” – I’m like – “what do you think is going to happen when I drive it home…”

I continue my rant with example #2 – NAPA. I live close to the regional NAPA distribution center, which is pretty sweet because they have a lot of the harder to get parts that other locations would need to order from.  I’ve been in there quite a bit over the last few months, and every time I get the feeling that they look down on little old me.  Well today, they crossed the line!  I went in to buy a few fuel filters – I’m trying to avoid having to pull the rusty gas tank for as long as possible – I ask the guy at the counter for three filters – he’s like “what size”  I’m like “I don’t know, last time they didn’t ask me that”  he’s like “we have lots of sizes, you need to know what size” so I go back home, pull the current filter and take it with me back to NAPA.  Go in – talk to a different dude – ask him for the filers – he’s like “no problem, they’ll pull them from the warehouse” – I’m like “Sweet”.  They grab the filters, and the original guy rings me up – I open one of the boxes to check, and they are totally a different type of filter.  It looks like they might fit, but the filter part was much bigger, and the connector nozzles were different.  I look at the guy and I’m like “these are different, do you have this type (pointing to the filter I brought in)” – he’s like “Nope thats all I got” …….  The older Drew, the less confident, less curmudgeonly Drew, would have probably just taken the new filters and hoped for the best.  But I’m not that Drew anymore – I’m pissed! Screw that guy, WTF does he know.  He is standing there telling me a complete lie because he assumes that I am some clueless fool who will just believe whatever his handlebar mustached mouth spews out – so I say to him “I just bought the that type of filter like 3 weeks ago, unless something changed, you do got it, and I need the original, not this new one that won’t work as well” – he’s like “oh yeah we’ve got those right here” I get my new filters and I’m out of there.  I’m tired of car industry people thinking they know everything, but actually they know nothing, and are too stupid and/or too lazy to actually provide useful information or services.  Car people seem to have no trouble charging me an arm and leg for anything they can get their grubby paws on (literally – car people have grubby paws), but yet their total lack of a brain makes me wonder how these places even stay in business!  I’m done with my rant, but I’m just letting you know – if you are a car person – I don’t trust you – you’ve turned me into a paranoid skeptic – anything you say is probably wrong, and you are probably trying to rip me off in some way, and that’s not cool!

Regarding the bus progress… I didn’t get anything done today except stall out in the parking lot and enlist Noelle to help me push it back into the garage – its just cold out there – too cold.  More to come tomorrow!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I had some great time with family this week – I also had a little time to work on the bus. I’ve been trying to diagnose the ongoing engine troubles, and I decided to start tackling one of the bigger restoration projects: the front bumper!

I noticed that my brand new spark plugs are completely fouled with carbon – most likely due to the new carb running rich.  I replaced them with even more brand new plugs… even though I think the carb might still be rich, so I probably just wasted like $10.  I’m thinking about opening the carb and replacing the main jets with smaller sizes – if these new plugs get fouled right away I’ll look into that.

The engine is still dying after its warmed up – this time, it started up great, I made it almost all the way around the parking lot, shifted to first after the stop sign – the engine lost power, I goose the pedal for more gas, but nothing happens – its dead.  After it dies, it doesn’t start unless I spray carb cleaner in the carb fuel bowl.  My theory now is that 1) the gas tank has some rust which is constricting the lines and clogging the fuel filter, 2) the gunk in the fuel lines may have blocked a carb jet, 3) the fuel pump rod is getting stuck at higher temperatures, resulting in less fuel flow at idle.  All of these are relatively easy to fix except for fully replacing the gas tank – I’ll keep you posted on the progress!

The front bumper is actually in pretty solid shape. It has some surface rust, the paint is chipped and coming off, there are a few dents – but it doesn’t have any holes, it is straight, and has accurate curvature.  My plan is to strip the thing down to bare metal, neutralize any rust, fix any dents, spray paint with professional grade primer, base coat, and clear coat automotive paint.  I spent like 3 hours with various grinding wheels and a wire brush on the drill – this is taking quite a while!  I’m about halfway done, but so far its looking like I will have a really nice bumper for a fraction of the cost of a new one!

As of today the bus runs beautifully!  I can start it, warm it up, drive it around, park it, and start it back up again.  While I’m still not 100% convinced that the engine is bullet-proof, it ran better today that it ever has before.

I started by swapping the power jet and idle jets.  Last week, I noticed that I reeked of exhaust fumes (more than usual) after working on the bus.  This is a sign that the carb is running rich – research suggested that these new 30Pict carbs come jetted incorrectly.  Sure enough, I noticed that the thing has two removable jets on the left side – idle and power jets, and one was slightly bigger than the other – I switched them around.

I also got some white paint and marked 30 degrees on the crank pulley – got out the timing gun, and revved the engine.  If it was timed correctly to 30degrees, the white paint should line up with the middle of the crankcase – however, when I revved that bad boy, the paint line was way off.  I twisted the distributor until the line shifted to the center – almost immediately, the engine idle smoothed out – Success!

To cap off a very successful day, I drove Noelle around the parking lot a few times.  It started up with a bump of the key, and shifted gears beautifully.  I did manage to stall it once (because I can be an idiot, but that should be obvious by now) but it started right up afterwards so I could keep going. Basically, she thinks I am awesome and well I can’t really argue with that – I am very happy with the state of the engine now – I just hope the bus is still in a good mood tomorrow!

I was able to get a little more work done this weekend in between bursts of rain and wind. I left the bus last weekend with an ill-fitting carburetor, and a starter that sounded like it had died.  I tried starting it up mid-week, and noticed that it wouldn’t run at all, and after a couple turns of the key, the starter stopped turning over.  I also noticed a slight burning smell coming from the ignition with – not good!! Thankfully, I had just bought a bunch of VW parts from a local craigslist add – they ended up being all ’60’s Beetle parts, but the ignition switch is ’67 and might just work for the bus!

However, when I went to start the bus today, I didn’t have any issues.  In fact, the thing starts with the slightest bump of the key, and runs beautifully!  I guess the bus is in a good mood today!  I ended up not replacing the ignition switch, but I’ve got it if I need it.  Instead, I pulled the carb and manifold off the engine… again… to try and fit the thing on there so that it isn’t leaking air.  I’m getting pretty good at this by now, but its still a big pain. Ok, manifold filed down flat (I still think its crazy that it came so jacked up), carb bolted on tight, everything put back together.

I also noticed that the choke wire leading to the carb was burnt crispy – not good!  I replaced the wire, and will check it frequently to see if it happens again – I’m thinking its connected to my ignition switch issues.

Start the bus, it runs… but its still just not that great.  I still have some kind of air leak at the base of the carb – I spray the carb cleaner, and the engine changes speed.  It idles slow and gets rougher as the engine warms.  It lasts longer than the old carb/manifold, but after about 10 minutes or so, the engine finally dies if left to idle.  Once it dies, it is impossible to start.  I’ve heard about this problem – some call it heatsoak. Basically, everything heats up to the point where either the electrical connectors aren’t working, or the engine is vapor-locked.  I also think somehow that the engine could be flooding. So I suppose this is progress, its improved to a point where I could drive it around for a while, so I’ll be taking it out for some more parking lot circles in just a bit!