I bought a bunch of parts for the engine, and spent all weekend getting things cleaned up and put back together. I’m hoping that I can solve several problems in one go, and finally get this bus up and running on a regular basis.  By the end of the weekend, I’m not quite there but getting close!

I started by draining the gas tank.  My fuel filter is obviously all gunked up, and I’m worried that I have a big corrosion problem in the gas tank – the only way to fix this would be to pull the engine out, remove the gas tank, and either send it to a shop to be cleaned, or replace with a new one.  I wrapped an old shirt around the can to filter the gas as it drained out.  Luckily, the gas came out clean with no rust or crud.  I’m thinking the rust might have come from the fuel pump instead of the tank – things might actually not be that bad!

I pulled the old fuel pump, filter, and carburetor off.  I’m headed inside to strip down the carb, clean it up and rebuild with my newly arrived carb kit.

Check out the rust in the bottom of that carb!

New float needle valve – the old one had the wrong washer according to the instructions – we’ll see if the new one works better!

New float – the old one was brown from the bad gas.

New top gasket – doesn’t quite match the old one, so I had to make a few modifications.

New idle shutoff solenoid – old one worked and wasn’t that dirty, but it was missing that silver washer, so was pretty loose on the carb.

Finally got everything put back together.  The whole apartment reeks of gasoline, so hopefully this was worth it!  The carb really wasn’t that bad – I’m wondering if I will actually have fixed anything with the new parts.  Either way, I’ve got the carb cleaned up and will move on to getting the fuel lines and new pump installed.

I’ve got the ‘generator’ version of the fuel pump (as opposed to the ‘alternator’ version) – I bought a new one, and a new long pushrod to go with it.  However, when I put the long rod into the engine, it sits so high that the pump can’t even sit on  the plastic flange – guess I’ll keep using the short one that was there before.  So even though I replaced the exact same pump, and everything online says use the long pushrod – I’m using the short one because thats all that fits – stupid bus. I also replaced the soft fuel lines and moved the filter to fit before the pump.  According to the forums, this will help protect the pump (and the carb) from crud, and will lessen the risk of fire in the engine compartment if something were to come loose.

I also replaced the spark plugs.  The old ones were fairly blackened so I think replacing these should help things run a little smoother.

Finally, its the moment of truth – I’ve spent a lot of time this weekend cleaning things up and replacing parts.  I’ve got it all put back together, and its time to start the engine and see if it all works.  I reset the distributor timing, turn the key and fire up the engine.  It starts!  The engine ran for about 30 seconds… and then died.  I check everything for gas leaks, and make a few adjustments to the carb.  Start the engine again, it idles for a while but I as soon as I give it some gas, it dies immediately.  After that, it doesn’t start at all.  The engine just keeps cranking but doesn’t fire up – not good!  I’m thinking I could have problems with the ignition coil, the new spark plugs, or the replaced fuel system.  I checked the carb to make sure it is getting fuel.  I thought maybe something was messed up with the new fuel pump and the short pushrod.  I took the pump off and removed one of that gaskets (it only had one before but is supposed to have two).  This didn’t really change anything, but I think the pump is working because I can see the fuel move a little as I hand-crank the pulley.  I’m wondering about the ignition system, and  I tried to check the coil for a spark – didn’t get one.  I had just checked this coil the other day – maybe something happened to it?  I’ve also heard that sometimes when the battery runs down, the coil has too much resistance, and possibly wears out.  Maybe the battery is low on charge from all of the starting attempts I’ve made?  I’m going to trickle charge the thing for a while and see if that fixes anything.  Its pretty frustrating – I’ve spent all weekend cleaning and replacing stuff – only to have the stupid bus not start.  I’m going to keep troubleshooting this thing, and I’ll hopefully have some good news to report next time!

If it was easy, I wouldn’t be having so much fun right!  Today I got back up on the horse, and took the bus out for a spin.  In the process, I have discovered some new problems, and exacerbated some old ones.

I started out by firing it up and driving out into the neighborhood.  This is officially the first time I have driven the bus for any distance outside of the apartment parking lot. Yay!  I didn’t take a video, but really wish I did – next time… I pulled out onto the street smoothly, quickly accelerated into second gear.  Things were going well, so I sped up a little and shifted to third – so far so good!  I decided to take  the next turn, and my plan was to press in the clutch, slow down, shift to second, and come out of the turn smoothly in second gear.  What actually happened was I turned the corner, and as the bus engaged in second gear, the engine bogged down and hiccuped until it almost died.  I coasted to a stop – I’m on a residential street with no traffic – and got it started again in first. Again, as soon as the clutch is released, the engine hiccups and bogs severely for a little bit before clearing and giving me normal power.  I quickly turn around and head back to the parking lot.  My first real drive is a success, but clearly I gots me some more problems!

I spent some more time driving around the parking lot with the bus bogging every time I try to start, or shift gears – even when shifting from first to second which is usually really smooth and easy.  Finally the hesitation got so bad that I limped it back to the garage – after that it wouldn’t even start! Stupid bus.  I let it cool for a few hours, checked the coil, and the accelerator pump, finally I got it going again.  But even now, it didn’t run like it did before – rough idle, dies occasionally, rough acceleration – I’m wondering if this stupid engine is ever going to work!

I’ve noticed that the fuel lines are very dirty, possibly getting dirtier, and my new fuel filter is brown from crud in the gas tank.  I don’t think this is causing all my issues, but it definitely isn’t helping!  I also know there is a massive vacuum leak somewhere on the carb – I can here it hissing and sucking for air.  My plan of attack is to buy a 5 gallon gas container, drain the tank, try to clean it out as best I can without removing the engine, replace the lines, fuel filter, fuel pump, and do a full carb rebuild with new gaskets, new float, new accel pump, and possibly even a new throttle plate assembly. I’ll also replace the spark plugs because I’m sure they are fouled with carbon from the improper carb settings.  Hopefully all of that won’t take me too long, and will solve all of my engine problems.  I better get crackin!

I crashed the bus today… I’m blaming Friday the 13th, or maybe I can blame my dad – he visited yesterday, and showed me how to drive the thing like a pro.  No, I suppose I can’t blame anyone but myself!

I was feeling very confident in my bus driving abilities, and decided to take Noelle for a quick drive to show off my new skills.  We hop in the bus, I pump the gas once, turned the key – BOOM! The bus lurches forward, slamming into the garage shelving unit.  I left the stupid bus in gear and didn’t have the clutch pressed in when I started it up.  What a freakin idiot!!  I rush to check for damage – we obviously weren’t going at any speed, but I did crunch the plastic shelves pretty good. I enlarged the dent on the front panel a little, and bent one of the headlight rims, but other than that everything else seems ok.  After I realized the damage was contained to the front panel that I’m planning on replacing anyway, I felt better – but then the gravity of what could have happened hit me.  What if I had been in a parking lot?  What if someone had been in front of me?  WTF am I thinking?!  My confidence was totally shaken, but there is some saying like “get back on the horse” … or something like that – We got back in the bus, and headed out into the parking lot.  I shift smoothly now, I am in total control of the steering, braking – we round the second corner – Noelle’s door goes flying open! She’s screaming, I’m screaming, the guy walking his dog is looking at us like – “what are you doing you crazies”.  I guess the door didn’t quite latch when we left the garage… either way, we had enough fun for today, time to call it a night!

Lesson learned, and I’m sure this will save me from some tragedy down the road – I will never start the bus without the clutch, and I will PAY ATTENTION – Happy Friday the 13th!

All weekend – I tinkered, I read, tinkered and adjusted some more, read some more… This is what I did all weekend. So far, I have learned a crazy amount of information about how VW carburetors work, and I have adjusted and tinkered with every available aspect of the devilish Bocar 34Pict-3 that sits atop my 1974 Super Beetle bastard of an engine. Finally, Sunday evening, the bus starts right up, idles smoothly, warms up, keeps on idling, shifts into gear cleanly, and most importantly – doesn’t die every time I come to a stop – Success!

But, like everything with this crazy bus, there is more to the story.  After all my efforts this weekend, I have determined that the carb has a somewhat large vacuum leak coming from the heat riser gaskets, the intake manifold gaskets, and/or the throttle plate bushings – yes I learned all of these fun and interesting terms this weekend – I’m just cool like that!  To compensate for the additional air flowing into the system from these leaks, I have backed out the idle adjust screw on the right side of the carb, thus adding more fuel to keep the fuel/air mix balanced.  It’s a temporary fix at best, but it does keep the engine running smoothly when I let of the gas or come to a stop.  I am thinking that I will order a carb rebuild kit, or potentially even a full replacement unit eventually; but I’ll drive it as is in the mean time.

In addition to my carb fun, I also replaced the fuel filter – the old filter has usually been empty before starting up the bus – when I loosened the clamps and pulled the hose off – oops! Of course the thing is actually full this time, and I just dumped a decent amount of gas all over the garage floor.  I rushed to grab the oil pan just in time to catch the last drop as it rolled off the side of the engine. Great, just great! I cleaned it up as best I could; it didn’t leave a stain, and actually looks like it cleaned the garage floor a little – I’ll have to remember that next time I go on a cleaning spree – just kidding!

Finally, my copy of the massive, venerable Bentley Workshop Manual for the bus came in.  This thing was expensive, and is the book that everyone refers to on the forums when they actually solve a problem.  It helped me learn about the carb, and has detailed instructions/ photos/ diagrams for every minute aspect of the bus – looks like I just got some more light reading!