vwbus

Year of Manufacture:	September 1974
VW Type:	Type II, VW Transporter Kombi
Factory Conversion Type:	Westfalia 'Campmobile' (picnic orange interior)
Country of Origin:	Germany
Engine Capacity:	1598cc aircooled
Original Colour:	Brilliant Orange
Present Colour:	Blue with White top
Present Residence:	Ireland
Original Documents:	VW Transporter Manual, VW General Manual & VW Service Logbook (all in German)

A Little History...
My little VW Bus, started life out in Germany in 1974, it's first owner had the van for 12 years before selling it on to another German. The Campers mid 80's life is a little Hazy but it was hanging around somewhere in Germany. It finally ended up in the U.K. in about 1990. During it's stay in the U.K it went through no less than 3 owners. Near the end of that time in 1993/4, it had a number major renovations carried out to the Engine & Body (the usual rusty spots!), it was then it's colour was changed from that 'Brilliant Orange' to a traditional (?) Blue/White colour combination. It's last owners then moved to Ireland in 1997, and sold it in the Spring of '98 in Birr, where I picked it up after falling in love with the Bus at first sight.

My Experience...
I initially had to tidy up and clean out the Van as it the interior had become grubby and dirty from lack of use. I stripped all the panels, beds, seats and interior fittings. Cleaned and varnished all the wooden panels. There was also a number of large rusty gaps between the Van floor and the end of the Engine bay compartment -> where they meet, and over the wheel arches where the Bed brackets were bolted to. I cleaned off the rust and welded in strip panels, primed and painted them. This would then take care of any water ingress into the storage compartment.

My next problem was to seal all the side windows, front and back window rubbers as water was seemingly seeping into the Van from all angles. With this completed I had to tackle the Canvas Popup Roof...now this was in a sorry state. It resembled more like a patchwork quilt with all the different shades of Orange patches. I cleaned and washed the Canvas and then painted on a waterproofing Wax, I had hoped that this would make the Canvas more supple, however, it didn't, but at least it made it waterproof. I still have to be careful with the canvas as it's very brittle and will tear easily. A future investment may be to purchase a new canvas top from the US, they seemingly can be picked up for around $200+.

With all the Bodywork done, I got a local Garage, who really know there VW's to fine tune the engine, and just to make sure all was in PMO. With the engine tuned up and new plugs...boy did she purr...and now was the time to take it to it's ultimate Test......a 3,000Km drive to Spain!!!

The Test Drive
We started out from Galway...and our destination...SPAIN. We drove without a hitch the 5 hour journey to the Ferry port of Roslare. After a 22 hr crossing we arrived fresh in the port of Roscoff, France. As we had slept all the journey - exhausted from work and travel!! We decided on the first day to take it easy and only do a few hours travel. The heat was sweltering in Brittiany and the lack of air conditioning showed as the thermonitor gauge peaked at 45 Deg C....

On day two after stopping at a supermarket and then going down the motorway, the Bus suddenly spluttered, backfired and cut out....as we cruised noiselessly, we all fell silent and a lot of thoughts went through our minds. Luckly there was a side road into a industrial estate so we drifted in and parked. After a few attempts to start the motor and exhausting pushing, we had a look at the engine with some French VW enthusiasts we met. Then meeting up with their local mechanic....we fiddled around with the distributor and hey it miraculously started again after changing the 'points'. But our joy was short lived. Later that night as we were about to pull into a Camp site.....yes..it happened again.....the engine would turn over but failed to start.

Out we popped with flashlights and a tool kit and lots of swearing about French mechanics and VW's. Suddenly to my amazement as I fiddled with the distributor & points again...there in front of me after coming loose from its connector was a broken wire running from the starter motor. Quickly securing the wire back to the distributor...we turned the engine again...and Putt Putt she was running a good as ever. I started to learn fast about VW's and engines, always check the basics first.....

After that we made great time to Spain. though we found it hard to make good speed on our return journey...maybe all those bottles of Vino could have weighed us down a little. Still the Bus made it.......25 years on and still as good as ever...

Sometimes we would be cruising the Bus at 50mph (80kph) but going up hills etc. , man she would drag down to about 30mph!! This got a bit scarey sometimes on a motorway (normally we avoided motorways) with a big Artic Lorry right up you ass.....every drivers nightmare..

UPDATE 1999....25 Years on....and still going....
I had the van in storage throughout the winter and spring of 98/99. Finally after getting quoted another horrendous Insurance Bill, I paid up and got the Bus back on the road.

My Initial problem was that the Bus wasn't ticking over properly at Idle speed. I also had this problem last year which got worse as the year went on. She would also cut out if you took your foot off the gas pedal while driving. This made it real awkward and dangerous going into Roundabouts and traffic lights!! While on my first camping trip of the summer in Achill Island I noticed that the fan belt was loose. I proceeded to tighten the belt but to my dismay I also realised that the Alternator Mounting Bracket was cracked in two at the Base!!! Arrraggga....As soon as I got back to Galway I knew some serious repairs would have to be carried out. Turns out the Mounting bracket cracked due to the retainer Strap been loose!! All the banging and rattling over the years caused the bracket to crack!! This wasn't dangerous but it meant that a small amount of oil would seep out while driving.

The Repairs.
I knew that I could do most of the repairs myself and I have learnt that the BEST way of doing a job is to do it yourself if you are capable. In my experience garages only do the basics, for the real nitty gritty you have to do it yourself.

The first step involved stripping out the Oil Bath filter, Carburetor, Thermostat etc. to remove the broken bracket. While having the carb (Type: 34Pict3) out I decided to give it a good cleaning as I knew this was the cause of my poor performance esp. at idle speed. I was amazed at the amount of gum and gunk I cleaned out. It was incredible, that the god damm thing worked at all!!! The Automatic choke had to be readjusted as it wasn't functioning (opening/closing) properly when it was tested with a 12V supply at the office!

The oil Bath Air Filter also got a cleaning and replaced with fresh oil. A new in-line fuel filter was bought, new plugs (Champion L86C) and new distributor Leads put in. I also ordered a new distributor cap (as it was in a sorry state) and new rotor as the old one was starting to crack and fall apart. I've ordered a limiting rotor (4500rpm). The Thermostat was taken out. Cleaned/tested and readjusted to make sure those Air flaps were doing what they should be doing!!

I had to reconnect the heater cables to the Heat Exchangers. Although one of the cables are broke! I'll have to pick a new cable before the winter...brrrr. But at least I have a small bit of hot air coming in.

My problems started when it came to install the new mounting bracket. I just could not get it in. I had loosened the Fan Covering but I couldn't raise it high enough to get the bracket in. I figured I would have to take out the whole generator and fan Assy. For this I would have to drop the engine. (If anyone know differently, please let me know!!). I didn't have the means for this (I'll have to wait until I go home to my workshop in Kerry). So I replaced the broken Bracket and sealed the crack. Tightened back everything made sure nothing would slip.

After reassembling everything, I turned the ignition and vrooom she cranked up and ran beautifully. I checked the mounting bracket seemed fine. From looking at the broken bracket I believe it had been broken for many years now. So I guess another few 100kms won't do it any harm?? I just have to adjust the idle speed and C02 settings in the Carb.

As I get the Web site up and running I'm going to add more info. on the Van plus exterior, interior photos etc. So keep coming Back.....