Plumbing Problems on Bay Window

[kuleinc]

Hi all, I just got my bay window on the road, we even made it to bus fest last weekend. However, I am having real trouble plumbing in my dual sender for oil pressure/idiot light, and temp sender. What I have is rediculous looking and seams to seep oil since some parts are M10*1 going into 1/8th pipe and some stupid stuff like that. Can you show me some pics of what you have done? My engine case also works in a type three, I thought about mounting the oil temp sensor in the block off plate for the type three oil filler, but am unsure how accurate it is. Currently everything is plumbed into the idiot light sender hole on my type 1 engine.

ALSO, I have an oil cooler and filter mounted under the bus, I am using aero quip push on hose fittings without clamps. I was in first gear going slowly through my apt parking lot last night and a hose blew off one of the fittings, now there is a huge mess. I have hidden the bus for now because of it. Do you guys recomend putting clamps on these clamp less fittings or am I doing something wrong? I just put a small dab of dish wash soap on the fitting and then push the hose onto it, it is not easy to do, and I don't think they should blow off. My MAX oil pressure is like 50 PSI when cold above idle, so nothing too crazy there. I am also being pretty generous with the turns in my hoses so as to not cause any touble there. I have heard of this blue hose someone uses and maybe its because I bought the black hose to get all the kinks worked out with?

Sorry for the long post, but this thing hauls my family on camping trips, and I do not want this to happen on a trip. Any help is appreciated. The motor is a pretty stock 1600 CC single port with AS41 Case and stock cam and carb.

I will be working on my custom gauge panel today after work (hopefully) and maybe I can get it installed and post some pics in the next couple days.

[kuleinc]

I'm also running a single port engine, and it would not be terribly difficult for me to change it to dual port. I have all the parts lying around, does anyone suggest for or against this?

[fusername]

well for those hoses, if they are clamp-less fittings, do not use clamps, it will cut into the hose. are you using the correct hose for the fittings? I know a handfull of folks kare using them here and I have yet to hear of an issue, aside from the "it is very hard to get the hose on" problem. weeping and seeping on the m10 vs NPT fittings does happen, but snug it down a touch, or use some pipe sealer. be very carefull not to crack theboss by overtightening. what I do is I always tap my blocks for NPT when I am building the motor, just to eliminate this hassle, BUT NPT will seal in a M10 hole.

[kuleinc]

I do know of the hard to get the hose on problem, none the less I got the hose on all the way down. They are clamp less fittings, I looked at other hi po car forums and it seems other people tend to put a clamp in between the two barbs on the fittings "just in case". I may try using a clamp on the fittings, or I may just measure and buy some different hose, I need this to be reliable and not have to "change the oil" every time a hose pops off a fitting... Perhaps I'm using the wrong hose, I have aero quip -8 fittings and I used 1/2 inch oil rated hose. My oil pressure never goes above 50 PSI even when cold, these fittings are rated to 250 PSI I believe...

Does any one know what the "proper" hose is to use with the aero quip push on fittings? My parts store only sells the fittings, and a limited number at that, so they won't be much help.

I'll have to snug up the M10-1 sensor in the 1/8 NPT fitting, hopefully it will seal up, it may have already I need to clean the area and check after a drive.

My other question is on lowering the front end, which is higher than the rear. I lowered my 67 beetle with drop spindles and it was great, I lowered my 1303 with those special smaller expensive spring and strut things and the ride was ass. I like the idea of being able to raise the bus up if I need to with an adjustable beam (also pretty cheap since I can prolly swing installing the adjusters myself), but I understand the proper way to lower is drop spindles. I cannot afford to be having my LP tank scraped on speed bumps nor can I afford a harsh ride, suggestions? Is anyone else in the bay area in norcal I can ride along with with a lowered bay?

[fusername]

here, look on summit and see if you can find aeroquip hose. When I was going to use clamp free connectors (push-lok iirc) they said you MUST use the same brand hose and connecter, they are designed to work together, any old hose wont do. also using a clamp on these lines will make the fitting cut into the inside of the hose. that I got from a sales rep from barb-tite i think, or pushlok, one of the two. remember, those fittings, without clamps, are rated to 250 PSI and higher. These fittings are, from what I have heard, very reliable when put together properly. I don't mean to insult you and what not, but we all know how important it is to keep that life blood inside our motors, so I try to be clear.

Rector seal #5 is my favorite gen purpose sealer for engien stuff. It is a plumbing goo, yellow and thick as mollasses, so it is easy to keep it out of the inside of the fittings, never dries hard so it has some flex and can be cleaned up when you redo things later.

how low are you going to go? the proper way to SLAM a bay is drop spindles, but 1 or 2 inches, i would personally prefer adjustable. also then you can go back up when you realise just how awesome these things are in the woods at getting into those hard to reach camping sites. 1-2 inches I highly doubt woudl affect the ride with adjusters, lower than that and you start bottoming out, I assume. take all that with a grain of salt, I have only raised my bay (cut and turn cause I couldn't afford adjusters or $pindle$) so i have experience playing with height, but not in your direction.

[kuleinc]

Great info! I'm not insulted at all, that is exactly what I was expecting to hear. I will not be slamming my bay, just want the nose a bit lower so its not higher than the rear, looks goofy IMO. I will see if I can source the correct hose for my push lock aero quip fittings instead of getting the hose clamps on there, sounds the proper way to go! At $150 its very tempting to get the beam adjusters to try out, since I can get the guys at my shop to help me install them, and if they don't work out I can always get spindles or something... I worry about spindles being too low... They used to have two heights, but now I only seem able to find the lower of the two spindles...

Do you have any advice on Charging the cabin batteries with the stock generator, or should I use some sort of plug in method, because it will fry my generator if the cab batteries get run low?

[fusername]

well if the only reason you are lowering the front is to level it out, i would strongly recommend you raise the rear instead. bay window busses are known to sag over the years, most suffer from "bay window butt sag" as it's called. It is not a hard job, and if you have never done it I bet your torsion bushings are worn out. 20 bucks later you will have a more solid rear end, and since the camber gets wonked when it settles, lifting the rear back up will fix your camber problem you didn't know you have, and she will wear her tires nicer too. If it is your first time playing with torsion bars I would allow a full day to do it, but it can be done much quicker too. and my favourite benefit, you can actually see out your rear mirror! no more looking at the pavement 20 ft behind your bus.

as for charging, do you mean at the campsite, or in day to day use? I am a little confused.

[kuleinc]

I've done rear beam stuff on beetles before, so no biggy. I am not sure about the charging either, I guess day to day use? like when driving home after using up the cabin batteries all weekend? Will that charge them? Can you with stock generator? or will it fry?

[fusername]

I really doubt the stock generator can go it, it only puts out 30 amps peak, and shouldn't run at that consistantly. I would do an altertantor upgrade if you plan on regularly wearing down your batteries, I think there is a 90 amp alt conversion kit out there for a reasonable price. you run dual batteries, correct? the cabin batteries are deep cycle and you drain them often? If there are hookups where you camp westys came with a charging system on most of them, it is just a box that converts 110 shore power to 12 volts and dumb charges, meaning you set a timer, it does not know when the battery is charged. also you can run the bus directly off the hookup power. shouldn't be too hard to source one of those from a camper online somewhere or in a junk yard since you are in CA.

I have always wanted to go solar though, with the amount of camping and travel i do.

[kuleinc]

Solar is my ultimate goal. I have a 75 AMP alternator on my other bigger motor, so I will deffinitly use that, I have like 4 generators around though LOL. My bus does have the 110 AC hookup on the side of it, the internals to the camper are all missing, I will have to look into some kind of smart charger, I think people use a surepower or something along those lines...

I just bought GR2 chocks for the front and Gas adjusts for the rear...

I may just buy an adjustable beam, not sure yet, I am a bit wary of used... being bent and whatnot, I think someone local makes them...

[fusername]

bay beams are much better than bug beams in the way they mount, much harder to bend, unless you hit the middle of the beam off the ground, which is quite hard, I've tried! something to look into while you are under there considering new beam or not, the drag link bushing is often worn, and most people don't know what it is. makes a huge difference on the highway with wandering or reacting to gusts of wind. a tiny bit of slop in that bushing translates to the wheels turning in and out on their own, and the steering just feel vague. when I replaced my rusty beam the new one had a tight bushing and it was such a difference on the highway. Of course I also beat that bushing to death in about 2 years with all my off roading, but that is neither here nor there.

you are gonna like those shocks, I ran them on my bus, not too hard, not too soft, although on my next bus I am going to try out the gas-a-justs on the front as well.

now what does your bus have on the inside for that hook up? just an outlet or does it have the box under the seat? I see its a 68, which I don't know very well, but I don't think they had the 12 volt converter. but if you ahve the outlet already, you could just pickup a small plugin charger from FLAPS or walmart and take it with you camping, they can tend your battery no problem, and are usefull around the house. If your camping batteries aren't dual purpose or deep cell, you really don't want to drain and charge them, you want to keep them fully charged at all times or it kills the life span

[kuleinc]

My 68 bay was a panel truck, which someone converted to a camper, which sat in a field with broken windows that ruined the interior. Currently my front seats of ancient mail bag covers, and the back seat is in. I took most of the interior out because it was so rotten, so I am starting fresh, which is a blessing AND a curse... So much to decide and do! I will check the drag link when I replace my tie rods, which are totally past worn out... Is that the one under the belly pan or just behind it?

[fusername]

the drag link might actually be the wrong name for it, it could be an idler arm? not sure. anyways, it is where the two tie rods come together on a piece that looks a lot like a pitman arm on abug. then one linke goes from there to the steering box. if someone turns teh wheel left and right a small amount, you can usually see this "pitman arm" go up and down a bit as it slops in its bushing. or if tierods are already off,j ust grab it and wiggle, or do that with it jacked up. I am sure there is a proper way to check it, but these are the two i know. I have never replaced the bushing, but I have disassembled it, it is straight forward, and folks say its not too hard to replace that bushing as long as you have a big C clamp and the proper giant socket to use as a press tool.

also I have a 77 westy I am sort of parting out, I am keeping a lot of the big things for myself to convert a 7 passneger to a camper bus, but smaller things, trim, probably most of the panels and such I am going to sell, you can pm me if you are interested, but you west coasters have no issue finding good parts local. you jerks.

[kuleinc]

There r lots of hippie buses for parts! I want to buy a new beam, is there a preceded one to get? My beam looks whipped, where the arms go in is a mess!

[fusername]

yeah we got few and far between up here, had a beam shipped from another state when mine rusted clean off! only thing holding the lower tube on was the brake booster bracket. with your 68, I think only 68-71 beams will fit, unless you drill new mounting holes. don't quote me on those years, but it is something like that, 70 71 and 72 had a handfull of suspension changes spread among them.

when are we gonna see some pictures of the ole girl?