It followed me home...

[Stray Catalyst]

An ad on CL caught my eye, so I went down to the south end of the state to take a look at it.



So I bought it. Wednesday it gets flatbedded to my mechanic's, as it hasn't been on the road in a decade, and I don't have a garage. My driveway's not quite warm enough for working on it.



If you look at the slider, you can see the roller marks from when it was last painted. I forsee paint in this vehicle's future.

Cheap, solid frame and jackpoints, new popup canvas. It didn't have a battery, and a jump start pack didn't make it do anything - but I decided to risk it. I haven't worked on type 4 engines before, but I'm hoping that the different cooling tin design will keep #3 a little cooler.



I'm told the carb is new, and that the engine has good compression in all cylinders. As I couldn't get it to turn over, I couldn't check it myself. If it turns out that the engine runs but the trans is toast, I'll put that engine in my 64 bus, but I'm hoping I can afford to get this one roadworthy without pouring too much into it. I've never owned a campmobile before.



The icebox isn't where I expected it to be - I guess I was looking at the wrong year's manual - and I didn't see the bunk that folds out in the popup, but I didn't search for it. The foam in the back is present but in pretty rough shape. If I go camping in this, that foam will get tossed and I'll stuff a futon in its place, or cut one to fit.

[birddog1148]

Cool, good luck with it!

[Stray Catalyst]

From looking underneath (I didn't think to take pictures) I saw that the tube that runs from the rear (where the heat exchanger outlet pipes join) to the front is missing, and it looks like there's a spark plug stuck into the side of the front - does this mean I have a gas heater? It means I don't have the sheet metal that used to go underneath the center of the bus, but I'm hoping I can do without that. I've never used a gas heater before, but it would be welcome to have actual heat, if it works. I'd thought those were in the engine compartment?
So, I have a series of questions.
1. Is the gas heater worth the effort?
2. Is that sheet metal important? Is it something I can fabricate out of 20AWG galvanized sheet metal, or do I really need the original (presumably expensive, hard to find, and expensive to ship) part?
3. The missing tube - any reason not to find an appropriately sized metal tube, insulate the hell out of it, and install with hose clamps? Does it have to be the original part?
4. Is this shifter stock?

[Stray Catalyst]

Well, today was a limited success. I bought the bus and got a temporary plate for it, but realized that my AAA membership had lapsed... And by enough that even renewing it wouldn't help, as I could only get the 5 mile tow, leaving me a few hundred dollars fees for the mileage, which I haven't got. Private tow companies are almost as expensive. The bus has been moved around some in the past few years, but I'm not sure if I can flat tow it the 70 or so miles it is to my mechanic's shop. I actually have a bay window tow bar that came with my split bus, but I'm worried about if it will survive the trip... I'm going to try a few more ways to get it flat bedded, but worst case scenario I can rent a trailer and tow it home with a borrowed pickup truck, this weekend.

[Stray Catalyst]

I'm told that the interior is from a 76-79 Westy, and is not original to the bus, by some people on another site. I'm still trying to figure out what year the campmobile itself is, and if it's a Westy... more mysteries.

[Stray Catalyst]

In further excitement, it's starting to look like the VIN plates are from a 1973, but the bus itself appears to be not older than 1976... when it gets to my mechanic, we'll both have a close look at it to try to solve this mystery.

[ajdenette]

Stray, If you are looking for parts especially the ones you specified I can help you out also looking at the interior it looked a lot like a ~76 westy interior with the ice box being one or both of the flip up lids next to the rear seat.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

I've got one of those Hurst (or knock-off) shifters that you show. I havn't used it as it was going to be used on my black buggy; it turned out to be too long.

Lee

[Stray Catalyst]

I'll probably need that pivoting table and the hassock-looking piece of furniture that migrates around inside the bus, but I'll worry about those after I have it roadworthy. I also might need the bunk in the popup, but I haven't actually checked if it has that. We have more snow now, but I should be able to put up the roof once it's reached the mechanic.

And I've only checked one of those two flip up lids, and it was indeed an icebox.

I'm still debating with myself on the paint job - Marinon Yellow, or ...



(no, this one isn't a shorty, but the paint job would still be fun)

[Stray Catalyst]

After some adventures, it's now in the shop. The tow truck tried to drop it off at one of the other shops in the area, but I heard about it and rushed off to direct him to the right place.

It was once fuel injected, and has all the features and furniture of a 76 or later Westphalia Berlin. Sneaks had a beautiful turquoise on one of his buses - some of that, a bit of yellow, and a pint or so of orange should be enough to make this bus Mystery Machine colored. After much bondo - the previous bondo work is messy, and the previous paintjob came off a roller.
The frame, jack points, and front beam are all quite solid, though there are a few places where surface rust is trying to establish itself. Wire wheel, primer, and three layers of paint should be enough to hold the rust ay bay for a few more years. After all the time I've spent under the 64 bus, this one looks strange - almost rust free, with a wildly elaborate heating system that's mostly missing but still has enough parts present to give a hint of its former glory.

The shifter is a Hurst. The engine isn't seized, but only turned a few degrees before it ran up against some sort of blockage - possibly the starter solenoid is engaged. The bust doesn't have a battery yet, but in looking under the dashboard I can see many hours of gremlin chasing - wire nuts, odd colors of wire, and paper tags (with soluble ink, that's clearly been wet). This makes it all the more important that I figure out what year this bus is, so I can get the correct wiring diagram to troubleshoot its issues.

I peeled back the rubber floor mat in the usual places I expect to find jagged rust holes, and was delighted to find solid floor under both of them.

[birddog1148]

No title? I'll never go that route again myself.

[Stray Catalyst]

Any car or truck over a certain age in this state, does not require a title. A bill of sale is sufficient. As such, it's all set.

[birddog1148]

Have you looked up the M code? Tells you all about your bus.
Hate to do this
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=436294

Mine was built 8 June 71

[Stray Catalyst]

There are no M code plates on this vehicle, as far as I can tell. The passenger's seat swivels, so there's no bulkhead behind it for a plate. There isn't one in the engine compartment, and there isn't one under the dashboard on the driver's side. The bulkhead behind the driver's seat hasn't got one either. It's in my mechanic's shop now, and he's going to work on it Monday - at that point I should know more about it.

[Stray Catalyst]

My mechanic has it running again, though it has some problems I hadn't planned for - both upper ball joints, for example. All fuel lines replaced, filter replaced, gas tank cleaned out, new fuel pump, carb rebuild, carb preheat reconnected, a few critical electrical problems solved, brakes checked, door latches adjusted and lubed - I could have done some of this at home, but it's winter in New England, and I dislike frostbite (I have no garage). It's still going to be in the shop for another few days, as he has to get some other customers back on the road before he finishes the front suspension and the like.
So, it'll be drivable and fairly safe once it leaves his shop, though I really need to replace the tires, and I'll still be defrosting the windshield with one of those little 12V hair-dryer looking defrosters - the heating system was gutted previously, and I don't yet have the parts I need to fix it.