Progress on the Nomad...

[DeathBus]

Gloss black looks GREAT especially with the engine case, fi runners and various other parts against it. HAmmered paint also looks very sharp, but I like that more on Bus Type 4 shrouds and other fiddly bits.

[vwbill]

That Gray always looks so clean!! I always liked it on boat motors and bays and that big ship engine rooms ! Looks so well kept! Black would look good too! Anything with freshies look so much newer and clean!
Your Bay is really looking nice! bill

[MGVWfan]

The intake runners are now the same color, New Ford Gray. FYI. Blasted rats even peed on the runners!

Yeah, I picked the color for the rest of the engine bay because it was available, cheap, should hold up well, and because most of the mil gear I've worked with over the decades was painted a similar gray (or flat black, or black crackle...), so the color is comforting . I thought about black, and black crackle, but both would tend to turn the engine bay into a black hole, so I settled on this gray. It really looks nice, better than the digicam pics would lead you to believe.

[MGVWfan]

Latest - left and right engine bay wiring harnesses are back in, had to repair some rat chewing damage before re-installing . Added some cushioned cable clamps at the rear to hold the wiring harness up over the engine cooling intake bellows. Tested the rear lighting and reinstalled the right rear lamp assembly. Installed the dipstick and oil filler boots and tubes. Installed the Eberspaecher (not yet connected). Sandblasted the right engine tin, got a start on the front half of the cooling fan housing (the rear is already done). Got my youngest guys to do the sandblasting (give a 13-year-old guy a compressor and a sandblaster gun, he's in heaven! ).

Man, I can't imagine how big a pain working on the Eber is when the trans is in there...it's enough of a pain holding it up and tightening the nuts with the trans out!

Hey, where's my avatar?

Still working on bending up steel fuel lines for the engine supply and return, and the Eber feed line.

[DeathBus]

Latest - left and right engine bay wiring harnesses are back in, had to repair some rat chewing damage before re-installing . Added some cushioned cable clamps at the rear to hold the wiring harness up over the engine cooling intake bellows. Tested the rear lighting and reinstalled the right rear lamp assembly. Installed the dipstick and oil filler boots and tubes. Installed the Eberspaecher (not yet connected). Sandblasted the right engine tin, got a start on the front half of the cooling fan housing (the rear is already done). Got my youngest guys to do the sandblasting (give a 13-year-old guy a compressor and a sandblaster gun, he's in heaven! ).

Man, I can't imagine how big a pain working on the Eber is when the trans is in there...it's enough of a pain holding it up and tightening the nuts with the trans out!

Hey, where's my avatar?

Still working on bending up steel fuel lines for the engine supply and return, and the Eber feed line.

I cant remember, you got a fasty or a square?

[vwbill]

Hey, sounds like you're doing great! I'll bet the sandblastin is a blast seeing the finish product! Sounds like you have some great help!!
Man that heater would be a mission with the engine and tranny in!
I have mine up there but wouldnt think of hookin it up with out a serious check up! Hey have you seen this beetle gas heater on ebay?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayI ... RK:MEWA:IT
You are going to be happy with all the hard work you guys have done when you're drivin down the road! Thanks for the posts, Bill

[MGVWfan]

DB - squareback/Variant/wagon (Typ 46)

Bill - thanks again for the encouragement! It helps when it's a job like this, long and drawn-out, to share those little victories along the way.

[vwbill]

Hey, just went and looked at the pictures posted; wow is she gonna be a sweet ride! You are working with the wagen engine bay like the t3 or vanagon; I kept looking for the big back area of the engine bay in the 2door,lol! Man, the heater looks sweet too and is that the gray color the bay really looks like? That's gonna be nice for working in later! You even have AC and she's a wagen so you have room for people and cargo in comfort!! So have you checked out any of the engine stuff like the plenum and intake tubes? Do you think those parts will clean up as sweet as the bay, since you said you had cleaned up one tin and part of the fan shroud? How did that fan shroud do with the blasting? Thanks again for the post very helpful! bill
p.s Hey what is that black box in the trunk? Where is your ebrake light? I have a two light ebrake/seatbelt light. You even have the strut covers!

[MGVWfan]

I've got the intake runners done, they're the same New Ford Gray as the engine bay. I've done the rear half of the fan housing the same color, and am sandblasting the front half and will shoot it in the same color, too.

BTW, I had some problems with the original steel dipstick tube going through the fan housing (unique to the wagon version, sedan versions don't have the remote oil fill and dipstick arrangement), so I replaced it with a slightly larger diameter stainless steel tube.

The rest of the engine tin gets sandblasted and shot in gloss black, after priming, of course. It's looking like I'll have to do some sanding on the engine tin after blasting off the old paint and rust, most of it has some noticeable pitting from the rat pee , I hate sanding!

The black box is a relay and fuse box from a Mitsubishi I added for the air conditioning system. The relays offload the switches in the console so they'll last a long time, and also provide more juice to the compressor clutch and fan motors (less I2R drop).

I also changed the wiring going to the compressor clutch. I installed 12 AWG stranded THHN, both to get more copper in the path (less I2R losses), and to replace some rat-chewed wiring in the engine bay (damn rats!). I'm also adding a spike suppressor across the compressor clutch coil, the reverse voltage spike generated by the clutch when the current is cut off is impressive, and unwanted.

Individual circuit fusing is good, that way if I get a problem in a condenser fan motor (for example), its 5 Amp fuse will blow and protect the motor, where the original system's 30 Amp self-resetting circuit breaker would most likely not trip and let the motor burn up. When replacement parts are available from the dealer, it's OK to go cheap on the electrical system and protect only the wiring, but since none of the A/C system parts are stocked anymore (though the compressor itself is still used in various applications, so parts are still available to rebuild it), I figured I'd spend $10 at the junkyard, and a few hours of work to protect the motors, too.

The brake light is the small round thing between the two instrument pods. Only the '74 (maybe North American only?) models had the big rectangular brake warning light assembly, my '73 has the older small round one. I had to go in mine and replace a bad transistor to get it to work...simple job really.

[DeathBus]

BTW, I had some problems with the original steel dipstick tube going through the fan housing (unique to the wagon version, sedan versions don't have the remote oil fill and dipstick arrangement), so I replaced it with a slightly larger diameter stainless steel tube.

The Type 4 powered Buses has the same set up

[MGVWfan]

Good info DB. I can see them using it on the 72-79 Type 2's, also. The bigger tube should help getting the dipstick in and out easier, I'll see. The original was bent up pretty badly.

You like your T4-powered T2's? Down the road (years!) I may want to get a bus to add to the fleet...just curious.

[DeathBus]

Good info DB. I can see them using it on the 72-79 Type 2's, also. The bigger tube should help getting the dipstick in and out easier, I'll see. The original was bent up pretty badly.

You like your T4-powered T2's? Down the road (years!) I may want to get a bus to add to the fleet...just curious.

I can do 85 and 90 mph in a 79 with a stock 2 litre with Kadron carbs, they ride and drive COMPLETELY different than the VW air cooled cars, they are fun to tinker with. The only problem is that you get lumped into the hippie crowd!! Yes I love my Buses even my 68 single cab (It was converted to type 4 power by the previous owner, thats why I bought it!!). I have some friends with Type 1 buses, which run very well also, but the durability, long life and strength of the type 4 motor cannot be matched.

[MGVWfan]

Tonight, I got the Eber hooked up for a test, and it worked! The only thing that showed up (this is why you test the whole system after bench-testing) is a slight drip at the fuel pump, and this one is in a strange place...not at either fitting, not at the threaded connections, but at the seam between the body and the discharge end plate. It only shows up when I put the pump under a bit of pressure with the hand primer bulb (I've got the heater hooked up to an outboard motor gas tank I use for my 3.5 kW generator). The weight of the fuel in the tank when it's full will produce a bit of pressure at the Eber pump inlet (try disconnecting the return line without clamping the hose off sometime, you'll see what I mean ), that's why I tried simulating that pressure. I'd bet there should be no seepage on that seam even under a few psi of pressure on the inlet (correct assumption?), so I think I'll be trying out Ray's alternative pump idea soon.

In any case, the heater works , so I can continue on to engine and trans, and install them (and block off easy access to the Eber) when they're ready. The thermostat even cycles as it should!

[MGVWfan]

Latest...I reassembled the fan housing and the stuff that hangs on it, and tried to paint 4-5 pieces of minor engine tin. One engine hanger-to-body bracket made it OK, and is now being baked. The other bits blushed badly ...the RH is only 46%, and that's low for Houston. What's a guy got to do to get high-gloss black paint to work consistently??? Well, after the rains come tomorrow, it'll be Saturday before the weather will allow more sandblasting and painting, so I'll move on to something else, maybe the engine.

[vwbill]

Once again Great Job!! Thanks again for the post! Bill