Off the rotisserie and onto the car ramp and a bit of gearbox prepping

Today I was free from work,  I have been looking forward to this "bus" day for a while. Its vital now to get assembling the suspension parts as we need get it rolling around on its wheels. When that happens Peka will be able to paint the rest of the bus, as at the moment the tip girl now hinders this.

 So I started this morning in the garage at home.

here I am reading over and over how to assemble, no instructions with this model!

fresh axle tubes, don't think that paint is going to last long though.

 First I began mounting the drive shafts to the gearbox, that went well, I greased the fulcrum plates (measured the gap the night before) and slid in the spade end of the shafts and then slid the whole drive shaft into the gearbox - then in goes the spacer and the snap ring, all good. Next I started on the freshly painted axle tubes, at that point I found out I didn't have any gasket sealer around ? So after pacing around the garage and wasting some precious time looking for some I realized I had done what I could do at home. Its just part of living in the country side miles from anywhere.

 So I packed the gearbox and all the parts for the rear suspension and headed to peka´s
 My plan had been to bring a ready assembled rear end to simply bolt in, but this build never goes like the plan!

"Jeff" this bus has bags of character - part of the family.

 So I packed up what I had in to Jeff ( Kents T25 work horse ) and headed to Enköping. On the way I stopped for gasket sealer, gearbox oil, loctite and some rubber lube which I think will be good for the spring plate donuts, after this I arrived at Peka´s. Peka was away today but he had kindly let me work on the bus at his place on my own.  The mechanics in the joining garage let me in, and unlocked the doors so I could bring Jeff in.

 It was nice to see Rayer was there as pretty much straight away I found that I couldn't get the bus over the two poster ramp bump on my own, with some help from him and two big crow bars we levered the bus into position ready to be lifted from the tip girl.

I supported the bus with the ramp arms, which was a bit tricky, removed a few bolts and washers and soon I had the bus lifting away from the tip girl, I was a bit worried as it rose up that it might jump of its stands,  I had thoughts of seeing our beautiful bus topple off the lift and crash like the Hindenburg right in front of me. but it didn't, all went well : ) although I will be glad whens it stands again on its own 4 wheels : )

Generations

Im very happy the way the inside turned out, now begins the patina

getting ready to take the strain of the tip girl.

I was looking around for something suitable to place the gearbox on, I looked in the paint booth and noticed a nice surprise...!   Peka had been busy before he set off on his holiday, he had made a start on the chestnut paint, the front, rear and engine doors had been painted : )

not too brown, more black in the low light, I wonder how it will look in the sun?

safari mounts installed

 After I had safely got the bus on the ramp I broke down the rotisserie a bit and piled it in the back of Jeff ready to take home and assemble for when the bus comes home.
It is very heavy, if forgotten just how heavy and it was a bit of a struggle on my own getting it into the bus.

In between that effort I drooled over the dash.

Kinda expensive recon, cant wait to try it out, Hardened side plate and new nose cone, bushes, seals and now its a 4.125

 I began bolting up the axle tubes and soon realised I needed some bolts, washers and nuts... I had asked in the morning at Mekonomen but they hadnt helped!? I had bought some at VW in Enköping a few days before while trying to get my locking wheel bolts removed from the daily Golf but they were very expensive and didnt really have what I needed, so I went and found Rayer again who was busy fixing a compressor, he told me about a place in enköping called "TOOL" said it was good prices and good selection, I knew of it, so I headed there straight away.

It was just the place I had been looking for, a very helpful guy, a massive selection, they had everything I needed and more.
 I took 16x washers, 16x spring washers,  16x m6 nuts 6x new m10 nylock nuts, 16x m6/m8 nuts, and about 10x m8 bolt.

and when I came to pay - I was thinking, ok this is Sweden, this little lot will come to something crazy like thirty quid or more....

But I was pleasantly surprised - 65 kronor he said,  that's about 6 pounds : )

Very happy to find that place, no more wondering where to get the nuts and bolts from now.

 So I returned to the garage and I had a little time left before I needed to return the bus to the country house and switch cars to then hot foot it back to Örsundsbro to collect the boys.

I tested the fitting up of the extension parts for torsion bar housing and of course the fit was not perfect, so tomorrow I need to file a little. It seems to be the norm with most a lot of after market parts. At least the bolts and washers I got were just right, a little longer then the originals which is exactly what I need now that this extension has to be sandwiched in.

I bolted up the nose cone mount to the chassis, didn't torque it as I forgot to bring the torque wrench, and placed the gaskets in between the axle tube and gearbox to see how that was, again couldn't finish as no torque wrench! Then just before leaving I thought Id check the large M18 x1.5 bolts that are on the end of the frame horns, I had over looked these before, and immediately saw that the threads were in a bad way - I will see if the guys in the workshop have a tap and die this size tomorrow, and try and clean them up, I shall order some new ones anyway but its a bit of a pain as I need to torque these up when getting the box back in, before the bus can sit back down on its wheels.

M18X1.5

 

I phone selfie, me and the 55 - need to find a name....how about

Monty? aka Mr burns....

Glad Påsk - Happy Easter !

Happy Birthday our bus is 59 today !

So 59 years ago today, our bus was being put together (for the 1st time) in Wulfsburg-Germany. The assembly started on the 13th April 1955 and was completed two days later and rolled out on the 15th.

I doubt the guys in the factory could think that in 59 years time it would be going through another rebuild process again !

So whats been happening .....

LEFT: Ive been getting the rear suspension in order, I picked up the gearbox, so now im getting the torsion arms and axle tubes in order, a lick of primer and paint.











BELOW: A panorama of the garage, shows the bus spread out into every corner, nook and cranny.

 LEFT: My notes around the house have been relocated in to one big "to get done list". The garage is now at a bearable temperature - summer is coming : )

 Our old "shakes n stuff" menu has made a new life as my action board.

Also printed out some early samba pictures for inspiration.

   

 RIGHT: A table full of small parts, gradually im understanding what the miscellaneous stuff is for.

Sunroof is now de ragged and on the floor, have to make a detailed look at whats needed and get those small parts ordered, I have heard of 6 weeks waiting time on some parts ....

Headed over to peka´s on Saturday morning, I got there at 9.30 am and Peka had been there since 7 that morning painting the inside of the bus, Looking good ; )

 

Can not wait to see it all painted up !

 

BELOW: Peka, the man with the paint!

                                                               

Was pleased to see the wheels had been de-tired and sprayed

 I cant believe how good peka has made the thin lip under dash shelf, it turned out better then new - amazing skills.

 Loving the fresh paint, bumpers look great, hope the deluxe trim doesnt give me any headaches when fitting....

 Sealing wax red gas tank : )

 Ribbed bumper is looking lush too

 Back to my grotto, here I am with the rattle can primer on the new modified axle tubes - Black final top coat.

So that's about all for now, master cylinder should turn up soon, then I can fit up some braking parts and focus on brake lines and the routing of them.

My mind is always working on 2 or 3 steps down the line, so now im thinking about brake lines, gear shift rods, and wiring.

Next up this Wednesday and Thursday is to mount the axles to the box and offer it up to the bus, I know I will probably need to remove some metal from the nose cone, and then install the bearings seals and hubs, brakes drums etc. If that all goes well I will install the front beam and fit the front disk brakes.

Soon be on its wheels and heading into the booth for the body paint.

Update before Easter

Good news - the last small part ordered from t2d is on it's way - the brake master cylinder will be here soon.

Threading and stuff

Spring plates showed up from t2d
Now missing just the brake master cylinder - hope this get on it's way to me soon - as I really would like to test mount it and make sure it lines up .

parts from creative have arrived

Yesterday at work I had a call from a delivery company -
"are you at home now?" he had some parcels for me... sounds like the parts from t2d had arrived?
 - it was about half an hour after I had left for work, "no I said, im at work, just got here" I said, "im at Arlanda.." "ah" he said, "I have to take the delivery van back to Arlanda when I leave Bålsta around 4pm"
"cool" i said, "then bring them here", and so he did and it worked like a charm ; )

I was suprised to see it was parts from creative engineering ? cool - so just the parts from t2d to get here.

I loaded the well wrapped boxes into the back of the golf after work and drove home.

This morning I took the goods to the garage and unwrapped to see what was what and what was missing.

Here im checking the rear rubber window seal fits me glass (it is the correct size)

And I tried to put the puzzle of what rubber went where - labeling and checking it all out as I went.

Safaris look good, everything seems to be there, the ss logo is very good, not really awsome but very good.
The door frames look nice, i noticed when comparing them with my og´s that a little prep before paint is needed on an area to make them perfect.

The seals where as anticipated a bit wrong, and I only got one corner window rubber?
Have to email them and check this out, also I got rubbers for bullet indicators and the rubbers for the small round rear lights dont look correct.

and a few unidentified rubbers to look into.

Other then that the parts look good, im still to un-wrap the sill side deluxe trim, that is for tonight after work.
 Got to get some of these parts over to peka now - hopefully in the morning tomorrow.

Chasing parts today

Last night I fired an email of to Paul at T2D - explained the missing parts and bad drive shafts threads.

He replied late the same evening - with apologies for the hassle and a promise to send the missing parts by the end of the week.

This morning I sent an email to creative engineering - wondering what the status is of the parts I ordered 3 weeks ago - I had a reply within two hours telling me they would be shipped tomorrow.

Other then that today is a day off

I'm not going to the garage

I'm not reading any vw technical books

And I'm not going on the internet to get lost in a volksworld

But I might take my 62 for a blast around the Nuremberg ring : )

The good, the bad and the ugly

Loads been happening since the last post
Lets starts with the good!

Lovely sealing wax paint by Peka

 Here is the main man himself - that tip dolly has made all the difference - I will be hiring it out after ive finished with it - so if your in mid Sweden and want to do a good job of the underside of your car then drop me a line and rent the tip girl for a few weeks.

 Doors are amazing !

 

So if there is GOOD, there has to be some BAD and some UGLY - here is the bad part of this week,

I went to go see how the bus in the woods was - and it was .... gone !

so that was bad, ugly is coming, read on 

 

After getting the Gearbox on the bench and removing the drive shafts I realised it wasnt going to be a case of slinging it in the bus and find out how it goes - no it would need looking into, I read up as much as I could and as I couldn't pull the selectors I started looking into my options,  I spoke with my good friend Nicko and he pointed me in the direction of Hans, a phone call to him the next day left me feeling much better, he said i should bring it over, so on Sunday "after a wasted walk in the woods" I was behind the wheel of the Golf and making my way down the "55" with the box in the boot, a smell of gearbox oil to keep me company - soon I was in Södertälje.

 Love driving down the 55 -

  After a bit of "getting lost" I found Hans and his work shop - very cool place - Here is the man himself with my AO gearbox - after a chat we decided on a new nose cone, hd side plate, some other small mods, a strip clean and a freshen up.

His drag car, my gearbox and whats that on the floor ? schwimmer wagen gear box!

 

 MONDAY is delivery day !

I got home from work to find this little item had arrived in the post - its a cool old dealer key ring fob from VW Stockholm, its very similar to the old one I had for Fry (super OG 1968 bay)

 

 And at last the big stuff arrived from T2D ! well nearly all of it....

Beam looks the business

Lots of parts - csp disks brakes for the front, new rear drums, backing plates, wheel cylinders,  tie rods,  ends, slam shocks, drive shafts etc etc

 Below you see old shafts against the new - slightly longer by about 25mm - hope that enough ?

  and we come to the ugly..... threads on the drive shafts from t2d look like crap - cant even get a nut on one of them - emailed paul about this and the fact that I dont have the adjustable spring plates or master cylinder that should have come.

  back to the good stuff that has arrived - csp calipers

 the disks and hub

 fitting kit

 new shoes

 fitting kit

 backing plate and wheel cylinders

 modified hand brake cables

 dropped (flipped) early straight spindles

 Brand new rear brake hubs

 After checking the parts and emailing t2d I had just enough time to race the boys at  GT5 before putting them to bed - I chose the samba of course.

 

So now we are waiting for the remaining parts from t2d and the deluxe stuff from creative engineering.