SKYE - '68 Baywindow - on the ROAD AGAIN!

[Bossie2004]

So this weekend was not a very productive one, but the wee bit of time shed GR8 results for me, gave me some good hope again.

When I just got the Bus, I wanted to inspect the brakes and general condition behind them wheels, but could, for the life of me, not get the &@#%^! wheel nuts to loosen....having turned/sheared one head CLEAN-OFF at the drivers side rear, I decided that some other measures are to be taken.

Having chatted to a fellow car-nutter at work (he just about only owns Porsches) he told me about the ATF & Acetone (50/50 mix) penetrating oil that works wonders, I Googled it, and voila, it is deemed as one of the best/cheapest Penetrating oil solutions around.... but it still did not get the nuts to loosen up. I've left the ATF/Acetone mix overnight, hit the nuts with the 4pound hammer, used a bit of heat...but NOTHING!!!

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I've used just about any trick that I've known - Pipe on the spanner, Double-Spanner, 4Pounds on the spanner, heat on the nut and/or drum, penetrating oil, ... got my powerlifter buddy to give it a go....but NO SUCCESS!!!

Long story short, Friday night at the Jacaranda Beetle Club meeting, Hannes Schnetler confirmed that you need to make them wheel nuts RED-Hot, that should then separate any rust/oxidisation and/or any "Lock-Tite" that may have been put on them nuts (Where the "Lock-tite" made sense is that I've read in the Technical Advice that wheel nuts tend to come loose where rims have been freshly painted/powder coated, and not tightened properly - and then "Lock-Tite" get put on to counter the effect.

So Saturday I've bolted down to Builders and bought 1 of Plumbers Torch (working with the 190 gram Butane Gas cartridge) and gooiing about 1750'C:

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Having that on the head of the "nut" for about 5mins (enough for the paint on the rim to start bubbling), and then HITTING it with the 4Pounds (enough to shock all unwanted dirt/grime/rust/gunk loose) gave the anticipated/required results. I chucked the wheel nuts into "Deoxidene"/Rust remover for a couple of minutes, gave it a good steelbrush work-over, then some Q20, and back it went.

So now I can take the bus for some tires knowing that the shop are not gonna shear off any nuts to an extend where the Bus might have to remain on the Lift at their shop! Quite a relief!

So the only challenge on the wheel nut removal is to get "The Sheared-One" out - I've seen the guys on the forums/YouTube welding a nut onto the sheared-off stud, and then using a ratchet spanner to turn it out - obviously the heat from the welding does the same as described above - so I shall hopefully get that out this week...

Now I can get the Drums skimmed, brake pads relined and fresh rubber on, and then hopefully hit the road.

[vw59beetle]

Geluk Marius. Lyk baie mooi en ek is seker die hele familie gaan die bus geniet. Sien jou binne kort op n club run

[acpaterson]

Well done Marius,
Mine are also VERY tight, but am going to ask a Wheel Shop with a Pneumatic Wheelnut Driver to see if they come loose. Next month..

[Bossie2004]

Alan, I've had success with the R300 bucks Plumbers Torch and R19 cannister - my fear has been that they put the Pneumatic Impact wrench on it, and turn the heads clean off...I've broken two off (on one drum) with a normal wheelspanner...so I was not gonna take the chance.

Thanx Werner, die family is KWAAI opgewonde, wil net gaan rondry, maar ek gaan nie kans vat tot ek nie tevrede is met die brieke nie - het juis vanoggend gou die dromme en skoene gaan aflaai vir 'n "Skim-&-Bond / Nip-&-Tuck" dan behoort dit reg te wees - die sisteem het mooi gebloei, en het nuwe "Brake Fluid" in, so daar behoort nie meer geite te wees nie. Gisteraand nuwe shocks ingesit voor, en die naweek agter, so die dinge kom bymekaar.

Groetnis,
Marius.

[Bossie2004]

So I had a wee bit of time on Saturday to resolve a couple of issues on the Bus, received the "Front Indicator Lenses" from RUI - tx Rui, had a bit of a wrestle to get the outer end screws to get a grip (old lenses had recessed holes and offset differs by about 1mm, whereas the new ones did not - 5mm less expands your vocabulary quite a bit!!!) - but alas it is fitted and looks the part:

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Then I decided that, seeing that the Mid-Row Seat Clamps & Bolts assy is "HENSTEETH" to "Maak-'n-Plan", punched flatbar, couple of washers, piece of 10mm square tubing, M8 Carriage bolts and some wingnuts and voila, the seat is fitted and sturdy:

MRS Bracketing.jpg

The benefit of the Carriage bolt was that the head is 1/2 a bit bigger than the hole in the floor, but inserting it at an angle lets it slide in with hassles whatsoever. The washer at the bottom then ensures that the square tubing seats properly onto the floor plate. One Mod I will be doing is drilling a 5-8mm hole on the front end of the flatbar and weld a roundbar/bolt in there to line-up with the holes in the Seat frame.

After cleaning the inside panels and seat, there was still some time to get some new TEKKIES on - went to TireMart (Centurion just behind SuperSport Park) and got some GREAT service from JP. Got the 195R14 DUNLOP LT SPII 's (8 ply commercial) for R827 ea - took some wrestling on the price, as it normally goes at about R950 ea... - it helped that I took the Beetle there end of last year - so return business helped. They fitted the tires, then send it off to their other branch to get the balancing done - at no extra cost to me - so they get my NOD any day of the week. Also, their dude that does the wheel alignment also inspected the bus and told me that he aint wasting my money, as the tie-rod ends need to be replaced... I can so live with such honesty and great advice.

[acpaterson]

Lekker news, glad you're coming along boet..

[Tony Z]

does she drive any better with the new tyres?

[Bossie2004]

Tony, it is a MUCH better drive, but having said that, I've fitted new shocks as well, so that also helps BEEG time. But the tires are really Lekker. The ones that came of must've been fitted at the factory, or just after - they were SHOT!!! I promise you there were cracks in the rubber on the tread - and I aint confusing them with the grooves, although they were very similar in size...

[Tony Z]

great result, glad to hear it
I'll be fitting a set that size, 8 ply when I get home....
looking forward to driving my bus (and bug) again

[sean]

great result, glad to hear it
I'll be fitting a set that size, 8 ply when I get home....
looking forward to driving my bus (and bug) again

Those 195's do make a difference to the gearing, I thought that a measly 8mm in circumference would do nothing, but on these weak engines it makes a difference. The tread worn off on the old tyres vs the full tread on the new tyres would also have played a role in weakening the power. I would still personally stick with the 185's, but it is a size becoming less and less popular and more expensive.

[Bossie2004]

Those 195's do make a difference to the gearing, I thought that a measly 8mm in circumference would do nothing, but on these weak engines it makes a difference. The tread worn off on the old tyres vs the full tread on the new tyres would also have played a role in weakening the power. I would still personally stick with the 185's, but it is a size becoming less and less popular and more expensive.

Sean the problem is that the 185 ain't stocked well, they couldn't give me those when I asked for it.

Cheers,
Marius.

[Bossie2004]

Guys I also need a bit of advice - the electrical stuff is not really my cuppa tea - that thing that runs that you cannot see, but bites the sparks outta you... not my best friend....

So the situation is as follows: When I switch on the ignition, all the gauges activates, I switch on the lights and wipers and the cabin light and all works 110% - but trying to start the engine, there ain't no NOTHING! What I've been doing then (gut feel/instinct) pull the light switch to FULL-On, then switch on the Cab light, and then the engine starts 90% of the time - sometimes at first attempt, others second or third go. I cannot see any additional wiring that might be some "homebrew immobiliser system", so I'm leaning towards the idea of the earthing being a problem - and to be honest I forgot to check that last night.... what else can it be?

Cheers,
Marius.

[Bossie2004]

When I took SKYE to get some new Tekkies put on, the Gent that does the wheel alignment fiddled around while the rest of the shop tried to find a way of balancing the tyres - and eventually told me that the Tie-Rod Ends are SHOT!!!

So after a wee bit of a struggle to get the right ENDS, MIDAS/AUTOZONE/another MIDAS/CENTPART....none could provide the right ones, and what the book shows as the right ones for a 68 Bay was a 16mm x 1.5mm thread instead of 14 x 1.5mm. Volkspares had the right ones, so I could start disassembly!

Well I've learnt a couple of new words while trying to get the old ones out - MUST've been the originals fitted back in '68 - it was STUCK like shite on a woolly blanket! I thought that the weight of the Bus pivotting on the jack would create enough/sufficient force to release them tapered pins!

Tie-Rod Removal 1.jpg

WELL, WAS I WRONG!!! Even application of heat to the outer bracket made ZERO/NUL/NOTHING/AZIKO difference! This now after quite a bit of Q20... Back to friend GOOGLE to get some advice, and onto the phone and drove to CENTPART to get a "Ball-Joint Separator" for about R200.

Tie-Rod Tool.jpg

Got that in there, applied pressure - at one stage it looked like the thread on the tool was starting to strip - but about 4 minutes later it SHOT off like a 357Magnum that was fired!!!!

So with the right tool, it took the better part of 15minutes to get the Tie-Rod out! SIGHHhhh....

Tie-Rod removed.jpg

Then it was into a bottle with 50/50 mix of ACETONE & ATF to make sure the Tie-Rod Ends screws out without any hassles - left it in there for about 15mins each side, and after that It came loose by hand!

So the job is done, Tie-Rod is back in, now just have to take it for wheel alignment to confirm all is well.

Upon servicing the enjin I also ran into a Sparkplug that was obviously turned in skew/too tight and stuffed up the thread...it already had the "copper insert" fitted, and the engin ran well with it. I ended up tracking down BOLOF in Hennopspark that provided the necessary replacement inserts, and they also do Helicoils and the likes!

Seems like the Main Oil Seal is shot, so once that is replaced and wheel alignment done I have only the ignition switch to sort out then its off to roadworthy!

[Tony Z]

For all your pains.... it was an interesting read, thanks for sharing

I know its not a tool that many people carry, but using an impact gun with the ball joint separater makes easy work of things, the vibration pops the joint apart at a much lower pressure than when using a spanner

[Bossie2004]

Been a while since I last posted an Update...but progress has been made through the chills of winter. It was a bit of a "toss-up" between spending time on the SPEEDSTER that got Soundproofing (self) and Carpeting (friend of a friend) done... and resolving issues on SKYE to get ready for the Jacaranda Beetle Club Roadtrip (aptly named "THE POTHOLE RUN") that starts on 20August when we head out to MONYANE just outside of Warmbad, spend the day there, then two days at MARAKELE (Thabazimbi) and finally one night at MANYANE (Pilansberg) - 20 VW's (17 Beetles & 3 Kombis".

Took SKYE for the Roadworthy last week, failed it on Brakes (differential front Left to Right was ~60%, so that was a NO-GO, and also Wheel Alignment was out. When the "ToetsBeampte" at DEKRA stepped on the brakes the Bus went left, and when he released the brakes and took hands off the steering, the Bus went Right!!! (Now in my modest opinion, it should require a BRAINSURGEON to STEP-on-the-brakes and get hands OFF the steering wheel at the same time, to ensure you stop straight!!!! BUT NO, he prefers all systems to work INDEPENDENTLY correct!!! Oi Vey!

...and then came the NOT-SO-GOOD News.... Police clearance is required as the engine number doesn't match what is on NATIS!!! What a lovely bomb to drop... I've never checked as I asked the previous owner and was assured that the Bus is "On the road" as it stands there!!!

So a quicke jolt down to Tyre Mart to get wheel alignment resolved, shouldn't take too long! Boy did I have a giggle! They have two white "laaities" that runs the alignment section, so this youngster pulls the bus in, with a bit of a "stoei" to drive it and get it into 1st! Then he guts underneath the bus, stares at the "tie rod ends", looks at the computer, looks at me, looks at his buddy and "How the F@ck am I supposed to set this????" I had a lekke chuckle on his account! Sanity prevailed and the other laaitie came and explained - loosen the steering wheel clamp, turn the driver side wheel to 100% position, lock steering and right front wheel, then play with the tie-rod tube" until the passenger wheel is aligned!". Ten minutes later and all was done! So I also learnt from this "comedy hour"!

I got them to put the Bus on the lift to set the LHS brakes up a tad to get the differential balanced, and back to DEKRA. Wheel alignment passed, Brakes NO Diffs from earlier, non at all - this after I've adjusted them UP by about 3 clicks!!! Sommer got the DATADOT done (which is required due to the engine swop - another R800 gone).

Long story short - drove straight Centoria Brake & Clutch for them to see if they can resolve. Got the call the next morning that the Master Cylinder is shot!!! So they've sent it into Engineering works for a "Resleeve" in order to resolve the brakes issue - all else checked out 100%! So hopefully I'll get the bus back on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning to take it back to complete the Roadworthy in order to get to the Police Clearance...

So in the meantime I've also been busy converting the Bus for the roadtrip - I aint taking no Tent along, so I've built me a "Rock & Roll" bed. I found the Just Kampers pictures on the Net, and it had sufficient dimensions on the drawings for me to deduce the rest, did a complete redraw, and starting the FAB process. Having said all of this, the JK design is for a "T4 Kombi" (http://www.justkampers.com/vw-t4-parts/ ... -2003.html ) which I've modified as and where I saw fit, but alas it fitted like a glove!

Just Kampers R&R Bed.JPG

Just Kampers R&R Bed_1.JPG

I think mine came out quite nice, folded out it gives me a bed of 1,8m x 1,47m wide - sufficient for most...I fit with a few inches to little, which will force some "spooning" HEHEHE.

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So for now it is a waiting game to get the Bus back from Centoria and get all fitted before next Wednesday, intime for the Early start on Thursday up North.

Anyone interested in my drawing, I'll post it...