73' Baywindow build..

[A1steaksauce]

Awesome build! Pure inspiration!

thanks!

stupid hippies wreck everything!

in aircooled vw land they do. the more grateful dead stickers i see on a vehicle the worse off the wiring is...among other things

i love how camper interior is so accommodating for rear tubs




so i popped in the shop for a little bit today for some test fitting, mock up, and of course more cutting


first up i installed the non-doghouse puma shroud i picked up for my "trailer loading" motor.

check out how the carb is almost the same height as the shroud...love it


then it was time to cut.

against solid advice i decided to remove the gas tank shelf. i'm going to go ahead and fit the motor/trans then weld the shelf back in...albeit at a higher than stock location. then to finish it off i'll simply modify the stock gas tank to fit in there. i mean i was going to have to modify the gas tank anyways to reach the filler neck so a little more cutting and welding is no big deal at this point.

room for days...


mock up:


lining up fantastic:


looking really good here as well:


i like this shot...in the foreground you can see the old bracket for the cross brace that held the old type IV motor. my type I motor is sitting above that brace. shows how much higher than stock my setup is going to be


then it was time to stand back and look it over....

to say i've got it up there is an understatement however on the upside the shifter linkage lines up somewhat with the original and my worry about exhaust routing won't be a problem as it looks like a header setup will all tuck up nice and high and i only need to deal with the outlet. i've also got the box tubing i need for fabbing up the engine/trans cradle so i'll be starting in on that next week.

3 weeks left to go.

[JDII]

Steak that looks real good bro. It looks like you plan on crankin this gay by hand.

Whats the deal with the halftrack? too many cool toys in that shop. I got to get up that way some day.

[LooseNuts]

Nice work brutha. looks like it is coming together nicely.









now send me those J tubes sections that went with that early 40hp motor

[A1steaksauce]

Steak that looks real good bro. It looks like you plan on crankin this gay by hand.

Whats the deal with the halftrack? too many cool toys in that shop. I got to get up that way some day.

yeah that's a homemade hand crank bolt someone threw on a 40hp that was in a certain early vw. i got the 40hp for free so i can't complain about what all came with it

halftrack? no. that's a john deere tractor...it's simply a canadian version

Nice work brutha. looks like it is coming together nicely.









now send me those J tubes sections that went with that early 40hp motor

thanks! yeah it's taking shape now.











i don't have those j-tube sections. they got placed upon something else earlier than what you and i have




all my brake parts showed up and i had a successful day of scrounging new and used parts at my local vw repair shop so big moves are in the works for this weekend

to be continued

[JDII]

all my brake parts showed up and i had a successful day of scrounging new and used parts at my local vw repair shop so big moves are in the works for this weekend

to be continued

HURRAAYYY!!!

[A1steaksauce]

so i made a check list this weekend...things i need, things i need to get done, and other stuffs.




then brilliance happened.

came up with a way to have a beetle type engine/trans support system that would be removable just like a bus system. best of both worlds.

of course you need to start with stout tubing:



i couldn't get the OD size i needed in quarter wall so i had to settle with 3/16 thick. still plenty strong however.

then i got to work:

angle cuts provide more strength and a greater surface area for the welds. then a little bevel cutting at the joints for greater penetration and i was good to go.

i was also going to be cheating a bit by using the aftermarket rear cradle housing i scored....i figured why reinvent the wheel and create more work for myself by making my own? this came with the mounts i picked up and would work perfectly for what i had in mind.


and what i had in mind:

this will work out awesomely. i had caught some grief from my friend because i didn't box in the top and bottom of my one channel on my rear frame notch because i didn't see that as necessary to do...i see now that my unwillingness to do that is paying off big time.

my new engine/trans cradle will fit up in the frame notch perfectly:



"but does it blend?"

as a matter of fact it does it tucks stupid high as well. i figure i have it sitting at least two inches higher than the lowest part of the frame. plenty safe from road debris and other hazards.


i shifted my cross member slightly forward so i could get additional clearance while keeping the motor right where i wanted it. it sits at a slight angle compared to the aftermarket cradle...however that gives a nice valley to fill with weld on the top and bottom. which actually makes those angles beneficial to the overall setup i'm going with on this beaut.


now is it gonna hold?

my two pieces go up into my notch sections 4 inches on each side. plus i'm going to go ahead and add in some additional gussets to my frame notches for additional strength. top that off with some rather large bolts with lock washers and my setup won't be going anywhere.


and you'd think that motor/trans setup would make me all giddy? nope.

i decided to grab one of my hybrid axles i was playing around with to see if she'd fit. i figured out that watercooled axles have different inner splines than an aircooled axle. however, irs beetle cv's are 90mm like early MK1's and busses are 100mm like MK2 and later...only the internal spline pattern changes. so i took a shorter beetle axle then removed one cv and modified a bus cv to fit the axle. i thought i was going to have to shorten the beetle axle to fit....NOPE. it fit perfectly. perfectly. that made me giddy. very very giddy. so much so i took the afternoon off from the bus.

then i came home and made curtains.

curtains....


perfect copies of the originals right down to the material. very pleased how these turned out.



drilling out the mounting holes for the engine brace tomorrow followed by welding the piss out of the sucker, then it's on to the front trans mount. not sure if i'll get that completely fabbed up tomorrow evening but i'm gonna try. in either case she's getting there.

2 weeks to go.

[A1steaksauce]

"look ma' no straps!!!"


got the rear mount assembly welded and bolted in tonight:


here's a good shot:

you can see how far above the frame the cross bar is sitting...actually you can see how far everything is sitting above the frame i think it's safe to say i'll have nothing to fear rolling her laid out.

then i spotted something...

wait a minute...

is that?

yes...


yeah that's what i think it is...


oh hello there!!!


it's awesome how the fan shroud and whatnot lined up perfectly underneath the engine cover. honestly i was more concerned with how my axles and shifter assembly would line up and really just overlooked this as i didn't feel it important enough to take into consideration....so it's a pleasant surprise to see it line up like it is.


tomorrow i'm knocking out the front transmission mount then the powertrain will be in there securely. then it will be on to getting the clutch cable and accelerator cable moved and working correctly. after which i'll be getting into making the shifter linkage work with the raised beam and new trans setup. still lots left to do.

stay tuned

[DurtyDaily]

sooo badass.

[A1steaksauce]

sooo badass.

thanks!

it's funny to think back to when this project first began...i set out with the intensions of only doing the front beam setup and some drop plates for the rear, but then it simply spiraled out of control from there


tonight's episode....front transmission mount.

scrounging around in the leftover metal section i found some plate. 8mm too thick? naaaaa



made some choice holes and had my new front mounting piece done:



my second piece of the mount was pretty uneventful to make...well that and i forgot to take pics of the process.

but none the less here's everything all complete and bolted in:

please don't mind the original mount piece in there. the bolts were too long and i couldn't find any in a shorter length so i had to use that piece as a washer/spacer of sorts. new bolts will be installed tomorrow

couple of pics:





and my favorite part....

transmission lines up perfectly with the shifter rod assembly.


tomorrow is tackling the shifter rod assembly and quite possibly the clutch cable tube and accelerator tube if i have time.

until then

[4supreme2gambino0]

Dude this thing is gonna be a f'in tank. Very nice work saucey!

[A1steaksauce]

Dude this thing is gonna be a f'in tank. Very nice work saucey!

ha! thanks man

more progress amidst setbacks....

but first, let me show you how much the whoever gets this bus is gonna love me

found another use for my engine cradle:

with a nice sized pry bar i was able to easily pry against the engine cradle, and while using a 2x4 for support (yes not a good idea i'll admit) i could easily install and remove the rear wheel. i had thought to modify a bottle jack to fit up in the frame rails and push down to ease installation/removal of the rear tire but it appears that another, and better, solution presented itself.

then as i knew i would have to, i readjusted the rear ride height to makeup for the fact that the motor/trans are now installed. man, let me tell you, you think adjusting the rear of a beetle is a pita? a baywindow takes it to a whole other level. i pretty much wasted my evening after work just getting the rear ride height dialed in.

so as a result of that the only progress i got on the front was this:

i got her up on stands and started to poke around up under there to see what i'm gonna have to come up with for the shifter assembly before i called it a night.

i'm not too happy that i didn't get done what i wanted to....so i'm planning on getting to work at 6am tomorrow and get a least a couple of hours in before work on her so i can make up for some of my lost time tonight...got to keep pushing forward.


week and a half to go

[JDII]

glad to see you back busy on this bay steak. It looks great and terribly over built, should last a couple hundred years if you keep it maintained.

[8v-of-fury]

You one crazzzzy mawfukka.

Keep it rockin'

[Mk1 fa'days]

Epic

[A1steaksauce]

glad to see you back busy on this bay steak. It looks great and terribly over built, should last a couple hundred years if you keep it maintained.

busy is an understatement all i've been doing lately has been working on this sucker.

You one crazzzzy mawfukka.

Keep it rockin'

Epic

I see some of my MK1 peeps ventured over here to my little thread hopefully you guys enjoy this build. my next build is of the MK1 variety and i promise it will be just as far out there as this one



now i know what you're thinking..."is that what i think it is?" yes. it's a bentley but seriously though...that's the shifter all installed, hookered up, adjusted and looking dead sexy. it's true, i have all four forward gears and reverse. bam.

now i've been studying and researching just how to do this for quite some time. on pigpen's baywindow build he went below the beam with the shift rod...now i mocked that up and even with small tubing i'd be sitting below the frame rails. the possibility of smacking the shift rod on the ground or road debris knocking me out of gear? no thanks. i built this bus to roll completely laid out. i came to the realization that if i went to an early baywindow e-brake setup i could eliminate some of the later bay e-brake linkage...which would be cluttering my path if i wanted to make the shifter assembly go above the frame rail. so once i got that all taken out and i made the necessary cuts i was able to do exactly what i wanted.

up up and away:

now like a dumbace i did some haphazard tack welds to try everything out. i couldn't believe that i managed to get it pretty much dialed in right out the gate once i got my lengths correct on my tubing pieces. happy that i had this piece perfect it was time to remove it to lay down some pretty welds and clean up my piss poor tack welds. whelp, as my luck would have it i couldn't remove the assembly. no matter what i tried it wouldn't come out. eh, it's not like i made my beam to be removable either so i laid a bunch of beads of weld around the joints as best i could. it's not at all pretty but it's plenty strong. and in me staying true to my overkill form i went with a tubing that was a heavier side wall than the stock shifter tubing

another pic:


i can't tell you how happy it made me to sit in the driver's seat and go thru the gears...i even made motor noises while doing so

i'm very close now. tomorrow is going to be repositioning the clutch cable guide tube and accelerator guide tube then extending if necessary. if i can knock those out quickly i'll be starting in on the brakes. i'd love to have all the brakes installed and hooked up by tomorrow's end....i plan on throwing a bunch of hours at her tomorrow to accomplish as much as i can.

until then...

[8v-of-fury]

ONLY after reading this thread have I come to wonder how strong piss actually is.. ?

[LooseNuts]

Skills son.

[JDII]

I think you are pretty much laid out when you have to c-notch your shift tube.

[A1steaksauce]

ONLY after reading this thread have I come to wonder how strong piss actually is.. ?

i'd say it's pretty strong

Skills son.

thanks mang

I think you are pretty much laid out when you have to c-notch your shift tube.

actually i had to c-notch my shifter tube because my changed position of my beam tubes....but i get what you're saying


nothing at all exciting today. i played around with making a nifty shifter cable guide tube up front that would go underneath my tie rod notches...and for all my hours of work i came up empty on that front. it will work, but i'm not pleased with it. so before i welded in anything i went and attempted to just run the clutch cable as is. turns out it will clear under the tie rods, not by much however. but given that i lost a day and didn't get anything done brakes related i'm going to leave it how it is for now and turn my attention over to the brakes. i had a moment and now i have to replace the front to rear hard line...no matter as i have them all but i hadn't planned on wasting the time to get that ran...more setbacks

all day tomorrow is brakes. working my way from the rear to the front and hopefully getting the harder stuff out of the way first. i am slightly concerned with the fact that i'm reverting back to a non-booster master cylinder setup though. not the most clear on where to run my line for the brake fluid res as i've sort of modded where it would have gone originally

it's gonna be a busy weekend.

[JDII]

actually i had to c-notch my shifter tube because my changed position of my beam tubes

I thought that beam positioning change was in order to be laid out.... therefore giving reason for the afore mentioning of the stated shift tube c-notch

now go get some sleep so you can get back to repositioning parts on this bay for the he!! of it, because it sounds as if you are not attempting to have it laid out at all. I have totally misinterpreted your reasoning for this build.

[A1steaksauce]

I thought that beam positioning change was in order to be laid out.... therefore giving reason for the afore mentioning of the stated shift tube c-notch

now go get some sleep so you can get back to repositioning parts on this bay for the he!! of it, because it sounds as if you are not attempting to have it laid out at all. I have totally misinterpreted your reasoning for this build.

classic.


now, i'm not one to rant...but i will a little this evening...

first up, cip1. you can suck it. when offering a kit advertising to be all the hard brake lines you'd need for a 73' bus please include the ones on the calipers. luckily i managed to scrounge up something that will work for the sort term...but i'm going to have to go back and redo this. so yeah not too happy with that.

oreilly auto parts staff. yes i know i come in with crazy requests. yes i know i'm asking for a part on a 73' beetle that you and i both know is going on my 73' bus...but please pay attention. thanks to you i have a 73' master cylinder when i specifically asked for a 69' bus master.

and me. stupid....for not paying attention to the master i installed and then jamming down on the brake pedal after bleeding everything only to have completely ruined a good 73' master granted i ruined the wrong one, but still...i have friends with later bays that would have loved to benefit from my mistake and received a free new master cylinder

so now i get to venture out and pick up the correct master out in bfe tomorrow morning.


BUT RETRIBUTION!!!!

i swapped out my junky 3.88 trans i was using for test fitting purposes for my lovely 4.12 i acquired from Dan at C's Autohaus. and gawd damn it if the old one didn't come out stupid easy and the new one went in there perfectly. even better was how freaking silky smooth the shifter is now that i have a decent gear box out back. if my master cylinder debacle can get sorted tomorrow morning with a quickness i might be able to get the brakes done then turn my attention over to installing the motor and wiring her up. i'm close even though it doesn't feel that way.

tomorrow.

oh and pics tomorrow too.

[JDII]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with vw voodoo going on. I got my drum on the rear started on a test run to discover my girl runnin like chit. Check out back dizzy was loose and timing had slipped. Went and got a new timing light set her to 32 degrees btdc ,it's a 009, and she sounded good. Hit the road and she is loading up and backfiring a bit between 2000-2500 rpm underload. Going to buy a unisync and learn how to sync my 44,s. and see if that helps. Then to top it all off the chiefs show I was trying to get ready for got rained on like a mofo. Oh well sorry for the hijacked rant bout my problems, please continue on with yours!.......

Oreily here is bad. I new they carried optima batteries so I asked about a 6v one. He goes toward the computer and I'm thinking you need a computer to answer that. I said before you ask I doubt you will have anything in that computer for my car. He still asked I told him a 1948 splitwindow vw beetle. He tells me he can't find a 6v Volvo..... I told him the car didn't matter could he order me a 6v optima? He says ther is no such thing, so I left and went to napa the next day. They had one in stock.. I haven't been back to oreily since....yet.

[Mk1 fa'days]

I've had similar experiences with o reillys and always choose napa now. It helps that the closest napa to me in milwaukee is connected to Mofoco so they are always more willing to help a vw guy out

Can't wait to see this bus on the road

Your keeping the full camper interior right?

[neverthesamecar]

I can dig it.

[A1steaksauce]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one with vw voodoo going on. I got my drum on the rear started on a test run to discover my girl runnin like chit. Check out back dizzy was loose and timing had slipped. Went and got a new timing light set her to 32 degrees btdc ,it's a 009, and she sounded good. Hit the road and she is loading up and backfiring a bit between 2000-2500 rpm underload. Going to buy a unisync and learn how to sync my 44,s. and see if that helps. Then to top it all off the chiefs show I was trying to get ready for got rained on like a mofo. Oh well sorry for the hijacked rant bout my problems, please continue on with yours!.......

Oreily here is bad. I new they carried optima batteries so I asked about a 6v one. He goes toward the computer and I'm thinking you need a computer to answer that. I said before you ask I doubt you will have anything in that computer for my car. He still asked I told him a 1948 splitwindow vw beetle. He tells me he can't find a 6v Volvo..... I told him the car didn't matter could he order me a 6v optima? He says ther is no such thing, so I left and went to napa the next day. They had one in stock.. I haven't been back to oreily since....yet.

the unisync is really only good for setting idle. everything else is set by either an a/f meter or by listening to the motor.

napa here is pretty lame. tiny little stores that never have anything at all in stock. if i'm venturing to a big box parts store it's because i want to have it that day.

I've had similar experiences with o reillys and always choose napa now. It helps that the closest napa to me in milwaukee is connected to Mofoco so they are always more willing to help a vw guy out

Can't wait to see this bus on the road

Your keeping the full camper interior right?

you're lucky. like i said the napa's around here are always slim pickings for whatever i might need...import or domestic.

oh yes i'm keeping the camper interior. actually if this bay wasn't a camper it would have gotten scrapped.

I can dig it.

i'm tired. so very very tired. anna kendrick could show up naked with whip cream and an evil grin and i'd take a pass...

but progress...because i don't stop

first up....

a nifty little trick i picked up a very long time ago....this is the easiest way to replace the starter bushing.

take a 12x1.75 tap and with the transmission hooked up to the motor simply start the tap and have a go. eventually the tap will hit the rear of the motor and will start to walk the bushing out...easy peasy:

and note my 6v starter bushing for a 12v transmission...yes i'm up to no good

and reason #583 why i need a time machine...

forking brake res is spaced different between the non-booster master and the boosted master. i so want to go back in time and taint punch the engineer that ok'ed this....because this just funked me big time. no brakes. and no one sells the 69' res aftermarket...and a quick samba search turned up plenty of them on the west coast...but UPS 2 day ship is like almost $60...so i have to decide if i want to man up and spend the coin for that.

but the day wasn't a total loss....

i said F U to the brakes and i made her run.

then i drove her outside to take pics.







funny story....i'm leaving out the door of the shop and the driveway slopes down into the street...so i'm banking hard to the right to not go into the street and the bus isn't turning for piss. i finally make it over to the side of the shop after a two point turn. my lack of sleep and fried nerves don't pick up on what's causing this right away. well when it finally hits me that my steering arm is out of adjustment i head back into the shop to grab some tools, jack and stands. then i got to thinking, "hey, screw the jack and stands, i've got a fork truck at my disposal and it will easily go under the front of the bus unlike the jack." so i fire up the sucker and head outside to lift up the front end of the bus to adjust the steering linkage. man, let me tell you a fork truck is where it's at for getting under a lowered vehicle. sadly i didn't take any pictures of my little adventure, but i'm sure people driving by got a kick out of it...more so because it took a few ups and downs with the fork truck because i had to keep adjusting the linkage to get it right

i love this pic:

you cannot see my motor or transmission. hell it doesn't even look like they're back there

right now i've got the motor jerry rigged to fire off and run, nothing else. true to hippy bus form all my original wiring is completely fubar'ed and i'm going to have to make a new harness eventually...but right now it's on and off the trailer for the show so jerry rigging is perfectly acceptable

and i said earlier that i don't stop and always progress...welp, got to thinking about my little res dilemma and i might have a work around for it...got some ideas brewing. if i can get that sorted i'll have brakes and that makes trailer loading and unloading so much easier

Monday. 5 days to make this all happen.

[mk3junk]

hell yeah dude! take a video when you get a chance.

[wannabaja]

When are you gonna lower it?

[allklrnoflr]

its amazeing the amount of fabrication that you have put into this. speechless

[JDII]

That is so purty. It looks happy to see daylight.

bout them brakes, you could always just pull the e-brake to stop..... the front brakes are over kill anyway.

[mk3junk]

When are you gonna lower it?

from what i know... he wants to keep it at stock height.

[A1steaksauce]

hell yeah dude! take a video when you get a chance.

not really much to video at this point without brakes.

When are you gonna lower it?

i could say the same thing about your beetle

its amazeing the amount of fabrication that you have put into this. speechless

thanks!

That is so purty. It looks happy to see daylight.

bout them brakes, you could always just pull the e-brake to stop..... the front brakes are over kill anyway.

first time outdoors since last october when she made her way over to the shop.

if i had a working ebrake i wouldn't be messing around with brakes at all. i had to remove all the later bay ebrake stuff up front for my shifter assembly to work. i need to go back and install an early bay ebrake lever and cables for a working ebrake. well that and do some work to the rear as well, but that's another story for another time

from what i know... he wants to keep it at stock height.

wait a minute...that's not stock height???




so i went to bed with ideas brewing in my head about how to work around the res issue. i woke up to see text messages from Jason aka "wannabaja" asking what i was after....well seeing how das bull is a ways off from completion he was going to lend me what i needed to make my brakes happen for the show. SUCCESS!!! so a big thanks to wannabaja for that hookup. i've already got an idea brewing on how to repay that favor, non-sexually of course

so after work i rocked 2 hours down and back to his casa to remove the master cylinder and res as one unit. tired and very pleased i headed back to the shop...the weather was right and the music was bumping so i got to work.

i swapped out the res onto my new master cylinder but not before i noticed something..."wait a second, is that a crack? naaa probably just a casting mark." it looked slightly suspect right at one of the brake light switch holes....but i thought nothing of it and installed away. bled out easy like sunday morning and then i went to test. pumped up the pedal and heard the calipers working...but they weren't stopping the front wheel from spinning...and then i heard this spongy squishy sound, not good. a quick inspection and i found that indeed the master had a crack and was leaking at said crack. FORKIN BEANS!!!

and to top things off i was out of brake fluid. so even if i wanted to swap out my new master with a crack for Jason's old master this evening it just wasn't in the cards. so tomorrow i'm going to swing by Oreily's to get another new master on order, they say they can get it in 24 hours, and i'm going to also pick up more brake fluid. i'm hoping that wannabaja's old master will work but if it doesn't i'm going to have a back up plan. to hell with giving up...i want to drive this into the show. into the show right off the trailer, but still

tomorrow.

4 days left.

[zzzdanz]

i'm tired. so very very tired. anna kendrick could show up naked with whip cream and an evil grin and i'd take a pass...

Go sit in the corner and think about what you've said.....

[JDII]

Go sit in the corner and think about what you've said.....

YOU JUST MISUNDERSTOOD HIM DAN, HE MEANT

i'm tired.and so very very IMPOTENT. anna kendrick could show up naked with whip cream and an evil grin and i'd take a pass...

[JDII]

4 days left, my god the pressure cooker is starting to whistle. You can doi it , You can do it all night long!!

and by the way are we ever going to get to see PAGE 5??? PAGE 4 is getting way to f@#$in long I have to scroll for bout a half hour to get to new content.

[A1steaksauce]

Go sit in the corner and think about what you've said.....

YOU JUST MISUNDERSTOOD HIM DAN, HE MEANT

you guys have jokes...i love it

4 days left, my god the pressure cooker is starting to whistle. You can doi it , You can do it all night long!!

and by the way are we ever going to get to see PAGE 5??? PAGE 4 is getting way to f@#$in long I have to scroll for bout a half hour to get to new content.

"tuesday's gone with the wind..."

i installed the crusty master cylinder from wannabaja this evening and i have brakes. they're somewhat suspect but should work for the show. my new master cylinder arrives tomorrow morning so if my test drive tomorrow proves unsuccessful i'll just simply swap out masters yet again...i'm getting really quick at it

i scored a lock set from another bus so i starting to swap it all out. i ended up only needing the rear hatch section because the rear hatch assembly was total garbage and wouldn't latch. i also went ahead and sorted out a bunch of other minor issues this evening and cleaned out the bus. it was starting to become a parts holder for stuff i wasn't sure if i was going to use on her. and i also removed the last of the grateful dead stickers on the interior

still have plenty to do to get her ready for the show however...and i'll be more with the camera i promise


3 days left.