73' Baywindow build..

[Mk1 fa'days]

I wish i could drive that low in my mk1's and not have to worry about breaking everything, I may have missed it but what are you planning on doing for an exhaust? Will it be hidden like the drivetrain?

This thread is inspiration for me to do what i can to get my dad to let me lower his (my former) baywindow

Edit: Fook ya page 5

[A1steaksauce]

I wish i could drive that low in my mk1's and not have to worry about breaking everything, I may have missed it but what are you planning on doing for an exhaust? Will it be hidden like the drivetrain?

Edit: Fook ya page 5

i'm gonna go back and delete a post so i can claim page 5

you'd have to do quite a bit of work to a mk1 to roll it out low with no fear. it's been done, just takes time.

honestly i don't know what i'm gonna do with the exhaust right now. currently the motor fits back there with the stock exhaust minus the pea shooters. i could easily take and turn the pea shooters down and have them dump towards the ground. there's tons of room back there so it lends itself to many exhaust options. i guess i'll revisit this when i get back from the show....i still have lots of loose ends to tie up with her. the overall build is far from complete

[LooseNuts]

For the exhaust issue. What I did was cut the existing stub out off cap and weld them up. Then drilled two new holes out the bottom welded a 90 degree elbow. so the pee shooters would exit at the stock location.

[Schell R32]

Put em straight out he rear valance area...like an old mopar!


...or through the bumper area like a thing.

[wannabaja]

You are going to want to do a side exit like mine or you will significantly kill an already bad deproach angle.

[A1steaksauce]

For the exhaust issue. What I did was cut the existing stub out off cap and weld them up. Then drilled two new holes out the bottom welded a 90 degree elbow. so the pee shooters would exit at the stock location.

Put em straight out he rear valance area...like an old mopar!


...or through the bumper area like a thing.

check out this pic:



they sit in a weird spot. i could easily just install them and bend them to shoot out underneath everything

You are going to want to do a side exit like mine or you will significantly kill an already bad deproach angle.

i'm going to hang a phat boy muffler off the back just to piss you off

i still haven't decided on what exhaust setup to even go with...be it a merged header or stock setup...so that's a bridge i'm not even close to crossing yet.


i cut off work early to knock out some things so in the meantime enjoy the video

"i slow down and let the gold diggers count my spokes"



i then finally gave her a quickie bath.




cleaned up surprisingly well for just some basic soap and water.

then it was back inside for more finishing work.

i welded the brackets in for the passenger's seat:


then i cleaned up and painted my awning bows:


need to redo some of the wiring for the motor. would love to make the charging system work and at least get the engine to start off the key switch...right now having to start it back in the engine compartment isn't too pleasant if she stalls out

closer. on all fronts.

[LooseNuts]

"i slow down and let the gold diggers count my spokes"

I SAW YOUR FACE!!!!

[A1steaksauce]

I SAW YOUR FACE!!!!

i don't do my own stunts so that wasn't me

PS...answer your PM's good sir

[LooseNuts]

i don't do my own stunts so that wasn't me

PS...answer your PM's good sir

lol you said i stopped so it must be you.


i will check it right now.

[wannabaja]

i'm going to hang a phat boy muffler off the back just to piss you off

At that ride height, you have plenty of room to!

Weld up one hole and side exit the other. If you want to 1 up Das Bull, you will keep both holes and do a merged pipe.

Do it. You will thank me later.

[ZoSo914]

For the exhaust, I'm thinking big fat semi-truck stack out of the side. You know, one with the flapper to keep the rain out....

[buggyman]

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.



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'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.

steak ,why not just remote the new reservoir you have wherevever you want it to be setting it up kinda like a bug

using the properly sized elbows?:
http://www2.cip1.com/SearchResults.a...ch=113-611-810
http://www.chircoestore.com/catalog/...p?topic=4871.0
See what I mean?

[A1steaksauce]

At that ride height, you have plenty of room to!

Weld up one hole and side exit the other. If you want to 1 up Das Bull, you will keep both holes and do a merged pipe.

Do it. You will thank me later.

i'm not sure i'm going to even run a stock muffler on whatever motor i end up putting in there so you're debating a moot point

steak ,why not just remote the new reservoir you have wherevever you want it to be setting it up kinda like a bug

yea i did think about going that route. and honestly i was going to make that my last ditch resort if i couldn't find a bus reservoir. the only draw back to that setup is i would have to run two lines to the reservoir unlike the bus setup that just uses one. space is already at a premium up underneath there and it would be rather tight to accomplish that.

thanks to wannabaja i did get sorted and i'm rocking an early bay reservoir setup i do need to source the early bay fill bottle for inside the cabin however...the later bay one i have is designed to sit behind the seat....well i've sort of modded that to the point that it won't work anymore via my tubs so i've got her zip tied to the heater tube inside the cabin for now.

[wannabaja]

thanks to wannabaja i did get sorted and i'm rocking an early bay reservoir setup i do need to source the early bay fill bottle for inside the cabin however...the later bay one i have is designed to sit behind the seat....well i've sort of modded that to the point that it won't work anymore via my tubs so i've got her zip tied to the heater tube inside the cabin for now.

You should have grabbed mine temporarily as well.

[JDII]

LOOKS GOOD STEAK. I THINK YOU GONNA MAKE IT BRO.

[A1steaksauce]

You should have grabbed mine temporarily as well.

meh, i had the later style zip tied up already so i didn't see an issue with just leaving it alone for the time being.

but thanks

LOOKS GOOD STEAK. I THINK YOU GONNA MAKE IT BRO.

nothing says quality wiring like screw connectors and electrical tape:



what a freaking mess..

there wasn't a wiring loom that wasn't hacked into. hell they even hacked into the starter wire and of course did a quality fix with some electrical tape. i saved part of the hazard/turn signal loom but even it will need some repair work to it. i haven't seen a basterdized wiring harness this bad in awhile. but then again there were quite a few grateful dead stickers on this bus, so i guess that does explain it. but who in their right mind hacks into the wiper harness? wipers, really???

i couldn't take looking at it, let alone having all that crap sitting there so i pulled all the wiring in the front. need to get underneath the bus and take out the remainder of the front to rear loom however....all in good time though.

so i wasn't happy that i had to jump to the rear of the bus to start her and i also didn't like that i wasn't charging the battery when i was driving her...killed the battery out in front of the shop cranking on her, but that's another story....so i grabbed some spare wire laying around the shop and i made my own temporary wiring harness to make her work off the key switch and get the generator to charge up the battery while driving her

even made it easily removable in the rear so i can hide this all away at the show

i fully plan on rewiring the bus at a later date and getting rid of the 70's technology when it comes to how everything was ran originally but for right now my little loom works fine as wine

[4supreme2gambino0]

[buggyman]

i'm not sure i'm going to even run a stock muffler on whatever motor i end up putting in there so you're debating a moot point



yea i did think about going that route. and honestly i was going to make that my last ditch resort if i couldn't find a bus reservoir. the only draw back to that setup is i would have to run two lines to the reservoir unlike the bus setup that just uses one. space is already at a premium up underneath there and it would be rather tight to accomplish that.

thanks to wannabaja i did get sorted and i'm rocking an early bay reservoir setup i do need to source the early bay fill bottle for inside the cabin however...the later bay one i have is designed to sit behind the seat....well i've sort of modded that to the point that it won't work anymore via my tubs so i've got her zip tied to the heater tube inside the cabin for now.

My bad steak ,I shoulda 'splained better my evil plan:
Don't install the master reservoir ,just use the elbows Y'd using a barbed fitting like

close to the master to retain the single feed line from the fill reservoir .
If your pedal pushrod & brake shoes/pads are adjusted up correctly you should only see ~a 1mm drop of the fluid level in the fill tank between the brakes fully off to mashed down hard + you'd end up with more room to werk with there above the master .
See where I'm goin' wit dat? .

[LooseNuts]

meh, i had the later style zip tied up already so i didn't see an issue with just leaving it alone for the time being.

but thanks







nothing says quality wiring like screw connectors and electrical tape:

at least it has screw connectors. i just got my 85 4Runner and it looked like a mouse eat through the some of the wires and dude just taped ALL the splices back together. nothing better than 3 pieces of 6" wire all taped together to make it form one location to another

[A1steaksauce]

so after getting soaking wet more than once and the bus damn near falling off the trailer while loading in the rain i'd still say the show was a damn good time.



i got lumped into the baywindow camper class so i was up against some absolutely beautiful restored campers so the fact that i even made the top 3 was a surprise to me. i would have been happy with a 3rd place win at that point

but what really made my day happened at the beginning of the show.

i unloaded the bus without incident in the morning. planning ahead i registered before i unloaded. after the tow vehicle got parked i fired up the bus and proceeded to roll into the show like a boss. i honestly couldn't believe all the looks she got just rolling in. i made my way to my baywindow area and parked the bay. set her up and then started walking around. i noticed one of my friends showed up with their convertible so i went up to them. they asked me what i ended up bringing and i proceeded to tell them that i "brought the lowest bus here." at which point some random guy next to him turns to me and says "that F'ing low as hell bay? that's yours? that thing looked F'ing awesome rolling in. we were all checking that thing out as it passed on by." i got a chuckle out of that. something as simple as that made the show for me from that point out. so whoever you were that said that to me, this is for you good sir.

here she is all parked:


all day...

i talked to so many people about her throughout the day and to my surprise there was nothing but positive comments from everyone i talked to, both young and old. i had a nice conversation with a couple of older hard core vw purists about the bus. they pretty much said straight out that they don't like lowered vehicles whatsoever but both of them agreed for whatever reason they really liked this one. said the "stance" was great, rims set it off, and it was all really well done. i kind of chuckled to myself to hear guys in their 60's use the word "stance" but it was all good none the less.

now this is harder to accomplish than it looks...

the deck doesn't tilt on the trailer so i have to get creative with loading ramps and wood. but luckily for me there's some angled loading ramps of sort by where i work...so i was able to pull up to them and easily load the bus straight on.

and the worst part of my day:

now i've done this show before and i know there's some drop offs in the parking lot off the paved section so i could easily take advantage of them to help me load and unload. unloading went easily in the morning when it wasn't raining. however right after awards it started raining on and off with no signs of slowing. i managed to get the front of the bus on the trailer and when i started to load the rear the rear tires bumped the ramps and knocked them off...which seeing how i was loading by myself i didn't see it happen until it was too late. the rear end of the bus was off the trailer and the ramps were below it laying on the ground. "crap, i really need a fork truck" i thought to myself straight off. luckily some of the high school football team was practicing earlier that day and a couple of them were passing by when misfortune struck. i backed the trailer up which shoved the bus rear tires right up against the trailer. then with a spare ratchet strap i would crank down on the front of the bus while they shoved from the rear. we managed to walk it up and onto the trailer in less than 5 minutes. i paid them for their assistance and thanked them. totally saved my ace.

but that settles it. i'm not trailering this sucker again unless it's broken down so i've started securing parts for a healthy motor build and going to talk to a local shop about building me a stout beetle transmission to handle the bus.

i had so much fun driving her around at the show this weekend i want to see this project thru to the end and make it to a few more shows first.

only major problem that came up was the clutch pedal. it hangs down far too low when i'm going to shift gears. this could end up being a major problem at a bad time. i need to come up with a new system for it so it doesn't do that. i was brainstorming ideas all the way home from the show and i'll probably make that a priority when i get back on her.

i've decided to take the rest of this month off and enjoy some free time. i'll see everyone back in September when it's time to pick this back up again and see it all the way thru

[JDII]

Glad to see you made it steak, and that the bay was a success. I luv that front bumper!! That girl in the green shirt is scratching her head in disbelief.

[LooseNuts]

nice job on the 2nd place. and i also love when the old guys comment on our low cars. i go to the beaches cruising all the time in my area its every Wednesday night. 95% muscle cars and about 10 VW's sow up and i love the looks i get when i drive down the main drag of the show entrance where everyone is lined up to watch you come in. the looks are awesome.

[charlie_murphy!]

Congrats mang! She looks super-sexy on those wheels!

[mk3junk]

f-ing congrats man! you deserve it!

[peitrus]

thats friggin awesome. right next to those stock campers. congratulations

[A1steaksauce]

Glad to see you made it steak, and that the bay was a success. I luv that front bumper!! That girl in the green shirt is scratching her head in disbelief.

thanks! yeah it was funny...i'd go walking around and head back to the bus and there was always at least a few people looking at it. i totally snapped that random pic when i was walking back to get water.

nice job on the 2nd place. and i also love when the old guys comment on our low cars. i go to the beaches cruising all the time in my area its every Wednesday night. 95% muscle cars and about 10 VW's sow up and i love the looks i get when i drive down the main drag of the show entrance where everyone is lined up to watch you come in. the looks are awesome.

thanks! yeah i agree the looks i got were priceless. if they didn't lead you right to your spot at the show i would have been content to roll around the show for a bit first

Congrats mang! She looks super-sexy on those wheels!

thanks! i'm not a fan of fuchs but they are very fitting on this old girl

f-ing congrats man! you deserve it!

thanks man! when we gonna see some updates on your rig?

thats friggin awesome. right next to those stock campers. congratulations

thanks! yeah the one stock guy next to me was rather miffed that he was next to me...didn't say two words to me and kept his sliding door closed....which was sad as i had some questions about his very clean bay.



ok, true to form i'm back at it. today i got the gas tank shelf mocked back in. just need to finish welding it all in tomorrow then i'm on to "lowering" my gas tank

forgot the camera in true steaksauce fashion, so pics tomorrow

[bansheelos]

Awesome work A1!!!!

[A1steaksauce]

Awesome work A1!!!!

thanks!

your rig is coming right along...i'm betting you're shooting vids of it running around as we speak!

gas tank shelf is all mocked up. please don't mind the two supports at the front, i've haven't finalized them and they still need to be trimmed.




next up is to make side pieces and weld them in, then the gas tank shelf will be complete.

i was able to get away with only raising up the tank shelf 2 inches. very modest as far as everything else goes. so with that i only have to drop my gas tank 2 inches in height for it to fit again. if i can be sneaky with it i might not loose any serious fuel capacity. i'm changing up how it is mounted however.

[wannabaja]

woot!

[carsluTT]

awesome work, keep it up!

[Woody426]

Mad fab skills brother

[Woody426]

Glad to see you made it steak, and that the bay was a success. I luv that front bumper!! That girl in the green shirt is scratching her head in disbelief.

I think shes scratching her head wondering where the Big Macs are.

[cvrkickercomp]

now this is harder to accomplish than it looks...

the deck doesn't tilt on the trailer so i have to get creative with loading ramps and wood. but luckily for me there's some angled loading ramps of sort by where i work...so i was able to pull up to them and easily load the bus straight on.

This I can attest to... It was a hell of a time getting it on the trailer at dub dash, but was totally worth it

[A1steaksauce]

This I can attest to... It was a hell of a time getting it on the trailer at dub dash, but was totally worth it

thanks again for the help it was totally a last minute thing me bringing it to the dash, but i'm damn glad i did. first time i slept in it and it was totally comfy


now i need a good kick in the ace.....

so i decided to keep this girl. "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with..." i now planned to turn it into a high roof camper, removable stripper pole and everything. i've always wanted a high roof baywindow camper, long before the guys over in england laid out that green one that everyone knows.

soooo...

i found this camper top section in canada and instantly paid for it. figured out what i needed to get across the border and thought i was all set to go get it, but it turned out i was wrong...so now i'm out the cash for the top and no top sad panda.

to add insult to injury we've been cleaning house at the shop and bus has turned into a catch all for crap:



motivation is lacking right now pretty fierce.

[IronTrap]

Keep it up dude, killer work. You've got the vision.. now make it happen! :endpeptalk: