1969 California Camper

[Tom Powell]

[69Weekender]

Update:
I rebuilt the rear brake and put everything back together. The bus has been sitting on jack stands for three weeks now and there is good and bad news.
Bad news: Even after bleeding all four brakes the pedal is still soft and it takes way too much effort to stop the bus. Not really sure what to do.
Good news: After not being started for three weeks, Linda fired right up after three pumps on the gas pedal!

No pictures this time, sorry
_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[Tom Powell]

The Bentley procedure for bleeding VW brakes is different than what seems to be common sense. Chevys and Fords you bleed the cylinder furthest from the matercylinder first, second furthest second, etc. I don't know why the VW procedure is different, but that's what the Bentley says.

There was a Vanagon post about someone having problems bleeding their brakes. They were getting air sucked back in by the bleed screw threads. You need to completely close the bleed screw as the pedal is going down and it has to stay closed as the pedal goes back up.http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=653282

Bleed until you see clean fluid in the vinyl tubing you attached to the bleeder screw and keep the reservoir full.

Aloha
tp

[69Weekender]

[69Weekender]

Can anyone identify this spare tire mount?

_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[khalimadeath]

Looks aftermarket to me, but I wouldent really know..

[RocketSurgeon]

I have the same mount. Coincidently enough, it's on a 69 camper imported to San Francisco.

_________________
69 Westy

[69Weekender]

[RocketSurgeon]

It just snugs up against the nose. The tire definitely leaves a mark. You can always get some nuts to move the wheel out a bit.
_________________
69 Westy

[69Weekender]

Haven't really had a lot of time to work on the bus lately bus I got some little stuff done and prepped for some big stuff tomorrow.
It was my birthday on Wednesday and I got a couple things for the bus.
A VDO Oil Temp gauge with the drain plug sender (ordered the wire kit so that will all be installed next week hopefully).
Another gift was 2 6.5" speakers for the front doors. The old radio was shot and my dad found a mint radio from an old Bronco on eBay. The best part is that it has a cassette player.

The last thing I did on the bus was interior renovation up front. Bought cheap seat covers on eBay, and big 1" thick foam squares fromJoanne's. Taped the foam down and put the seat covers over top. I think it looks really nice.
Spruced up the center console that a PO made. I 80 grit sanded it, restained it to match the new panels my dad made and glossed it. I made a cup holder for it as well (another one will be made this weekend).

Lately, I have been seeing a lot of guys around me wrapping their steering wheels in a natural fiber rope. My wheel is beat so I took a trip to Lowes, found the grass rope I liked and paid all of $3 for it. I ran out about halfway so I need to add that to my list of errands to run tomorrow.

_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[khalimadeath]

my steering wheel is beat too, I may do a similar thing with Para cord. I also recommend putting the speakers in the kick panels. If you put em in the door they will surely get wet and you will ruin the integrity of your vapor barrier if you still have one.

[69Weekender]

There's already holes in the door panels so I'm just going to reuse them.

Yesterday, I decoded the old JVC radio's wiring harness and matched it with the Ford's wiring harness. Completed the install of the wires and it worked! First time I've ever done a wiring project like that before.

Here's my decoding chart.

Also, playing with bus designs:
Lotus white with stocks (or a set of BRMs) and Yellow with BRMs

_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[khalimadeath]

I like the lotus white with stock wheels lowered. Just my opinion. BTW about how many feet of rope did you use for the steering wheel so I order the correct amount.

[69Weekender]

[69Weekender]

So I started the clean/prep/patch/seal/paint process on the cab floor.
I cut out some of the weaker metal on the passenger side. I'll probably cut out a little bit more when I get a chance to work on the bus again.

Scrubbed the floor with Purple Power, as you can see, it made a big difference.

I had a very productive Saturday night. I picked up my buddy on the way home from work and we worked on the bus from 9pm-1am. We rebuilt the passenger rear drum and axle, cleaned up the wheel well a little bit and painted a couple things. We attempted to bleed the brakes but there is still a lot of air in the lines. We tried to bleed the lines for 45 minutes and had to fill up the reservoir twice. This week, I'm going to take the bus to a mechanic that did some work for us on another project car and have him do the ball joints and bleed the brakes.

_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[khalimadeath]

There may be an issue in your line somewhere. Also, on a bus, the bleeding process is opposite of modern vehicles. You start furthest away from the master (so rear passenger) to closest. I bled all my lines, adjusted the pads, bled them again, then adjusted the pads. Then I adjusted the pads once more after pumping the brakes about 50 times just for good measure. Its a tedious process, but doable with a buddy so long as they keep the reservoir topped off.

[69Weekender]

Well, none of my recent photos will upload to the gallery so anyone who is looking is going to have to deal with words.

After five weeks, I finally was able to start driving the bus again. But of course life had to take a slam on me and the axle that I replaced literally 1.5 weeks ago actually fell off the bus and into the intersection. After waiting 2.5 hours for the tow truck, I got Linda home and the warranty part will be here tomorrow.
The story of the bus getting fixed starts with a call to our preferred mechanic. I get the bus there and basically told him "Hey, we have all the parts (ball joints, four wheel cylinders for the front brakes, front brake shoes, all new brake lines and brake fluid). Please put it all in and bleed the system." After a large sum of money later, I got Linda back. On Saturday, I finished the last bit of wiring on my new old Ford radio, got the speakers installed and cranked up the tunes! Finished wrapping the steering wheel, began the rusting process of my bumpers (Ha! Science B***h), cut, fiberglassed and bed linered the front floor. I will be fitting a piece of metal over the fiberglass and using rivets to secure it.

Hopefully pictures will be coming soon.

Lastly, I should be picking up some welding supplies very soon! I am excited to learn and do some real restoration on the bus!
_________________
Mitchell
ISO any California Road Runner Camper parts or info
1969 California Road Runner Camper: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=646780
2015 Toyota Tacoma V6 4x4
Past:
01 Honda Insight, 06 Beetle TDI, 77 Toyota, 96 Geo Metro, 06 Tacoma, 13 Jetta Wagon, 05 Jetta, 96 Corrado VR6
Other ICE Machinery: Alco 251F 16v & 8v

[Tom Powell]

[69Weekender]

[Tcash]