Driving Daisy – 72 Deluxe Refresh

[nathansnathan]

The bus was named Daisy by the po that the po got it from. I am going to make this bus my driver. My other bus I've been ready to do a number of major body repairs that will make it so I can't drive it to work.

Daisy is a 72 Microbus Deluxe, originally Pastel White on top and Kansas Beige on the bottom. Sort of Daisy-ish colors I guess. I bought this bus for $3500 which I think is very reasonable in this area, it was up for awhile on Ventura Craigslist. I think it was up for less than a lot of buses because of the salvage title partly.

The po, Jaime was an English guy who runs a machine shop making molds for injection molding. He had a 73 also that he said goes but didn't like daily drive. He needed to get an engine surround seal on on it I told him. He said he'd bought the bus 5 years ago after coming from the UK. I think it was back in the 70's that he had another 72 camper, and saw it as an opportunity to get 1 again when he got here. He said he bought the 72, then got the 73 right after and had never driven the 72 and left it in his garage for 5 years, never starting it.

He said he'd got it from a native american lady who had been living in it on some reservation. He was saying she had Polio. He commented that it took a long time after he'd got it for all the spiders to go away. She hadn't started the bus since 2005, so it hasn't run in 10 years.

He told me he didn't want to sell it really at first, but his wife had to like maneuver around it to park in the garage and had talked to him about selling it. Some guys that were working nearby had come up to the house asking about his 73, and his wife was like, "...but we have this other one that's is for sale n the garage." So they cleaned it all up, but then the kid didn't show up when the time came, but then showed up 2 days later unexpectedly, but then didn't want it when he learned it had a salvage title. He said the kid then talked to his uncle who knew about old cars and said a salvage title is really a non issue, so the kid calls back and says he changed his mind. Jaime was like, "I changed my mind, too. I'm not going to sell it to you." But with it all set to sell, clean, and selling it in mind he put it up.

Despite Daisy's name, it is a 72 and therefore a hermaphrodite. It has some cosmetic issues to be sure, but I am very much liking its driver state. The ultimate plan is to make it entirely stock, but I want to get it driving... we'll see about the compression as step 1 for the motor. I may put a different motor for a little while.

I need to do the front brakes, at least the soft lines. I'm pretty excited to make this like a driver, get it going, then just do like minor things to it for a long while, like the easy stuff a little at a time, while I move my kombi from that role more toward full on repair. Some things from the kombi I can use on this, like the heater fan I haven't used in years. I'd have it like bare metal except for my 914 is filling that spot for a while yet.It's funny my buses both have 10/71 production dates.

Here are many pics:

I removed some 6"Realistic Radioshack speakers from the door panels - drywall screws. Thankfully, I don't think they brutalized anything but the door cards. Removed the radio wiring harness and a bunch of brittle zip ties and duct taprd speaker wire.

Weird there is a late(?) orange bit for the vents there. Should it not have the 'flap' that overhangs there? I'm not really familiar, as my other is a kombi with close-off bits for these.

I trashed the kick panels. Maybe a bad habit to just remove things that are beyond repair without having a replacement. You end up driving a skeleton of a bus.

Cork leatherette

He had got some seats for the back - they are late seats though. I used some hardware I had. I don't have the plates...

A few things missing, but I am pretty happy with how much is there. I'll probably sell the seats and get early ones, probably have to reuppholster but in proper cork if possible. I will swap in my others, which are black tmi, in the meantime once I get the plates.

Strange Brasillian seatbelts

I had the tire cover, and the twisty hold-downs that I'd been saving for my kombi that never had them (no holes and also Riviera tore the mounts out making it a camper).

I like this. I never had a stock headliner. It is like you are in a covered wagon, or like the michelin man's womb. I guess I should clean it somehow or see if that's possible.

Breathe in that 72-ness, the pancake. It doesn't smell like mice thankfully. I think it's original. Something missing from the carbs. I took out the surround seal as it was falling apart. Doing a compression check, but the battery is charging so no results yet.

I have a lot of the pieces for this already stashed away... actually I have a whole other actual 72 engine besides the one in my kombi, though it is unknown also and kind of barnish. That is a 72 only coil bracket with the throttle return arm broken off.

odd plumbing? I haven't seen one of these hooked up in a long time, but I don't remember there being hard lines and fittings, just rubber elbows, maybe some mini steel coupler tubes, fuel hose and clamps from what I remember.

Several pieces of wood on the battery tray, some damage to the side marker area metal

Battery tray from below, and reinforcements that go from l brackets that are bolted similarly to the engine bearer brackets, like from the side, are these factory?

I hope you enjoy the pics. I will post as I do stuff to it.

[old DKP driver]

That's a nice find Nate,

As for the extra bumper stiffeners, perhaps it had a hitch at some point in
it's life.

I have those also along with stiffeners running across the inside of the
bumper. somewhere in the garage with the hitch.

Did you find this 72 locally ?

Chris
_________________
V.W.owner since 1967

[nathansnathan]

Thanks, dkp driver. Ah that makes sense, a hitch.

Got it in Camarillo, which is like 100 miles from Laguna. Took me all day getting it, caught rush hour on the way up in the morning. Got there at 10 went to the bank, waited for the tow truck. Somehow didn't head out until 2pm, and with traffic, got back at like 5. Wish I'd have kept my aaa premier membership; towing was $425 which is like 8 years of AAA.

[daisy71]

Great find! I wish there was stuff like that around my area for that price. Nice name too
_________________
71 Super beetle

[jtauxe]

Great find, Nathan. That looks like a real honest bus, with a lot of original stuff on it. And I like your plan of getting it all back to stockness. That will make an excellent driver!
_________________
John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD

[Tcash]

Clean
(Stop) If it has been sitting for that long. Change the oil before cranking the engine for the compression check. Water and sludge accumulate in the bottom of the sump and get sucked up and end up in the oil pump, passages and bearings.
So what happens, the first time you fire it up it fries the bearings, crank and cam bearing surfaces.

Good luck
Tcash

[nathansnathan]

Something weird with the motor. I checked the oil and it is like brand new oil, like yellowish clear. Also, I will have to post pics of the rocker chambers - I was stunned. They look like newly rebuilt heads that have never been run, so weird there's not a drop of oil in them or any glazing or carbon, like they were just bead blasted. Some nylon insert nuts on the rocker studs.

My compression tester seems non functional. I think I need a new one.

[Abscate]

[nathansnathan]

So I bought a new compression tester, put on a timing scale, and go to do the valves last night.

I notice it has steel pushrods, but thinner than stock hydraulic ones. The valves are all a bit off, the intakes are loose at like .013" and the exhausts are all tight at like .003". Except #2 intake which is somehow at like .050", like a mile. It feels weird too, like it keeps ending up tight when I tighten the nut. I do the compression check all around and with a kind of tired battery starter combo it is like 90 75 95 but #2 comes up 0psi.

So I check out that valve again and #2 intake has like .050" lash again. wtf? Is it hydraulic this motor? I mess with this valve for like hours and I still can't understand what is wrong. My best guess is the valve is bent and the spring is not closing it all the way, but then it's like as you adjust it up, it slowly is moving out closing, it keeps tightening as you are trying to gap it, losing the gap. I tried it like 5 times (actually a lot more than that). I could like set a .006" gap and then wait a second and the gap would close. I thought I was going crazy, like the valve is moving on its own! Still doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Took off the rocker assemblies and lay a straight edge on the valve tips and they're all lined up. Looking at the lifters they're definitely solid. Put them back on do it all again, like gap it, then there''s no gap, then rotate the motor 720 degrees, look and havethe same .050" gap, but then as you try to adjust it, it is closing the whole while, creeping valve, creepy valve.

In other news, I took off the air filter as #1 is hard to get the compression tester threaded with it in. Also #1 spark plug thread semes buggered some. And that's when I noticed the grey paint on the case, a blue sticker on the base of the bell housing, "tested and approved by GEX." Fuck.

I'm thinking I'm gonna have to tear this down. Bothers me that valve though, like wtf.

[nathansnathan]

Nice so I posted another thread about the wacky valve that wasn't closing, turned out to be sticking from like glazing.
[url]
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...552b[/url]

Compression test turned out good.

I've taken off the carb manifolds and linkage, the balance tube and the other tube, and spent a long while cleaning up the top of the motor and engine compartment. Tomorrow I'll drop the motor, remove the tin. I think I may have seals to do that. The warm u flaps are a bit bindy so I need to address that. Inevitably I'm going to need to clean the tin at least some and the motor, probably rubbing this engine for the next week before it goes back in.

I've been meaning to send a set of 72 bus carbs to utah for rebuild, will try to do that this week.

[nathansnathan]

A bit of progress over the weekend

Some cleaning...

Showing off my engine stand - I built it to match the height of my jack

'
Never saw this writing on one of these. Looks like, "Vergasen carburetor" or "gasify carburator". There is more but I can't read it...

[Tcash]

Now that is a mans engine stand!

[nathansnathan]

Yeah, I love it, it is so overbuilt. 6" square tube, 1/4" wall. The casters are ridiculous, got them off ebay, they are by Albion which is the real deal, actually bought them from the Hershey Chocolate plant. Yoke is from samba classifieds. I used DOM tubing that I drilled and tapped and used bronze bolts to lock it, and they sort of act as bearings.

I' want to make it into a test run stand, I need to get some plate to bolt a 002 bell housing that I've got, then weld some tube to that.

[SlowLane]

[Abscate]

[nathansnathan]

That is cool that you mention the taper in the rocker shaft holes, Slowlane.

I was unaware of this (or maybe forgot) and actually swapped out a rocker shaft thinking there was something wrong with one on my other engine not too long ago.

For so many years I ran a motor that had a heavy duty rocker kit; you have to enlarge the rocker holes slightly to fit straight 8mm studs. I'd had a rocker come loose actually is why I'd changed them, this was like 10 years ago.

I wish they were 8mm from the factory. It seems so much more solid - the 7mm studs always seem on the verge of stripping, often see iffy threads on them.

Incidentally, the heavy duty rocker hardware kits have nylon insert nuts.

[nathansnathan]

I am going to remove and reseal the pushrods tonight. That's where they usually leak from. When I do it I use a little bit of silicone. Definitely need to redo the valves anyway since I set them to .006" and they're steel.. I have only had chromoly which are like the same thing expansion-wise I would think and I would set them to like .003" - I was just doing them for the compression test. So with it out, I've got a set of stock mechanical aluminum ones - I also have a set of 24" calipers to compare lengths. The ones that are in there don't look like the kind you custom cut so I'm thinking they will be stock length.

[SlowLane]

[nathansnathan]

It's never made a lot of sense to me when people talk about viton pushrod tubes, like I think those are the green ones (?), and most of the gasket kits come with those, but they are only for the head end, and not the smaller inner. I've always reasoned that the head is hot and needs better material to work? Maybe people are using viton ones on both ends from some other source?

I remember everyone saying oh now I just do it dry and no leaks, but damned if it works for me. I tried it dry in the motor in my kombi once and ended up leaking right off, despite new tubes and clean bores. Could be pcv issue, last time I had a leak it was from it getting too cold for too thick of oil, and it was the pushrod tube seals that went, so I view them as a weak spot.

Speaking of the bale wire, it is installed improperly I noticed. I'll put it back the right way when I do it tonight.

[nathansnathan]

I've been messing with the motor and tins for a week and a half.

Once they're cleaned off there's nothing to keep the rust from spreading, so I have been blasting and sanding. I finish with what I think is oem Wurth flexible trim paint, a lacquer in aerosol cans. It is semigloss to almost gloss depending how wet you spray, really nice, how it sprays. I etched everything with some ppg dx520 and dx579 I had around.

Getting into the motor, a number of poor assembly issues became apparent. The steel pushrods that were in it measure like .100" longer than stock. The adjusters were almost all the way out, and for 2 of the valves the rocker arms were actuating the valve and you couldn't even get enough adjustment to close the valve. Several of the adjusters were terribly mutilated at the tip also. The lifters however look perfect like they are brand new, but appear to be stock. With the lifters matching stock, using stock aluminum pushrods seems to make it normal. I worried a little that something might be different requiring rocker shims, but it seems to be all stock 1.7 besides the pushrods, crappy adjusters, and nylon insert nuts. I've procured the right hardware.

I ordered viton pushrod tube seals for both ends from germansupply, waiting on that for assembly. I also ordered Rockford 4 CV boots from them - cheaper than from the manufacturer, these cv boots are so great I recommend them highly. I also ordered one of their 'exclusive part' heat exchanger support brackets which was missing.

A lot of other stuff was missing, too. Like the thermostat and bracket. Also missing was the mini flaps and pins for the shroud to heaterboxes, the alternator tin seal, the alternator belt adjustment cover, the alternator woodruff key, the alternator cooling boot circlip, the spark plug wire bracket on the tower, the bell housing timing hole cover as well as the shroud timing hole cover, and both under cylinder tins were missing the little screws.

Speaking of under cylinder tins, I was asking myself why this one looked so lame. It took me a few days to find another of that side lying around to compare.

I'll be using the factory part but I'm pretty impressed if someone made that.

Besides that, the tin wasn't bad, like thick and not too rusty of metal, some had been abused a little. Some I swapped out.

A lot of blasting... there's a glimpse of the heaterbox project I'm planning

All grey and etched/ zinc coated

This paint is really sexy I must say. I've got another batch to etch, and 2 to paint yet.

The shroud was pretty crusty, a lot of oxidation of the magnesium, spots of white. You may have noticed above the charcoal canister had rusted a hole through the bottom and was dripping rusty water onto it. I decided to blast the shroud. I'm using medium grit glass bead. I put some hours into this, pretty spiffy I must say. I've rubbed Gibbs wax oil inside and out - thought about CRCcorrosion inhibitor, similar to factory cosmoline gold-ish waxy coating, but it scratches off easy and this Gibbs is a wax oil combo that is clear.

Sadly I got layed off from my job since I last posted, but I have a lot of stuff lying around here to finish this to a drivable state; I had ordered some stuff just before, so going forward with it. I have some time on my hands as I'm officially employed until the 13th and have severance etc. Gonna check my mailbox today for parts that I'd ordered.

Here's the motor when I first pulled off the tins

and cleaned up. Almost ready to put it back together...

Some more parts to arrive, some more sanding, etching, painting, and I need to clean up the engine compartment a bit more.