LEAKOIL Forum

In order to halt the hijacking of Bruces' thread
http://www.leakoil.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=3068

I was in Florida last week so nothing got done. I had some time this week, so I finished putting the outriggers and jackpoints on. I also took some wire rope and cleaned out the clutch tube, brake cable tubes, and throttle tube with a drill and brakeclean. I'll do the heater cable tubes later.



LR outrigger/jackpoint. I used Autocraft on the right side and "Brand X" on the left side. Sure hope I don't get a flat on the left side. The black ones feel really chincy compared to AutoCraft.



LF outrigger/jackpoint.



LF jackpoint/bulkhead, the glare in this shot makes the left rocker look pretty straight, which is not incorrect:



Lynn the JCW photographer came by to shoot some more, so I removed the doors and did the driver's door hinges. Pretty much the same deal as the other side, glow them, beat the pins out, clean/beadblast/ream, drill a lube hole, and assemble with a new pin and mirror arm. These were not as bad as the RF so I didn't have to braze them up and resize them.



I pulled the steering wheel off with a borrowed puller (nice, eh?) and pulled the box out. It leaks so I'll open it up and at least reseal it if everything looks OK. I was fighting the brake lever pin with the torch and VGs but I didn't shoot any pics of it.


The LF floor is really solid except for a few inches toward the front which I'll splice in. The RF floor will get a whole AC panel. I have a "Brand X" panel for both RF and LF but they feel really chincy compared to the AC. I'll use a small piece of the black panel in the left floor and pretty much the whole AC panel on the right side. Does anyone know if the "door stays" can be installed after the door is hung? I'm thinking so but I didn't try it yet. Dumbass here fought the door back on through the door stay....ugh.


Soon will be the front apron, both inner and outer, these are AC parts from Tom.


This shows the rotted apron, the heater tube which I'll patch, the leaky box, and general yech. This will make a nice "before" picture in a few weeks or months......



I took the column, package tray and doors off. Looking pretty empty up front right now, I can easily lift the front of the bus off the stands by hand. It's so light it's wobbly on the jackstands because there's not enough mass to keep it stable. I have a safety chain looped through the windows to an overhead beam in case I pull it off the stands while I'm working on it. Scary.



I'm roughly 180-190 hours into it, probably 3/4 of the way through the welding. I'm happy, and it's going quite smoothly in my opinion. Like I said previously, I'm revisiting skills I haven't used in decades.
Chug, chug, chug.

I admire your patience and attention to detail, Bruce! Everything you've done so far looks extremely clean and done right! Great job so far!! Ive been trying to slow it down on my projects. I have a tendency to try and get them done way to fast, causing me to miss things and cut corners when i really shouldn't. You've done none of that here. Great work so far!!

Dual Port wrote: Does anyone know if the "door stays" can be installed after the door is hung? I'm thinking so but I didn't try it yet. Dumbass here fought the door back on through the door stay....ugh.

Yes you can, because I just did this

Bruce I am lovin this build thread. I have a 67 thirteen window I am doing for my daughter and you surpassed where I am on it and I have had it for over 2 years. Great work

Another short update, a day or two's worth of work:

I pulled the steering box apart to make sure things were OK inside, and to clean the pitman shaft before putting a seal on it. I drained the oil which was really ugly with traces of water. If you guys haven't ever changed your steering box oil you might want to think about it!

I didn't know if the pitman arm was indexed onto the pitman shaft or not (most are) so I figgered I'd shoot a couple of reference pics of the arm at each lock point. Good thing I did, 'cause the pitman shaft is NOT indexed to the shaft....





Once I got the cover off and looked inside, it was yucky but still usable after cleaning up with brakecleaner:



There was evident of water inside, but not enough rust to get excited about:



The seal itself (CR9710) I'm having trouble finding available locally, Napa's closest one is in FL. I'll try some other suppliers locally Monday before resorting to a VW supplier. In a pressurized application (power steering gearbox) I almost always replace the shaft because in the salt belt the seal surface gets rotted and the seal won't last. Being this is not a pressurized seal means it's not as fussy. Here's the shaft before cleaning it, the rust stains came out with 400 paper and the seal surface will be fine because it's not pressurized. I've changed hundreds of pitman shafts in domestic trucks and cars because of a rotted surface like this. With 1500psi behind the seal this shaft would eat the lip of the seal off in short order:



This little pin for the parking brake lever was a true MF, it took a couple of glow-twist-tug-pry sessions to get the little bastard out. On Samba it seems like they usually use a Sawzall or hacksaw to cut the pin but I didn't want to resort to that.


Oddly, once beadblasted, the pin falls right into the lever and is almost reusable.


OK, back onto the front of the bus, and time to cut out the bad parts of the lower apron/valance, inside and out:



Is that the SUN coming through the window????


There's a protruding lip on the outside of the front nose panel just behind the bumper. Above this lip my nose panel is very solid, it's only below this lip I'm going to replace. The problem is my inside valance is also rotted in the lower section, but it is 6-8" tall, taller than the outer panel that I'm changing. To do this properly I'd need to splice my nose skin 8" up, right in a visible area which I don't wanna do. At this point it looks like I am going to section the inner panel and use only the lower 3-4" of it, cutting it lengthwise, and migging it to the old piece. This means I won't have yet another huge weld line in the middle of a visible panel to deal with. The outer panel will be seamed just below that lip which will be pretty much hidden by the front bumper.

Next: tent the bus, sandblast under the nose, cut the floors, and lower A pillars. I like this a whole lot better than visible panel/body welding.

I bet Motion Industries or Bearing Services would have that seal on the shelf.

My work's been busy so I've been working on the bus, but a lot of shorter days spaced in between work days.

I cleaned stuff up and resealed the steering box. Local bearing places did not have the seal in stock and wanted to charge me freight to get it in, so it was cheaper to buy it off of Ebay for $12 delivered. Strange how that works......

Box looks like new inside once cleaned up.



Cleaned the seal bore with a wire brush in a drill, it and the bushings look like new.



Cleaned the pitman shaft with 400 grit. There's still a slight line where the seal rides, but it will be fine on a manual box.


Tapped the seal in place with a seal driver and some High Tack.









The box cover does not get a gasket so I used High Tack like it's an engine case half.


Done, filled with oil, and ready for final clean, blast, and paint. It has a high spot in the center so I adjust it just like any other American box, (it's an ATE/Ross box!) to zero lash on the high spot. (pitman arm zero side play- no "click")


Left A Pillar with all of the bad stuff cut out. I also tented the bus again and sandblasted the areas to be welded.


Right A pillar with all of the bad stuff cut out, and the toe kick cut out.

Roughing in the right side "A" pillar metal.


That's the nose skin unfolded- it's not welded, it's CRIMPED onto the other piece all the way up!


Right side welded.

Left side, A pillar done, floor done, weatherstrip rail done. Not pretty, but functional.


I actually have the whole inner valance welded in and it went easier than I thought, but I didn't shoot full pics yet. The AC piece fit fukking perfect.

Next- right floor. The AC panel sure fits better than the black generic POS I used on the left side. That should go quickly, then the lower front outer valance. Tip- buy the lower A pillar pieces unassembled. If they're assembled and welded (which a lot of suppliers do) you can't install them with the nose skin on. I got lucky by chance and got them unassembled.

WOW! This build is killer. Great job Bruce. Love the detailed pictures. And I thought it was acceptable to just put more 90 weight gear oil in my leaky steering box! Those lower "A" pillar repairs are outstanding. Great attention to detail.

Bruce,
Could you better explain "....a high spot in the center so I adjust it just like any other American box, (it's an ATE/Ross box!) to zero lash on the high spot. (pitman arm zero side play- no "click")"
Did your box start with slop and after cleaning and changing seal you adjusted all of this play out?