Itinerant Air-Cooled

Mike Boell wrote:P.S. Did I mention that the Maupin campout is but 5 months away?

Good lord, I'm scroood.
Colin

Amskeptic wrote:

Mike Boell wrote:P.S. Did I mention that the Maupin campout is but 5 months away?

Good lord, I'm scroood.
Colin

Why, is your bus engine scattered about on your garage floor too?

Mike. Yes I did call Troy at at A-1 Automotive. We discussed what I wanted,(stock rebuild), and he said bring "everything" in and with a $200. deposit he would evaluate it all and let me know what is good and not.
Now I'm just waiting for some extra money.

Mike Boell wrote: Why, is your bus engine scattered about on your garage floor too?

My mind and my future is scattered about my drawing board. . .
Colin

Hammy, honestly, that's the last thing we need at this time.

Will it get him rolling faster? Yes.
May it also be a total basket case? Yes.

Adds: At this point of time, just to be safe with the engine and finally have a known intact engine, it's much better to have a well done rebuild with a redone lower end and a known set of decent heads.

Xelmon wrote:Hammy, honestly, that's the last thing we need at this time.

It is the first thing you need at this time . . .
I might need it some day, with original carbs, too.
Thanx for buying and storing it for me.
Colin

I say go for the used engine - there's a lot you can check for even without starting it up (assuming it is out and can't be run):

- broken exhaust studs
- helicoil or their ilk in the spark plug holes
- cruddy engine oil
- condition of each of the four plugs
- oil leaks
- end play
- underneath valve covers ... nice and clean, or does it look like it was left open in a carpenter's workshop (don't laugh....one of the banks on my used engine was filled with saw dust/shavings)

Long story short, I bought a bus carcass that was filled with all the parts from essentially two buses just to get the 76 Type IV engine that was supposed to be in good shape. After selling the bus and most of the major components, engine cost me about $200. So was feeling pretty smug.

Until Colin came over that summer...pointed out the helicoil in the #2 position... bird sh!t all over, and yes, wood shavings under the VC. But, end play was good, and it looked to be a 'virgin' (ie case hadn't been cracked). Bottom line? I spent 1.5 years tracking down a bucking/lurching poor mileage scenario. At this point I'm fairly confident it was a bad temp sensor II coupled with a slightly stripped hole for said sensor. I put in a new (2nd one) temp sensor with some lock tight and all is good now. I've put about 15k miles on it since. It still has the same plug in the helicoil (wouldn't give it up - colin said clean it and drive it) it's also noisy, as two of my exhaust studs are stripped..one broken, so the head is toast. But otherwise she drives great!

Was it financially cost effective for me to do this vs rebuilding it from the get go? Definitely not, and couldn't have gotten away with this if it was my DD...however, the knowledge I gained bringing it back to reliable driving status, plus some epic Colin marathon sessions to see it come alive - priceless.

Either this year or next, I will at the very least put some new heads on it, and possibly new pistons/cylinders. To give me another 20k-30k miles ...or until I'm ready to take that epic journey to Alaska - will do a full on rebuild before I do that.

TrollFromDownBelow wrote: the knowledge I gained bringing it back to reliable driving status, plus some epic Colin marathon sessions to see it come alive - priceless.

Itinerant Air-Cooled - bringing priceless to your door

He already has two 2.0 L engines sitting there. I don't think adding a third, and different, one is going to streamline things. Build up one bus from the two he has and then decide what to do with the rest seems like a valid plan.

Mike

Kubelwagen wrote:He already has two 2.0 L engines sitting there. I don't think adding a third, and different, one is going to streamline things. Build up one bus from the two he has and then decide what to do with the rest seems like a valid plan.

Mike

Absolutely. Thank-you for stepping up to the plate and buying that 1800 with factory dual carbs. I might be able to pick it up in the next couple of years or so.
Colin

I can keep it for you until summer.

hambone wrote:I can keep it for you until summer.

That would be great. Now I need to find a '73 with sunroof.
Colin

Joseph,
I think your thread has been hijacked.
What is all this nonsense about buying a third engine?