My new bus - 1979 California Transporter (lots of pics)

[SlowLane]

let's see if we can build up a motor in 9 hours.......

I don't understand. Whyever would you want to rush the process, instead of savouring it?

[airkooledchris]

let's see if we can build up a motor in 9 hours.......

I don't understand. Whyever would you want to rush the process, instead of savouring it?

it was a joke, but if I were going to rush it in this case, it's because someone the likes of Colin would be gone by the end of that day and I really like that safety net. im ham fisted and slow to learn, which could make an expensive combination when it comes to T4 engine building.

that said I think im up for the task. realistically im still going to tackle the pre-planned itinerant list I had already sent over to Colin before the bus purchase, but now im hoping to just go over my progress at that point and absorb all the pointers I can to aid in my reaching the finish line on my own. (when it comes to this engine build) - all I really hope for is something I can smog, drive around town, and get halfway decent gas mileage in. it's ability to haul me half across the state with all my camping gear isn't a concern, but if A also makes B - great.

thus far Tom Wilson has only taught me how easy it is to fall asleep when reading in the late evening....

[airkooledchris]

Well ive been digesting as much as I can in terms of building up a T4 motor and come to the conclusion that I really shouldn't use the cam and lifters I have currently.

The cam gear is magnesium, it's a 2l hydraulic grind and the AC Vanagon it came out of was just about the slowest moving vehicle ever. My initial thought was that there were far more issues than cam profile making that van slow, but the lifters I saved to match to it look like they weren't able to rotate in their bores and should probably be replaced. This cam is likely not worth the effort needed to put it into use again.

So - should I go solid? Ive always liked the hydraulic setups over the years, because that's what ive had. Mine have never sounded clattery and im comfortable with adjusting them - but I know there's a lot more options when you get away from stock hydralics than give better performance.

Id still want to be able to smog the thing and run stock FI, so that limits the choices to some degree.

What cam would you go with for good around town performance and decent fuel mileage?

[Bleyseng]

The Webcam stock solid lifter cam which is based on the 914 2.0L cam for a little more rev, hp and torque AND it works well with Djet or Ljet as it was designed for just that. If you can afford it go with the Porsche 911 adjusters as they are almost as quiet as hydro lifters.

[airkooledchris]

The Webcam stock solid lifter cam which is based on the 914 2.0L cam for a little more rev, hp and torque AND it works well with Djet or Ljet as it was designed for just that. If you can afford it go with the Porsche 911 adjusters as they are almost as quiet as hydro lifters.

To go with those style adjusters id have to source a full set of 1.7 rocker arm assemblies as well right?

That stock-ish grind from WebCam and the EconoCam from CB performance are probably the only two im considering at the moment. Priced out the WebCam with lifters and much of the hardware is around $500 and the Raby 9590 with the upgraded springs/etc is around $700. The CB performance site just seems to sell the cam and lifters and you'd source the rest of the stuff on your own, but the cam and lifters are also much less expensive than the WebCam offering. (possibly for a reason)

I know Sgkent really likes that WebCam grind and has had excellent luck with tuning it for smog and still retaining good power and CHT numbers..

[Bleyseng]

Smog is the reason for that cam choice and I have used it in 914's of course. I like Jake's 9590 cams which are the Webcam 73 (early 411 carb cam) with Jakes changes the duration. It really is nice but you'll have trouble passing smog plus it gives you some hp and torque.
Yes, you would have to run the early 1.7 rockers but they are still around for cheap although you have to modify them by grinding off .60 off so the 911 adjusters fit.
I haven't used the econo cam but I have read of a couple of guys having trouble with it. Elgin cams makes some nice cams too but I haven't used them either.
I think you get what you pay for with a cam choice....If you are going to keep this Westy and drive it well cooler CHT's and added hp is nice.

[SlowLane]

The Webcam stock solid lifter cam which is based on the 914 2.0L cam for a little more rev, hp and torque AND it works well with Djet or Ljet as it was designed for just that. If you can afford it go with the Porsche 911 adjusters as they are almost as quiet as hydro lifters.

To go with those style adjusters id have to source a full set of 1.7 rocker arm assemblies as well right?

You'll also need to source the correct pushrods that go with solid lifters. I can't remember if it's hydraulic = aluminum and solid = steel or the other way around, but they are different.

That stock-ish grind from WebCam and the EconoCam from CB performance are probably the only two im considering at the moment. Priced out the WebCam with lifters and much of the hardware is around $500 and the Raby 9590 with the upgraded springs/etc is around $700. The CB performance site just seems to sell the cam and lifters and you'd source the rest of the stuff on your own, but the cam and lifters are also much less expensive than the WebCam offering. (possibly for a reason)

One other thing you ought to consider is that buying from Raby is more likely to guarantee that your cam and lifters are hardness-matched, which isn't something you'll get from CB. That alone would be worth the price difference in my book.

[Amskeptic]

Get a stock profile if you can find one. The stock cam is *the best* for launching off the stop light, up *your* hill, up *your* driveway. If anyone says "yeah, this 5478b XCBreatherGrind 44 cam gives you more torque and horsepower!! they are not giving it to you straight, because this IS a case of pick lowdown torque OR wind-it-out horsepower. You don't get both. Period.

Did you ever drive the BobD? Did you and I do the still-pulling 60mph shift into 4th with the BobD on the 101? Or were we in the Road Warrior? If that isn't good enough for any VW bus driver in this country . . . .

Solid versus hydraulic is truly a subjective choice, I like them both down here in Practical Driveabilityland.
The Road Warrior (did you drive the Road Warrior?) had solid lifters (spring spacers and aluminum pushrods) and Porsche 911 swivelfoot adjusters (which can and will clatter as much as any .006" clearance VW engine so forget about notions that they are "quieter" who here has a problem with valve clatter of all things? boohoo) which help your valve guides a great deal.
ColinItIsAboutWhatYouNEED

[airkooledchris]

How about this for an alternate option?



The nor-cal VW bus crew to the rescue! A new kid in the bus scene (thanks Tristan!) up here has been buying up abandoned busses left and right, and finding some great parts along the way.
Today I received a call that he found a T4 that he believes may be from a 79. Im thinking it's too good to be true, but hope for the best. Seller wants $350 for the complete motor with external oil filter and dual carb setup. I offered, over the phone, $200, and said I could come get it now. He took it, and off I went to Arcata to check it out and load it up.

Indeed it's from a 79. It has square port heads with matching heater boxes. Oddly enough the passenger side heater box appears to be from a Vanagon, but the drivers side (the important one) is there and it's from a Federal model (great, that means I can run 72-74 style exhaust on this, which I have.)

It turned freely and was supposedly pulled from a running bus. The guy had picked it up to convert for an ultralight project but never went forward with it. From what I can tell it has AMC heads and it hadn't been leaking anywhere, as most of the oil cooler and related parts are clean and not caked in muck.

Thermostat is there but in the failed position. Flaps are there and in working order.

I'll start cleaning it up soon and get a game plan on how best to tackle a used and unknown condition motor in the coming days. I should have enough spare parts at this point to get it into the green bus and running. Converting it back to FI of course and factory electronic ignition. Ill get some better pics once my friend comes over tomorrow morning and helps me unload it out of the bus so I can wheel it into the garage. Im sure there's seals and other bits that should be replaced as long as it's out, and ill take my sweet time tackling that.

I'll probably sell the carbs as I can't see using them myself, or trading them or paying them forward to someone elses project. I don't know much about carbs, but this is what they look like:

[airkooledchris]

I took apart the heater boxes last night and found a VW made muffler connected to them. The thing is built like a tank, and weighs about as much to! No port for a cat but it does have one for an EGR (which mine doesn't use.)

It's basically this unit, just made by Volkswagenwerk AG in 12/83:

[luftvagon]

I needed spacers on my vanagon to use that specific exhaust.. are you interested in microsquirting/fuel injecting this motor?
i can help you build it from the ground up, and provide some guidance in getting it configured and running.

[airkooledchris]

im slowly but surely making some progress on the used motor now.

the external oil cooler and related bits are now gone. ive been slowly cleaning it up with carb cleaner, simple green and some old toothbrushes.

I took the flywheel to our local machine shop and had them resurface it. They balanced it with the pressure plate (I brought in a spare crank so they could do this.) - and marked where the pressure plate and flywheel should align to hold that balance.

While doing the flywheel I had them hot-tank my tinware, fan housing and cooling fan. They threw the fan on to check the balance but it was already within a gram so it was left alone. (he even said those German parts are usually pretty dead on if they haven't been messed with.)

The fan housing was pretty ugly even after the hot-tank so they soda blasted it to clean it up the rest of the way. Im experimenting now with paints and what will look best. I had planned to just go all black, as that seems to be the color it all ends up eventually anyway, but I may end up with a nice metallic silver for the fan housing and black for the rest of it. we'll see....


The motor itself has the original galley plugs, so im either leaving those alone or going to JB weld over the top of them to seal them up for now.
After that will be checking and adjusting (if needed) the endplay, installing the distributor and checking where the valves are at currently. (it's hydraulic, maybe it's not worth touching until ive ran it for a little while? it's been a while since this motor was run.)

Im probably forgetting something in the moment but thats the short list. Inbetween tasks I need to tackle the gas lines above the tank (firewall already removed) and clean/paint the engine area.... the battery tray is shot on the passenger side, so I may just relocate it to the drivers side for the time being.

[airkooledchris]

still chugging along. ive got most of it cleaned up pretty well. just need to do the breather tower, intake runners, a few rushrod tube seals, valve covers/bails, check/set endplay, check/set valve's themselves, and start working on a plan for the exhaust and heater boxes.

The PO hacked in a AC Vanagon passenger side heater box, so no idle heat will be pushed by the fan unless I replace it (Busted bus has some good ones, but it's $300ish or some 'crappy' ones for around $100.) - im tempted to retain this hack.

Id like to go with the federal exhaust setup for this. this model only had a CAT and an O2 sensor, so im hoping I can splice those two bits into my spare extractor setup. (A cat with an O2 port between the collector and the muffler?)

[Amskeptic]

still chugging along. ive got most of it cleaned up pretty well. just need to do the breather tower, intake runners, a few rushrod tube seals, valve covers/bails, check/set endplay, check/set valve's themselves, and start working on a plan for the exhaust and heater boxes.

The PO hacked in a AC Vanagon passenger side heater box, so no idle heat will be pushed by the fan unless I replace it (Busted bus has some good ones, but it's $300ish or some 'crappy' ones for around $100.) - im tempted to retain this hack.

Id like to go with the federal exhaust setup for this. this model only had a CAT and an O2 sensor, so im hoping I can splice those two bits into my spare extractor setup. (A cat with an O2 port between the collector and the muffler?)

Looking good!
Colin

[SlowLane]

The PO hacked in a AC Vanagon passenger side heater box, so no idle heat will be pushed by the fan unless I replace it (Busted bus has some good ones, but it's $300ish or some 'crappy' ones for around $100.) - im tempted to retain this hack.

Id like to go with the federal exhaust setup for this. this model only had a CAT and an O2 sensor, so im hoping I can splice those two bits into my spare extractor setup. (A cat with an O2 port between the collector and the muffler?)

Shiny!
Have you considered using a Federal Vanagon fan housing, alternator, heater boxes, exhaust and rear tin? You might find it easier to find those parts than the single-year 1979-only specific stuff. I have no idea if it would all fit in the '79 engine bay, though.