First take off the handle. It’s probably the easiest thing remove on the whole vehicle. Just take out the single Phillips screw …   Now you’ll need a plastic tie. It’s made of material that will last.   It’s gotta fit right in the notch. If you cut it just right it’ll stay in …   Now put the handle back on. It shouldn’t wiggle any more but if it still does just put a second piece of plastic tie […]

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Setting the end play is the only real adjustment one has to do when assembling the engine. Adjusting the valves? Not so critical, especially with hydraulic lifters  – you don’t even need a feeler gauge. You can adjust the end play with a feeler gauge but the best way to set end play is with the engine fully assembled and with a dial indicator. You should always install the distributor drive gear in after you set the end play. The gear […]

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The wiring for your voltage inverter installation doesn’t have to look like a plate of spaghetti …   Put the inverter here – it’s attached via several layers of Velcro glued together. This allowed for an adjustment of height to prevent the base of the inverter from touching that nice Westfalia wood. Velcro alone wasn’t stable enough to it’s glued together. It’ll be easy enough to remove the inverter should anyone ever need to work on the air conditioning. There’s […]

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Often, it’s the switches. Always check switches before attacking motors, locks or anything else. The switches must work freely (read “snappy”) for the windows to work properly. They can get stuck (intermittently) in no-man’s land. They have two basic positions – on and off. For instance, if the passenger side switch gets stuck (it’ll feel sluggish or mushy, not snappy) between the on and  off position,  whether in up or down direction, and since the driver’s side window switch for […]

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Lot’s of 6 volt VW’s out there have been converted to 12 volts. If you require a voltage regulator for the 12 volt generator, put it under the back seat where VW put it starting in 1967. You’ll need a couple holes to mount it. Don’t use a drill. A drill will remove the metal. Best way to mount it is to use an ice pick or something similar. This will not remove any metal and you’ll end up with […]

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The only special tools you need are a Sawzall  and a press or access to one. But first, here’s some real important information you won’t find in the Bentley book … VW puts a new ball joint in the brand new VW bus on the assembly line long ago. One day, may years later, someone puts another one in the same hole. Realize, every time the ball joint gets removed, it takes a little metal from the trailing arm with […]

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Installing a 4 inch narrower front axle beam on your air-cooled Volkswagen with the original springs cut 4 inches shorter to fit … A. Makes the vehicle more stable, corner better, makes it harder to flip over, and it makes fancy wheels fit. B. Makes the vehicle less stable  and it makes your spine tingle when it feels like the vehicle is going to tip over when unaggressivly changing lanes on the freeway at 50 mph (especially in a bus) and […]

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And if you wanna lock it, use search on this site using “latch” and read it all. There’s more useful stuff regarding latch repair but they often need nothing more than lube, then maybe a spring, then … read. You’ll find it. It’s just than I needed a spring today, had no more used ones and found this at Fastenal. It works. You may find this spring is broken (missing since it likely broke long ago and fell away).  With […]

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The generator turns about 75 percent faster than the engine. At 4000 rpm at the engine, the generator is turning at 7000 rpm. That’s real fast. And since the generator is the cooling system, it has to be as reliable as the engine. Engine bearings are lubricated by a constant supply of oil pumped to them. The generator has permanently sealed ball bearings. It’s amazing how long they  last. To check them, remove the belt and spin the generator with […]

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Wow.  Those VW engineers – every time they improve something, they create another problem. They add lights so they add wires. They add cookies, you don’t get any milk. And sometimes they drill a new hole in the engine case and you get more oil light on. I don’t know what they were drinking that night.   I built an engine for a 1977 bus. I put the engine in the bus. I drove it. It ran great. 50 mile […]

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