Follow Up

So i had a few things planned, but as usual it didnt quite pan out….

I couldn’t source a single port manifold gasket set (only twin port) so that didnt get fitted.

Rain showers all weekend meant that i couldnt seal the windows.

Bonnet seal did get fitted, but i still need the opposite seal that sits on the body rather than the bonnet.

 

And to top it all off, the waterproof cover i was using isnt waterproof – so the usual amount of water got in but the cover kept it in, and actually heated it up. All that equals mold on my seats. Bugger. Its only a little bit so with any luck it’ll rub off…..    but its still a pain. My own stupid fault!

Not going to be any updates for a while as i’m back at uni but hopefully i’ll be able to get my mits on the parts i’m missing soon 🙂

So its been a while….

Sorry for no update folks – been back at uni and done absolutely nothing on the ’69.

The ’72 has been bought and collected 😦 so thats a bummer, but got the new toy to play with, so its all good!

I’m popping home this weekend so i’ll hopefully get something done on Wall-E, plan on sprucing up the centrelines

from the ’72 ready to go on Wall-E, maybe a wash etc.

Still – maybe writing this will spur me on to doing something!

Pics at the weekend 😉

Update – Just ordered a new bonnet seal for Wall-E as he currently doesnt have one, could be the cause of the water leak (via the a posts). Fingers Crossed!!

Oh and got a new manifold sitting at home ready to be fitted, as when we switched the engine’s over we noticed a fat crack that had previously been bodged with some kind of putty….   the things people do for a quick fix…!?

To Do List: Update!

Right, so i made a start on Wall-e yesterday and its going well! Here’s the updated to do list:

To Do:

• Remove Centrelines from Pepper and replace with  steels (as soon as they turn up)
• Remove one-piece window seals from Pepper and fit in Wall-e. (need to do asap)
• Remove electric washer pump and resevoir from Pepper, check condition of one in Wall-e.
• Have a look at Wall-e’s wiper motor – Its bloody slow!!
• Swap out Wall-e’s horn switch as the current one gets stuck from time to time!
• Fit stereo and CB radio into Wall-e
• Sort out passenger floorpan rust

 

• Sell Pepper 😦

Onwards and Upwards!! 🙂

Seized Engine? No Problem…!

So the following day (Saturday 04th Dec) I decided to double check that the engine was definitely seized to make sure I wasn’t going to take out a perfectly good engine based on what an AA man said! Turns out he was right. After removing the spark plugs I tried to crank it by hand with no luck. 12″ extension bar, still no luck. 6ft scaffold bar, still no luck. Definately seized!

So I set about taking the engines out of both bugs and putting Pepper’s one in Wall-e…

It was a very cold weekend, and took the best part of 2 days (late starts, early finishes) with coming in and out of the freezing rain showers every couple of hours! Luckily I had some help from Ben, Will (another vwfleet) and my Dad.

In hind-sight, reaching into the recycling bin to get a pot for screws with Ben and Will around wasn’t the smartest idea…

The state of affairs on Saturday evening: Ready to take Pepper’s engine

Between us we got both engine’s out on the Saturday and had positioned Pepper’s engine under Wall-E, ready to go in on the Sunday. Come Sunday morning Dad and I managed to get the engine balanced on the jack, and lined up ready to go in, but were struggling a bit as the jack wheels refused to spin on the tarmac – meaning we couldn’t push the engine forward and onto the spline. Luckily halfway through spitting and shouting at it Rob (yet another vwfleet member – can you see a pattern here?) turned up, double checked the clutch was going to line up on the spline by popping the old clutch onto Pepper’s Spline (why didn’t we think of that?! lol) and gave us the additional oomph we needed to get the engine into place.

As soon as he’d appeared, Rob left to carry on with his boiler-man rounds, and Dad went off to walk the dog – leaving me to get the engine plumbed in, Wall-E back on his wheels and ready to test-fire. Will popped round to borrow a couple of parts off the dead engine to fix a some problems he’d been having with his engine and I got him to double-check everything I’d done so far. Everything seemed fine so we turned the key and….

…nothing.

No lights or anything, so we initially thought the battery was dead, but a quick fiddle revealed that even though the Regulator isn’t needed (as it has an alternator) the power needs to go through it to get to the rest of the car (something I intend to fix pretty sharpish) and with that connected the dials lit up.

We put some engine start stuff in the carb as the engine hadn’t been started since the summer, and checked that we had a spark in the dizzy – yup 🙂 Gave it a couple of spins on the starter to check that petrol was coming though to the engine (we also replaced the grotty old fuel filter) – yup 🙂

Nothing left to do but fire it up, so we turned the key and listened to that familiar sound, you know the one, the battery running out of power. Bugger.

The Seized engine, banished from Wall-E!

A quick dig in Pepper produced her battery, hooked it all up and turned the key – nothing. Not even enough to sound the horn!

By this point it was dark and bloody cold, so we packed up the tools, slapped the battery on charge and called it a night. The next day I returned to uni at 6am, so no chance to test the freshly charged battery. Hopefully when I’m back for Christmas it’ll be as easy as hook up the battery and drive off into the sunset….     Then again he is a Volkswagen! 😀