1957 Dove Blue Splitty 11w - 'Vinnie'

[KombiMadness]

Awesome, quality work but this bus deserves no less!!!! You maka me green with envy......

[chuck85]

Mate, that looks unreal

[PASHN8]

Thanks guys

And on we travel at warp speed!



Original date stamped wheels blasted and ready for powdercoating, bars blasted:








The always enjoyable job refitting the glass with new seals. All windows went it smoothly, except this one. There's always one!

















Bars getting ready for paint with Dave on the gun:






Original reduction hub split case gearbox, "i'm not farking cleaning that thing" said Sasha, so on the trailer, and off to my mates workshop nearby who has a diesel hot water pressure washer.

Start off with 4 cans of degreaser to attack 50 years of crud and oil:







140 degree pressurized water, and 3 hours later:







I was covered from head to toe in the splashback. Was GREAT fun.



Sizing up the 1600TP from an L-bug that will power it until further notice:

[MID WEST DUBBER]

This is going to be a quality bus mate, looking forward to seeing it sometime at an event

[rabidkombi]

Loving this bus ,looks awesome

[PASHN8]

Not a huge change in visual progress, although lots of bits getting painted here and there, touch ups blended etc, but the majority has been getting the mechanicals overhauled where necessary to make it drive as nicely and safely as possible.










Motor seems in good running shape, albeit not have been serviced regularly with the usual dirty black oil and oil deposits.





Split case gearbox clearanced for 12v and back in:





Brakes done, all new bolts and washers used throughout:





Coming together with powdercoated tinware, lots of wire wheeling and brake cleaner:





First time test fit to check flywheel clearance and muffler dummy up:





Clutch cable sent by CIP too short, so going to get a replacement on Monday, then final electrics by Jayden on Tuesday, and hopefully first start up!

[KombiMadness]

Great progress and awesome clean up and attention to detail without detracting from the originality of this Kombi. Fantastic....

Be sure to film the first start up (assuming it does fire up) and post up here via youtube or vimeo so we get to hear the engine, please.

[StevieVW]

Unbelievable, that bus is red hot. My favourite kind. Great work with the preservation!

[PASHN8]

Thanks gents!

And the moment i've been waiting for, got sent this today

https://vimeo.com/157997577

[Cam Biscuit]

Its alive!!

[rabidkombi]

Thats great congratulations
Well worth the wait

[Shaven]

shit Dino... this bus is the ducks guts... id be bloody stoked man. Congrats to all

[PASHN8]

Finally today, was the day i'd been waiting for, first drive!

Video -> https://vimeo.com/158171910


I took it for a few blockies around the back streets and it really does drive amazingly well for its first attempt. 1600TP has plenty of go and seems strong, splitcase gearbox shifts nicely, redux boxes and driveline seems in excellent condition, steering box nice, drum brakes a little lacking. Adjustment tomorrow.

All in all, very happy and everything works like it should.

One thing we are trying to work out, is the reserve tap mechanism. Now this bus came with the tank not installed, and no reserve tap, so I purchased a new one, and got the arm linkage from Rick at VR. We installed it with a fresh cable, and this is how it looks as below. The question is, which position is reserve, and which position is main/normal for the arm? Also, should the knob under the front bench be in for normal, and pull out for reserve?

This is how it is currently connected up, and reserve is engaged when you push the knob in, and normal run is when you pull the cable out, which makes no sense? I did read on the samba something about the Wolfsburg West repro taps being assembly backwards, and that you need to swap the long and short tubes a the top, could this is same issue we have?

[KombiMadness]

From memory on my '59 ute, the lever up horizontal to the bus undersurface, as in the photo, is reserve off. When you pull the knob out in the front cab, which pulls the cable, it should pull the lever down vertical to access reserve. Then when you push the knob back in it should push the lever back up to horizontal, reserve off. So yeah, yours seems to be back to front?!
As I'm sure you know, all that the reserve petcock is doing is switching from a long intake pipe (reserve) to a short intake pipe (normal tank), which gives you access to another 5 litres of fuel in the bottom of your tank, which should give you approx. 50km more range.
It's simple but works really well. I had no fuel gauge so I did have to use it a few times, once in the harbour bridge tunnel when I had peak hour traffic building up behind my stalled ute! But a quick pull on the knob and pumping the accelerator pedal for about 30secs to get fuel flowing to the carby, and vroom, away she went!!

[Cam Biscuit]

Sounds like you might have one of the WW repro's - have been reading up on these lately! I gather the tubes are just a press fit and can be pulled out and swapped so that it all works as it should but have never tried this.

Alternatively CIP1 sell what they say is a repro that works correctly i.e. reserve is activated with knob pulled out. I think long pipe is normal tank and short pipe is reserve?