some of you might remember me posting a few weeks ago that I was looking for a bus as my next project. I had planned to wait and do so research and buy in about 6mths or so.
Thank you for all those who offered up some not too bad starters, some inbetweeners and some beautiful busses that I could only dream of building/owning. Top of my list was actually a nice stock lowlight dualcab, But I was afraid that as I do would probably butcher it.
Things rarely go as planned and I happen onto this bus on ebay, just around the corner from me. Really it was like 20minutes down the road! I had a quick look, the body is pretty much like every kombi you'll find now, rust here and there. but pretty much still a solid bus. The twin mufflers give something away
For $1800 It was a reasonable buy, but this is where it gets interesting. There is no VW 4 cylinder back there, some body has miscounted on the push rod tubes
ken Ingersoll from what I have found out in my short research used to do these conversions back in years gone by. 80's-90's?
can guess this is one of his
there sure I a lot of chrome on this puppy
Quit calling rust patina
corvair motor
"Obey your Dreams"!
62 Std beetle.
65 11 wnd Split "The Cross".
6? coming very soon!!!!
Cool!
Does it go??
Futue te ipsum!!!
Right you are Tarin.
It only runs on 5 cylinders at the moment, no compression in one. apparently is quite common to drop a valve seat hen they get too hot. Will investigate in the coming weekends
Quit calling rust patina
The problem is you've got a radiator cap on your Aircooled motor.....
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
11CAB wrote:The problem is you've got a radiator cap on your Aircooled motor.....
Yeah I was wondering 'bout that one too !!!
😂VWDCQ vice pres & web dude - vwdcqinc.org.au
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My toys
'70 Hillclimb Bug 'Jezebel' w/- Haltech EFI -
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'60 KG Coupe - resto kinda started
01 New Beetle - gf's car, but I turn the spanners
😂😂😂 I hadn't even noticed that! I have seriously had 20 minute with this thing since i bought it, haven't even looked if it has a vw box anymore
Quit calling rust patina
Looks like a fairly straight old girl from the photos and that lovel orange might even buff back to a shine with some effort.
Corvair donks run the wrong way so they must have changed the diff at least in the gearbox to make it work plus an adapter plate.
I am sureyou will get it working as these motors are very similar in technology to an aircooled VW donk.
Keen to see why the radiator cap like everyone else.
Cheers,
Scott
Fellow Central Coaster
88 Caravelle Syncro Camper
89 Caravelle GL microbus - 5 speed
69 Microbus
05 Mk5 Golf 1.9 TDi DSG
Noice 🙂
Cap is where you fill the oil......🤓
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
Right you are matt, it actually is written on the cap "oil only"
Will pull the plugs and rocker covers this weekend and see what nik the mottor really is in
Quit calling rust patina
Scottkombi wrote:Corvair donks run the wrong way so they must have changed the diff at least in the gearbox to make it work plus an adapter plate.
Not unless they've turned the whole gearbox upside down..... Can't swap the diff in a Kombi box like you can in a beetle
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
11CAB wrote:Scottkombi wrote:Corvair donks run the wrong way so they must have changed the diff at least in the gearbox to make it work plus an adapter plate.
Not unless they've turned the whole gearbox upside down..... Can't swap the diff in a Kombi box like you can in a beetle
neither as it turns out it has a stock 2ltr box with a custom bellhousing for the motor. And then the "ingersoll' kit is a reverse rotation kit complete with a little chrome tag riveted to the timware with the revised firing order.
Quit calling rust patina
Scottkombi wrote:Looks like a fairly straight old girl from the photos and that lovel orange might even buff back to a shine with some effort.
Ah........... bad news on that front scott is pretty average after todays investigation. The whole thing has had a colour change at one point in its life, complete with polyester rust repair which of course made things much worse down the track. It's quite strange actually, they cheaped out on fixing the rust properly but then went to the trouble of taking out ALL he carpet and even the rubber mats under the seats to paint the inside. Only thing that gives it away is the engine bay, inside the doors and under the window rubbers, go figure
🤪?
this is about the worst of it, I'm not too concerned either way. I can fix this
Scottkombi wrote:I am sureyou will get it working as these motors are very similar in technology to an aircooled VW donk.
Aside from digging holes in the body, I spent most of the day trying to figure out the donk, Basically put it goes together pretty much like a type 4 motor except everything take 1 1/2 times as long.
First thing, it turns over - check
Starter? - solenoid sticks, but it works - check
Compression check-
-1, 110
-3, 110
-5, 110
-6, 110
Quit calling rust patina
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
wonder why it cut my post off there? anyways......
-6, 110
-4, 95 oh oh
-2, 0.00000 Bummer😂
6,4 and 2 are the left hand bank. So seeing as how 4 was also down, maybe the head just needs retorquing, and you know what! all the studs would have needed about 2 turns. I was hopeful!
compression check, - zero, 😠
So the tear down began, thing that sprung out at me straight up as I was pulling this this apart was, how clean and fresh everything looked. I really don't think that it has many km's on it before this unfortunate business.
Just to show how similar these engines are, Those are piston hold downs, deckheight tool I bought when building the baja motor. There are actually guys in the states fitting 94 mm vw pistons and barrels to these engines to take them out to 3100cc
Once again the chambers are barely dirty
And here is the #2 intake valve
#4 intake valve is not much better
Only reason it has less damage I think is because of the broken valve spring, thankfully it has doubles or it could be much worse
All in all a productive exploration and shouldn't be too dear to fix, basically who ever did the heads dropped the ball on probably the quality of the parts he was using. The rest of the engine is full of all kinds of good gear, electronic ignition Viton rubber seals thoughout, copper head gaskets.
Question now arises as to weather to pull the otherside head and stake the seats in before a similar fate becomes them, not much work for a lot of piece of mind.
And to show it wasn't all doom and gloom to day, I started day dreaming about what kind of kombi this will be. Think it will be subi powered and I will just swap this motor into the bus for now and the subi motor and box that I have been prepping for the baja will find a home in the back of the bus, beside aircon would be cool.
I was starting to hate on the wing mounted radiator anyways and more I think about it staying aircooled would be a better option for the baja anyways.
Then the big question arises for the bus, to baja or not to baja?
- I can do this fully legal in NSW
- with a 4 inch lift and stock wheels it will still fit in my garage (yes I measured 😊)
- if I drop the engine and box again, I would not even need to cut the nose off the subi box
- The baja and the bus would actually share the same set of rims and tyres, so less outlay. I checked the fitment of the new rims I have for the beetle today and they are swweeeet!
Quit calling rust patina
besides, how cool would these look with polished ribs? Hanging out the back of the baja?
Quit calling rust patina
Sounds like a plan 😀
There's a few buggies in the states getting around with Corvair motors, so why not a Baja 🙂
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
Who would i get to do aluminum heads in the newcastle area?
Quit calling rust patina
nils wrote:Who would i get to do aluminum heads in the newcastle area?
Aluminium Air Cooled Heads....water cooled run a bit cooler so have a different spec to air coolers I believe. I'd ring VVDS and see who they use, up here I use Swift Engines at Archerfield.
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
Unlimited Head Jobs
302 Parramatta Rd, Ashfield NSW 2131
Phone (02) 9798 6412
They have done the valves and seat work for a lot of the VW guys down here
Futue te ipsum!!!
matberry wrote:nils wrote:Who would i get to do aluminum heads in the newcastle area?
Aluminium Air Cooled Heads....water cooled run a bit cooler so have a different spec to air coolers I believe. I'd ring VVDS and see who they use, up here I use Swift Engines at Archerfield.
Think this is probably what has happen here matt, the fellow that built the heads probably didn't know any better. Archerfield is a bit of a hike from here, though I am going up easter - carry on perhaps?
😂 but will give vvds a call tomorrow.
Today involved a lot of cleaning and stripping the 1980's out of this thing (there is only so much wood panelling I can stand when not on a yacht) Amazing how much of the orange paint came off actually. I wondered why the roof was soo low, it had about 4 inches of insulation glued to it!
I smell a rat
I actually really love stripping the interior of kombi's, they are like a time capsule of other peoples lives and ideas of a time gone buy. Old tapes, notes, messages and business cards, 1 and 2 cent coins and of course then there is a style of an era gone by. My last combi was black inside and out and set the record of over $27 in change.
I would love to hear about some of the stuff found by some of the fellows who strip split window vans (beside chook leavings anyways)
Ah! secret messages left by a previous owner,looks to be in code ......S,4,1,4 something 1,3.... I can't make it out, but surely to remember something or someone important!
By the way, anybody know what this thing is?
Quit calling rust patina
Seems the previous owner may have been well endowed 😀
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
I have no idea what its about!!!
Mitchell
23 windows ...8 too many!
Gday guys turn the code upsid down or am i the dill
ernie
big boobies :-)
roverv8bay wrote:Gday guys turn the code upsid down or am i the dill
ernie
😂🤪 then it wouldn't be in code ! so that makes you the dill.
I dream of a day when a chicken can cross a road without being asked for it's motive!
I have about 20 corvair motors kicking about, tons of spare parts, including s/h heads, give us a holla if you want any advice, been playing with these things since the late 70's, what is the last 2 letters of the engine number, will let you know what HP it is, cheers Frank
Adventure Before Dimentia
Doh, i sent my heads to the machine shop on Friday
PM your why
Quit calling rust patina
