Well now that Troy's Type 3 is nearing completion it's time to get my bus back running and on the road. What better excuse than to get it going for Valla!! For those who don't know my car here's a list of what i can remember i have done to it since I bought it in 1993.(damm I have had it longer than my wife lol) It's a 1976 microbus that started out as a 2.0L efi auto.

Lowered all round - front end adjusters, rear torsion bars

15x7" BBS lace wires with 205/55/15 front & 205/60/15 rear

tinted windows

biggish stereo(lol)

Deluxe bits and pieces - jail bars, trip meter speedo, fold down rear seat, opening quarter windows, sliding windows in back, added billet heater controls and window winders

Hurst bus quick shifter

converted to manual with 091 bus box

koni adjustable shocks on front, Monroe heavy duty gas on rear

Front end totally rebuilt with new bushes, ball joints, tie rods, centre pin and drag link

New master cylinder, front discs rear drums, wheel cylinders and linings. Front pads are a semi race composite.

Engine is currently 2.0L with following goodiies..

95mm mahle pistons equal weighted and barrels machined for close tolerances

crank machined and balanced

sachs clutch and pressure plate 211mm

Light flywheel and balanced

Heads are ported,flowed with 1800 valves. Comp 7.4:1

1700 Kombi rockers with solids spacers & Scat adjusters

hydraulic cam and lifters XU1 Torana grind on cam

rods equal weighted and balanced with new pin bushes

case full flowed with Empi Oil cooler

40mm dellortos on match ported manifolds

CES Racing custom exhaust with tuned length primaries mandrel bent with stainless turbo muffler and resonator, stainless tail pipe with AU XR8 Falcon tip

I am currently fixing the 2.0L up to get the car to Valla as it dropped an exhaust valve about 3 years ago and I just parked it in my parents carport where it has sat till this day.Time to get it going as I need a VW to drive as I miss driving it and need something to drive that's different.

Here's some pics of her as she sits waiting to be re-born...

Patiently sitting and awaiting the day of revival!





Engine in car minus Carbs ready to be removed

Engine out of car

Exhaust valve stem sticking out a bit far!!

Broken inlet rocker

Nice light flywheel



Exhausts valve head embedded into piston



Damage to head


More to come as more work gets done!!

Thats great that your getting the bus back on the road, i use to follow you to work along the Gateway. I got the rockers for you we spoke about the other day.

Looks like the roof is going for that rat look.....
Will be good to see the old bus back on the road.

Yep a tad bit of the ol surface rust.... Undecided on what to do with that one yet.

first things first get it running lol

A shame ours won't be at Valla or we could park them together for the weekend , Life in the Low Lane and our Baja Bus , would've looked good being the same colours

Andrew my uncle is taking his Daul cab down so parking beside it should make a good pic too. His headlights are almost level with the bottom of my windscreen lol.


Have some new rims that hopefully will be on for Valla as well. As soon as i can dig them out fo the back of my shed I'll get a pics of them.

I'll be looking for a ride into Valla for the cruize on Sat morning at Valla , so i'dd better introduce myself to John and mabey get a ride with him if possible, Us baja bus men have gotta stick together ya know

John will have his 2 boys with him as i think they're coming down too. I'll have family everywhere lol

Heads go in for a quick tidy up tomorrow. Sand balst them all nice and clean inspect then get ready for reassemble. As this is only a short term engine the rebuild ins't as perfect as I'd like but doing it as cheap as I can. Because I want to spend the money on it's big brother type 4......

Well my car won't make it to Valla this year as I have got sick with a viral flu that is going around. Add to that a chest infection and i don't feel reall good. So working at night in the cold is certainly not a good idea in my current state of health. But i will still be there with the rest of the family.

Got new exhaust valves, gasket kit, engine seal, front crank seal, rear main seal and I have ended up getting the damaged head fixed. After comparing my ported heads to a stock head there is just too much difference in port size. It should be ready sometime this week. Tonight Troy and I stripped it down to a short block and removed things like oil pump, sump plate and strainer to give engine a thorough clean to remove any crud that may be in the sump. Engine cleaned up a treat and the cam and lifters are still in excellent condition and show no signs of any real wear at all even after 463000 Km's. It's amazing what god quality oil and regular changes can do for an engine. flushed all oil galleries best you can without splitting the case so all is ready to be put back together again. Will also tidy up some rough castings in Dellorto manifolds while it is apart.

more soon....

All pistons cleaned and ready for new rings. Barrells are perfect and have no wear at all!! Quick deglaze by hand and good to go. no lip in the bore at all.

pictures or ban

coming......

Ok here are some pics of todays efforts. Everything is cleaned up and ready for assembly. Got my Dad to put some finishing touches on the porting after the new seats were fitted. He also match ported the manifoldsproperly opening up the bottom of the dellorto manifolds a bit. Also match ported the manifold gaskets to suit the size of the ports. Cam and lifters are in good nick for 463 000km's as you will see in the pics below...

Ported manifolds


Ported inlets


Ported exhausts


Combustion chambers. Compression is 7.4:1. 1800 valves


Engine stripped to short motor


Hydraulic lifters. Done 463 000km's. Still like new!!




Pics of cam lobes and no wear!! Red arrows point to base circle of lobes


Pic of cam lobe

is it finished yet or what.
don't forget to send me your deatils so i can send up some coin.

Should have it together one night after work this week. hopefully in the car next saturday and running if all goes to plan.

Westi you still able to get a generator for Warwick? Drop me a PM!!

should be fine.

Heads with valves lapped and ready to go



Pistons with rings fitted ready to go in barrels



Flywheel, clutch and pressure plate fitted and end float done. End float was 6 thou so all good there.



Pistons are in barrels and will go on engine tomorrow after work.

pistons and barrels fitted tonight. also started to disassemble dellorto's give a thorough clean. Kinda grubby after being on a mate's car... actually filthy. will post some more pics soon...

Troy got my engine together and then had drama's with the rocker gear and valve clearances. He called me and it was then that i remembered about putting spacers under the barrels!! D'OH!!

So I am pullling it apart tomorrow morning fitting spacers and hopefully tomorrow arvo it will be that much closer to going into the car.

Well engine is altogether with tin ware on. have to buy a new dip stick bellow then fan housing etc will all be fitted also. One carb to dismantle and clean then put engine in car and fit exhaust, carbs and wire up. then hopefully the bugger will run LOL

Engine is now pretty much complete ready to go into the car. fit carbs once in the car and then set timing, wire up and fuel lines and hopefully be in business.

Got my entry stuff for Warwick today so no turning back now!!

Whoo-hooo.....bout bloody time mate!

Mate i am looking forward to driving the ol girl again and also a car with a decent stereo!

Might take a while to get used to the roughish ride again tho.....

Well done mate, time to spare

Here's some pics for you Brennden.....

first pic was when i first lowered it. the ol jelly beans offset meant they no longer fitted under the rear guards. Later went to the merc rims.

Action day at surfer's raceway. Ran a best of 17.6 that day from memory. happy days. Thanks mate!!

Engine is back in the car!! well it is in there and tomorrow's job is hooking everything up and tightening all the mounts etc etc. Also replace all the fuel lines as they have kinda lost their flexibility.

then for a good thrashing,i hope.
if it doesn't break in the first five minutes all is good.