My VW Camper - An epic story of human misery & suffering....

[Peaks]

The front wheel tubs were stripped (what a horrible job), primed, stone chipped and brush painted with top coat. It all looks lovely, shame it'll be covered in mud within 50 miles 🙄

Whilst the front beam was down I removed the brake calipers to overhaul them. Following two stripped bleed nipples (there are two per caliper on these) and on finding out that these particular calipers were only fitted to the VW T2 van between July 1971 and May '72, and so seals were nigh on impossible to find, I decided the only really safe way ahead was to convert to later type calipers. This meant buying brand new calipers, discs, pads and fitting kit. What I'd saved by welding up the front beam had been diminished considerably by this purchase 😖 

[Peaks]

So what next? Well, dark cold nights and further lock down meant that moving onto the engine seemed logical. I spent New Years Eve of 2020/2021 removing the engine from my van. I know how to party!! 🥳

Strip down was fairly easy, although I did find that one of the heads was cracked around a plug hole, not uncommon by any means on this engine. 

 

[Peaks]

If you think Triumph (or any other British) engines leak oil, air cooled VW take things to a whole new level. It took many unpleasant hours to clean the gunk of baked on grotty oil  from pretty much every external surface. 

These engines are a bit weird - there's no other way of describing them really. They are not particularly difficult to work on, but you do need techniques which you won't use on more conventional engines, and these techniques took me at least seven or eight dry runs of assembly to get right. Basically the crankcase is split down the middle, clamping the crank, cam and associated bearings in the middle. You have to get everything just right, put the two halves of the case together and torque it all up, hoping that nothing has shifted, and that you put enough sealant around the two crankcase halves to make sure it doesn't leak, but not so much that it will splurge out and block oil ways. Nail biting stuff when you come to the first start I can tell you. 

Below is a photo before the two halves of the case were put together. You can see that three of the four main bearings are rings that slip onto the crank, with only one of the four being a traditional shell bearing. 

[Peaks]

Once the case is together and the crank spins nicely you fit the pistons, rods and cylinder barrels. Although the barrels and pistons look used, they've only covered about 100 miles from new (long story which I won't go into here....)

[Peaks]

The cylinder heads go on next, these clamp the barrels down to the crankcase and rather than use head gaskets, you have to lap the barrels into the heads using grinding paste. See, told you this engine is weird. 

That thing sticking up at the top is the oil cooler. 

[Peaks]

I should have said that proceedings were held up by a problem obtaining parts, in particular cam bearings. Suppliers told me this was due to both Brexit and Covid, but all I know is that it delayed the engine build by a couple of months. So I spent the time stripping the engine bay, rear of the underside of the van and the rear wheel tubs of underseal, mud, oil and rust. Oh, and there was a little bit of paint to take off as well 🙄 I thought stripping the front inner arches was a nasty job, but this was much worse. As you can see, a filthy job ☹

To do this properly I had to remove the gearbox. While the box was on the floor I drained out what looked like original VW oil circa 1972 - very satisfying to pour clean new stuff in!

Painting everything, getting into all the nooks and crannies was one of those jobs that makes you wonder why you mess around with old vehicles when you could be playing golf, or snooker, or fishing, or anything really. 

[Nick Jones]

You are a patient and determined man......

Love the colour  - it looks really smart.

Never quite understood the draw of these though they are very capable on bad (dirt) roads. Used to see lots in Africa in the 70s and 80s, usually full of Australians and suffering engine problems.

Nick

 

[Peaks]

Thanks Nick. They are an acquired taste, and even then only if you avoid motorways. I don't think there can be many more relaxing vehicles to drive at 40 or 45 mph along a B road. And I don't think there can be many more stressful vehicles to drive on a busy motorway. 

[Colin Lindsay]

Did you get the cracked head repaired or is it easy to source a replacement?

[Peaks]

Hi Colin. Luckily, due to the fact these vehicles were still being manufactured in South America until relatively recently you can still buy brand new cylinder heads for them. If memory serves, the new one was £200 so it wasn't worth trying to repair the old one. 

Definitely a weak spot for these engines though.

[ludwig113]

looks great, should be a great runner for someone.