That's great Stu, a job for when I'm not in a field I think. Good to know how simple it is to repair.

Blimey the starter's not easy to get to is it?
Well earth strap from gear box to chassis is nice and clean and tight.
All nuts on the solenoid are tight.
The ignition spade was a little loose so cleaned the contact and put it back on tighter.

Ordered a hot start relay from VWJim.

The only way to find out if it's fixed it to go out and drive

.

I had something similar . Sometimes the bus would start fine and have no problems for months and every now and then I would get the ignition lights come on I'd turn the key and Nothing ,EVERYTHING would be dead, even the radio! If I disconnected and then reconnected the battery it would all come back to life, until I turned the ignition switch again.
And then just as suddenly it would all work again.
I eventually cured it by by redoing connection of the main lead from the battery to the starter motor at the battery . When removing the lead from the battery it struck me that the cable was too bendy just where it was fixed to the battery connector, I assume that several of the strands of the cable had broken over the years and that at times not enough current would get through.I just cut off the last inch or so of cable and refitted the terminal connector ( I'll admit I don't understand why everything went dead until disconnected and reconnected!) Since then I've had no issues with starting so it must have done something.

Cheers Warebus.
Well we had two days of driving around Dorset and going to the beaches without any problem whatsoever.
Started every time.
Awesome.
Then with the storms coming we decided to run for it and drive late at night to get home rather than pack up and drive through thunderstorms and the torrential rain that was forecast.
We made good time on the quiet roads and made a pitstop at about 2.30am on the M4
And that's when she decided not to start again.
I banged the starter.
Nothing.
I put her in 3rd and rolled her backwards.
Nowt.
Finally someone else pulled into the deserted services and offered us a bump start.
So popping the clutch in first got her back to life.
Trouble was we needed petrol.
So I went and filled up and then had to ask the two lads in the petrol station for a push.
We got home at 4.30am and I tried turning her over just now (1pm) and she started fine.

All that sounds like I need a hot start relay kit do you think?
I've ordered one from VW Jim and hope I can get some help fitting it at the tech weekend.
Schofields said they may have some OG starters coming soon.
Which I guess would be even better but I need the bus reliable for the next month or so.

**cough** tech feature for the mag **Cough cough**

I'll see what i can do Steve

Tech weekend was great.
Hour and three quarter drive for me.
Filled up with petrol early so I didn't have to stop hot.
Got there and turned her off.
Then tried to start her up again.
... And she started!?
So today I got her on the ramp.
Alan and Steve Schofield were there all weekend helping out and Steve helped me get the starter out without taking the engine out.
Steve Saunders had made a puller to get the bush out.
Everyone there said hot start problems, 9 times out of 10 can be fixed with a new bush.
The starter looked good, all connections good.
Unfortunately we couldn't get the old bush out.
So we put it all back together.
The engine is coming out next week to fix an oil leak so I'll get the new bush in then and see it it fixes it.
Drive back home today and when I get home I turn the ignition off, the fire it up again and she starts.
So the trip to Busfest will be her next test and if she doesn't start again I'll be buying a new starter from Schofields

Just drove non stop for 2 1/2 hours today,
Motorway and A roads. Got to my destination, turned her off then on again a few times and all was good!

So if you're having similar problems and you've checked all the suggestions above, changing the little brass starter motor bush is a good thing to try before trying to track down a OG starter or fitting a hot start relay.

Easy to fit if your engines out, but not impossible with it in.
As I said above, Steve Saunders had made a puller out of the end of a bolt to slide through the brass bush and try to catch the back edge and pull it through.

A suggestion that I got a comple of days later was to use a self tapper to screw through the centre of the bush, as the tapper hits the back it starts to push the bush towards you and you can then yank it out.

So fingers crossed, problem is solved.
Thanks for all the advice everyone.
Love this forum!

Fit a relay to the starter solenoid. They are available from most of out after market suppliers. Here's a look at it the circuit.
This diagram courtesy of the samba.
This relay will take the load away from the starter switch that's put on it by the starter solenoid. The switch is used to switch the relay which is less load for the switch. I fitted one yesterday to a chaps bus in about 45 mins. Its worth doing even if you don't have the problem! Steve