Nice looking truck. Good to see you using it like VW intended
Have you tried petrol to remove the gunk left by the bed liner? If it doesn't work at least you'll get a buzzzzzzz
More pics dude, always need more pics

Cheers, Lee.

e m p i wrote:Nice looking truck. Good to see you using it like VW intended
Have you tried petrol to remove the gunk left by the bed liner? If it doesn't work at least you'll get a buzzzzzzz
More pics dude, always need more pics

Cheers, Lee.

I'll give petrol a try, but I think it's supposed to resist chemicals. I've spilled some oil on the bed and it has discoloured the liner though, so it must react to oils somehow.

I take loads of pictures of bits of the truck, but hardly ever remember to take any of the outside.

Here's another one of us using it as intended though...



<<Insert 'got wood' pun here>>

I love single cabs and wish I kept mine

Le Counte de JAYFOR wrote:I love single cabs and wish I kept mine

That Transit is nice though. I hadn't read your sig, so I thought you'd bought a modern one and everyone was taking the pi$$ until I saw Empi's picture from Slough. Very nice.

Who.Me? wrote:

Le Counte de JAYFOR wrote:I love single cabs and wish I kept mine

That Transit is nice though. I hadn't read your sig, so I thought you'd bought a modern one and everyone was taking the pi$$ until I saw Empi's picture from Slough. Very nice.

Forgive them Lord for they know not what they say Its in getting a respray at the moment so cant wait to get it back.

The pic of the wood getting loaded should be edited into black and white and post it back on here, cool pic

e m p i wrote:Have you tried petrol to remove the gunk left by the bed liner? If it doesn't work at least you'll get a buzzzzzzz

Well, it turns out that petrol does the trick with bedliner...



This is what it looked like to start with (the one on the right)...



I got most of the liner off with a heat gun and paint scraper, but eventually the panel started to warp under the heat. I let it cool and it popped back OK. Also, while the heat didn't affect the paint, the scraper did, so I switched to chemical warfare.

Carb cleaner worked well (Xylene) but it was too noxious, so I resorted to petrol and wire wool. That worked a treat on this small panel, but I can't see it working on the treasure chest as a whole. It takes too much petrol and the wire wool clogs too fast. I can't use the heat gun in their either because it'll attack the filler that is under the outside paint job

Needs some more thought.

Did a compression test back in the summer and got lousy results cold and warm, but I had my doubts as there weren't any other obvious low compression symptoms and I struggled to get the thing screwed in properly.

I bought a replacement compression tester over Christmas and went for a push-on, rather than screw-in type this time. Re-tested the engine this morning and got much better results than I did with the old one...

Cylinder________Cold lbs_____Warm lbs
...1...................97..............115
...2..................100 .............110
...3...................97..............115
...4..................100..............110

The results with the old tester were 85-95 cold and barely got over 100 on any cylinder when warm.

I'm reasonably happy with those results, given that the engine has had some life. Still need to pull the engine to sort out some oil leaks and to fit some proper VW tin that I've been collecting, but at least I don't need to do a top-end rebuild yet.

I do need to replace the push rod tubes though as some of the seals are weeping. I've asked in the Technical section, but if anyone can recommend any adjustables, I'd appreciate the advice. No point pulling the heads unnecessarily to fit replace the fixed tube seals.

After the having a good result with the compression test yesterday morning, I decided that I was on a roll, so I'd finally have a go at sorting my driver's side door hinges. This is a job I wish I'd never started.

I bought an 8.5mm oversize arm (steel, rather than stainless steel) and bottom hinge pin from Autocraft several months ago and a 8.5mm reamer from ebay.

Got my vernier gauge out and measured the new bottom pin. Just over 8.5mm. Checked the reamer - bang on 8.5mm, so I wedged the door in the correct position and pulled the OG mirror arm out.

Reamed the top hinge and fitted the new arm and found my first problem - the new arm is a very loose fit. I took the arm out and measured it and while Autocraft's pin was 8.59mm, their arm was 8.25mm!

I know that I should have measured both the pin and the arm before starting, but they were both in their packaging and both labelled 8.5mm and Autocraft don't list an 8.2mm arm so I stupidly assumed that if one was right, the other one would be. It's several months since I bought the parts, so I'll try ordering a stainless steel one and see if it's the right size. If not, I'll complain.

Then I started on the bottom hinge. Absolutely no joy there. Can't get the pin to move at all. I tried knocking it out, but I don't want to wail on it for fear of damaging the hinge mount. Then I tried a G cramp with a socket on top and a bolt underneath, but it kept slipping off. Finally I modified a ball joint splitter as per another post on here, but that won't shift it either. I've left it cranked up and will keep spraying it with lube to see if it frees off. One of the problem with the ball joint splitter tool is that you can't see whether it's lined up properly though.

In between attempts at extracting the bottom driver's door hinge last weekend (which still won't budge after week of oiling, hammering and clamping), I decided to have a go at straightening out the engine lid that was damaged by the previous owner. It had a point-source impact just off-center that had bent the frame and dented the skin. The rear valance was also badly twisted, so I bought a nice straight replacement from Westy Mick.

Some pictures before and after a little massaging...

Before...



After...



Haven't tackled the rear quarter panels. I just want to get the worst of the damage out of the engine lid, so it doesn't look neglected. I replaced the tail light last year though, to keep it road legal.

Before...



After...




This was done with some padded 4 x 2 timbers and ratchet G-cramps, squeezing and pressing the panel to work the bends in the frame out.

Going to try one of the glue-gun dentless paint repair tools on the skin next as the lid frame blocks access from the back, so I can't massage the dents out from the back. I'm not aiming for perfect, just a little more cared for.

A little more metal massaging and I've got it to where it's good enough for me...





Also managed to get the bottom cab door hinge out and ream and fit the new oversize pin. All the slop is gone from the hinges, but I still need to sort the door alignment. I think it's going to need shimming as the door seems to be too far forward and tilted back.

Wow good job on your lid, I'm trying to doing in mine with hammer & dolly and I'm far from your result even if we had the same starting base

I pulled Errol's engine out a few weeks ago for some TLC. It needed new oil seals and some proper tinware. Got it back in on Saturday. Still need to hook it up and test run it but I've a few more wrinkles to sort first and won't get a chance to get back to it until after Easter.

Old engine out...



It was covered in old, baked-on oil and was leaking from the oil cooler seals, push rod tube seals, flywheel main seal, pulley, sump plate and I'm pretty sure the gearbox input shaft seal was leaking too. Gave the engine a good clean with solvent and replaced the seals. I didn't want to pull the heads as they've been sealed in place with what looks like Permatex. Didn't want to open that can of worms just yet, so I used Scat big-mouth adjustable push rod tubes and fitted a thermostat while I was at it (the old tinware didn't have fan housing flaps, so I've reinstated that)...



Found a load more bodges from the previous owner and some nice surprises. On the bodge-side, the heat exchangers were barely connected, hardly any air would have been going through the vent pipe to the cab. Also, I knew that the heads were Autolinea aftermarket heads, but they hadn't cleaned the flashing out of some of the channels on the right hand head, so I had to stop assembling to drill it out so I could get the thermostat actuator rod though. with the heads insitu.

On the nicer side, the clutch plate looked brand new. Could even read part of the label printed on the friction material.

I re-assembled the engine with the new tin and got it back in on Saturday. It was a bit more of a struggle than I'd expected to line it up right, but when I did, it slid in nicely...



First time I've removed and refitted a complete engine. I quite enjoyed it. I had to fabricate a couple of bits of tinware - I made an early type of hot air pickup tube for the air cleaner out of 1" stainless pipe and some perforated strapping and made an air cleaner support triangle for the oil bath cleaner (still need to paint the bracket).

I was a bit p-d off to find that I don't seem to have seated the push rod tube seals correctly though. Had to tilt the engine to get it back on the jack to re-install so the oil sloshed about a bit and started leaking out of the seals at the head end At least they're adjustable tubes, so I can fiddle with them with the engine in. Must remember to take those valve covers off and drain any oil that's in there too and I need to manipulate the seal over the cylinder tins. Bit of oil and a screwdriver should do it.

Carpet's ruined though





While the engine was out I fitted (and promptly broke ) a new glass tail light lens. I bought some LED 1157-equivalent tail light bulbs, but they're taller than the housing. It looked like the thickness of the seal would prevent them from clashing, but I tightened the screw too much and popped the lens . Tested the bulb, and it still works fine. Just have to buy another lens .

I've fitted a CF-14 flasher unit to work with the new LEDs and that's thrown up another problem. I have right indicators, but nothing on the left. I deed to do some diagnostics as the only thing I can think that would cause the flasher not to work at for one side, but fine on the other is a fault with the indicator switch and that's a new (last year) Wolfsburg West switch. I've tested the LED bulb and it's fine. If the connections at the bulb were duff, I'd at least expect the front indicator (filament bulb) to flash. It did when I tested it with the other side's indicators. I'll put a test lamp on the connections tonight if I get time.

Pushed the truck outside and gave the engine bay and transmission a thorough clean with degreaser while the engine and lights were out as well. It was black in there thanks to the leaking oil cooler seals. The fan had blown oil everywhere. Now I can work back there without getting filthy.

Did some more diagnostics on the indicators issue last night. It's the switch. New last May, but it wouldn't complete the circuit for the left indicators. Gave it a clean and lube and it started working for left turn, but then started triggering the flasher unit in the neutral (off) position. Must be a short in the switch somewhere. It's less than 12 months old!

After putting the engine back in it was p!ssing oil from the new push rod tubes. Did some googling and found that they work better if you get a screwdriver and give a tap on the black metal washer that the seal rides on to seat the seals in to the holes in the head. Gave it a try and it's worked. I'm (relatively) leak free

The engine sounded awful though, particularly when warm. I followed the Muir diagnostic tree and traced the noise to the crank pulley. A bit of digging and I found that the OG breast plate tin was fouling on the pulley. Took the pulley off and bent the tin back and all's well. It sounds like a VW at last (I think).

Also fixed the indicators issue a couple of weeks ago - it was the Wolfsburg West switch that I replaced last year Schofields replaced it with no hassle - Thanks guys.

I've been working on fitting a stereo over the last weekend. My one rule was 'no drilling', which made it a challenge. I had to fabricate a bracket to suspend a DIN radio pod under the parcel shelf to avoid drilling it. Have fitted a Blaupunkt Dortmund 230 DAB radio with bluetooth streaming and built in hands-free calling. I've used a Retrosounds dual-voice stereo dashboard speaker from Cool Air (fits in the original speaker location) and it sounds pretty good, considering it's basically a mono speaker. I'm also getting good DAB reception inside my garage, which is surprising as I'm using a stick-on windscreen aerial (again - no drilling).

Bracket...



Fits like this...



It's suspended by the hooks over the parcel tray lip and the other end screws in to two holes that I think were originally for the upper securing screws for the kick boards, although my kick boards aren't drilled for those holes. Wouldn't be too much hassle to fit the bracket even if they were though. A few strips of rubber protect the paintwork.

Looks like this installed...



Looks really good in real life. The black and chrome of the stereo matches quite well with the black commercial 'trim' and the period fuel gauge that I fitted last year.

Great single cab, was just wondering if yours had locking front door handles, my 58 hasn't and I didn't know if that something they fitted with it being a truck
Cheers
Ade