What did you do to your kombi today ?

[Alpal]

Put the battery back in and started up for the first time in yonks. Went for a roll and fueled up. Needs a tune but will get us to Lorne and hopefully back again!

[MeMatt]

Since my commitments are free for a week or so, finished assembling misc bits on my new engine yesterday. Today, lifted the bus 900mm, installed the 1916, connected a few bits. Still stuff left but getting closer to running again. 
Its now Canadian Club + dry and footy time.

[Barry]

Getting close!! 

Might need to get that muffler realigned. 

(Hope you weren’t going for Parramatta     )

[MeMatt]

Sure is Barry!!
I have had the muffler like that for over 2yrs and no issues so far..
I hoped Parra would win for the sake of it.

[Melissa]

   

Not what I did but what the very talented Mordred (Adrian) did to Little Red over the weekend at Old Bar. 
Its a looong story....


A while back I had my fuel gauge rebuilt as I thought I had fried it when going over from 6V to 12V - it had previously been working but after a while, it had stopped and always read 2/3rds full and was warm to touch. Turned out the insides were rusted (thanks safaris) and they replaced it all as good as new - only problem was that now the back (or body) of the gauge was longer so it didnt go back where it came from and touched the headlight switch making it sit proud instead of flush with the dash - and when Scott hooked it back up it was just reading full all of the time and not giving me an accurate reading. I also lost my cigarette lighter charging point and radio. It got put in the too hard basket and I just carried on.

Now our Adrian loves a challenge and investigation and over the weekend here, he has fiddled, found there was no ground to the gauge, that there were other mystery wires hanging around behind that dash and he has got it all working again!! The other gauge is sitting in its spot and it sits proud as well but I can live with that.

I am so very grateful and as I was tied up with the market at Old Bar, I gave Little Red to Adrian for the cruise on Saturday afternoon - he said his face was sore from all of the smiling and waving and Tammy apologised if he has worn out Little Reds horn button!

Photo credit to Tammy.

[Mordred]

Thanks Melissa, 

it was a joy working on Little Red and a much bigger one driving her! 

Learned a bit more about the different types of fuel gauges used and thanks to Todd Smith I had a bit of knowledge on Split Window buses wiring too.

The new gauge body was plastic instead of metal.  The new mechanism instead had an extra terminal that needed a connection to ground. As these early gauges use a voltage divider to control the voltage to the needle, without the ground connection you end up with the needle at full scale deflection (showing a full tank). By testing between the positive and sender connections and then sender and ground connections I could see the 2 resistances of the voltage divider and worked out that connecting the ground wouldn’t cause a short and blow up the gauge. I then connected a ground and knowing there would be a small amount of fuel in their tank was pleasantly surprised when it showed 1/4 full. Trip up to the servo for a top up and it shows full!.
   

Adrian

[Oldman]

Jumped in the kombi to head off to the hardware store and the accelerator pedal hit the floor.......snapped cable 

Kind of happy really....it could have happened anywhere between home, Old Bar and back and that would've been really frustrating.
Removal of the old cable was a p.o.p and I threaded a draw wire to attach the new cable to.....took a few goes but made it all the way through...so far so good.....
Turns out the draw wire was not a great idea and the taped intersection gave way, even though I wrapped it pretty well.
I ended up jacking the rear of the bus up (...LOVE my HD high lift  4WD jack...it lifts the entire rear end quickly and safely) and put it on wheel stands.
I pulled the new cable through a bag of grease and threaded from the front...slowly, slowly....at the junction of sections I just pulled the sections apart and kept threading, reconnecting the sections once the new cable was through...easy as !
Out through the fire wall and I'm back in business.....or so I thought.   
I went back under the front, connected the accelerator end, packed the pedal up and headed to the engine bay to tighten and connect.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH !!!! 
It's about 100 mm too short   Turns out my "spare" is correct year range but is for a 1600, not a 2000......
So, the bus is still on stands and I'll pick up the correct cable tomorrow and finish the job.
Can't win 'em all I suppose.......

[Melissa]

I love it when they do this stuff close to home - we used to have a 85 T3 without a working petrol gauge that used to run out of petrol around the corner of our house - or pulling into a petrol station!

[DavidH]

Jumped in the kombi to head off to the hardware store and the accelerator pedal hit the floor.......snapped cable 

Kind of happy really....it could have happened anywhere between home, Old Bar and back and that would've been really frustrating.
Removal of the old cable was a p.o.p and I threaded a draw wire to attach the new cable to.....took a few goes but made it all the way through...so far so good.....
Turns out the draw wire was not a great idea and the taped intersection gave way, even though I wrapped it pretty well.
I ended up jacking the rear of the bus up (...LOVE my HD high lift  4WD jack...it lifts the entire rear end quickly and safely) and put it on wheel stands.
I pulled the new cable through a bag of grease and threaded from the front...slowly, slowly....at the junction of sections I just pulled the sections apart and kept threading, reconnecting the sections once the new cable was through...easy as !
Out through the fire wall and I'm back in business.....or so I thought.   
I went back under the front, connected the accelerator end, packed the pedal up and headed to the engine bay to tighten and connect.

AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHH !!!! 
It's about 100 mm too short   Turns out my "spare" is correct year range but is for a 1600, not a 2000......
So, the bus is still on stands and I'll pick up the correct cable tomorrow and finish the job.
Can't win 'em all I suppose.......

Can feel your 'win' & sense of frustration  with the fail.
A few clutch cables for me before KC knowledge sorted it.
So many cable lengths for clutch & accelerator for all the models. 
Check & check,
Cheers

[Oldman]

Yes David, frustrating indeed……
Thought I’d replace the Bowden and front boot while I’m at it. I’m pretty close to Tooleys and jumped in Sue’s car to get the bits. They had the accelerator cable (I bought two) but don’t carry the Bowden and the boot was out of stock…….insert more Aaaaaaaarghhhhh here…..
So, a quick call to Kai (JK have the Bowden in stock but no cables and the boot is on back order  ), so that should be here this morning. The old Bowden had a groove starting to wear in it and I didn’t want to use a new cable in what is most likely the original Bowden tube…….
So, the kombi is still up in the air but should be sorted today….at least I don’t have to do this out on the road