I need side glass but upon inspection, my popout frames are all rotted junk.
I ordered a full set of frames and rubbers which will come in next week, but meanwhile I put the old ones in with a couple of screws so I could drive it. The rubber was so hard and brittle I was afraid it would scratch the new paint so I wrapped them in masking tape to protect the paint.
Now, for an alignment.
The beam that came with the bus was a later Bay disc unit, but I wanted a correct kingpin unit. I don't know much about this used front end except it came from Texas off a running bus, I bought it off the Samba and had it shipped up fairly cheaply. The new beam was way better than I anticipated when I got it, I was expecting a rebuildable core when it appeared well maintained and tight! I had checked, greased and adjusted the link pins while it was on the lift. (You guys are adjusting your link pins regularly, right?
) The link pins were adjusted wacked out, the lowers were spot on but the uppers were adjusted way too loose, like the previous guy was dyslexic or something.
First, roll it onto my homemade turntables.
The bearing plates were stupid cheap on Ebay, like $9 and rated at 1000lbs each.
From there, it's low tech- the front and rear track are virtually identical on a split bus, so to get zero toe (the setting) you line up the front and rear sidewalls.
I've done this before and then put it on an alignment rack to find it within a tiny fraction of correct.
Turn the left tie rod sleeve (the right isn't adjustable unless someone swapped tierods), mine took some heat to free up. I started with about 1/2" of toe-in. Camber and caster are non adjustable on older VW's.
If you don't have turntables you have to roll the bus back and forth each time to settle the suspension. Once the toe is set, drop the drag link and turn it to level your steering wheel. I have about 100 miles on it now, it really drives much better than I expected- motor, trans, suspension are all great, I put 10w30 oil in it for the winter. Not as much rattling as I expected from the doors, either.
Here's a shot of the engine bay, carb preheat is important in weather like this (or anything under 60°, really).
What kind of plate do you expect on a '65 bus?
I was a little surprised the DMV let me register that plate, but I was in there getting my historicals and took a picture of the plate from Ebay. They said yea, no problem, so I bought it and registered it.