Friday 25 October 2013

Battery & Tray restoration

Time for a new Starter Battery as Betty's battery has trouble starting after a long drive and only giving 11.78V at best.

Strange how the battery was struggling when the engine was warm but it is in the direct flow of the cooling air.

So new Battery was purchased and a free morning to fit it.



The old battery was a 48 A/h 220A and appears to be the original Brazilian battery as it was made in Brazil. So could be from 2004!



Upon removal it was clear that the battery tray was in need of some rust removal and restoration. Major water trap and also a weak spot for any bus.

Rust is only surface but needed treatment before replacing the battery.


After some cleaning and wire brushing the worst was removed. 



Surface treated with Hamerite rust removing Gel. Cleaned back again. No More rust! Then primed with the Hamerite Primer.



Resprayed with Hamerite smooth spray. Quite a good match to the VW Candy White. Close enough for inside the engine bay.




New YUASA 50A/h 440A Silver 5000 Battery. Should last a while and not too big for the Alternator to charge.

Starts after 2 Seconds and totally smooth turn over from the starter motor.

Will now be able to connect the Leisure Battery back up and think about replacing the rubbish split charge relay for a smartcom.



Sunday 20 October 2013

Reasons to be cheerful about your VW camper

Reasons to be cheerful about your VW camper

  • IT WILL BE WORTH MORE NEXT YEAR THAN THIS.
  • YOU DON'T NEED TO VISIT A THEME PARK FOR A WHITE-KNUCKLE RIDE - JUST DRIVE YOUR CAMPER IN A GUSTY CROSSWIND.
  • YOU CAN LITERALLY LOOK DOWN ON ALL THOSE DRIVING FORDS, PEUGEOTS, ETC
  • THEY ARE EASY TO FIX AND HARD TO BREAK.
  • MECHANICS IN ANY PART OF THE WORLD CAN MAKE PARTS OR REPAIR IT FOR YOU.
  • LIVING LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE IS STRESS-FREE AND MUCH MORE FUN.
  • YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED LIFETIME SUPPLY OF FREE COOLANT.
  • OIL SPOTS GIVE YOUR DRIVEWAY CHARACTER.
  • ANY OTHER CAR YOU DRIVE WILL SEEM REALLY FAST.
  • YOU WILL NEVER, EVER SUFFER ROAD RAGE FROM TRYING TO PASS ANYTHING, ANYWHERE.
  • THE ENGINE MAKES BETTER NOISES THAN A RAVE BAND.
  • YOU GET REALLY INTERESTING SOUNDS WHILE DRIVING IN RAIN. EVEN BETTER SOUNDS DRIVING IN HAIL!
  • PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW SMILE AND WAVE AT YOU.
  • THE UPRIGHT SEATING PROMOTES GOOD POSTURE.
Taken from Campervan Crazy book.

Saturday 7 September 2013

Cylinder Head problems


Started to notice noise coming from Cylinder head 3 and rough running.

Readjusted tappets and found that Cylinder 3 exhaust valve was very tight yet again.

Removed Rocker assembly and found that Exhaust valve spring was 3mm higher than the rest.



Adjustment on that valve was right at the end of the adjustment thread.



Having determined that there must be and issue with this valve (either the seat or a tulip valve) and needed the engine removing and the head removing. The question to be answered was DIY engine removal or get a garage to do the work.

Finally went for the Lions Garage in Loughborough to pull the engine and sort this out. At £50 per hour and a 10 hours work it was going to take.

After 8 days of waiting. The engine was out and it was found that the valve seat had totally become detached from the head and was just loose around the valve seat. Also the head had had a helicoil in that spark plug so was running very hot and destroying itself!

Here is the old head - Wheres the seat!



Got two new heads from VW heritage - Special heads for Brazil bay as they have special 22 fin cylinders and lower compression ratio for the Injection engine. £160 each. Went for replacing both heads so they are the same age and condition. New gaskets and push rod tubes and head bolts to ensure all is good.

All done and running OK. Much smoother and power. Just running in and will reset tappets after a few hundred miles.

Great to have her back but cost £670 in Labour and £400 in parts! Not cheap. Next time I going to remove the engine myself!

Monday 6 May 2013

Betty's 1st camping trip

First time camping trip in Betty. Pipe cleaning for a half term get away. All good.

Monday 15 April 2013

1600 Aircooled injection engine

Here is Betty's engine. Need to start identifying all the parts of the injection system over the next few weeks in order to keep the engine running smoothly.

Saturday 13 April 2013

Welcome Betty

Welcome to Betty and Blog

She is our VW Type 2c Brazilian Campervan. Here she is getting cleaned ready for collection.


Her Technical Specification is:

Model : VW T2c
Year : 2004
Engine : Flat 4 1600c Fuel Injected Air Cooled
Conversion : Danbury Rio