Catching Up On All The Work

I guess I should catch you all up on the bus happenings.  It has been a very busy year with work, family, and various other commitments.  I have not had the time to do much blog updating.

Since the last engine replacement I wrote about in December/January, I decided to rebuild the spare Type-4 2-liter engine that was sitting in parts in the garage.  I took everything to the machine shop in March, where the machine shop owner told me it would be several weeks since his assistant was off work due to an injury.  Conemac Machining in Canoga Park has been in business for the better part of at four decades, handed down from father to son.  They have specialized in VW and Porsche engines since the beginning and do excellent work.  The job took the machine shop the better part of three month, with several phone calls made to check on the status. 

In late June, I finally got the call to pick up my engine.  This was the first time I have actually had someone else build my engine.  Rick told me all the work he had done, and that it was brought to like-new standards, with proper deck height and compression ratio, flywheel thrust clearance, etc.  He upgraded the exhaust valves and all valve seats in the AMC heads, and changed the valve springs to “Hydraulic springs.”  The engine looked and smelled like new.

Based on this, I decided to pull my almost new motor out of the bus and replace it with the new one.  I took a day off work in mid-June and made the swap.  It took about six hours of labor, but now the bus has a new motor with about 110 miles on it, with a great broken-in spare motor with about 2,000 miles.  I know this must seem weird, but I have always dreamed about having a good spare motor.  If a problem ever crops up, just pull out the motor, replace it with the spare, and take the time needed to do the repair while still driving the bus.  Pretty cool, huh?

Anyway, that is pretty much it for now.  I bought some new front suspension ball joints to replace the 252,000 ones that are groaning, but have not built up the courage to install the new ones yet.  I’ll need to do it sooner than later, especially once the Santa Ana winds kick up in the fall/winter.  Driving the bus in the wind on the freeway can be a scary ordeal with the worn suspension parts.  I have asked around to various garages to see if they can install them, and I have researched on the Internet what the job entails.  I found a ball joint tool kit at Harbor Freight, but have not made the investment yet.  Perhaps once summer is over.

Happy Bus Motoring.

Ron  (o v o)