My VERY RUSTY VW T25 Camper Van Project

[3cav3]

If its just the centre that concerns you then you could always ream it oversize, and make up a new bronze bush to take it back to standard and loctite it into place or shrink fit it, which ever you feel happier with.

[Robsey]

There is a location peg that retains the sleeve, to prevent that moving laterally,
but not much limiting how much the fork-shaft can migrate from side to side.
Circlip on one side and operating arm on the other.

There is a central-clutch release bearing guide top-hat tube that sits around the output shaft.





I am hope that will keep things in alignment.

[Envoy CDX]

Rebushing, or filling and reaming would get my vote, hopefully low cost and you lose nothing by trying surely?

[Robsey]

Cheers - my thoughts too.

I have been told that a petrol bell-housing should be quite cheap to find...
The cheapest I have found is about £95 used

[Envoy CDX]

Cheers - my thoughts too.

I have been told that a petrol bell-housing should be quite cheap to find...
The cheapest I have found is about £95 used

Cheap in comparison to that, boils my urine when someone tells me "That's cheap..." and its literally left me on the bones of my arse to sort.

Hopefully you'll get good results repairing it.

[Robsey]

I suppose by "Transporter T3" standards, that is quite cheap.
Nothing on these old VWs is cheap.
But hey ho... that is what we crazy folk do.
Spend far too much on a decrepit old vehicle.

[Envoy CDX]

I suppose by "Transporter T3" standards, that is quite cheap.
Nothing on these old VWs is cheap.
But hey ho... that is what we crazy folk do.
Spend far too much on a decrepit old vehicle.

[cavalier1990]

I suppose by "Transporter T3" standards, that is quite cheap.
Nothing on these old VWs is cheap.
But hey ho... that is what we crazy folk do.
Spend far too much on a decrepit old vehicle.

Only we understand the sacrifice and commitment Looks like it's coming on nicely!

[Robsey]

Being a skin-flint, last night I did some renovation work on the clutch release shaft.

The original operating arm had been jammed on and the end peined over.

Although replacements are available new at £95.36 plus carriage, this is more than my sanity could afford.

https://brickwerks.co.uk/product/clutch ... anual-all/

Especially as it will get close to £250 for the rest of the odds and sods to bring the gearbox, clutch mechanism and gear linkage back to serviceable condition.

Back to the point...

I put the release shaft in the lathe and tidied up the shaft end and cut a new circlip groove.

There were several nicks and bumps in the shaft, so I filed these smooth.
To finish, I smoothed it all, and polished up the shaft in the lathe using a scoch-brite pad type thingy.

30 minutes work and a saving of £100 for the win.

[Envoy CDX]

All good stuff Rob.

[cavalier1990]

Good that you can fall back on knowledge and experience of using a lathe and saved yourself the guts of 100 bucks for the release shaft, it's always good when you save yourself a bit of doh!

[3cav3]

Its always great when you can save a decent amount of cash. I often find the original parts are better quality too.

[Robsey]

All good stuff Rob.

Cheers Gary....
Little by little

Good that you can fall back on knowledge and experience of using a lathe and saved yourself the guts of 100 bucks for the release shaft, it's always good when you save yourself a bit of doh!

My eyes water at how much I have spent on the van so far. Probably well past £10k, with no end in sight.

But a lot of that is storage for the past four years, and having to replace parts that I should have left alone in the first place.
"Hindsight is...." and all that.

I have bought many original used parts from our favourite online auction site, only to find the parcel that you receive is little more than bin fodder.

I find the retro lathe stuff mentally stimulating too.
Saving money is a bonus.

Its always great when you can save a decent amount of cash. I often find the original parts are better quality too.

With these vans, original equipment is essential.
A lot of new parts are Chinese tat copies.
But as said above - assuming you can find decent used 40 year old parts.
And then at sensible prices.

[3cav3]

I'm guessing the VW premium is the same as the one I keep up against on parts that also fit the GTE's?

[Robsey]

Yes it sure does...

I have just spent over £300 on a few seals and pipes for the engine, gearbox, linkage and clutch, plus a couple of suspension ball joints.

A lottery win is definitely required

I could have spent more, but I want to get the Cavalier back on the road next month....

[Robsey]

A mixed bag tonight - I made an adapter for the Vanden Plas temperature gauge sender.

The VW is an M10 x 1.0mm thread, the VDP is your typical Austin / Rover / MG / VDP imperial thread.
5/8" UNF - 18.

So the body looks long (and quite odd), but that is needed to allow space for the temperature probe.



There is probably 1mm between the tip of the probe, and the start of the M10 thread.



My first bit of proper thread cutting on the lathe.
And as you can see, it all fits together nicely.

The observant of you will notice that both sensor plugs are perfectly parallel.
More luck than judgement.

And then at the end of the night, I sprayed my 34 year old exhaust with rustoleum bbq high temperature paint.
Still shiny here, but it will dry to a matt finish.





Much better than the original grotty muck and surface rust covered exhaust silencer.

[3cav3]

Looking good. Thread cutting is the one thing that ive never tried on a lathe. At my work we have a very skilled machinist so I tend to get him to do jobs like that. Exhaust is looking good aswell. You didn't fancy going for a full stainless system then? Lol.

[Robsey]

I bought a stainless system in 2019 at a whopping £600.
But ended up selling it for £300 in 2021 due to financial difficulties.
It was a very dark time, when I came close to just scrapping both the van and the Cavalier.

There is only about £50 difference between stainless and mild-steel exhausts... still in the range of £600.

If I use the early exhaust, it would cost me about £300 to get all the pipework... about four pieces.
I have the original silencer, tail pipe and steady bars.
The silencer was only 18 months old when the van came off the road, so still looks quite solid.

If I use the later exhaust that came with the donor engine, it would cost me a similar amount to replace the rotted-out silencer, J pipe and knuckle.

I keep hankering for the early exhaust, so that the engine looks almost like it did when it left the factory.

[Envoy CDX]

If you're going to do it, do it the way you want it!
It's progressing though Rob.

[Robsey]

Yes,
I am going "early" with both the cooling and exhaust system.

[Robsey]

Last night saw more gearbox work...
Last of the seals and gaitors fitted.





Again I forgot the plastic drive shaft bearing flange retainers, so I could not fit the flanges yet.

After a bit of looking on line, I realised the purpose of some steel sleeves that line the flange spigot, to provide a smooth surface for the seal to work against.



Next job was to fit the radiator.
A total pig of a job, supporting the weight of the radiator, whilst fitting retaining blocks and bottom support brackets.
Another job off the list.



Final job was to clean up an unused tail pipe that was never fitted to the van, but sat in the load area for 33 years.
It still had the Stockport VW dealership sticker on.
Minimal surface corrosion.
Soon cleaned up.



Maybe a quick blow-over with bbq high temperature paint from Rustoleum will tidy it up nicely.

[Envoy CDX]

The Rustoleum will certainly tidy it up Rob. Nice progress.

[Robsey]

Cheers Gary,
Yes it did a great job on the silencer.

Although they both lasted 30-odd years without any significant weakening... just dry surface corrosion in the case of the silencer.

[Envoy CDX]

Aye, if there's the opportunity to add protection, always best to do so, madness when its in this number of parts not too.

[Robsey]

Finally remember the plastic flange retainers,
So able to fit the flanges, circlips and green coloured sealing caps.

In other words - finally finished the gearbox.





Just wants some fresh oil in there.