The Great German Slider Rises!

I know I will repeat this many times, but I am having a ton of fun working on Vera! I've been getting lots of practice on my patience although very enjoyable learning how my bus works! Since purchase I knew of Vera's broken sliding door. It wouldn't open normally, you had to pull a cord from the inside to release the latch. Once released, the door would catch again, only opening about 3 inches. 

Sorry, not that skinny, so you had to lift the sliding rail panel and dig with your fingers looking for a little lever to push. The door then would slide open, then sliding off the bus hanging half off. It was pretty pathetic but I knew I needed to fix it!

As Evil and angry as this sliding nightmare of a door can be...  after a day of messing with it I was pretty comfortable with it. 

So the reason that the door didn't open was the door was locked and there wasn't a matching key! I was able to get the handle off ok, but I could not get the locking collar off. Some have little screws you can loosen to get it off but mine didn't have one. So, I bought a new handle with lock and now the door opens!!

So with the door opening I needed work on the door catching at 3 inches. The hinge mechanism located at the back of the door where it slides is actually a brilliant design but when broken the door can be a little violent because it's so heavy! Remember when I mentioned evil and angry? 

In the hinge assembly, there is a little cam (lever) thing that with a spring twists a latch to release, and the door slides. All powered by the swing out of the door. I know sounds really confusing. In my case that little cam was broke in half. This was creating the catch at about 3 inches. With out knowing what the cam actually looked like it made it difficult to understand how it worked. I searched everywhere online for a new one but all sites listed as discontinued. I ended up finding it a the local Vintage VW junk yard here in Phoenix AZ. He only had one! The guy there has been really helpful.

There is also a little nylon slider that helps guide the door and keep from sliding off. Mine didn't look too bad but I ordered a new one anyway. 

I also noticed the U bracket was really bent, making the door hard to slide. I tried to straighten it but it was pretty bad. I was able to find a used one with the whole spring assembly that goes in the door. at the junk yard. So I replaced the whole thing as the new (old) spring looked good!

So, whew, If you're still with me, I had my brother in law help me put the door back on. I was able to get it on alone a couple of times, but not with all the good parts on! So it was very nice to have help. I used 2 jack stands to prop it up. With a new nylon guide, newer cam, new U bracket and spring, we tested the door. It was sliding pretty good! Opening and closing, sliding ok everything was looking pretty good. Then here comes the evil and angry door again. Bam, falls half off. Fortunately, we caught it early, I've had practice haha!

Looks like I will need to fiddle with the adjustments of the rollers. I also need to replace the rail cover as its been beat up with years of the door falling off. 

This is a time when you practice patience :) You know, when I think of getting upset, I just remember I'm working on my dream. Owning a VW Bus. Plus, Life's too short so enjoy!

Roller adjustments....More to come...

Seeing The Light

Wow what a fun time I've been having working on Vera. There are several issues with the wiring. The problem was turn signals were blowing fuses. Since I knew nothing about VW wiring up until a week ago I was able to use a great book by John Muir to get me started. Also, the help of a few websites like thesamba.com and youtube.com I've been able to navigate the wiring pretty good. With only one problem, half of the wiring, switches etc. are missing. The stuff that is there isn't where it should be.

I first started inspecting the lenses. both were cracked and the bulb socket on the lense housing was rotted out. So I replaced both front housings, bulbs and lenses. This didn't fix the problem though. I inspected the rear lights and everything looked ok. I also replaced all of the fuses. Nothing helped. Fuses still blowing.

So, t then started checking all grounds (I could find) and fixed up a couple but the problem remained. After disassembling the switch, I cleaned it really good. I put it back in and tested, the fuse didnt blow and the signal lights came on but they wouldn't blink. With a lot of tracing wires I was able to determine the Flasher Relay was also missing! I ran down to the local auto supply store and picked up a relay. I came back and tested and they worked!

However, now the headlights weren't working. By now you might think I was getting frustrated? Haha, so would I normally but no I was pretty confident in the problem as I had learned the wiring, whats left of it. So with a replacement of the headlight relay I had working front and back turn signals, tail lights and head lights! I was pretty happy!!

One interesting thing is while removing the stereo I noticed a cassette tape was in the deck! Of course I had to pry it apart, it was a nice break from the rats nest of wires. It had Bob Marley/Tribe written on one side! Ya Mon!! So cool. Also had Backstar written on the back. I think it is another reggae band?

I suspect a pretty big wiring system was in the bus at one time. There is an extra fuse box that is mounted under the dash with all wires cut. This was probably for a stereo. There were lots of dead wires I pulled out. Probably half the harness, Things like high beams, windshield wipers, and dome light are not working.

Anyway, so on to the next project.