Rebuild the heater tubes

Mar. 23, 2010

I rebuilt the heater tubes (that connect from the heater exchanges)
(Found this great site with most of the info - Thanks Jonathan!)
 http://www.jonathanstiles.com/HeaterTubeRefurbish.htm

1. Cleaned and remove all the inside parts of the old tubes.  They could contain asbestos - so I soaked the inside with water - then unscrew the tubes - and removed the inside parts (with care - follow what Jonathan  shows on his site!) 
You may be able to keep the inside metal tube if not rusted.  I found it rusted and falling apart so I'll need to make some of those also.

2. purchased metal mesh, pipe insulation and foil tape from Lowes or Home Depot
 and I ordered (4) rubber sleeves from cip1.com:
RUBBER SLEEVE BETWEEN BODY TUBE & HOSE

3. Rebuilt inner metal tube with mesh and foil tape.
I made this about 11" long and used the heater exchanger to know how large the diameter should be.
Also created (4) collars to be used on each end (to go under the rubber sleeves)
(I also cut the collars tube (see picture) - so they could be installed around the pipes easier.)

4. Wrapped the metal mesh tube with insulation (pipe insulation)

5. Put tubes back together and made sure they mounted ok.

6. I put the collars on first - then the rubber sleeve:

Now I hope all of that works!!!

Fan shroud and lower tin

March. 21 2010

Fan shroud modifications for flaps and venturi ring added:

Also purchased all the missing lower tin and the famous 'Hoover bit'

I didn't purchase OG tin - but the after market tin (EMPI) and that was a real pain to get all the screws mounted.  I had to cut some of the tin to make it fit correctly - everyone says to use OG tin - now I can see why!

Undercoating the Bus

March 15, 2010

My Bus has no rust and I want to keep it that way - So I spend 12 hours under the Bus cleaning to get ready to undercoat the bus.

It worked well - though its not like paint - you just spray it on and try to get a even spray - but don't spray too much in one area - as it will build up and run.  (Let the first coat dry before adding more coats)

I didn't get a picture before cleaning - but here is after cleaning:  (You can see the Bus was originally 'Red')

After undercoating:

I waited for that first layer to dry so I could apply a few more coats.

Now that was a lot of work!

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Heres are a link with some good info:

http://www.wolfsburgii.com/undercoat.htm