Hapy Runs Again

Picking up where I left off last time, we had Hapy mostly in one piece, needing coolant. His exhaust was still in pieces, rear bumper on the ground and he had not started since June of 2024.

 

Coolant

full moon down the street

There is really no adventure here, but in the interest of being thorough, I topped off Hapy's coolant with some G40. I worked air bubbles out of his system by squeezing hoses, but they won't really fully work themselves free until the engine is running. So, after a couple more top-offs, I called it good and capped the overflow and coolant bottles.

 

Exhaust

The not-my-favorite, too-small-diameter, cheap exhaust installed on this engine all those years ago went back on. This was not my first choice, but I want Hapy running, so I'll circle-back on a new exhaust later. The old one came apart where the piping enters the muffler. I think the cheap muffler failed allowing the section of pipe to which the exhaust "downpipe" (we'll call it that: it's the pipe that leads from the turbo, but it does make it sound awfully grand) was welded to fall out of the muffler body. The weld is a good 4 inches from the end of the pipe which clearly fits inside the muffler body and sets inside an inner pipe within. I regret not taking a picture here; apologies.

 

ShadeTree mechanic'ing

So, I hung the muffler body by the support hook and then set to attaching the downpipe. There is one stud attached to the turbo that the 3-holed flange hangs on. Then, you swing the rest of it into place, square the gasket and send the other bolts (with washers) through. A 13mm spanner is needed for the lower bolt, but the other 2 can be approached with a socket. With the muffler swinging on its mount and the downpipe firmly a-fixed, I set the pipe into the muffler and literally hammered the muffler into the pipe with a rubber mallet. These parts will easily work themselves apart again, if I didn't do something. So, I went full shade-tree, and added a 1" angle bracket, screwed into the muffler and the pipe to hold it together. The picture on the right, here, tells the tale. Not a proud moment but that will all go to the landfill / recycler eventually.

 

Bumper

Feeling confident that Hapy would be a runner again very soon, I installed the rear bumper / tow hitch component. I detailed the original install of the tow hitch in Bus Tow Hitch. Re-install is not nearly as involved. 15mm socket needed. I set the hitch onto the TravisJack and lifted it close to where it would eventually sit and then balanced on the TravisJack while I set bolts. I fingered-on the left (driver) side and then the right (passenger) side, taking care not to drop the unit off the jack and onto me. I discovered that the exhaust pipe leaving the muffler hung in the way, but a solid kick with my boot resolved it without causing any damage to anything. Just needed some sudden blunt force. Once all 6 bolts were finger tight, I set the bumper where I wanted it depth and parallel-to-the rear-wise and torqued them down.

 

Injection Pump Prime

electrical connection cleaner

Any time I let Hapy sit undriven for a while, the injection pump loses prime. I believe this is because of a failing seal, but it's the one that's much harder to get to (and I don't have on-hand). So, I have let that sit to be solved another day. Enter the mighty MityVac. Since I disconnected the large fuel filter for the flywheel replacement, I was unsure if that filter was completely full, so I started with the line which enters the injection pump, moving to the return side of the pump next. This is relatively straightforward: disconnect the fuel line, apply vacuum with the MityVac (using the collection bottle between the pump and the fuel line, of course) until the collection bottle consistently gets fuel. Then, remove the vacuum contraption and reconnect the line. For the return line, I also clamped the return line from the injectors to the pump so I did not lose vacuum through them. Once the pump was full, I cracked the hard lines at the injectors with a 17mm spanner. This last bit of priming needs to be done by turning the ignition and counting to 5. Well, that's how I did it. When I returned to the engine compartment, each of the 4 injectors had some fuel sitting on top where the hard line connected. I snugged them back tight.

 

DeOx-it D5

Before I ran to the cab to give the engine a try, I wanted to make sure all of the plug-in bits were set. So, I went around the top of the engine, disconnecting, shooting-DeOxit D5 into the connectors and clicking them back together. This served 2 functions. First, a simple survey of the top of the engine allowed me to see if I had missed anything. Second, every electrical connection was confirmed a good-click connection and it was cleaned/deoxidized for a better connection. Having done this, and it only taking literally a minute, I intend to include a similar final survey when doing top-side maintenance going forward. Its so easy, and removes many possible variables to failures.

 

And Then It Happened

At this point, I felt that I had done everything I could to set up for a successful first start since June of 2024. I put the trans-axle into neutral turned the key to run and saw the familiar lights. With an inhale, I turned the key to start and after about 3 seconds he fired up. I didn't expect immediate, since fuel still needed to get pushed down into the injectors, but he started well and ran strong, arriving at a comfortable idle almost immediately. I left him run for a while, sitting in my shop in neutral while I checked for leaks and drips. There were none, which was little short of a miracle.

 

I thought about giving him a little test drive, but I have not solved for the electrical cord for the FrostHeater yet. Curious, though, I tried to ease him into gear, but he wouldn't. Knowing that he easily moved in and out of gear when the engine was not running, I concluded that the clutch cable needs adjusting.

Clutch Adjustment

This adjustment took a little bit of effort, but with a thicker spacer where the Bowden tube meets the mount on the transaxle, and another spacer on the adjuster, I was able to get the clutch to engage and disengage properly. The Bowden tube needs a curve in it to reduce clutch chatter, so this was needed regardless. The fact that I needed a spacer on the adjuster tells me that the cable that I replaced.. jeez.. almost 20 years ago... may be stretching. This is often a warning that the cable will fail soon. So, time to order a replacement.

I used a Velcro ties to hold the FrostHeater cable up and out of the way. But, before I wrapped it up, I tried the FrostHeater, and I think it might be broken. I'll have to do some research, but I expected the unit or at least the top hose to warm up to the touch a little bit. I did not notice any warming, so that effort may have been for nothing after all. Again, I will look into it and I may get a replacement unit, but I'll be pretty bummed if it was really only used a couple of times before it got damaged.

Here's a video of him running, probably 3 minutes after his first start in like 18 months.

 

 

 

I noticed that the rear lights were acting all weird, but a different kind of weird than usual after messing with the battery. So, I did not want to risk a drive-about. It seems like every time I touch the battery, the tail lights short-out such that stepping on the brakes completes an unexpected circuit. That's the usual. This time, the reverse lights were lit up and the blinkers were acting all strange, but only the rear. I think I may have done something with the reverse lights, like reversing the plugs when I wired up the switch, but I ran out of daylight before I could get after it. I'll diagnose and attempt to fix it next time. 

Thanks, as always for following along, and I'll post with any test-drive observations, and other improvements as they happen. At this point, I am thrilled that Hapy self-starts and can move around again--

Bus Tow Hitch

Today, I covered the install of a tow hitch onto Hapy, (1972 VW Bus), highlighting some of the unique factors about a 1972 VW bus as well as what is special about Hapy that makes this install particular. I am still working on the injectors and getting Hapy running, so this install kept me busy or should I say distracted from that for the weekend.

Slow Go

test fit

Back when I first got Hapy, and for the handful of years I drove him with his original mystery engine, he could barely get much of anywhere if there was more than just me inside. If we added another adult, a couple of kids, gear, food, etc for a weekend of camping every incline presented a new opportunity for my knuckles to whiten, my back to tighten and passersby to wave with a single finger. At the time, I knew of other bus-drivers who had no such problems. In fact, there was a guy from Canada who built a trailer that looked like a small single-axle version of his bus that he towed behind him as he crisscrossed Canada and the US. He called his bus the Red Tomato; sadly, I cannot find a picture, but his set up was amazing. An engine swap, and some other upgrades later, I'm no longer slowing down traffic, and the idea of a small tow-behind or just maybe using one of those tow-hitch bike racks is appealing. Dare I say a ski/board rack?

One Year Only

Of course, 1972 is a transition year for the VW bus. 1971 was the last year of the old "type1" or upright engine, making 1972 the first year of the pancake engine (in the bus). The rear transom was changed so you could no longer remove the bottom section between the tail lights for engine removal, the tail light housings were made larger, etc. On the front, 1972 was the last year of the "low light" turn signals below the headlights. So, 1972 was already a kind of a frankenbus before I got my hands on it. Arguably, if I had left it (or returned it to) stock, it would be worth more.... to some folks. Bear in mind, Hapy did not have his original engine when I got him, so any return-to-stock would not have been to a numbers-matching bus. Besides, a camperbus should be camped in, not just garaged, trailered and car-showed.

dis-assembly

In 1973, the rear bumper was changed, changing the rear end again. This means that much of the design of the engine-to-frame mount, transom, the bumper mount, etc. was unique to 1972. So, getting a rear hitch to fit was not an off-the-shelf thing. Well, it wasn't until this cat in Virginia started making them as a side job a few years ago, and selling them on TheSamba. The reviews of Jeremy's work has been super-high, and his responsiveness to email has been great. It arrived quickly, wrapped with cardboard to protect it (but not boxed, probably for less expensive shipping) and looks exactly like the pictures. You can see what it looked like in the picture on the right, here. What I didn't realize when I ordered it, the tow hitch ships with 6 super-high-strength M10 x 1.5 bolts for mounting. 

These tow hitches include an integrated bumper support, which supplants the old one. So, one of the one-year-only parts is no longer needed. For those who have purchased a bus which had it's rear bumper removed and subsequently lost, with this hitch, you only need to source a bumper (based on my look-around, WestCoastMetric, JBugs, and BusDepot now offer the 1-year-only bumper). That's easier than finding a one-year-only bumper and pair of one-year-only brackets. And, you get a tow hitch. Win-win!

One Bus Only

As unique as the 1972 VW bus rear-end design is, Hapy is more so. Recall, all those years ago when Hal and I (more Hal than I) designed the engine mount for the TDI engine? Rather than leveraging the triangle of mount holes in the frame rail sides that held the original engine mount "moustache bar", we reused the twin holes further to the rear which hold the bumper brackets. This left the triangle mount holes vacant. The tow hitch also mounts to the bus frame through something other than the triangle of holes. Once the install has completed, the engine mount and the bumper mount will each be supported independently.

I will take this opportunity to underscore that our reuse of the bumper bracket holes has been completely without issue. On surface, one could become concerned with whether the holes were designed to support the weight of a TDI engine. Consider that the bellhousing mount to the frame probably holds most of the weight, and is absolutely capable of holding the engine by itself. I say that because I have removed the rear mount and accidentally removed the support (lowered the jack. Doh!) in the past, and the engine has not budged. Also, the bumper mount needs to be capable of holding not just the bumper off the ground, but occasional additional weight of someone stepping on it. Last, it needs some level of hardiness to absorb energy from a rear-end collision. Regardless, I have never felt this design has not been more than capable of supporting the rear-end of the engine. Again, thanks Hal :)

Install Hitch Hampering

bent ear

After some careful examination of the mount, and of the bus frame, I realized that the tow hitch does not reuse the triangle engine mount, it uses a set of otherwise unused holes in the rear of the frame. This means that for a standard 1972 bus, the install does not involve the engine mounting mechanism at all. Nice work, Jeremy! The holes he targeted sit directly above the holes used by the original bumper brackets.... that we are using for our TDI engine mount. In any other 1972 bus, you could just set to tapping those holes with a M10 x 1.5 tap for the supplied bolts. With Hapy, there is always an extra hitch (pardon the pun): the right-angle brackets that are part of the engine mount hung over the outer edge of the frame by about 1/4", and prevented the hitch from setting all the way. Through the use of a cut-off wheel on my angle-grinder, that extra overhang was trimmed off. When I do the install for realsies, I will hit the bracket with the grinder so the edge is smooth. And, of course, I'll shoot the exposed steel with some black paint.

But then, we still were not quite ready. The tow hitch was tweaked partially during shipping. The 2 supports were slightly bent inwards by a 1/2" total so it would not fit around the rails. I pulled out the 3' sledgehammer and encouraged the hitch supports apart. Had the hitch not had a bent ear for the passenger-side bumper support, it could have taken me longer to realize that the shipper was a little rough with the hitch. I advise you to check the measurements and angles when you get yours. These are built on a jig, so it is not a manufacturing issue.

Preparing for the Tow Hitch

Finally, the fun part. With a floor jack, I put upward pressure on the engine support bar so I could remove the bolts on either side. Supporting the bumper with my toolbox, I dropped the last bolts and lowered the bumper. I slid it out of the way and returned the bolts back through the engine support bar. Once the engine mount was tightened back down, I removed the exhaust. I decided that it would be easier to install the hitch with it out of the way. It was at this point that I cut off the extra meat on the brackets and discovered the rough handling during shipping I mentioned above. I decided that the engine was crazy dirty, and I had gotten enough oily yuck in my fingers (I found and re-connected a breach in the compressed air / turbo pipes) that a degrease was overdue.

crazy cleaner

Product shoutout: Oil Eater. I cannot believe how effective this bio-degradeable, enviro-safe degreaser is. I have found this stuff at the dollar store and BiMart, and when I first bought it, I didn't think much about it as I'd never heard of it. Wow, this stuff cleans oily greasy messes fast. My TDI engine was a black-caked oily mess. I shot it with the OilEater, and hosed it off. To get all the little nooks I did this 3 times. No brushing, no scrubbing: just spray it on and hose it off. The engine is incredibly clean now. You can sort of see in the bottom picture. All that silver used to be black, and all that black used to be, well, black, but caked oily gross black.

At some point, the original bumper brackets, and splash pans need to be removed from your bumper. The picture at the top shows the yardsale that ensues when you do. The hitch has the corresponding holes for re-using your splash pans. I recognize that these pans help hold the front edges of the bumper to the side of the bus, but I am not sure that value offsets the cost of the junk that builds up in those pans. Leaves, pine needles, etc sit there and just encourage rust. Washing or cleaning those pans is not easy either. So, for now, I will be omitting my splash pans, and will eventually form a bracket to go from the side of the bus to the front of the bumper. As I worked the bumper, I noticed that the paint needs to be refreshed and the bolts were all rusty again. Fun in the rain-soaked Pacific NorthWest. Finding stainless steel fasteners to replace the zinc-coated or plain steel took some time, but I found them at BelMetric for about $15US delivered.

Installing The Tow Hitch

tapping last M10 hole

With the bumper and exhaust out of the way, and the engine bay clean, the install of the bumper is relatively straight forward. The 6 holes need to be tapped with a M10 x 1.5 tap. I didn't have any, nor had I ever done anything like that, but the tap and driver cost me about $18US at the corner Ace Hardware. The cutting of the threads was pretty easy too. I just took my time, making sure the tap was lined up well, and then slowly twist the tap in 1/4 turn at a time. I found that the first few threads are the most important and that it was easy to mess them up when I was removing the tap. So, my advice is to take extra care during the last few turns on the way out. It is easy to lose concentration, and then you have to do it again.

Jeremy's (the fabricator's) instructions for the install indicate that you must mount the bumper before installing the hitch. I, of course, did not do that, but it was so I could get a test fit. And, as I mentioned above, my bumper bolts have rust appearing on the bolt heads, so I'm going to replace them. The tow hitch is not balanced, wanting to tip down to the rear. I suspect that once the bumper is added, it will want to drop rearward all the more. Considering that at this point I do NOT have my exhaust installed, I expect the final install will end up another post.

note location relative
to engine mount triangle

I set the driver-side end of the bar under it's install location but on top of my toolbox. I went over to the passenger-side, lifted it into position and finger-threaded the upper rear bolt into the hole a few threads. Then, I switched to the driver-side, threading in both rear bolts, but again only a few threads. I continued to bounce back and forth wiggling the hitch and threading bolts until all of the bolts were threaded in. At this point, I pushed and pulled to get the tow hitch into it's rear-most location and then finger tightened the bolts. Last, I ratcheted them down snug (not torqued) with a 15mm socket.

Bumper On

To complete the test-fit, I set the bumper in-place and threaded the 2 outer, but rear-facing, rusty bolts through the hitch-resident bumper support and set the 13mm washers and nuts on. This gave me an approximate visual for how the finished product will look. Overall, I think it looks great. While I will miss the modesty skirt thing, and I have not yet confirmed that the exhaust will fit without modification, I will definitely appreciate having that hitch for a bike rack, or equipment shelf or for actually towing something small.

That's it for now. I will be cleaning up the bumper and exhaust, probably painting the bumper again and then repeating this install, plus re-installing the exhaust. I'm sure I'll post on it. Thanks, as always, for following along--