68' Bus lives again

My son and I got the bus back together with another engine (he does
most of the work) and the bus lives again! Anyway he has had it going
for a few weeks now and uses it as his main ride now. He is having
more fun than anyone should have getting attention from the local
population from here to Des Moines (about 90 miles one way). I'm
really amazed at his attitude and his entire family. They are all
going 60's mod in dress and the peace emblems and riding around. They
are in the right style of clothes but the shaved head and earings are
not of the period. Anyways it is fun. He is driving it 55 and
keeping the engine cool and getting over 20mpg on short runs and up to
almost 30 on long hauls without headwinds. The engine is the one I
had in my old super that rusted apart a couple of years ago. We put
on a rebuilt 34 carb with my favorite combo, the 009 dist. It has no
hesitation and runs strong. Static timed with valves adjusted to .
006, electric fuel pump with regulator set at 3 lbs. It works for
me. Dennis

dennis: we put 250k on a '68 bus, sky blue with a white roof, with
many trips back and forth from california to washington state and, over
the years, about six engines. at the time, a factory rebuilt ran about
$800 including installation for this model, the first breadloaf (the '67
was the last splittie). a mechanic joked that the engine was held in
place by a wing-nut, but in any case it took only a few hours to swap
one out. it didn't take very many tight no. three exhaust valves to blow
a piston on these, as you likely know. it also was not uncommon to see a
bent-inward gas pedal on these, testifying to a former owner trying to
floorboard more power out of that lawnmower engine, especially on a
hill. hello, blown piston! trust your son will have a ball with this
fine old bus. art, '81 westy




Dennis wrote:
> My son and I got the bus back together with another engine (he does
> most of the work) and the bus lives again! Anyway he has had it going
> for a few weeks now and uses it as his main ride now. He is having
> more fun than anyone should have getting attention from the local
> population from here to Des Moines (about 90 miles one way). I'm
> really amazed at his attitude and his entire family. They are all
> going 60's mod in dress and the peace emblems and riding around. They
> are in the right style of clothes but the shaved head and earings are
> not of the period. Anyways it is fun. He is driving it 55 and
> keeping the engine cool and getting over 20mpg on short runs and up to
> almost 30 on long hauls without headwinds. The engine is the one I
> had in my old super that rusted apart a couple of years ago. We put
> on a rebuilt 34 carb with my favorite combo, the 009 dist. It has no
> hesitation and runs strong. Static timed with valves adjusted to .
> 006, electric fuel pump with regulator set at 3 lbs. It works for
> me. Dennis