Welcome to ReVOLKS!

Current restoration work: '54 Beetle Sliding-Ragtop, '59 Beetle Sedan, '60-'59 KG Cabrio, '62 KG Coupe '63 Notchback, '64 Notchback, '65 Beetle Sedan '66 21-Window Bus, '69 KG Cabrio, '70 Bus, '71 KG Cabrio, '73 412,

" Hesh " ~ 1970 Westy Weekender ~ revolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolks
	Restoration by Son of reVOLKS is an on-going "project beater revival". This bus is a student-ride and work truck. If our son has made it to school each day it was in this bus :) If you have purchased a part from reVOLKS since August 2001, then this bus delivered it to one of the various carriers or post office. Additionally, this bus performs many hauling duties for supplies and work-efforts as a student's schedule will permit. ~ The Project Plan ~ This '70 Bus is a "Project Beater" we picked up to perform dual duty: (1) To provide our youngest son with his first stick-shift, first vehicle, to drive since getting his license in the fall of 2001. (how can you go wrong with a vehicle that can't go over 55 mph for your son's first car? :) (2) To be an ongoing restoration effort performed by our youngest son with only money your typical student could afford and supply to accomplish this work. Hesh was bought for the outrageous price of $800 (you be the judge on what outrageous means). It was very complete with a Westy Weekender package, a complete "oily looking" engine, an unknown battery, five good tires, some accident damage to the nose and some rust damage to the passenger side rear-quarter. The person we purchase it from had no information on it's condition otherwise and it was sold "like you see it, take it or leave it!" (We took it without question and trailered it home.) The plans are to keep Hesh painted in stock color supplied, and do all required mechanical and body work, but performed by the young lad on his schedule and at his expense.
	Last fall, we brought this bus home, I put the battery on charge and the next morning turned the ignition over. To our son's amazed eyes and ears it fired right up! There was a leaking gasket on the 34pict3 carb which I quickly replaced and then off we drove to teach him how to drive "a stick". The bus drove marvelously for 3 days (in spite of some tortuous gear shifting on the first day) but the lad learned quickly and just when things were looking up. We got a phone call: Sor - "Ah...yeah....seems to be dead...I can't start it..." Dad - "Ah...yeah....try turning your headlights on and if they work, start the bus. Do the headlights stay lit?" Sor - "Ah...No....." Dad - "Ah...So what do you think is wrong?" Sor - "Ah...dead battery?" Dad - "Ah...yeah....seems to be dead...you can't start it... (big grin)" Sor - "Ah...yeah...so when you comin' to really help me?" Dad - "Ah...yeah...where's your jumper cables?" Sor - "Ah...shhh..I mean, darn!...In the garage at home.." Dad - "Ah...yeah...Buy some soap for your mouth and I'll be there in a few minutes to help..." So the problem turned out to be the voltage regulator. Our son bought one from the local FLAPS and installed it himself. No more dead battery problems, but as an effort-appreciation, we replaced the battery for him anyway!
	The bus once again performed marvelously at it's now expanding duties which included more deliveries, more school and the occassional trips to the record store, video game rental, rock-climbing place, skateboarding hang-out etc... When Son of reVOLKS notices the bus is leaving it's mark everywhere he parks it... "Bring it into the shop and put it on the lift" we urge him. "We'll do a thorough inspection and see what's up". What was up: - leaking oil from engine was coming from top side of engine case (A very bad thing)... - front end had worn ball joints and tie rod ends. Sor - "So what do we do?" Dad - "WE?...Nothing... YOU do! You're the one with big arms and strong back! Sor - "Ah...yeah...So what do I do?" Dad - "Replace the ball joints top and bottom and replace the tie rods, left and right" Sor - "And that will stop the leaking oil in back?" Dad - "Ah...No..that will correct some poor-handling issues you are dealing with now.." Sor - "Ah...yeah...you got a wrench?" Dad - "Ah...no...but that tool bench over there does...." Has anyone else ever had this much fun with their child? :) Sor - "Ah...yeah...and what about the leaking oil?" Dad - "Ah...let's just deal with the front end for now...(frantically searching his weary mind for where he might have a good bus engine case) So Mum, springs for the ball joint costs, Dad springs for the shocks at all four corners and Son of reVOLKS shells out for the tie rods left and right. Son of reVOLKS performs the labor (I love to watch hard work...it was a gratifying weekend) Well, by now you're probably wondering why Mum or Dad is springing for anything on this bus, but then if you are, you're not a parent yet and you probably don't ask your son to work for the family business - delivering parcels and picking up parcels (even heavy parcels!). So basically parent-guilt plays a strong role in purchasing power for the lad.
	So another couple of weeks go by... Well, OK it was actually more like a month, but remember my feable mind was working overtime trying to remember where I had put that bus engine case? Ah....yeah... I couldn't remember because none of the cases I had available were machined for a bus. I had 4 in the machine shop, but all were type-1 application (no hanger bolts - bummer!) So Son of reVOLKS begins commenting about the cost of oil being higher then the cost of gas and I get embarrassed and admit I hadn't found an engine case suitable to correct the problem yet. Son of reVOLKS says, he'll go with me to the yard and help haul one out of a bus, bring it back to the shop, do whatever is neccessary and be eternally grateful if I'll just help him solve this problem... Son of reVOLKS, his older brother and I pull out his original engine which is a 1600 dual port and set it up on the engine run stand, stripped down to the bare long-block and start it up to see exactly what's wrong... Remember I said that leaking oil from the top of the case is a bad thing? Well, it is. and in this 'case' it was a crack along the case, just under the oil cooler's adapter mount (look at picture, just below orange seals, center of image). This crack is unseen when the engine is not running. I wiped down the case with a solvent to rid it of grease and oil and then when we ran it, a tiny hairline crack appears, oozing oil. When the fan-shroud was installed, this oil was being blown back up ontop of the case and ran down the side toward the distributor.... So we pull a case out of another bus (ironically a 1970 also) and bring it back and Son of reVOLKS dismantles it... The flywheel would not turn before dismantling, so I had visions of having to take it to the machine shop for most every kind of work you can imagine... However, the Vdub dieties were taking pity upon us at that moment and when the case halves seperated, it turned out that there was probably less than 20 minutes of use on it. It was locked-up, because it had been assembled incorrectly and the main bearing had been pinched by the case pin in the bearing's journal. :) Yes! There is a heaven and I bet there are old buses parked in front with a lot of smilin' hippies still in them! The case was so pristine that you could clearly read the bearing ink (denoting bearing's size) still. The crank, the bearings and the case checked out to be STD/STD which still puzzles me, but they mic'd out clean, and true! So I get a complete set of bearings out - crank, cam and rod. A gasket kit and set out to rebuild the lad's engine. Everything went fine. The engine went together like it wanted to and by morning (oh yeah. long day in there that lasted 36 hours plus) the engine was ready to test on the engine run stand.... I awaited the arrival of Son of reVOLKS (whom I sent home to sleep about 1am after he had cleaned and prepped the new case) and Mum who brought him back along with some much needed coffee as we started the engine. Ba-da-ba-da-Vrrrrrrm! It sounded great, timing was dead on, a clean start and run. Did I mention the hot looking, sporty exhaust Son of reVOLKS wanted to put on the engine? Sor - "Ah...yeah...would it be a good thing to swap out that stock exhaust for ...THIS one?" Dad - "huh?...(wrenching away not looking)...yeah. That's fine. Stock exhaust is restrictive anyway. Header is easy horse power." Sor - "Cool! this bus was so....." Dad - "Bus-like before?" (more sleepy grins) Sor - "Uhuh" Net result, the case was cracked. We replaced the case and swapped over all the external components and it runs fabulous. While the bus was on the lift after engine install we checked out the front end which was all great and I checked the transaxle which was also doing great, but Son of reVOLKS mentioned that the back-up lights were sporadic at best, so a quick meter check revealed a pooched back-up switch in the tranny and a few more minutes solved that too. The lad takes it out for a test drive and comes back 15 minutes later.... You HAVE to go out with me right now for a drive! His Mum and I look at each other...."Why? What's wrong now?..." We all four (oldest Son of reVOLKS was there too) hop into the bus and the lad heads out onto the highway... Dad - "Your shifting is very good son"...."the engine sounds great, if, loud with that exhaust"..."the ol' bus seems to be handling well"...."what's the problem?" Sor - "Ah...yeah... We're on the highway and we're doing the speed limit!" Dad - "Annnnd?" Sor - "It could never do that before! It maxed out at like 45, 50 if we were goin downhill..." Dad - "So...this is a good thing right?" Sor - "Ah...yeah...really good thing...Now I can go visit my MeMaw in Texas, knowing the bus will do highway speed!" So the kid's heart is actually in the right place. He's been worried he wouldn't be able to drive this beater bus all the way to his Grandmother's place to visit her on his spring break... Parenting ain't so bad after all.. And this is today. Project "beater bus" is coming along just fine. The lad is actually a good driver. He's got his head screwed on right. Doing well in school and anxious to actually tackle some of the cosmetically challenged panels on his bus soon! Now if I can only get used to that aggressive exhaust sound coming from a bus :)

Parts & Restoration