The thing I though would take the longest time, the throttle linkage, did. But, I came out victorious!

I bought a longer, thicker rod since I knew the new set up would require some bends that needed to be rigid. Not a big deal, just a Z bend, but it did have to be precise. It took a few attempts with lighter gauge rods.

Here is the return spring and plate I made for it. It works very well
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Here is a view of the Z bend.
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Throttle linkage going through tin.
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And now for the little part I am most pleased with. The throttle connection on the tranz was a 5/8 hole. So, I bought a 5/8 bolt with a good size unthreaded portion. I cut the threads off, flattened one side to make it easy to drill, drilled a hole for a cotter pin and one for the cable, put a washer on it, and installed it. It friggen worked as I imagined! I like fabricating things.....when they work
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I had to make a new arm for the pivot on the tranz. This time I made it longer and with extra holes for adjustment. I did the drawing, caveman-trigonometry, and measurements and found the previous iteration to be 1cm too short. I could not get full throttle until I made the new arm. I will be cutting off the extra limb, and tacking the small fasteners on Sun, most likely.
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I should be able to start it and maybe drive it tomorrow I need to jack up the rear so I can spin the wheels to finish installing the bolts in the axles. The to do list includes:
- Finish axle install
- Tack the throttle tube down
- Tack the linkage arm down
- Cut off extra limb of pivot arm
- Check hose at brake booster
- Clean up the cabin and finish any left over wiring
- Attach MAP line to tranny
- Design, build and install mount for the tranz shifter
- Fill fluids
- Sacrifice goat
- Power up and fix what ever goes wrong

Nice job, but where are the bucket pics ???

Don't let that goat go to waste.

Nice Linkage!
Is Electrical tape and paper towel what they recommend for cuts in med school these days?

Good catch

My DIP knuckle on my left pointer finger keeps getting re-opened due to work, and I busted my PIP joint on the opposite hand. The shop towel/electrical tape worked very well. It was cold as hell, and my fingers were warm

Ya might want to consider this for a bus accessory. All the cool buses have one.

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"Brown Sugar" that is so wrong.

dang it. It is raining and is supposed to at least through Tues Spring.

You can borrow my umbrella

I just got home, and the pics look good. I was wondering if the bus would be there when Erin and theo and I pulled into the drive tonight. I am glad to see the axles back in it. Its cold again here, had to turn back on the pellet stove. It was starting to snow up around Breezewood today, up in the mountains.

Zach

I could have kept going, but I didnt want to disturb your neighbors with dragging the jack out at midnight I have 1 days worth of work left, unless problems arise. We all know how that is.

CRAP! So, last time I was at Zach's and I got all of this work done on my bus, I first replaced the front bearing and hub assembly on my left wheel of my VUE. The noise that was there did not go away. That was $166 that did not solve the problem. AND, it sucked to do. Well, I am sure it the right one is bad so I bought another one, $166, and tried to change the stupid thing today. Very corroded on. Can not get the axle shaft out or the bearing out. Maybe tomorrow I can get it out at Paul's shop.

So, for those at home keeping score, the suby is hard down, the VUE is soft down, the bus is on its way up..... if it were not raining, I would have driven the bus home today

Good thing you have all those bikes, then.

Mike, when was the last time you were on the 6 foot long skate board?

Great thread! Amazing what one can do when they just keep trying!

I know this is a foreign concept to you, but you might want to just pay to have one of the vehicles fixed and back online.

Zach

Every time I read this thread, I want a Squareback.

Zach, I need to save some $$. I spoke to Paul at European Import Motors and he is gonna help me. I am on my way to his shop now. Its good to have a master mechanic that is cool and owns his own shop as a friend

Damn was I over my head. Paul had one of his techs, Jimmy, change out the bearing assembly. It was a real bitch with air tools and he needed to get pretty violent with it. 20min job took much longer and required. I will be bringing them pizza tomorrow for lunch.

Now one of the rear bearings is making noise

Closer.

Today I finished up installing the axles, cleaned up the outside of them and applied RTV to keep the grease where it is supposed to be, then spent a hell of a lot of time going to parts stores looking for exhaust parts. I installed the headers, sealed them with high temp sealant, and woudlnt you know it? The headers point directly at the axles and leave little room for design. I bought several 90* bends and made two S shaped pieces to go under the axles. This put the exhaust more central (which works for my overall plan), but also under the pan for the trans. I put them 1" away and will be constructing a heat shield for this area.

No pics this time. Hopefully I will be done with the exhaust next trip and will be motivated to snap some shots.

In other news, the engine turns over with the turn of the key Its a start.

Header wrap over the exhaust would help alot as well. Big debate on whether or not header wrap will hold moisture to your exhaust and rust it, I am of the school of thought that if you drive it a bunch there shouldn't be a problem. The heat from the exhaust gases should steam off the moisture.

Kyle

Good idea, Kyle. Cheap and easy to install. I can always upgrade. If the exhaust rusts through, I can handle that as well. I need it to drive to my house NOW so Zach can get his new (used) parts truck into the space. Once the exhaust is finished, I just need to finalize the wiring (the dash lights did not come on/gauges) and put gas in it

Oh ya, and put seat brackets in, but that should not be a biggie.

Well, today/night was all about getting the exhaust done. I would have gotten farther if my bike didnt strand me at the gas station for 1.5hrs at 10pm Loose wire, easy fix once found

So, here are the exhaust pics.

Here are the tubes coming from the headers, and under the axles. Tight fit.
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Here are the mufflers welded together so that they make one unit.
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Mounting ears installed
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Muffler assembly mounted. I had to cut and reweld the upper pipe so I could aim it down more. The hose for that one needs a little shortening as well.
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Where the mufflers end up. I will be putting 45* tips on them last. You can again see the one pipe that is a bit too long.
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Ha!
You should have called me when you got stuck at the gas station.

Erin woke me up last night at 1:30. "Mike is still working outside!" I don't think that I said anything, but I was thinking"why are you waking me up to tell me this?"

I gave Evil 5 gallons of gas. he was all "I can start it!" And I was like "dude you have no exhaust" And he was "It'll be awesome!" And I was all "I want my neighbors to like me." So he did not start it up.

Anyway, since the 914 is out of the garage, we put the bus back into it so it could be finished off w/o care of the weather. Which is supposed to be stupid awesome this week.

I looked at the bus this morning before heading to work, and the exhaust looks great.

I field stripped my bike at the Sheetz station last night. I removed the seat and smugglers compartment to check the battery and wires, removed the headlight and messed with the wires, removed the gas tank (found the loose wire). I had to go across the street to the grocery store to get some tools and some tape to hold the headlight on I need to fix a few things on the bike before I come over today.

On the way home, there was a deer on the freeway walking around (natures retard). Scared the shit out of me, but I missed it.

I left at 0130 and heard someone in the bathroom Is Erin OK with my late hours?

She is fine with it, just surprised that you were still there. She tends to be a night owl. I was out cold by ~10:45. Whatever you were doing did not wake me up, so I was happy.

Cool. I am sore today. I anticipate another late night, depending. All I need to do is finish sorting out the wiring, mount the shifter, and mount the front seats. Then I can leave

My problems have moved from computers to vehicles with the VUE going through wheel bearings, the suby blowing a head gasket and not my R90 randomly deciding not to start. It just stranded me at a parts store down the street. I just spent a little time fixing the wiring and will be off to work on the bus at 6pm.

DANGER EVIL ONE, DANGER !!

So is this the bike you're trying to sell me?

No, but from the looks of it he is going to be riding that one soon. Or Noel's Dream (talk about an Ape on a minibike...)

Zach

What the heck, I trained on a Suzuki GZ250. And I was not the biggest guy in my class either.

Ken, I dont think my bike would be a good bike for you. It would be a great investment for someone, but not a good bike for a beginner wanting to ride it now.

Last night was my longest night yet. I quit at 0245 and got home at 0400 (stopped for a snack). All I did was wiring completion and a rough mock up for the shifter. It is actually very stout and will be where it stays until I decide to move it. I am focusing on getting it moving to my house at this point so form will follow function, as it should be.

The gauges look awesome! I need to adjust the light in the fuel gauge side as you can see.

No work today on the bus, I need to do school and transmission work

Gauges

Last night was productive. I got stranded until 0130 by some rain and wind. I got all the wiring sorted out for the signals and instruments. Some dumbass (me) put the turn signal wire to the high beam indicator. Man, that was hooked into EVERYTHING and caused some fun mental exercise. Now all signals work, gauge lights, high beam indicator, oil P, and battery. The only gauge that is not firing up yet, and I am not sure why, is the O2 sensor, but I am not worried about it right now.

After cramping my mind with wiring diagrams, I decided it was time to figure out the front seat situation. I have captains chairs out of a later model bus and some feel that these are a bit high. After mocking up the bottom of the seat on the drivers side and sitting on it I quickly realized that it is too tall for me. My head was rubbing the headliner when I sat up straight. So, I opted to mount the seat pan directly to the body. One side of the body mount area was lower than the other so I made up some mount tabs and welded them in.

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I also welded up all the holes from the old seat mount being drilled out. It was a stinky, smokey night.

The seat in position and the mount for the passenger seat being mocked up. I quit at this point as I need some more scrap metal to fab up a bracket for the passenger seat.
What is left to do:
- Finish seat mounts
- Wrap exhaust
- Weld last part of exhaust
- Start engine and drive

I also spent some time yesterday cleaning the rust out of the pulleys so that the belt would not be eaten up.

I suppose some may wonder about the lack of adjustment in my drivers seat. It will be adjustable, sort of. It will be bolted in place and all I have to do is drill holes where I want to move the seat. Luckily, I have the inseam of a person who is 5'7" so where it is now should be great for most people. All my height, 6'2" is above the waist, like an ape

Evil also spent some time trying to convince my son to ride motorcycles (while Theo tried to convince Mike of the benefits of wearing poopy diapers!)


Zach

Prey animals in the wild often soil themselves with feces to make themselves unappetizing to predators

Was that Theo's reasoning? I just like the feel and the fact that I don't have to stop for anything.

Upon changing last night, that diaper was fairly epic. Low marks for overall smell, but excellent marks for volume, viscosity, and tenacity! It was a good thing we were going right to bath time.

Zach

All threads lead to poop.....eventually.

We got her started last night. Alternator needs to be replaced - again. We figured out why it was whining, and we can't fix it - I think. But the bus starts on the first turn of the key and sounds mean as hell.

Still some wiring to do. Rear lights look like a disco when you hit the various pedals.

trans won't go into reverse, but Mike says that it s a simple adjustment. it does want to go into drive.

It is very close.

Zach

It's all good. I want to ride, not kill myself.

More productivity last night:

The shifter was not adjusted correctly which necessitated that I once again drain the pan, remove the pan and then monkey with the manual adjustment. It was WAY off. I hope I have reverse now.

I removed the exhaust pipes, wrapped them, and painted them with high temp silicon spray paint. And reinstalled. I also painted the mufflers and will install them today.

I found that the the reason the o2 sensor was not working was a wiring issue. The instructions I had were incomplete. I just downloaded the 24 page manual that has more info that I needed. Good times.

I found the tach wire that I had going to the wrong place and now I should have a working tach.

I modified and installed the side marker lights.

Now to the alternator I took it in to trade it for another one and when they tested it, it worked perfectly and did not whine I got another one anyway and will see what happens. I think it can only be the corvair nose cone if it still has an issue. The alt I picked up is the step up one and after trading in the old one I only paid $11 I am waiting for the correct alt fan to show up and then I will install.

What to do:
- Fill tranny
- Install exhaust
- Install alternator
- Fix O2 sensor wiring
- Paint and install wipers
- Finish seat install

Drive home????

i was gonna stop by in about an hour. are you over there??

Mike, just a thought.
At this point I think that I am going to take next Friday off (the one before Hershey). By then, you should have the bus ready to drive. I can drive up and get you in the Subaru, drive back to my house - finish whatever needs finishing on the bus. Then you drive the bus home while I chase you in the 914. Worst comes to worst and the bus is not yet ready, you can ride with me in the 914 back to Palmyra.

Zach

I will install the tow hitch so I can tow your 914 to my house

The quick and dirty from tonight, exhaust is in and perrrrfect. The alternator is in, I am going to get another nose cone just in case, though. It was too late to start it up and see if the whine was still there. Gotta be the cone if it is. I couldnt find the corded drill (other than the impact hammer) so I could not finish installing the seat, but there is <1hr left on that. I have one side of hte exhaust pipe done (for looks) and will do the other (<20min). Fill with tranny fluid, install wiper blades and try to move the beast.

Wed is school work so I will be home. Thurs I have someone coming over for a rebuild so that is booked. Fri I may have a date with the missus, if not then Fri will be the day I drive the bus home (I hope!).

I will post pics later after I sleep.