First topic message reminder :

Latest addition to my pool of Aircooled VWs:

Matching Numbers All Around;
Current Missionary School Van;
November 1968 (Model year: 1969) Early RHD T2 Bay Window Walkthrough Microbus with Sliding Door on Left.
1600cc M-240 (Low Compression) 44BHP Matching Motor

Needs a ground up restoration but worth every penny its bought for.

Bought it for a Polish friend's Tour of Pakistan! The Polish friend named it as "Missionare" (German: means Messenger) for its life long service to humanity.



This is tell tale of Missionare's acquisition, 700KM journey back home and the restoration. Stay tuned as we embark on an exciting ride deep into the Early Bay world to explore what it is like to restore a half living auto-marvel from the past. 

DISCLAIMER: The thread would be creepy slow as I have two other projects running in parallel to this (a 65 Bug & a 79 Safari), so plz be patient but be assured that it would be another restoration cookbook, though this time on the subject of Early Bays.

Update on History of Missionare - July 16, 2013

*04 Documented Previous Owners
*1st Registration Date: March 04, 1969
*2nd Registration Date: January 01, 1975

1st Owner - Unknown as of yet (Owned from: March 04, 1969 To: December 31, 1974)
2nd Owner - Syed Rahat Ali Kirmani (Owned from: January 01, 1975 To: April 13, 2004)
3rd Owner - Syed Mohammad Zakaria (Owned from: April 13, 2004 To: April 13, 2010)
4th Owner - Amjad Yousaf (Owned from: April 13, 2010 To: June 16, 2013)
5th Owner - Yours Truly (Owned Since: June 16, 2013 To: Date)

I am so much in love with EMPI quick/trigger shifter performance on Patina that I just picked this up for Missionare as well. Makes driving so much easier!






Its in good used condition and half the price of the new one

So as I found out with the help of some great, helpful early bayers from earlybay.com and the samba, the minimum parts I required to have to have a completely functional sliding door were missing the following bits;

1- Cargo Door Trim Ring which also serves as a bush to guide the handle for proper placement and function
2- Inner Sliding Door Catch which serves the purpose of keeping the door caught opened once the door is slid open and bus is on the move
3- Sliding Door Retainer under the Sliding Cover on the Body
4- Sliding Door Striker plate and Shim that goes onto B-Pillar

First three of these were sourced from one of early bayers as his last few left overs;




Also sourced from the same source was this Washer Bottle with the Black Front Panel Trim Cap


A couple more items were sourced from the same source but which are awaited in pictures. Will post pictures as soon as I receive them.

reezvaan wrote:

The Repair shop returned the repaired CV Joints today, all welded, grounded and polished. After inspection, all of the 04 CV Joints were cleaned and assembled thoroughly and then one of the two shafts was readied with new Brazilian CV Boots that I picked up from Lahore Autos/LHR, to be mounted on Missionare. Second one couldn't be assembled/installed because of the fact that unlike I had thought that only two CV Boots on Missionare were torn, all four were found torn. And since I just had a pair of the new CV Boots so there was no way both axle shafts could be made ready for an install.

Will hunt out the CV boots tomorrow locally if I could find any to do the other shaft otherwise missionare is now grounded until some CV boot kits are brought in from abroad.

Here are some pictures from the readying of one of the two axle/drive shafts and its installation:

Since Missionare was grounded due to non-availability of CV Joints Boots for passenger side, the top of the wanted list were the boots. Fished out some with a VW contact and had him send over 04 of brand new Brazilian Boots, which just happen to arrive.

Time to assemble the Passenger side drive shaft and roll the Pakistan's oldest early bay!

Done and dusted tonight.



Time to do the brake and the wiring next and then...time to roll Pakistan's Oldest Early Bay! Fingers crossed!

reezvaan wrote:

Missionare does have a Turn Signal Switch which works perfectly but then its from a later year thus isn't a perfect fit on the steering column. Have been looking for the correct one which is extremely difficult to find and if its available its pricey as hell. Today an Indonesian friend posted a NOS SWF Turn Signal Switch for early bay (correct for Missionare year) on FB and I was quick to buy it out. Here is what it looks like:

How often do you meet such a true breed of a seller whom you've met online and who would ship you a rare NOS hard to find VW part without even getting payment, as first time deal?

This seller from Indonesia, Gusdi, is highly recommended seller, true to his word. Sent me this NOS 68-70 Turn Signal Switch despite the fact that I fell short of paying him up in time. It was only this noon that I woke up to receive this part at my door, shocked, because I never even paid for it! The next thing I did was to pay him up to do my part.

Thank you Gusdi!

Thanks to Richard Mallin, the RHD Slider Stricker and Shim are now sorted! VW # 224 843 655. With this part, Sliding door parts sourcing is 100% complete. Time for Missionare to re-live the slider yet again, may be after decades!

reezvaan wrote:

Will get to the details later but here are the pictures of the parts that I was able to source locally.

The Late Bay donor dash arrived from KHI a couple of days ago and today was disassembled to yield;

-the lower dash panel which has radio hole uncut and is lot better position than the one currently on Missionare
-the gauge cluster
-front dash trim
-dash grab handle

All other bits are surplus.


The Gauge Cluster was immediately disassembled after being removed from the dash and was thoroughly cleaned up as it has to replace the cracked Gauge Cluster on Missionare; It cleaned out real nice!

Picked this one up a while ago from Alex.

Both were missing. The Dash Clock Delete and the Jack Clamp from under the front passenger seat. Found both with Ollie.

When it comes to Sliding Door and related sliding mechanisms, Missionare came with nothing more than the Sliding Door Hinge Retainer and the sliding channels, the one in the lower sill panel and the one on the body panel. All of these are RHD only parts and extremely difficult to source. Since the lower sill panel sliding channel was cleaned a few days ago while I worked on Missionare's floor so I knew it was in very good condition.

Not knowing the condition of the sliding channel on the body panel, I removed the track cover and the hinge retainer. By the looks of it, the retainer looked worked out so I had already bought one from Lyndsey to replace the one that was on the Missionare. But that proved unnessary today when I removed the one from the Missionare while cleaning the sliding channel aka sliding track. After a thorough clean up it came out real nice but is missing the rubber seal which is available from VW Heritage.

Here are some shots for the future reference.

The Missionare is officially transferred with GOS online record updated.

Won on eBay a min back. These are brand new items in Mint condition though a year old.

And these too, shortly have followed through on eBay auction to complete the set

Its Eid and some four days of interruption free DIY time. Started Front Fresh Air Control Box/Assembly refresh. And the moment I was inside the front grill, I knew no one was ever there before and the whole unit was caked with bondo and overspray and gunk. Instead of writing up the details, lets have a first look on the internals. But first, we would need to understand what the whole mechanism is it like which we are trying to refresh. So here goes the parts manual illustration which describes it all:


And now the pictures from the disassembly;















This picture here, tells the story of a front impact in some point in time that Missionare had to suffer and had gone through a less than ordinary repair job, which would need a skillful panel beater's arm to put it right. But thats for later when Missionare goes for a panel beating.

reezvaan wrote:

Making home was one thing and getting the bus to do it should do, and reliably, is another.

The moment I had arrived home with the bus, everyone in the family looked disappointed at the condition the bus was in and rightly so because I felt no different too. But this is my first bay and I am not willing to give up on it. Not because I have already bought it, but because I know this early bay window has tons of potential in turning out to be a head turner someday, with right amount of money and effort invested in it.

If it just had to be a bay window, I have had the opportunities with many other later bay windows but I knew if I had to own a bay window it had to be an early one, for a number of reasons which I would account for in another post(s).

The bus was a real mess in itself when I looked at it real closely once it was parked inside my porch. Lets take a look at it.

First the messy/horrible interior: And in interior, the cut up Walkthrough Bulkhead is the first highlight




The PO cut the "rare" Walkthrough Seat Bulk head to accomodate an aftermarket front seat to increase the seating capacity as the bus was being used as school van, thus more seating capacity meant more money. Pathetic, isn't it? Yes it is and sickening too!

This loss of walkthrough bulkhead/original front walkthrough seat would have been enough for many to runaway from buying the bus, I know but it wasn't for me. Not because I am superhuman but because this bus deserved to be saved! This loss is NOT just the loss of the rarity in itself but also a loss of seat tracks as well as M-Code Plate too which is mounted mid-way on the passenger bulkhead. No wonder my contact couldn't locate the M-codes when I asked him to look for them while making the deal on buying the bus!

But, let your hearts not be troubled. This mess has a way out and it is already in the works. I bought a passenger side bulkhead (pedestal up) as well as seat tracks from a 68 walkthrough in USA the moment I had arrived back and these are already in shipping. Here is a look at these parts:



That leaves the walkthrough front seat and M-Code to be sorted. The walkthrough seat frame would be brought in like the bulkhead/tracks. I am afraid there is no way I could get the original M-Code plate on the bus but this too has a way around it, yes the Birth Certificate from VW Museum!

For the moment I have left this aftermarket seat setup as it is. The seat would be removed once the bulkhead arrives with seat tracks.

Now lets have a look at the original but modified middle and rear seats as well as the headliner:


Nasty, isn't it? But trust me there are goods about these. The original integrity of the middle/rear seats hasn't been touched other than the addition of the headrests. The legs are all there just that both seats have been relocated backwards to accommodate a bench seat just behind the bulkheads that I have already removed as you can see it no where in the bulkhead pictures.

The headliner bows are all there, with none missing, so redoing headliner wont be a biggie by a veteran like Zaheer/Ishaq.

My next preference in connection with the interior is the relocation of these middle/rear seats to their stock position.

This nasty setup on the front passenger seat was removed and the walkthrough status was restored today with a bucket full of caked dirt removed from under the front seats. Lets see some pictures.


The rare/hard to find driver's seat runners in great nick



Bad Seat Belt mount panel repairs on the driver's side


The aftermarket passenger seat removed and the wheel tubs cleaned of all the caked dirt


Luckily the PO left the passenger side mounting brackets alone.


It would be appropriate to state here that only the driver's side seat on Early Bays is adjustable and has sliding tracks. The passenger side is fixed to the wheel tub and sits in those two brackets which you can see in the above picture.

The walkthrough corridor


With the front aftermarket seat removed and the "walkthrough" status restored which was blocked by the installation of two seater aftermarket bench seat, its only a matter of time that the bulk heads in the quoted post above arrive to me here in Pakistan in a couple of days and are welded in. Only then I would feel that there is one less thing to restore!

Brand New cab doors seals


Wiper Arms, Missionare had just the driver's side wiper arm/blade fitted which both were aftermarket. These are original used ones


Horn Push/contact ring, both were missing on Missionare

Front Fresh Air Vent Grill Mesh made in Injected Moulded Plastic for Missionare; A perfect repro of original which was missing on Missionare altogether. Will keep the flies out when fresh air operation is under use

Did a couple of cleanups and paints on the independence day before I could get to chores. Never got around to posting pics, here are some:

Used Automated Grinder mounted Wirebrush to clean up all the gunk on the cab floor and then sprayed with rattle can primer to seal it as well as to see rather cleanly the extent of damage it had


Couple of patches including the one at the base of the gas pedal. This side will surely have to be replaced. Just hasn't had made the mind whether to replace the whole front cab floor or just the right and left side panels.

Cleaned and primed the fresh air vents:

Won on eBay tonight

reezvaan wrote:

Some of the immediately required parts are now dispatched.

reezvaan wrote:

These parts have arrived and finally the hang over in the wiring restoration can go ahead over the weekend. Thanks Bill Walker for the help on these bits.

reezvaan wrote:

Did a couple of cleanups and paints on the independence day before I could get to chores. Never got around to posting pics, here are some:

Used Automated Grinder mounted Wirebrush to clean up all the gunk on the cab floor and then sprayed with rattle can primer to seal it as well as to see rather cleanly the extent of damage it had


Couple of patches including the one at the base of the gas pedal. This side will surely have to be replaced. Just hasn't had made the mind whether to replace the whole front cab floor or just the right and left side panels.

The other patchy side, the passenger side:


So after this cleanup on the front cab floor, its now pretty obvious that the full front cab floor will have to be changed, which costs an arm and a leg - PKR 45,000+post!

Missionare came with a fuel sender installed which wasn't working. I know the gauge in the dash pod was missing a voltage stablizer so i knew the missing component wouldn't make it possible for the gauge to work. Anyway, since I am in the process of re-wiring the bus, so thought I would check the seal on the sender too which was fairly easily accessible due to this molestation by the PO:


So I just pulled it out and it was without the cover and when I tested it, its reading 83/84 ohms on empty (float totally bottomed) and 5/6ohms with sender at full (fully up). Wanted to know if someone knew what is the ohms reading on "empty / full" on this sender so that I could be fairly sure if its working correctly. Its where Alan Pettman & Marcus Fletcher came to help with some answers.

Also wasn't sure if having a cover over the internals matters at all in functioning of the sender.





Alan wrote:

Quote :

Your readings are within the range that I have observed, however your top plate appears to be warped and the missing tube protected the innards and slowed/dampened the slosh effects To prevent you getting the wild swings from full to empty! All n all that looks to be all used up!

vwed wrote:

Quote :

Firstly, the voltage regulators were only fitted from '73 onwards, so you don't need to worry on that score.
Secondly, the one I had on thesamba, that you referenced, turned out not to work which was a pity as it was otherwise tidy.

Marcus Fletcher wrote:

Quote :

Hi there, I have a spare original VDO sender from a '69 Danbury.  I have photos of it on a multimeter showing 75ohms full, 42ohms half and 0.2 empty (or full whichever was which!).  Let me know if you want it.  I did not have a voltage stabilizer on mine and it works fine.

 

And here are the pictures that Marcus sent to me for evidence;



Empty Tank "ohms reading"


Half Full "ohms reading"


Full Tank "ohms reading"


Later, I bought the same sender pictured above as replacement for Missionare

Found this pair with @Kajkulahi

A bloody tiny thing with lots of attitude to be found complete! But thanks to Ady Good, its all now sorted who sent it over for the cost of postage alone!


Early bay levers are different than those of later bays which are relatively easily available. This cluster is missing the plastic caps but then I have two levers arrived only today so two would be sorted and will find the others later.