Our Bob Is An Awesome Bob!

A while back I made this blog unavailable to view without a login. I’m not sure why but perhaps I felt that I wanted a little more privacy for Bob. And us. It’s going to back now. For the foreseeable future anyway.

With the site ‘locked away’ I haven’t bothered to visit it myself and the last update is from early August when I promised photos and news from our summer adventures. I’ll see if, three months on, I can summon the enthusiasm for a back-dated post soon.

In the meantime Bob is at VW Bullibarn / Superbeetles having a new ignition barrel fitted and, tomorrow, her first MOT under our ownership. I await the news with baited breath and credit card quivering. On a positive note though they said that the gearchange I’d sorted was as good as they could have done and so there was no need for any pre-winter adjustment. Cool.

I’ve SORNed her for the winter and a Just Kampers cover will be soon, postage strikes permitting, be strapped in place for the duration. There are various jobs that need doing, from working on that passenger door lock some more to making sure the rear window rubber stays in when you open the hatch to fitting a leisure battery – but winter provides time.

I’m looking forward to next year in Bob. Now we’ve got her fundamentally sorted it should just be regular maintenance and the odd problem to sort and we can enjoy driving her more than we were able to during much of 2009.

A weekend of maintenance on Bob saw us (as in Dad assisted by Helen & I) get loads of jobs done both in readiness for camping and because they really needed to be done.

In no particular order we:

• Checked the front brakes – all good.
• Connected the pipes on the water tank properly so they don’t leak.
• Worked out why the water pump wasn’t working (and identified that it will probably need a return valve).
• Made sure that the oil was OK and at the right level.
• Tested the fridge to make sure it works on gas – it does!
• Put draft excluder on the louvre windows to stop it blowing a gale through the back.
• Did a temporary fix on the clunking wiper arms that stopped the clunking and will keep them going until a permanent solution in the autumn.
• Fixed down the kick plate properly.
• Put together a small spares kit to carry around and checked that the jack worked.
• Did a few small bodywork repairs.
• Gave the windows a proper clean.
• Stopped the rear hatch from rattling.
• Re-aligned the passenger-side door after last month’s fence post accident.
• Made it possible to shut the engine bay lid without having to bang it to with your fist.

In addition to all that we sorted out various electrical issues. The electric windscreen washers have never worked. We were told when we bought Bob that it just needed some water in it, but we filled it up and it still didn’t work. When we pulled back the panel to look this is what we found – a mass of wires and a washer motor hanging loose behind the front panel. The motor was broken. It was simply too old and weak to pump the water up to the washer jets. We went and bought a replacement and fitted it on a hand-made bracket to stop it rattling around.

The wiring was something else. To the left  is a picture of the washer switch, which as you can see had been wired in using speaker cable. Not wanting to leave the dashboard wiring in such a state we went about rewiring various sections and re-routing wires which seem to have been put in without any thought to keeping things manageable and/or tidy. Behind the fuse box we found two still- live wires that had simply been cut off and left untaped and potentially dangerous.

To add to the wiring woes, we found that one of the inside strip lights was overheating and burning its circuits when you switched it on. Thankfully we never used the light, although if we had I hope the amount of smoke it gave off would have alerted us to the danger.

In all, we removed a substantial number of wires that were either dangerous, too long, incorrect or, as was the case a number of times, simply not needed anymore as the components that they had once served had been removed and the wires left for posterity.

Since we’ve owned Bob the number of shortcuts we have found to have been made during her restoration has been alarming but accepted with light-hearted sighs, but when it involves dodgy and potential very dangerous electrics it’s difficult not to have a sense of humour bypass.

On the plus side Bob ran beautifully and barring a loss of main-beam for a stretch on the way home (a loose cable on the fuse board) gave us no problems whatsoever – a fantastic improvement over last time I drove her to Stratford way back in January.

With summer here (and the school holidays upon us) plans are afoot for using Bob as much as possible. The battery problems have been sorted by the fitment of a new battery which so far, touch wood, is proving to be trouble free.

As a result we’ve started using Bob rather than the Citroen or Rover. Yesterday it was to take Alfie to archery, today it was raspberry picking.

We’ve got two camping trips lined up – to Devon and Norfolk – and because we didn’t sort out the ferry tickets in time France will be happening later. Before that we’re taking Bob to Dad’s for a once-over service, to fix the leaking washer bottle & realign the passenger door in readiness for campsite activity.

My bought Bob to use for camping and hopefully we’ll have a few (good!) stories to tell come the end of the hols…

Before I write this I must say how odd it is that after being almost obsessive about taking pictures over the past six months I completely forgot to this past weekend. So this post is all about our momentous first sleep in Bob and I’ve no photos to mark the occasion. Oops. This doesn’t detract from the weekend of course which was glorious in terms of Bob, the weather and Morris Weekend, I just wish etc. etc.

On Saturday morning Helen filled Bob with all of he things we’ve not really had the opportunity to fill her with before – pots, pans, sleeping kit etc. and we set about trying to sterilise the water tank. A daisy chain of hose pipes lent to us by (and using the outside tap of) Brenda next door flushed out the tank before we filled it up, popped in the sterilising tablets for an hour, and then re-filled it. There are certain leakage issues in the piping between the filler cap behind the passenger seat and the tank itself but otherwise all was fine.

Packed up with our stuff, including ice blocks and milk in the fridge, we set off and we had our first (of two) accidents over the course of the weekend. As I reversed out of the back garden the back wheels dropped off the curb and it was at that moment I realised the passenger side door wasn’t fully clicked to. It was only a slow, gentle drop but it was enough to pull the door open enough for it to wedge on the annoyingly placed fence and, I believe, bend the hinges slightly. Whatever, the door now catches on the frame so we shut the door, locked it, and Helen used the sliding side door for the rest of the weekend. If the door had swung open at any other point but there… It’s an avoidable job that will need doing, and probably won’t be cheap either.

Annoyed but still upbeat we set off for Thaxted. A stop at the local garage showed that the tyres had lost no pressure at all in the past fortnight, which was good. I had noticed that the throttle response seemed poor though and guessed that, as before, it was the pin that holds the throttle pedal up that had fallen out. A second stop in a lay-by and that was sorted, although only by sliding the pin back in – it’ll need a permanent fix soon. We set-off again and as we went around the first bend the fridge door flew open and the entire contents were thrown across the van floor. A third stop saw the power pack & crook lock wedged against the door as the fridge clip seems to be broken. Happily, there were no more stops ’til Thaxted.

Arriving at Helen’s Dad’s house (Moulton) we found that Anne had put a ‘Reserved for Bob’ sign on the drive for us which was a nice touch. We parked up and went in doors to watch the FA Cup Final. We then went out to see the Morris Dancing. Helen’s Dad has danced with Thaxted Morris Men for years and so we always try to go to the annual Ring Meeting where Morris Men from all over the UK ( and sometimes the world) come together in Thaxted to dance. It being the 75th Thaxted Ring Meeting there were many more Morris Men than usual.

Although I forgot to take a picture of Bob parked up and curtains drawn I did take some pictures of the dancing. They were taken on my mobile in poor light into the sun but they’re something! The picture on the right is of  Thaxted Morris Men in flight.

One of the things that happened again and again during the weekend was people wanting to talk about Bob and share their experiences with VW Campers. Almost universally their flaws are discussed openly and critically, but it’s in a jovial and fond way. I wonder how many other vehicles would illicit such a response.

After the first lot of dancing we headed back to Moulton for some excellent food before going back out for the evening session. The Abbots Bromley Horn Dance as danced by Thaxted Morris Men is amazing. Sadly it was on very late due to the large number of Morris Men dancing and Helen’s legs couldn’t cope with more standing. We retired to Bob having missed the Horn Dance – an excellent excuse should one be needed to see it at the Patronal Festival later in the  month.

Our first night in Bob was…cosy. After Alfie had informed us it had been really cold we took our thick sleeping bag. Going to bed in a couple of t-shirts and pyjama bottoms I was soon down to my boxers (sorry for the image!) and poor Helen was in the closed side of the sleeping bag and so cooked. There was also little escape either for her from my snoring. I have decided that Campers are designed for people of 50 years mechanical experience with the body dimensions and suppleness of a 10 year old! It was lovely camping out in her though, and a breakfast of Earl Grey/sterilising tablet tea and chocolate biscuits whilst sat on the bed was bliss!

We’d been invited over to a friend’s house on Sunday morning. We went round for a cuppa and ended up staying for a barbecue lunch. It was a wonderfully relaxing morning and it was perhaps this that led to our second accident of the weekend. The house has a very big, ‘lawned’  garden and the children present (six under the age of seven) had been given rides around the garden in a flat bed truck that was there to help move some furniture. When we eventually left in Bob the atmosphere of relaxed fun caused a rush of blood to the head and me deciding to play up to the crowd. So I didn’t turn Bob around out the front, I drove her around the back to do it. This went down very well until I misjudged the gap between the hedge and the swings and bent one of the seeing posts. I have apologised profusely and been generously forgiven. I shall now move on…

Sunday afternoon was spent in Margaret Gardens watching more dancing and doing a bit of country dancing ourselves. It was a bit too hot sat there, but we’d have been glad of it in the evening  as the wind picked up, the sun went down and our thinned blood demanded blanket around shoulders.

We headed home just as Bob’s lights were needed and were soon in bed sleeping/snoring. The weekend has given us a list of jobs to do (passenger door alignment, throttle pedal pin, fridge door catch etc.) and a taste of what it is to camp out in Bob. It may only have been on a front driveway but it was a start – the first night of many.

I’ve added a new category – gears – because it’s becoming something of a saga in its own right now.

With the Mazda sold we’re back down to two vehicles and I’m using Bob to get to work each day. I set off for work yesterday to find that the gearchange had degenerated again, so before heading home at the end of the day I had a fiddle with it. My efforts didn’t help much and it was a tricky drive home.

This morning however was shocking. I found myself unable to change down at all, so what should have been a 30-40mph down change from 4th to 3rd had to be a 0mph struggle into 1st before working my way back up through the gears again. My fellow work-run motorists loved me. 

Another stop plate adjustment session took place before coming home and although 1st is a bit vague she’s driveable again. I wonder what the gearchange will be like tomorrow…

In other news, I need to top her up with oil for the first time and don’t really have the kit to reach the awkwardly posiitioned oil cap (I’ve sorted it now I think) and the windscreen washer bottle seems to have spontaneously developed a leak. Like they all do I’m sure.

I’m aware it’s been nearly two months since I last updated, but simultaneously a lot has and has not been happening. I’ve been back at work full time, we’ve been abroad on holiday for several weeks, and Bob is at risk of becoming a very expensive garden ornament.

Here’s a Bob update in a series of bullet points :

• I spent the Saturday after this post again playing with the gear change. After a day getting very mucky (again) and a trip to Colchester where Les at Superbeetles lent us a gear stick to try out I finally got it to work. Very smugly we went out for the evening to visit friends and Bob didn’t miss a beat. Fantastic!
• That week I used Bob to get to work every day. The Smart was about to be sold and so I thought it was a good opportunity to start using out VW as a daily driver. As was good for the first couple of days until gradually the gears became harder and harder to find. I presumed the stop plate was gradually slipping, but as Helen was off on holiday at the weekend I was able to use her Citroen and so didn’t worry too much about it.
• We decided whilst on holiday that Italy 2009 was going to be come Possibly-Italy 2010. We simply haven’t had enough times out in Bob to make sure we’re ready for such an epic trip, and besides a rookie-trip to Italy with an 8-months-pregnant Helen is perhaps a little foolhardy!
• On our return from holiday I tried to start Bob up. Nothing – a flat battery. Thankfully I bought a power pack from Halfords and so was able to get her going. I tried again to adjust the gear stick but failed. As I had just bought a cheap MX-5 to use day-to-day I gave up trying to sort out the gear change for the time being.
• Frustrated with having Bob on the drive and not being able to drive her I booked her into Schilward Motors as had been suggested by MOT Services Halstead. I chose them because they’re much nearer to my work than Superbeetles so driving a vehicle with only two-and-a-half gears isn’t such a problem. They couldn’t fit her in until the 11th May though.
• May 5th, Helen’s birthday, and we’re planning to go out for a meal. As a treat I thought I’d have a go at the stop plate again – with just half-an-hour to go before we left the house! I had a theory that last time I’d simply pushed the stop plate too far forward, so I loosened everything off, pulled it back a mm or two and had a drive around the block. Success! All the gears worked – up and down. I did have to use the power pack to start her up though so I left her running for a while to recharge the battery. When the time came to go out we jumped in and…I needed the power pack again. She ran like a dream to the restaurant, and it was lovely to have her sat in the car park knowing she was ours. Following another great meal at The Bulmer Fox we talked of camping out in Bob that night (but deciding that my snoring would keep Alfie awake on a school night – not a good idea!) before heading home. Sympathetic glances were given by fellow diners as they drove away in their new cars watching me have to connect up the power pack again, but we were soon off and home again.
• Bob’s still booked in at the garage next week because although you can now change gear it’s not A1 and I don’t necessarily have enough faith in my mechanical skills to think that it’s a permanent job. Maybe they won’t be able to do anything but at least then we’ll know that what I can do is good enough. We also need to sort out the battery. Although the power pack has already proved invaluable it doesn’t charge batteries so we’ll have to look into that. Having to link up the power pack each time you want Bob to start is a bit of a downer.

The summer weather is coming, Bob is running well (when she’s going) and I’m feeling much more positive about her. I can even bear to look in the classified section of Volksworld : Camper & Bus and see how much prices have fallen since we bought Bob, because it is lovely having her and the possibilites for the future outweigh the problems. Just!

I asked the question of what might be the problem on the Just Kampers forum. It was suggested to me that I would need to adjust the stop plate. So, armed with my workshop manual, some spanners and a pot of multi-purpose grease and set to it.

I have black fingernails from mechanical tinkering and I don’t think I’ll be giving up my day job just yet…

Following the advice from Just Kampers and instructions from my workshop manual I took the gearstick off and re-greased it all and tried to adjust the stop plate.

Attempt 1 : The manual was a little ambiguous as to which way you pushed the stop plate against the gear stick so I tried pushing it towards the driver’s side. Tightened it all up and went for a test drive. Exactly the same as before.

Attempt 2 : I decided to try pushing the stop plate the other way even though I wasn’t sure it would work. My thinking was that if it’s in 2nd gear and I push the stop plate towards the passenger side it will restrict access to 3rd & 4th. This was the case. Although I could get all the gears before it was tightened as soon as I did the bolts up I was only able to move between 1st & 2nd. I didn’t bother with a test drive…

Attempt 3 : I put the stop plate back as it was in Attempt 1 but re-checked everything to make sure I was doing it ‘right’. Another test drive suggests that I’ve improved things but…

Reverse – The stick does need to be pushed down to get into reverse when stationary. That’s OK then!

1st – Fine from standing, a little tricky changing down into it.

2nd – Really good when changing up from 1st but again (and this is the major issue really) downshifts from 3rd hit reverse every time, regardless of how careful or delicate I am, or if I double-declutch. The only way into second is to stop, put it into 1st, pull away and move it into 2nd.

3rd & 4th – Not as ‘exact’ as they were originally but working without any problems.

It seems then that 2nd & reverse are still more or less in the same place, even though you should have to push down on the stick to find reverse. There doesn’t seem to be much movement in the stop plate for adjustment, just 2 or 3mm.

Not sure what to do next…

MOT Services Halstead had Bob back and and (bless em) spent most of  a day examining every bit of the gear linkage trying to work out what’s wrong with it and how them fitting one bush could have caused what has happened. 

They’ve put me in touch with a specialist garage (or I could go back to the other one who tried to sort out the engine before) but it’s a fair way off and at the moment I can only find 3rd and 4th gear & reverse, so I wondered if there was anything obvious that could be causing the problem before I attempted to drive the 20-odd miles on all sorts of roads with only two gears

So Bob was back on the drive overnight and I used her to drive to school the next day. Reverse came easy as I backed off the drive, and I discovered why as I drove off. It seems you no longer have to puch the gear stick down to find reverse and so it and second gear are more-or-less in the same place. Nice.

Those who have seen Little Miss Sunshine would have recognised me trying to pull away from junctions in third without holding up the traffic too much or burning out the clutch.

I dropped her back off at the garage on the way home from work and she’s still there.

Ho hum.

Bob’s back. As posted before gearchanges were becoming either difficult or impossible, and so I booked her in again at MOT Services Halstead.

They diagnosed the problem(s) and ordered the parts from VW Heritage, keeping her over the weekend whilst they waited for delivery. Bob now has two new gearbox bushes and a new gear coupling. She’s going to need a new gear stick ball joint at some point too but that can wait for the time being.

Hopefully now we can get a few weeks of Bob-use under our belts without any problems or trips to a garage.

Fingers crossed…