Houdini the Baja Bus

[JUSSUMGUY]

Very interesting Smiley! Always wanted to have a van. How come the switch to a hydraulic cam? Just tired of adjusting valves? My old ACVW engine had a hydraulic cam that was put in by the previous owner and builder of the engine. I guess it was just a maintenance issue that he chose a hydraulic cam.......ran great but always just seemed odd to me that it had a hydraulic cam. Curious to your thoughts on the hydraulic cam.

[smiley]

Very interesting Smiley! Always wanted to have a van. How come the switch to a hydraulic cam? Just tired of adjusting valves? My old ACVW engine had a hydraulic cam that was put in by the previous owner and builder of the engine. I guess it was just a maintenance issue that he chose a hydraulic cam.......ran great but always just seemed odd to me that it had a hydraulic cam. Curious to your thoughts on the hydraulic cam.

Never have to set valves again!! It's not a race car and being built more as a workhorse/touring vehicle. So reliable and simple is what I wanted. So stock cam but hydraulic. When you have to do them every 5000km it gets a little annoying if you do a lot of kms. I was having to do a valve set and oil change on my Baja every 5 weeks at for a while because I was driving it so much.


Smiley

[Piledriver]

I haven't actually needed to adjust my valves in ages... I still check them every ~12K miles like the good book says.
A T4 is not a T1.
Webcam, solid lifters, CrMo pushrods and 911 swivel feet in modded 1.7L rockers.

With hydros, you still need to check your adjuster tips and lash set every 12K miles.
Really. Check the manual.

Plus you cant run the almost zero wear and valve guide saving Porsche adjuster screws, as they need a little lash to stay oiled.
In my experience, the biggest valve train wear point is the stock adjuster screws...
...they also tend to flat spot, and once that happens forget getting an adjustment that lasts for more than a few miles as you'll end up on an edge of the flat spot.

With hydros, you also can't easily "see" if a valve or seat is slowly letting go until it makes very expensive noises.
The hydros effectively hide that tiny little detail from you.

With solids and CrMo pushrods. lash increases as it gets hot, if you are beating on it too hard it will not burn a valve and you will hear it.

The only benefit of hydraulic lifters on a T4 is its a little quieter... Sometimes.
.... until the hydros suck air and it sounds like you are throwing all 4 rods for a few minutes.
(probably doesn't hurt anything at idle but its embarrassing, usually happens when large groups of people are nearby )

BT/DT, burned the tshirt. No hydro fan here.
80 miles a day, ~every day. Sometimes double that.

//end rant

[smiley]

Wow. You really don't like the hydros do you!
You make some interesting points that I will keep in mind. But for now hydros it is for me! And if they blow up you are most welcome to say, I told you so!


Smiley

[smiley]

I got the other side rough cut out and fitted up the other 32.





The stance is good and I like the look with both on there. But it will come down once the engine goes back in and I put the spare on the rear bar. So I think I will have to crank the back suspension up a little down the track.





The flares cover the tyres perfectly. And I would be comfortable going out to a 12.5" wide tyre (currently 11.5"). I just need to crawl under it and see what the clearance is like to the springplate.








Next up I put one of the 30s on the front. And jacked the opposite back corner up to compress it.











As you can see clearance is an issue when compressed. I can trim the section of guard off that it is currently hitting on. But It also hits the back on the inner guard when compressed and turned. The front jacking point may have to go. Will have to do a little more playing and decide.

But, overall I am happy with the stance and the wheel offsets are great. The fronts aren't even going to need flares as they are under the front guards as is. Hoping to get some more done shortly.








Thanks for looking.

Smiley

[Piledriver]

Wow. You really don't like the hydros do you!
You make some interesting points that I will keep in mind. But for now hydros it is for me! And if they blow up you are most welcome to say, I told you so!


Smiley

Just trying to save you some expensive pain with a dose of reality.
Good luck!

[smiley]

Got a quick little bit done on the bus yesterday afternoon.

The old driver's door was really getting crusty around the edges. Fortunately when I purchased the bus it came with a solid late model door as a spare.
I swapped the glass and regulator out of the old door into the new one to replace the inoperative one. I also swapped the door handle so the lock matches the keys.
I just have to get a new door rubber as the old one fell to pieces when I tried to remove it from the yellow door.











Smiley

[smiley]

This afternoon I did some further measuring and working out to trim the rear guards out the rest of the way.

Here is where I was up to previously, a bit of a rough cut just to get the wheels on there.





It's hard to tell in the picture but the inner guard curves down a lot as it comes to the outside of the body. What we want to do is cut the curved piece out and extend the inner guard straight out to give maximum room for the wheel on up travel. I was also a little concerned about the dodgy seatbelt bolts hanging down so much. But it turns out the tyre is no where near them under compression, I will still be tidying them up down the track though.





I made a cardboard template of the profile of the inner guard. I transferred this onto the outside of the car and trimmed it out. I cut slightly below the line so I can sneak up on it with a flapper disc on the grinder and keep it neat.





I also removed this bottom section at the back of the inner guard. It basically attaches to the bottom of the battery tray and hangs straight down. I trimmed it off for now and am still decided whether to leave it off for good or build a new new that sits back further out of the way. It will stop some of the crud getting thrown into the back corner of the body under the taillights.








Next up I removed the bumpstop snubber and put a wheel on. Compressed it up with a bit of extra mass hanging off the back in the form of my old man. The trailing arm was about 50mm off the bump stop and I have 50mm clearance between the guard and the top of the tyre. The snubber rubber is 90mm high and I am planning to trim one knob off the bottom of it to give a little more up travel. But the clearances should still be all good.





Back on the wheels. And I trimmed out the other side the same.








One other thing that I will have to address on the left side is the sliding door. Currently it just hits the wheel, but once the flare goes on it will crash straight into it. So I have to trim the kickout arm and add some tube to it to hold the door out further at the back and clear the flare. I will wait until I put the flare on so I can measure how much I need to add. In the meantime I need to remember not to open the sliding door fully.








More soon.

Smiley

[wreck]

Go the hydraulic cam ,I've had the bottom end together for over 100,000km and adjusted the tappets twice. the engine is 102x71 with 45mm Dells ,with an holden XU1 grind ,set up for bottom end torque .

[smiley]

I already have mate.

I think I have seen your bus around before. Nice setup, what are the specs on your build?

That looks like Fraser, or is it DI Point??


Smiley

[wreck]

The photo was just north of the Maheno on Fraser . the engine was originally built by John at Volksengineering in the early noughties , diesel liners with alloy fins (didn't know about deutz then) with cheap Hypo chev 383 pistons , stock rods/ crank and the XU! cam grind from Wade .
The Heads are ported old square ports now fitted with 42mm/36mm valves and a homemade 15/8 header . back when the engine was built we couldn't get new cheap heads,I did a top end rebuild ,(worn guides ) a few months ago and the heads are not cracked and still in good condition .comp is low at 8 to 1 .
The splitty is a heavy girl at 1600kg , sound proofing ,AC and a hard wood pop top , she still did a 18.2 quarter
If you want your engines to last in your heat make sure you run a reliable CHT gauge and keep the oil cool .
I used to run a plastic fan but after a broken alternator mount in my odd ball shroud set up I'm now running a 12 blade 964 fan .

[smiley]

The photo was just north of the Maheno on Fraser . the engine was originally built by John at Volksengineering in the early noughties , diesel liners with alloy fins (didn't know about deutz then) with cheap Hypo chev 383 pistons , stock rods/ crank and the XU! cam grind from Wade .
The Heads are ported old square ports now fitted with 42mm/36mm valves and a homemade 15/8 header . back when the engine was built we couldn't get new cheap heads,I did a top end rebuild ,(worn guides ) a few months ago and the heads are not cracked and still in good condition .comp is low at 8 to 1 .
The splitty is a heavy girl at 1600kg , sound proofing ,AC and a hard wood pop top , she still did a 18.2 quarter
If you want your engines to last in your heat make sure you run a reliable CHT gauge and keep the oil cool .
I used to run a plastic fan but after a broken alternator mount in my odd ball shroud set up I'm now running a 12 blade 964 fan .

Very nice!!
I thought it was Fraser, I think I have possibly camped in that exact site, it looks familiar!

Very neat setup my friend! Are you running a secondary oil cooler?

I love the Porsche fan and AC setup. Mine is staying pancake for now, but I may have to switch to upright later. I'm planning to fit the 5 speed out of a T3 to the bus the same as my bug, and might have to upright the engine to make it fit. depends how far the 5 speed will push the engine back.


Smiley

[wreck]

I'm playing with coolers at the moment , so far theres a rotary cooler rx7 I think , 96 plate and a 72plate . with a thermostat . the motor is set up with the oil mod on the con rods as well as spray bars in the rocker covers so the oil gets hot but heads stay cool
Stay with the factory cooling , If I could fit it in the back of a Splitty I would . more even cooling . John at Volks engineering (a good friend) has a heap of renault UN5's . he is working on fitting them to off road kombis , a very strong box and easy to rebuild . You would of seen this Twin Cab around as well , Blue and Silver with 35's .
I like the thread on your Baja , just a bit concerned on sealing the hoses in the tunnel . I used to have a Baja back in the eighties with country buggy running gear , I still have the stubs axles (No not selling )

[smiley]

Good to see the forum is back up! Hats off to doc for the improvement and upgrades!!!

I will copy over the stuff that has been happening from the other forums I am on.

Smiley

[smiley]

Houdini came equipped with dealer fitted aircon. But unfortunately it just doesn't give me enough head room. Me head tends to rest against it while I drive, or hit into it on bumps. So I made the decision to pull it out for the time being and decide if i want to mod it and refit or fit an under dash setup later.








This is at my friend's place just after we finished off the engine and he was running and tuning it. He rebuilt most of it and I basically showed up one weekend and cleaned the gunk off the tinware and other bits so we could paint and fit them.








Home again all safe in my shed.





While I was at the Gold Coast I picked up some cheap 33x12.5x15s for the back. They are a little worn and don't match, but for $50 each I couldn't complain. Going to see what the gearing is like and then make up my mind what size I want from there, and buy some new ones when I have money.
I fitted them up and rolled them down the hill to the house so I could give everything a good clean. The inner guards and underside of the chassis and engine bay needed a good degreasing. You can see in the next picture I uncovered some gleaming white factory paint under the guards.





I think it looks like a bit of a wacky racer with the bigs on the back and nose down attitude. I have borrowed a 4 inch lifted beam to try out and see if I like. Then I am going to make my own.





A friend said it looks lie a steamroller from behind with the big wheels, I like this





The 33s are pretty close to the spring plate caps. They clear for now but I might have to do some trimming when I get new tyres that have more tread.





Smiley