andy carrolls 54

Sorry it's taken a while for me to get things together but I've been getting to know my dream bus and deciding how to go now I actually own a RHD 54 Barndoor Delux. Still blows my mind on a daily basis. I must have it real bad! You can find me most evenings just sitting in it, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

I finally have a resto plot, and it goes a little like this! early December the bus goes to Dave Clarke at Airwerx to have the welding done. I have decided to concentrate solely on the welding and the drivetrain.It has taken a while deliberating on which way to go, bearing in mind what I have. I know the purists aren't going to like it, but I've been hanging with Mr. James and it's infectious. It's proving hard to let go of my '60 RHD Samba on this very site under Keith's Bus in the Your Buses section. I have enjoyed and made the most of this bus during the last year and its just got better and better. Much time and resources have been spent on her. All worth it.

Anyway back to the plot .I am having an engine built by Richard Morena,a Type 1 2007 turbo ready motor, Bernie Bergman Porsche cooling kit. More will be revealed as we go, but Matt Keene will be doing the turbo conversion once the engine has been run for a while and fettled. Richard has kindly invited me to participate in the build as I am keen to learn and understand more about engines.

At present the plot is beetle IRS, discs all round, and a gearbox from Peter at The Cogbox. Front beam cut and narrowed. I have a set of Randar raders which will be fully polished !I have safaris from Creative Engineering. Matt Keene ( who sold me the bus, thanks again Matt) had amassed many goodies including rare dash parts and a correct dash (coming from the US) and most of the panels needed for the welding. I will be doing the interior myself based on an early Devon idea but custom made to suit our needs (I.e. wider bed amongst other things. This will evolve as the restoration progresses. I am looking forward to doing the interior panels. The front seat isn't black with red piping and I am going to keep it like that. Bernard Newbury will be doing the upholstery. Am yet unsure if funds will stretch enough on the first wave to cover a top paint job in original colours from Angus at Final finish, or to leave it ratty. Lets see what Dave has to do first.

Update 29 MAR 03

Here's a brief progress report on my bus. I will give you a more detailed update soon. The bus has been at Dave Clark at Airwerx for close on 6 weeks now and Dave has gone through the van comprehensively as if it were his. Using a mix of NOS, aftermarket and custom made panels where necessary.

I enclose a taster of what has been going on. It has been pretty major.

Matt Keene is starting the engine build this week, and hopefully the bus will make it to Paul Miller for next week for the works, narrowed front beam lowered, IRS, discs all round. I plan to have the bus for Big Bang for what promises to be a mad one with the launch of BWA.

The interior Panels are fantastic. West Coast Classics have done the business, as has Bernard Newbury (No surprise there) Who will at some stage fit a new headlining and sunroof.

The remaining issue is paint and prep. Not sure what to do in that department. I think I'll get her on the road and enjoy the season and do the paint and prep next winter. I'll have to do something temporary to keep the rust away and to seal the underneath. We will look at that very soon. Will give you a more detailed update in the coming weeks.....

Update 14 APR 03

Just been down to see the progress on the welding. Dave has been at it hammer and tongs and the results are impressive. Dave has fabricated most of the cargo doors from the swage line down also at the rear of the bus above the engine lid. I was really impressed with his attention to detail, his precision, and the sheer volume of work he has put into this project. The bus goes to Paul Miller by the time this is on the site. I have enclosed a few photos of Dave's Handiwork.

Will keep you posted as Paul Tucks in next week and Matt Begins the engine build.

Update 07 JUN 03

The bus left Dave at Airwerx in somewhat of a hurry, minus the cargo doors, rear valance and bumper all items which needed a little more work to be presentable. Dave had worked on the bus for several weeks and it was time to move her to Paul Miller at Harry Harpics. Paul had been standing by for quite a while and had sourced the IRS components for the back including Porsche 944 discs. As usual Paul wasted no time at all and the front beam was off ,the gearbox and reduction boxes were out, and Paul had narrowed the front beam!

At this point it was decided to blast the remaining underseal from the wheel arches and to blast the engine bay and areas exposed by the removal of the running gear. Paul came up with a trolley device to move the bus around and following a couple of false starts with a variety of recovery trucks she went off to be blasted. Dave at Airwerx warned me that this would have little effect on underseal and that plastic media was the way to go, and he was right. A large amount remained, although the engine bay came out well. Also a small amount of distortion occurred on the rear wheel arch which Dave will rectify soon. The blasters sprayed the underneath and the engine bay in Red Oxide primer. 

Unfortunately the blasters took a month to complete their task and this threw us a little. It was meant to take a few days! Pauls hectic schedule was now off kilter so I decided to deal with the old underseal in my own time gently scraping it off with mild heat. I will then paint the underneath of the bus in sealing wax red.

UPDATE 07 JUN 03

Me again, the obsessive VW lunatic. No way was the bus ready for MOT,and Paul Miller had to move on due to massive backlog. So the bus is off to matt keene to have the 2007 turbo type 1 installed. Should be mot'd and running albeit ratty for peppercorn. Still we got busy this morning. Rich Morena turned up this morning and managed to wire enough up for matt to install the engine. We installed the speedo pod (without ally surround) It was a lovely moment to see a glowing light and a shiny dash! Promise of things to come. As you can see from the pics the work Paul and Chris have done has been extensive and at 80 hours of labour plus parts, EXPENSIVE. But well worth it.

Once Matt has installed his engine Paul will sort out the tracking and wheel balancing and a general check to see everything is correct. The engine will run a mild boost to start with until the custom made intercooler has been fitted and a good 1000 miles has been gently clocked up.

There will be a short visit to Dave at Airwerx to install the barndoor safaris and various little adjustments, a bit of tidying up etc and the very unpleasant job of taking the underseal off by hand and spraying and detailing the underneath prior to death by Waxoyl.

UPDATE 07 SEP 03

I have some pics of how the bus is coming on.It is ready for paint and prep. The safaris are in and after Brighton Breeze I will strip all the shiny bits off and take the windows out and the headlining/sunroof and sort her out, ready for the curved Devon reproduction interior that Simon Weitz is currently making and the 2007 turbo engine Matt Keene is building. I can't wait!

UPDATE 24 JAN 04

Well,here it finally is.I picked up the bus with the new engine from Matt Keene last w/e.It is a work of art.Matt has spent two weeks on just the install and fabrication,and the attention to detail is unbelievable!Rikki kindly came down with me and we broke out into laughter when the dump valve dropped the gasses on the test run,it is truly awesome and has bags of power,despite being wound right down for running in purposes.here are the details,

Type 1 Aluminium case (machined by John Maher)

Scat 78.8 forged crank (supplied and balanced by Ian @ WPS)

Mahle 90.5 mm barrels

Engle TCS 10 camshaft

Scat lightweight lifters

Steel on Steel straight-cut cam gears

Double thrust cam bearings

Berg oil pump

Lightened flywheel

Berg "equalizer" pulley

CB Chrom-moly headstuds

chrom-moly pushrods

Berg pushrod tubes

CB 044 cylinder heads : 42x37.5mm valves (fully ported and

polished, semi-hemi cut, modified combustion chambers to give 66cc)

Scat forged 1.25:1 rockers (actually give 1.27:1)

CB bolt-up rocker shafts

Turbo spec Dellorto 40mm carbs (32mm chokes,30mm modulator rings)

CB performance turbo exhaust header

Schwitzer S2a Turbo

CB remote waste gate

009 Distributor with ignitor module Ignition advance set to 24o max!) 

3 x Autometer 2" Guages (Presuure Temp Boost) Demon Tweaks carbon Guage pod

The modification work Matt has undertaken is incredibly well thought out and executed,from the installation of the porsche 993 dump valve to the mods on the petrol tank,to the Mocal external oil cooling system,to the bracing bar,it just goes on and on!What I love about this engine is its drivability versus performance,I think we have the best of both worlds,and apparently there is a way to go in terms of horse power!Plans include a Pace Systems intercooler on Matts return from his travels.We have even created a Keene version of the famous Judson badge that is totally trick.

All I can say is a huge thanks to Matt for his precision work and attention to detail,and how happy I am to have had an engine built by him before the inevitable deluge....watch this space............we are a significant step closer to my ultimate dream bus....

Update 26 May 2005

It's been at least 18months since I updated this page. Last summer our bus was driven to Spa and Bitburg ,ran a 16.4 at bugjam and generally run in with matt Keenes Turbo creation out back. It has run reliably and well since it was installed, giving us no problems at all. At the end of the summer the bus finally went to Gavin Jones @ Jones' Autos in Southend for a bare metal Prep and paint. The bus rolled out of Gavins in it's original colours earlier this year. We were blown away by Gavins work on the bus and it was a real moment going to fetch the finally painted bus. How different it looked!

The race was on for Volksworld 2005 but the pressure of such a deadline proved too punishing on top of daily life responsibilities (Family/Work)

And it ceased to be fun so we dropped that deadline and the bus went to Kelvedon in Essex where Simon Weitz from interior motive set about finishing and installing a reproduction 58'-'59 Devon interior that he had started about a year earlier. This took some time, but Simons work was also fantastic, and again I was blown away by the finish!

From there we finally got the bus to the Holy Grail of VW coach trimmers Bernie Newbury back in Southend.Bernie took the bus sent it's owner packing, closed his doors and 8 weeks later she rolled out with a beautiful wool headliner, trimmed seats and cushions and one (once again) blown away and by this time skint owner! We installed a flip down monitor up front.

And channeled the cable down the centre of the front split. You can't see a ripple or any cables.

This more or less brings us up to the present day. The bus is now back with its original owner,Matt Keene who together with his new recruit mark,

Is refitting the detailed and tweaked engine. the turbo piping has been chromed and the silicone piping is now black. He is also installing a Jacobs Turbo boost controller/engine management system, new muffler etc. We have installed new Creative smoked glass, as much of the original stuff although "pure" and original was scratched and damaged. This has been stored away should future requirements mean a return to stock.

Well, finally the bus of my dreams is going to be back on the road and earning it's keep as a company branded vehicle care of Prosign. We will be entertaining clients in her, showing them our showreel on the screen and generally cruising round town, safaris open, sounds pumping.........

Did I mention the 4' original chromed EMPI sprints up front?