Aircooled VW South Africa

By the time we got to the top all of Paris was in darkness & the lights we could see looked really pretty especially the River Seine, glinting like a silver ribbon, meandering off into the distance:-

We caught the lift back down to the second floor, only to be confronted by another huge que for the lift back down, we decided to walk down the steps to the first floor. It was quite fortunately really as if we had caught the lift we would have missed this floor, I'm glad we didn't because it had the best views of all.
On this floor there was a small art gallery, a restaurant & a cinema, we had a quick look around but it was getting late & we didn't want to miss the last lift down:-

I even managed to get a few pics of Milly from the Eiffel Tower, how cool is that?
By now it was midnight and we were all well & truly knackered. We caught the lift back to the ground & trudged our way back to Milly in the car park. It had been over 4 hrs since I'd left her in the car park so I was quite relieved to see that I didn't have a ticket or a clamp. My feet were killing I'd swapped my flip flops from yesterday for rubber crocks & they had worn the top of my feet raw, so I was glad to get them off. On the way back to the camp site I saw loads of good photo opportunities but I was just too knackered to take advantage of them:-

The next morning we managed to get up & packed by the time the rain started at about 11.30. We hitched up & said goodbye to Paris. We started our 280 KM run to Calais. We needed to be at the ferry by1600 that meant we had only an hour to spare. I knew Milly wouldn't let me down. We grabbed breakfast on the way in a services, French services make the UK ones look dirt cheap in comparison:-



We got to Calais thinking we only had 5 minutes to spare for our ferry at 1600. We weren't worried as we could always catch the next one, they're hardly going to make us stay in France now are they? It was at this point that we realized we got the time wrong, the ferry wasn't until 23.15!
We called in a KFC as we were all starving, it was the first place we come across & so we went there. We feasted inside till we were all stuffed & then headed for the ferry terminal.

We arrived at the terminal at 1725 & we caught the 1805 ferry at no extra cost. It was delayed until 1900 due to congestion in the Chanel.

We were in Dover & on British soil by 2000 UK time, we fueled up, changed the sat nave from KM to old fashioned miles & headed the 270 Miles home to Sunny Swansea.
We stopped again in Reading for fuel & to check the oil etc. I'd used about 1/2 a Litre since getting off the ferry, it had started coming out of the crank shaft oil seal at the from by the fan.
First chance I get I'm going to pull the engine strip & sort it.

When we toured Europe in 2009 we used 12 Litre s of oil, this time we used 3.5 Litre's. Two of Litre's were used on British soil on the way home, so clearly the problem is getting worse & will need addressing soon.
About 100 miles from home the wipers packed in & it had been raining heavily since getting on the M4.
They will work once with a gentle shove, then stop again. I did repair the motor 3 years ago by replacing the plastic cog in the motor, looks like I'll need to do the same again. Fortunately I always keep my windscreen clean & trat it with rain-x so it was quite safe driving without wipers.
We pulled up in the drive at 01.00. We were all shattered & decided to straight to bed, we'd sort out the unpacking & tidying in the morning.

After a bit of photoshop:-

I've just finished 2 weeks off work & I was hoping to strip out the engine & box then but it didn't happen, so stay tuned it will be happening any day.

When I finally get around to taking out my engine, I plan to re introduce the factory air-con that the previous owner took off. A bearing that was mounted on the engine block was shot so I managed to get a replacement From Bearing Supplies Ltd. Clydach Swansea 01792 843580 The part No is 3203 2RS:-

Got my new roof rack brackets delivered today:-

At last after putting it off for ages, my M8 Ian came around tonight & we pulled the engine & box, took us 4 hrs with only about 20 minutes lost to tea drinking. I had to cut the clutch cable cos it wouldn't undo.
I jacked up the bus on one side then pushed a ramp under the rear wheel, chocked both front wheels, then repeated it on the other side.
I removed the rear tinware,
coil,
battery leads,
accelerator cable,
heater control cables,
heater ducts,
all the other wires from the engine bay,
the starter motor,
disconnected the cv joints from the gearbox & tied them up,
disconnected the clutch conduit from the side of the box,
disconnected the reverse light switch,
disconnected the gear rod coupling
rear gearbox mounts,
supported the engine on the jack,
removed the moustache bar bolts,
supported the gearbox cone on an axle stand,
removed the gearbox front mount,
dropped the engine slowly & pulled it forward off the gear rod,
slid the engine onto a plank & dragged the plank with engine & box clear,
rolled Milly down the ramps & put everything away:-

Up on ramps:-


& its out at last:-


Dodgy wire I need to address:-


Looking scruffy after just 1 year:-


OMG, the hose was new last year:-


Frightening, a fire waiting to happen, I need to buy better quality fuel hose & this time I'll use proper clips:-


This is engine oil, I think I'll need a new clutch as well:-


As you can see it needs a real good clean, I may re-con it, anything I can look for without stripping it down?

Well you just got to do it haven't you?:D