The night before was my first time looking over the bus as I bought it by proxy of my friend Reid May. He owns an older karmann ghia and was heading down to Fresno from Oakland. He did a great job describing it. It’s an older car and has condition issues.
The year my car was made, a 6v electrical system was used. About 10 years ago the bus was converted to 12v. Some things were easy to convert and somethings a bit more difficult were left to be delt with, such as the starter.
The starter is a 6v system that runs on 12v. The 6v starter can run on 12 volts, but should not be heavily used. Mine in particular had a looseness to it that is caused over time by the hammering of the 6v solinoid running on 12volts. This looseness allowed the starter to engage when it shouldn’t as well as fail to engage when it should.
The pain of trying to run a 12v starter in this bus is that 12v starters are built to work with a larger flywheel, which requires grinding out a lot of metal to install. Wayne Johnson said he would ship out this hybrid starter in a week or so.
Dad proping open the engine compartmen.
Took off the bumper for easier access and my dad loosened the starter’s bolt from back right wall of the engine compartment behind the fan cover and clamped vice grips on it. From underneath I could get a ratchet on it and loosen it the rest of the way.
At this time Glenn showed up in his perfect 56 bug and took me over to Lester’s house, who has a finished 59 delux and a panel for his son. Lester mentioned an oil bath air filter he might part with for a reasonable price and that I should get the starter tested at Sebring West. Glenn took me back and I along with my Dad finished pulling out the starter. It’s hefty and tight in places to maneuver around the break cables and heater tubes.
original Bosch 6v starter
My Dad turned over the engine as I took photographs of the flywheel teeth as well as feeling them. The teeth were pretty square, but effected by the starter. I’ve got those photos on my Dad’s computer, so I’ll update with them.
Off to Sebring West to get the starter tested. It was toast, but they had both 6v and 12v starters that my Dad and I looked at that were noticeably different in size and teeth spacing. We decided to do some more research before buying a replacement, so I tested the voltage with a volt meter when we got home and verified that it was indeed running off of 12v. After a pasta dinner at my great aunt’s house I was looking online and came across Wayne’s ad. He’s a nice guy and I hope the new replacement will work well.