Typing 2 Ink - by Jim Bryant
Chapter Three: More Facts For Jack

In the last section I highlighted the advantages of obtaining and reading as much material as possible on the VW bus.  I went on to review four books that give basic information on VWs, but promised to cover THE BEST of resource materials next.  So, what are the best books to have on the shelf, or under the workbench, or spread out on the ground on Highway 61?  I can narrow it to three:

How to Keep Your VW Alive...for the Compleat Idiot - John Muir.  My 1978 edition has 342 pages, but it was in its 20th printing then and there have been many more since.  Find the oldest edition you can.  Those with the spiral binding are the best because they will lay flat.  The late John Muir could put on paper the common folk karma that was the air-cooled VW.  It all seems a little dated now, but his instructions are still valid.  It doesn't apply to the pre-68 bus, but what other VW manual will provide a paragraph on how to disconnect the door buzzer to eliminate what Muir calls a nerve shattering noise?

This book deals with Types I, II, III & IV.  As such, there are sections that will not apply to your vehicle.  There is a good side to this, however, because you find out what Bugs, Things and Busses have in common and where they differ.  If there's more than one air-cooled VW in your life, Muir's information will cover them all.  His chapters are named to deal with your problems, not by vehicle type, and as the title suggests they are for even an idiot.  VOLKSWAGEN DOESN'T STOP covers brake repairs.  SHIMMIES AND SHAKES covers the front end.

Step-by-step instructions are given for diagnosis of the problem you have encountered.  He doesn't just title it "Replace the Bushings" and leave it to you to figure it out.  He then provides text in plain English that includes when to use Liquid Wrench, whether to use a clean rag or an oily rag, how VW does it (but how you can get by in a pinch), and sometimes how it can be done even if you don't have the right tool.  If you and your bus are stranded halfway across Nebraska at a long-closed gas station, Muir's solution for removing the rear axle nut may just get you to Omaha.  If you keep your pride and joy covered in a garage with $10,000 of tools near by, you will cringe at some of his suggestions.

Unlike most manuals on the market, Muir's book uses line drawings for illustration.  These are not precision exploded-view CAD-perfect drawings that an engineer dreams about.  They are free-hand sketches, almost caricatures, of what you need to see to figure out a problem.  The book does not depend on the illustrations to guide you, but explains it in text.  There are no wiring diagrams.

As Muir puts it in the first chapter, the tools you need to fix your VW with his book are: ability to read basic English, ability to follow directions without adding embellishments or deleting parts of the steps.  No, I never did figure out why he spells complete the way he does.

Workshop Manual - Type 2, all Models.  Do you know a Chevy freak, or a Ford freak?  Do you get dragged along to antique car swap meets filled with chrome bumpers that would give you the low-rider look if you bolted it on your bus?  Next time your friend asks you to attend one of these, go ahead.  Just remember two words: Anything Volkswagen?  If you say it often enough, at the right tables and booths, it may pay off.  I was at such a meet, rummaging through a table of literature when the guy with the Chevy bow-tie hat and jacket and T-shirt asked if he could help me.  My 30th "Anything Volkswagen?" of the day resulted in me coming home with the 1968 edition, two volume, VW Workshop Manual.  Don't let the date fool you.  It was split windshields all the way.  I scraped together $40 in fives, singles and change to go home with the set.

Everything VW wanted its mechanics to have on hand when a bus came in for service is in these books.  The procedural text is a step above the Chilton and Clymer kind, but the genuine value of this book is in the accompanying notes on variations, later versions and replacements.  This book will tell you how VW built it, then go on to add that as of a certain month and year they improved it.  So if you have the old version, do it one way.  If you have the new version, do it another way.  If you have the old version, these are the parts you need to do your own improvement.  Finding the parts is another story, but at least you can figure out what to look for.

The photographs and line drawings are relatively clear (even on my age-yellowed copy) and plentiful.  When you browse through and find a clear photograph of the Cyclone Air Filter (option M155), you know what that strange thing was you saw in a junkyard years ago.  For restoration purposes, the photographs can answer some of those small but nagging questions.  How many steps were on the 23 PICT-1 fast idle cam?  The old version had nine; the new version had six.  Just what color were the original bumper brackets--black or white?  This book shows the front brackets painted to match the bumper color, the rear painted black.  That's good enough for me.

Then there are the wiring diagrams.  If you're not an electrical wizard, and all you have is something Chilton or Clymer thought was close enough, the four, FULL-COLOR, foldout diagrams in this book are the answer.  Though I spent $40 on the books, I would have paid the same for the wiring diagrams just to see how '67 flasher unit and emergency light relay was supposed to be wired.  But here was the USA version and the European version--where to connect the fresh air fans, the ambulance buzzer, the spot light.  I'm still impressed.

I haven't shelled out the $80-90 for the reprinted Bentley manual.  I hope it's the same quality as the original, two-volume set.  At least it is now available.  As resource materials go, nothing beats it.

Parts List - VOLKSWAGEN Transporter.  Before CD-ROM, before micro-fiche, before water-cooled VWs, when you stood at the parts counter the guy in the blue-gray jump-suit on the other side would page through a rack of ring binders with tabs at certain pages to help you find out if you really needed 211.721.555 or 211.721.555A.  There's a 50mm difference, but how would you know?  You're not going anywhere without the correct one.  If you can find one of these binders, you'll discover that the accelerator cable after chassis number 20-117901 is longer than the old one.

That's right.  I found a copy of the binder the VW dealers used to hang on the sloped chrome rack of parts books.  Volkswagen Club of America had its annual meet in Libertyville, Illinois a few years ago and under a pile of Hot VWs was this prize.  Five bucks!  I don't expect too many people have that fortunate an experience.  But go to the car shows, whether VW or not, and keep your eyes open.

Page tabs are provided for each of the main groups of VW parts (1 for engine, 8 for body, 9 for electrical, etc.) and addenda for standard parts (nuts, bolts, screws) and special models (double cab, high roof, etc.).  Every group has an exploded view diagram with parts sequentially numbered to match the accompanying list.  The diagrams show where the little pieces like washers were meant to go.  The actual parts list is roughly in order by part number with nuts, bolts and washers for the VW part listed nearby.  I suspect VW stopped revising this in 1963, because anything newer than that is covered by a Supplement Parts List added to the front of the binder.

I started the restoration of my '67 before I had this book.  I was compiling a database of removed parts on my computer.  Whenever a removed part had the VW number on it, I entered it on the computer.  I ended up with hundreds of parts with no numbers and descriptions like "black metal piece that clips over the end of the sunroof cover" which was a start, but wasn't always helpful when trying to locate a replacement via telephone.  With this book, I not only found out that it was called "Cover plate--spring guide" but because it was part number 115.875.571 (started with a 1), the same part is used on the bug sunroof so it should be easier to find a replacement.