Front window

I 've never been able to open the windows so I decided to have a go and see if I could fix them.
I had to remove the complete frame to allow me to do the adjustment.

The frame is now off...

I have access to the screws which hold the window at the right height

Before I put the frame back I have cut to shape a piece of plastic to protect the inside of the door...

And then I have put back the inside of the door. It was a bit tricky to get the pin back on the handle but after a few attempts the job was completed.

The window now opens. Hey Hey!!! :-)

Volksworld 2008

The 2008 Volksworld Show was organised this weekend at the Sandown race course.
I left early in the morning in order to make the most of the show. After only 2 miles the engine started to play up. The petrol didn't seem to be getting through. I stopped on the side of the road to try to clean the carburator but everything was fine. After another 2 miles of spluttering I decided to come back home because there was no way I could have made it through the M25. On the way home I thought that the problem might come from the fact that last week I had emptied the petrol tank and there might have been some dirt in the bottom. I will have to clean the circuit. But then I wiggled the reserve button to see if it was stuck.... you never know. From then on the engine stopped spluttering and had its power back, so I turned around again and decided to go to the show.
Everything went well after that but I will have to keep an eye on it.

When I arrived, Rikki saw the van and asked me to put it in the display area inside the arena. I couldn't believe it, so here we go, I am actually part of the show...

Reserve Tank.

A problem that is annoying on an early split is that running out of petrol is very common.
Up to 1962 the split screen van had no petrol gauge but was fitted with a reserve tap under the petrol tank. By pulling a lever in the cabin, a cable makes the tap switch between 2 tubes. One for normal use and one for the reserve. On the later vans the reserve tap was removed and a gauge fitted.
The previous owner told me that he had replaced the tank in order to have a gauge. He had put a speedometer with petrol gauge but it never really worked. When I fill up, the gauge goes up but registers empty after about 5 miles.
The first thing to do was to check if I had a reserve tank or not. I tried to follow the cable from the lever in the cabin and under the petrol tank I have found this (see picture) it looks like I have got a reserve tap. But does it work?

Reserve tap under the petrol tank.

Then the next thing to do is to empty the tank in order to see if the reserve works, so I let it run dry. To monitor how empty the tank was I disconnected the wire from the gauge and I have put an Ohm meter on the electric sensor on the tank.

Petrol Tank with sensor.

The petrol finally run out and it was the moment of truth. I pulled the reserve lever and after a few tries, in order to refill the carburator, the van started again. YES.... The reserve works. So the question now is, how come I have a petrol tank with a reserve AND a petrol gauge? But hey....

Being sure the petrol tank was empty I then recorded the resistance equivalent to the empty tank and as we can see in the picture the value was 70.2 ohms.

Empty tank.

It was now time to use the reserve and go to the petrol station to refill. Hope I'm gonna have enough..

Back home I measured it again to see what the resistance is corresponding to a full tank. This value was 14.3 Ohms.

Full Tank.

So that's it, I know a bit more now. I will be able to buy an external fuel gauge 70 ohms empty - 14 ohms full.

Picture Kombi Standard High

This afternoon I took a few photo's of the van to show how high a standard van is.