THE KOMBI KONNECTION

womble

Hey there Kombi gang! We're very excited to introduce to you our new Kombi, 'Womble' ... It only took us a couple of weeks to find her, or perhaps for her for find us! We wanted a Kombi that drove well, had little rust and most important of all, had been very much loved. And there she was, living in Swanbourne WA where she's lived ALL her 33 years! Yep, believe it because it's the truth ... Womble has only had one owner before us since her birth in 1976. She has travelled the country over and seen many many many sights. She has been loved and looked after by her first owners, a lovely couple who are now in their 90's and have decided that their Kombi days are over. The Kombi was their one and only vehicle for all of those 33 years ... AMAZING, HEY!!!

Anyway, she's in incredible condition for her age. She still has her original paintwork and has no rust worth a mention. She's been regularly serviced and maintained - the original owner has given us an entire service history file!

We took her for a test-drive and she ran beautifully except for a 'flat spot' in 1st and 2nd gear ... We liked her alot and we hoped she felt the same way about us. I mean, fancy having the one owner for 33 years and then getting fobbed off to a couple of strangers! The poor old girl, what a shock to the Kombi system that would be.

So we paid $8000 for her which we thought was reasonable compared with other Kombis we'd checked out. We decided she was worth it, since we wouldn't have to do a thing to her for quite some time. Well, that's what we thought, until ...

2 days after bringing her 'home' we were itching to take her for a drive so we drove her to Toodyay and back. Toodyay is only a one hour drive from where we live in the hills. Anyway, we had a wonderful drive there and back - no probs at all. But then she started stalling and 'bunny hopping' so we put some petrol in her thinking that she was running out of fuel. After that, she starting running even rougher and backfiring!!! What the @#$* was going on?!!

We took her for a drive to the next town from home, about a 15 minute drive, in the hope that she would improve, but ALAS!!! She didn't get better ... SHE BLOODY WELL CAUGHT FIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When we'd reached the next town, she stalled upon slowing down so we jumped out to have a look at the engine just in case some obvious problem would miraculously present itself, but what did present itself was FIRE!!! We put the flames out within seconds and saw that what had actually caught fire was the foam that encases the engine which is known as the 'rubber seal'. Nothing else was burnt, just the bit of rubber directly above the muffler area, although it had just started to burn the plastic mesh grill on the fan housing unit and the cord that connects the dual batteries. Incredibly, we had discovered this fire in its very early stages.

After a while, we started her up and actually drove her home!!! She continued to backfire and run rough, but she didn't catch on fire again ... phew!

We rang the previous owner who informed us that he'd never had a fire in the Kombi in all those 33 years ... not until March of this year when apparently the condenser blew up. We then spoke to the mechanic who confirmed this to be correct. Now what a coincidence ... 2 fires in a matter of only 3 months!

After spending a few hours looking her over with a mechanic friend, we discovered firstly that a vacuum hose had come off, but we dont know if we had actually knocked it off ourselves or it was already off. We checked the points, spark plugs, distributor leads, gave her a compression test and and all was good. We then checked the timing which turned out to be way way way way WAY out. We set it right, and from then on, Womble purred like a kitten!

And that's where we're at now. Don't want to take her for a drive until we've had another look at her, rechecked the timing and replaced any cracked leads.

Now after all that, we're still not really sure what caused the fire and if anybody has any suggestions, we'd love to hear from you. It just goes to show that being regularly serviced and maintained by a reputable VW mechanic means NOTHING when it comes to fire!!!

We are desperately wanting to take Womble for a cruise but we're so wary of her catching fire again. When we do venture out with her, we'll certainly be going as best prepared as we can! The weather in Perth for the last 10 days has been rain, rain and more rain so we haven't been able to work on her yet, but hopefully next week we'll have a window of sunshine to make some progress with poor old Womble ... Maybe she didn't like us after all Sad

... but perhaps if we treat her right, she'll start to realise that this is in fact a wonderful new beginning with lots of good times and travel to look forward to! Very Happy

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People don't notice us, they never see
Under their noses a Womble may be
We womble by night and we womble by day
Looking for litter to trundle away

Brookie · Posted: Sun Jun 28, 2009 9:55 am Post subject:

Welcome to KK- you have really managed to find a great Kombi and it is really fantastic to have one with such a great history.

Your fires are a concern and you should read this link.

http://thekombikonnection.myfreeforum.org/sutra357.php#357

The vacuum tube that come off may be getting brittle and could be worth replacing.
You will get lots of advice and help on here and don't worry about asking questions.

Once again welcome.

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Kombis Keep you Younger

73 Sopru Poptop-under resto

The K Factor · Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 8:12 am Post subject:

WOW, From the pictures, I think 8k was pretty good especially since it is rust free. I was at one of the major volksie places last week and they were selling a camper for 12k.
I'm glad you caught the fire in time.
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The 'K' Factor - You know it's real!

K-No · Kombi Kadet Joined: 04 Apr 2008 Posts: 8

Get a fire extinguisher before you drive her again, and make sure the fuel line and its connections are good - I had a Renault 10 - which did a similar thing after a long trip - the carbie had a pipe going into it made from brass, which we think expanded at a different rate then the carbie and the pipe dripped fuel, onto the exhaust manifold..... etc....... Have a good look at all that? After I fixed the cause in the R 10 - was never a problem again!

Don't be scared - be prepared! and have a good look to try and work out what went wrong - maybe the backfiring was making the exhaust and the rubber touch, which led to the fire, in any case, now that the engine is running OK this problem should be eliminated?

ALso have you replaced the burnt seal? Somone was telling me that these seals are pretty important to make the engine air cooling function properly...

I ain't no expert - just some random thoughts.... pehaps a couple of short trips in Womble while she gets to know you?
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K-No (Splitty Fan)

Gabbo's Run · Posted: Wed Jul 01, 2009 12:05 pm Post subject:

Wecome and dont forget to renew all fuel lines. Smile

Lovely bus by the way.
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brian
1990 T3 Goldie
Once A king always a king, once a nights enough.

womble · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 10:35 pm Post subject:

Thanks guys for your support and comments. What a buzz it is to log in and read your feedback! Very Happy

We shall keep you up-to-date with Womble's progress ...

Whilst Womble has been 'resting' until she gets the all-clear, we've bought a second Kombi for $550 to use as parts for Womble as and when she needs them. When we drove him home, he was backfiring so we checked his timing and sure enough, it needed setting right and after we did this, he drove beautifully. It turns out 'Fred' has alot going for him such as brand new tyres and a motor that's had alot of work done to it so we're stoked about Fred. He's worth doing up really, but hey, it costs enough just doing up one Kombi, hey?!! Maybe one day.

So back to Womble, FINALLY the rain eased off for a couple of days so that we could do some work on her. We took some bits'n'pieces off Fred that were in better condition and gave them to Womble. We decided to go and see Eric at Auto Europe in Midvale about replacing the fuel lines, doing the tappets and giving Womble a general going over to make sure she is in top condition for travelling and he gave us a very reasonable quote for the job so we've decided to leave it to the professionals! He can't work on her until 14 July as they're so busy so it seems our lesson in patience isn't over yet! In the meantime, there's the stereo to install ... can you believe she's NEVER HAD MUSIC FOR 33 YEARS?!!! Then there's the new curtains to consider as well as a cut'n'polish which will hopefully do her for a while (a new paintjob costs a FORTUNE!!!), and various bits'n'pieces to improve the comfort factor such as insulation, new floor matting, etc. etc. ETC!

It looks like one of Womble's first journeys will be the German Car Show in Northam on 26 July so we look forward to meeting some of you wonderful Kombi Konnection people there! Ciao for now Cool

_________________
People don't notice us, they never see
Under their noses a Womble may be
We womble by night and we womble by day
Looking for litter to trundle away

Kombi fanatic · Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 3:20 pm Post subject:

Fine looking bus, glad you got it sorted. Smile

Makes you a bit aprehensive once you've had an engine bay fire. Sad

In my last Kombi (76) for some reason the previous owner had fitted a "ballast resistor" in the engine bay.

Make a long story short something happened and I could smell burning and a little bit of smoke was present.

The loom ended up being melted from this "ballast resistor" all the way up the loom to the indicator on the steering column.

All electrics kaput! Sad

Got it towed to a VW mechanic and had it fixed, was drivable next day. Very Happy

Gave me a hell of a fright though. (thought my Kombi had died). Shocked

Mick.

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Old age and treachery will always overcome youth and skill