I used to be a Rat Bike...

[Tony Smith]

Play nice with the seller of your new tank because sadly it is probably going to end up returned to him along with a bill.

International carriage regulations do not allow the transportation of used fuel tanks by aircraft, and as surface post virtually doesn't exist anymore it amounts to making it impossible to send fuel tanks by post.

New ones are no problem, and motorcycles, complete with (empty) fuel tank can be transported by air, but not a used fuel tank on its own.

Whilst I hope your tank arrives I will not be surprised if it doesn't, having been caught by the rules.


On the other hand, if the rules have changed, I have needed a new tank for my KLE for a long time and all the good tans are in the UK, Germany and Spain.

[ged in oz]

Yeah, right. Good point. I’ve posted tanks in Australia before, but I’ve never tried to post one into Australia... Guess we’ll have to see how it goes. Worth a shot I suppose.

[Tony Smith]

The YABB PM system doesn't seem to allow photos attached to messages.

This is our other expensive foible.

[ged in oz]

Oh no! A Dakdak.... Yep, I’ve done a lot of miles in a 70’s Kombi about 25 years ago. Man, they can be pigs to work on.

Anything with a cable running from the very front of the vehicle all the way to the very back of the vehicle, (as in a kombi accelerator cable) well, that’s a bloody design flaw! And yes, I did have to change one of the side of the road.

Funny thing, when I got the R65 home, unloaded it and fired it up, the first thing I thought was, Dakdak! Theyre very similar aren’t they.

[ged in oz]

Where’s the Big Gallah by the way?

[Tony Smith]

Where’s the Big Gallah by the way?

At Kimba, 1/2 way across the Nullabor. The accelerator cable in this one is a double pig because it is an automatic - if you break the front one you are back on the road in 20 minutes (well at least you were when I was in my 30s, now let's call it an hour so that the time for the very necessary cuppa is included). The rear cable is non standard, originally they had a rose jointed link rod, but strangely nobody has seen one for a very long time, hence there is a second cable and to replace that you must wait for the engine and gearbox to cool down because you have to literally wrap your arms around the gearbox.

This one has the Type IV engine so it isn't really much of a "dak-dak", at 2.2lt it has almost enough power to get out of its own shadow, but hey, you are in a Kombi and the world is a more relaxed place anyway.

[BPT]

I got a tank from Germany last year and didn't have any issues with it, at least not for being a fuel tank.  It took forever and a day to arrive but it made it.
It was clean and dry.  I'm not sure how thoroughly the various authorities are in searching these things out but the Germans, US Customs, and the notoriously difficult to deal with US Postal service didn't bother with mine.
Never a guarantee but good luck to you.

[ged in oz]

I got a tank from Germany last year and didn't have any issues with it, at least not for being a fuel tank.  It took forever and a day to arrive but it made it.

Yeah, I’m hopeful BPT. I get the feeling that this particular tank has been sitting on a workshop shelf for a while... hopefully all remaining fuel vapours have evaporated and with the cap and tap fitted, it won’t get detected! Never much of a strategy that, but it’s all I’ve got.

I’m more keen on getting the cap than the tank really. My dented up tank will make it through inspection, the leaking cap won’t. I can’t believe the price of a replacement cap.

[ged in oz]

Where’s the Big Gallah by the way?

At Kimba, 1/2 way across the Nullabor.

This one has the Type IV engine so it isn't really much of a "dak-dak", at 2.2lt it has almost enough power to get out of its own shadow, but hey, you are in a Kombi and the world is a more relaxed place anyway.

I should have known that it would no ordinary Kombi!

If it made it to Kimba and back, that’s a great vehicle!

Type4? Never heard of it. I had to google it even... I don’t think I’ve ever seen one? I had a friend with a Type 3 for many years and I did a couple of Brisbane/Sydney/Brisbane trips in that one. They were a great car.

I was driving through the hills of Mullumbimby yesterday and actually saw one of these bloody things.

[ged in oz]

Apparently, when Kombi’s grow up, they want to be one of these. That’s my 1976 Mercedes Benz 508D. They have a huuuge following in Europe, but they’re pretty thin on the ground out here. I think I’ve counted about 6 so far.

A 5 tonne chassis with all of 80 diesel horses, a 2.2ltr Kombi would leave it for Dead!

It’s on the road and running and registered, but the rust repairs and refit of the back has been ongoing for over a year. Just in case I don’t have enough projects on the table...

[Tony Smith]

A 5 tonne chassis with all of 80 diesel horses, a 2.2ltr Kombi would leave it for Dead!

I like that van! and I wouldn't be too sure about the outcome of a race - whilst ours has 90hp it is also an automatic, a very old design and inefficient automatic.

[Tony Smith]

I should have known that it would no ordinary Kombi!

If it made it to Kimba and back, that’s a great vehicle!

It made it to Perth and back, but it did need a top end refresh when it got back.

It is a perfectly ordinary 1974 Kombi with only two "quirks" - it is automatic and it used to have an air conditioner. Sadly time took a toll on the A/C and it was beyond repair when the Kombi was restored over 2016~17.

It gets horridly confusing with VW model designations.

Type 1 - Beetle
Type 2 - Kombi - Originally used the type 1 engine
Type 3 - more "normal" looking car is sedan, notchback and wagon - used a special version of the type 1 engine called a "pancake" with crank mounted fan and very low profile overall.
Type IV - ambitious "normal" car - failed totally int he market place. But engine for this car was a shared design with Porsche and also used in Porsche 914. The Type IV engine was used in post 1972 Kombis after both the Type IV car and the 014 belly-flopped in he market.

The Final development of the Type IV engine was in the T2 (bread box) Kombi of about 1980 - in the final form it was fuel injected and water cooled -  a great engine with finnicky maintenance requirements that owners rarely kept up - most of the surviving fleet now have Subaru power which is a near "bolt up".

Love your photo of the country buggy. I owned two of the them. By far the rarest post-war manufactured VW, but utterly worthless as they were made in Australia and the Philippines only and in such small numbers that no one knows what they are. There is one in the VW museum and it is amusing to ask passersby what they think it is.

here is a photo of my pair of the damn things - One I registered the other I sold. The registered one was then sold shortly after when I decided that if I wanted that sort of vehicle I'd buy a Moke which has more performance and is safer to boot.

[ged in oz]

That’s hilarious. Until yesterday, I hadn’t seen one of those since 1974!

I had no idea that you could get a 2.2L Kombi, (or an auto for that matter) but I think if you were going to race one against an MB 508D, the Nullarbor is the place to do it! It’d be like the tortoise and the tortoise. The Benz bus tops out at 94kmh. Downhill on the motorways, I’ve seen triple digits! and with a good tailwind,  maybe..... 96. And hills?! Don’t even mention hills.

What it lacks in speed it makes up for in reliability. It’ll probably go forever. I love it.

[ged in oz]

So the hardest part of trying to re-complete a bike like this, is that you have no idea what was there originally.

I’ve had a couple of parcels turn up from various sources, just in time for the weekend. This thing was running pod filters, (which weren’t even fitted when i got it.) I want the original airbox setup on it. I’m more interested in originality and longevity than the 2 horsepower I might lose by using the original setup.

I’ve got most of the inlet plumbing between the airbox and carbs sitting about right, but I have a 3mm ally plate, (that pretty clearly isn’t original), blocking off the rear of the starter motor cavity and interfering with the routing of the breather tube.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be supposed to be there? 

I don’t have an air filter yet, but the top of the airbox wants to sit about 40mm or so higher than the bottom section of the airbox. I’m assuming that the filter sits between the two sections to fill out that gap?, or do I have the wrong airbox?

[Tony Smith]

I had no idea that you could get a 2.2L Kombi,  The Benz bus tops out at 94kmh. Downhill on the motorways, I’ve seen triple digits! and with a good tailwind,  maybe..... 96. And hills?! Don’t even mention hills.

Officially there is no such thing as a 2.2lt Type IV - You buy the pistons and barrels, the barrels are thinner that standard to get the higher capacity and are supposedly made of better quality steel than the std cast iron, they are also nickasil coated.

In the interests of the engine living a long time we cruse at around 90kph on the highway. Hills, yeah let's not talk about hills.

The Type IV engine started life as 1700CC and then went to 1800 and finally (officially) to 2.0lt, but the crank never chnaged in terms of its base circle and the 1800/2lt pistons are the same, only the rods changed - cunnign VW stroked the engine by offset grinding to move the centre of the big ends - the 1800 has smaller big ends than the 1700 and the 2lt are smaller again.