Well, my bus is back on the road.  I pulled the engine out of the 68 bug 
donor on Wednesday.  I managed to strip it down to the long block on 
Thursday, and tipped the engine up onto the parts washer to clean it.  The 
thing was filthy.  I got it all cleaned up and started putting it back 
together Thursday afternoon.  I replaced the flywheel seal, and the oil 
sender, which someone had mentioned can leak.  Sure enough, the plastic part 
was loose, and leaking.  I am really amazed at how much dammage time and 
water can do to and engine.  I had to drill out 6 tin bolts and had to 
replace 2 of the exaust studs, the heads on the tin bolts just snapped off.  
The other real ugly thing is the valve covers.  Both covers had pinhole 
leaks in them, but no water had gotten inside.  Strange.  I also had to 
install one of those aftermarket rear crossmember mounting plates.  I love 
how these things are called "bolt-on", never!  I had to grind on the plate 
to get it to fit the case, and had to make a 1/8"spacer to go between the 
oil pump and the plate.  I also had to drill and tap the case on the left 
hand side.  I have decided that different year cases have different chunks 
of metal which are in the way of mounting this thing.  I eventually got it 
mounted, which took about 3 hours.  On Friday, I finished installing all the 
parts, just as the guys who mow tyhe law showed up.  Anyone guess where I 
was working? Yep, on the lawn.  I got the engine installed without a hitch, 
and drove it around a good amount on Friday and Saturday.  My bus is back on 
the road, just in time, as we sold the Mercades on Friday!  Talk about 
close.  I guess that the next things to do fix the shifter, and flush the 
engine.  Does anyone know about a product which _really_ cleans the engine 
from the inside?  Like some sort of motor flush?  

  Chris Bridge
  
  ''71 Westy (Sportsmobile?)
  Favorite quotes:
  "Virginia Tech- yea, the best 5, or maybe even 6 years of your life."
  "They even throw in the stomach ulcers for free." 
  E-mail: cbridge@vt.edu