1978 International Loadstar 4x4, '71 vw Beetle

[Ratchet]

long time no update.... Loadstar is finally on the boat and should be here in december, can get back to parts searching now (was on hold due to shipping issues...)

if anyone knows a reliable person to source/import second hand panels/parts from the US through give me some pointers (have had 3 people ghost me so far after i asked how much they wanted for said parts... guess they didn't want my money?)

[generallee]

Hooray! I had forgotten about this, love it.

[kevins]

looking forward to this.


I reckon thise fendere are repairable, it may well work out cheaper to find a panel beater here to straighten them out than shipping in another pair.

[Davey]

Can't wait for real life snowrunner vibes.

[Ratchet]

Nov 7, 2023 12:36:50 GMT kevins said:

looking forward to this.


I reckon thise fendere are repairable, it may well work out cheaper to find a panel beater here to straighten them out than shipping in another pair.

You could be right, the fact that the front sections are gas welded to the sides probably means there is some rust/damage to the flanges but i can easily fix that, and they might be beyond my current skills, but maybe someone can, main concern i have is i don't have a good one as a pattern to work from.

i do want to get a different grill however, mainly as i prefer the look of the 3 row type,


once i get it running my main concern i have is getting the chassis sorted, namely finding someone who can to make up the L-channel in suitable high strength chassis steel.

[ducklooker]

Are there any "beetle on an old lorry" plans at all.
Colour matching?

[lightyearman]

Bookmarked. I love that you've got right stuck in! I'm looking forward to the pictures when it arrives.

[grenade]

Congratulations on getting that title sorted! We do not touch vehicles without a title, certain states- it's like the kiss of death. No title, no sale period.
You have sorted it out from a billion miles away! Great job.
Coooool truck, cool beetle. A+++

[Ratchet]

Nov 17, 2023 22:22:04 GMT ducklooker said:

Are there any "beetle on an old lorry" plans at all.
Colour matching?

it could well be, depending on what i do with the chassis lenght... can always pull a trailer though... coincidently they are both orange... or at least the replacement shell for my beetle is, and currently I'm leaning towards leaving the loadstar in its original colour.

Nov 18, 2023 5:36:35 GMT grenade said:

Congratulations on getting that title sorted! We do not touch vehicles without a title, certain states- it's like the kiss of death. No title, no sale period.
You have sorted it out from a billion miles away! Great job.
Coooool truck, cool beetle. A+++

Yeah, do i advise it.. hell no, particularly if you're not in the usa yourself, was a right pain in the ass, and needed both money and time to sort it out, but can be done, if its something that said time and money is worth spending on.. or you don't care about either and wont take no for an answer lmao.

[Davey]

Is it here yet?

[generallee]

^^^^seconded

[Ratchet]

Dec 12, 2023 16:51:09 GMT Davey said:

Is it here yet?

Long due an update... its long so will divide it up

yes it is.. though it arrived in the uk on the 10th of december.. and cleared customs with no hitch... and i only needed to pay 120 for the privledge

as ever with this truck there was a snag, arranged transport from docks, but on the day the driver got there only to then phone me saying he can't collect it.. luckily he knew somone who could long story short it arrived on december 23rd, a few dats late for my birthday, and almost 2 years since i bought it.. man what a saga




finally get to check it over properly too, and its.. pretty tidy, there is the aformentioned issues with bad mods to the chassis, some missing parts, and a little rust in the floors, mostly pitting, seemingly due water sitting under a rubber floor mat and humid conditions, nothing unsurmountable and a world way from the rot I'm used to seeing in uk vehicles...













first thing is to get it to run...


no keys (they were in the original photos seems they went missing along the way) but no issue, its a carb and coil, so got a new battery and put on some terminals onto the.. jump leads(?) that somone has fashioned into main cables, and attatched a remote starter and.. nothing..


off with the starter then, a little awkward as its above the exhaust and front axle and of course the battery lead onto the starter has been overtighted and is in such a position that i cant hold the stud.. crack

*various swear words*

well broken now so has to come off, also this starter has two small wires... one is the solinoid, the other.. a mystery?


so starter off, and see if i can repair this broken solinoid cap, at least for testimg purposes






got it superglued and epoxied back together (side note.. is there any two part epoxy out there that is actually good these days? every single one ive tried has been.. kinda curse word?)

the mystery connection is also connected by the main solinoid conact, so operates as long as the starter is turning. maybe some ignition advance or similar?



all back together and bench tested and it now works fine..

[Ratchet]

when I left off i had just bench tested the starter, back under the truck it is then, and bolt it on, now i don't know whether to curse, or congratulate the gas torch wielder who cut out part of the inner fender.. but it did make fitting the starter easier

and on to testing.. click.. then nothing.


*more swearing*


Starter off again, and on bench, not working, striped it down, nothing looks to be amiss, rebuild and test again and.. it works?

back on again and this time it cranks over..

(have found and ordered a new old stock rebuilt Delco Remy solinoid in the meantime, you can still buy new ones, but me being me means i don't want to just fit a modern probably chinese made part to an old vehicle, however for now its working and turning over)




On to trying to get it to start, someone has been messing with it, and have disconnected the original coil, and have a random one just sat on top of engine, along with the fuel lines being disconnected.

Obviously i also don't currently have the ignition working, so wired the coil to the battery cranked over and no spark.. pulled the random coil off and oh i see.. whichever car it came from must have used HT leads with a very long pin, as the lead on the truck was nowere near the terminal

So connected up the original coil, and cranked.. and.. wonder of wonders i have spark,


Some brake clean in the carb, and it actually fires! was getting dark, by this point and I'm currently outside so back tomorrow then.




tbc....

[Davey]

Jan 10, 2024 22:38:41 GMT Ratchet said:

*more swearing*

Yes yes and more yes. Have been waiting for this.

Great work and it looks like you're onto a winner!

SPLENDID!

[Ratchet]

glad someone else is interested in.. whats a bit of an oddball vehicle to import/rebuild .. but i guess it fits here perfectly then

new solinoid arrived, luckily these Delco starters are fitted to all sorts of older American made vehicles, from Cats to Cadillacs, and they are designed to be easily swapped










This one is a recon unit from.. a long time ago, possibly 60s, the decal on it is neat as hell, need to figure how to try and seal that to protect it, also the name of the company that presumably rebuilt it is pure 1960s, "Al-rite"

As a side note the solinoid on it appears to be a replacement already, as the starter is painted black and it isnt... and the new replacment has Delco remy made in USA on it, this one has no name but an indian chief head in the centre, any ideas?

its working for now anyway, so until i get round to making and fitting new battery cables it will stay on there.


Also in the cab among a bunch of random parts, and tools i found the missing rear spring overload brackets, the genius that messed about with the chassis at least had the foresight to keep them, they are avalible new but at £150 each thats a big saving, alas they have a few nicks from when they cut off the rivets, so will need attention from the tig torch, they are cast steel so easy enough to fix, easier than finding steel rivets to re-attach them with thats for sure.

into the tub of deox-c with them then:











(still in progress...)



And after sorting through the parts gave the cab a bit of a vacumm out, ripped out the perished and disintigrating aftermarket rubber mat that had been fitted and caused the rust in the floor pans in the process.



Now i know the engine turns over and fires need to sort out fuel, the air filter box is missing the stud, and the filter itself was just sat on top, concerning.. doesnt look like water has got in though, filter is trash, so another thing for the shopping list.

fuel lines have been disconnected from the pump, and are very perished, so on with a new piece, the filter is in the line between the pump and carb, now I'm not sure if thats where international put it or if it even had one originally, but i do not like plastic filters in the engine bay, so replaced it with a straight piece of good quality hose (probably preaching to the choir here, but don't buy cheap unbranded fuel hose.. particularly with todays ethanol adultarated fuel) I will fit a filter before the pump when i get a permanant fuel tank(s)

The metal line between hose and carb is also bent out of shape, got it sitting back under the coil where it should be, but the 90 near the carb is a little kinked, either need to get a 90 degree journal and swage on a new end, or find a good used one, i may go for the first, as clearance between the carb inlet and the thermostat housing is very tight....


i forgot to take photos of this, and the video i got isnt great.. so hope i described well enough.


Time to rig up a fuel tank, and knowing it might be a while until i get a proper tank, i went and bought a second hand boat tank, can set it on the chassis for now, traced the fuel line back from the pump to under the cab.. and whoever removed the tank unbolted the original fuel line, and this being a truck that has only done 20k miles, and lived in south USA it all looks great, alas it uses a threaded fitting that i don't have to hand and original is missing {more on this later....) so heated some clear plastic tubing and managed to get it over the flared end of the fuel line, some bits of copper pipe, hose and hose clips and have got a (mostly) fuel tight supply

now i still don't have a key, but! the day before i removed the ignition barrel to see about getting a key cut.. as it happens i got really into lockpicking videos during the covid lockdown... now i'm no lockpicking lawer, but i have enough skill to work out that a 1960s designed ignition lock is pretty trivial to bypass and i had it unlocked and able to be turned, so no messing about hotwiring stuff


so got my other half in driver seat while i was armed with a spray bottle filled with a mixture of ATF and petrol, (in absense of soem two stroke, extra upper cylinder lubrication) as i wasnt sure if A: the fuel pump worked, B: the carb would work at all.

yes sketchy but i did have a fire extingusher handy haha.


This truck has a holley carb with a bi-metallic auto choke, so find something in the cab to hold the butterfly open.. this bit of pipe with a brass end will do***

spray some fuel into the carb and crank and as expected it runs , give it a spray of brake cleaner to try and keep it running till the fuel pump primes, then it backfires and the carb catches fire.. how predictable xD




after blowing the flames out i got my partner to pump the throttle and wonder of wonders the accelaratorr pump seems to work?!

Get him to crank the engine again and it roars into life! roar being the adjective here as the exhaust downpipe donuts have left for pastures new at some point. and all things considering it runs pretty nice.

Colour me surprised.. as far as i know this may be the first time its ran since the 90s, its certainly been off the road since then, and i've done almost nothing to it, didnt touch the points, or the carb (all on the list)





excuse my awful video skills.. didnt notice my thumb was over the lense.. will get a better video of it running uploaded soon...










*** yes this was the original rubber fuel hose, with the correct end to screw into the fuel line.. wasnt till i went to put it back in the cab that it dawned on me, will reinstate it when i work on the truck again

[generallee]

Love it. Helluva mojo boost having the 'motor' burst into life.
I'm super pleased for you the thing landed safely in the end.

[Ratchet]

it definitly is, sure i have a lot of work to do but it running with barely any drama is a major boost

have heard a lot about the durability and reliabilty of these old International LV engines.. and seems its true, ok mine has only done 22k miles but its been laid up for possibly 30 years or so

[Davey]

Result on all fronts! This is possibly my new favourite vehicle on RR.

[Ratchet]

So at some point either before i bought it, or during the long process of getting the truck shipped, it was lifted with a forklift, which bent the front prop and the first section of the rear prop.

The rear prop has been messed with anyway when he wheelbase was extended, and i think its the section they added that got mangled, but the front would have been ok...

so while i was on with getting it to run i pulled of the front prop and took it to a local propshaft manufacturer to see if they could repair it, or if not make a new one, the nylon on the extending joint splines was also messed up so i suspected the latter





got a call on tuesday saying it was ready, and i had one brand new prop, with genuine spicer joints etc, all for just under £300.. which sounds a lot, but for a truck propshaft its really not, were decent to deal with too, Firow Propshafts in Holmes chapel if anyone is interested, they do custom stuff and repairs etc


May go and fit it this weekend, though i have to paint all the hardware first after spending time derusting them all.


crappy photo of it in my work van.. note the Hazet + Atorn assistants currently residing in there.. i should make a thread in the other modifications board about those at some point....





and some pics ofthe truck to brighten up the post





Tata loadbeta behind it belongs to the farm, and it may actually still run, another later one on property too which pulled a cylinder liner into the block one day.. (i do work on their equipment in lieu of storage, should post some pics of the movano pickup i just finished making a new rear chassis for after discovering just how rusty it was pre MOT)









it was originaly a water tanker in a quarry or mine, and while the tank has gone the main body is still there.. and man is it heavy duty, all made of 1/8" steel, and those wheel arch edges are 1/2" or so solid bar, Griffin tank didnt mess about for sure.

will be straigtening it and getting it sandblasted, and current plan is to modify it into a flatbed/service truck type body but keeping the majority of it as it is, badges included (if the tank was present i may have made it into a camper body or something, if a lightweight alloy tank of suitible size comes my way i may make a demountable one for show camping...)

[jimi]

Jan 13, 2024 0:34:58 GMT Ratchet said:

if the tank was present i may have made it into a camper body or something, if a lightweight alloy tank of suitable size comes my way i may make a demountable one for show camping...

A demountable tank that doubled as a camper, while still looking like a tank would be so cool 😎 👍