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Post by PICTUP on Mar 26, 2016 10:26:19 GMT -8
As some of you know, I have a history with clocks. I bought a non-working early Bay clock some time ago and have yet to open it up to see if I can repair it. For some reason these clocks are crazy prices these days. I remember when I bought my first clock for my 1970 Westy back in the late 80's. I drove by a junk yard by the side of the highway as I went thru Midway, on my way to the Kootenays and noticed a few Buses there. One had a clock. I had never even seen a clock, so of course I had to have it. It looked way better in the dash than the block off plate that had been there from the day mum and dad bought the Bus. Plus it only cost me 5 bucks!! Anyhow, I digress… For the past while Russ' friend Brian has been restoring his 1972 Ghia. In that year Ghia they went back to the large face(as big as the speedometer) clock, with an incorporated fuel gauge this time. Brian had two non-working clocks and for fun I suggested I could have a go at fixing it. The mechanism turned out to be the same(the only difference being the escape is a plastic "gear" in this one) so I looked at it as being a "test" for fixing my early Bay (grey/silver faced) clock. The main stumbling block with the repair of these clocks seems to be the lack of proper temp solder for reestablishing the fusible link in the clock. This link is designed to separate and stop the flow of electricity if the clock gets all gunked up(it doesn't take much!!). Instead of heating and frying the electro part of the electro-mechanical winding mechanism the clock merely stops working and hopefully once cleaned will operate once again after being resoldered. As others, I looked and looked for the right solder with no luck for a long time. I read on Mercedes Benz forums and other VW forums of others' work-arounds for this solder. It just seemed like a lot of fiddling…and where to find those correct parts anyway?? So I kept looking and a fluke search(i.e. just the right search words) on eBay resulted in a low temp solder. It has a melting point of only 4 degrees higher than recommended by the decal on the clock. So I figured it was as close as I was going to get(keep reading to see if it works…). So here is the clock mech separated from the housing. The round plastic piece merely hides a nut. Once broken it shows the case has been opened and voids the warranty. I think I am safe...    Here is the dreaded fusible link, right in the centre of the pic. It is together here, but as I found out, not well, because I touched it with my steel dissecting kit probe and it sprung open   Another thing that gets corroded are the contact points seen here directly below my finger  This nut must be removed to remove the points  Just like in a distributor, these points need a filing to make proper contact   Harder to file the ones in the clock mech   But will it work??? More later... |
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Post by CrazyBrit on Mar 26, 2016 19:58:13 GMT -8
I found this a few weeks ago on the samba forums. It's not stock and I don't like the battery idea, but it might help give accurate time. How to modify a Ghia clock to quartz movement: www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7100213&highlight=clock#7100213I read somewhere on thesamba that part of the reason that these fuses fail is due to repeatedly running the battery flat. Apparently the lower voltage supplied by the dying battery can cause them to run hot? I'm no electrician, so this could be someone posting up bs, but it sounded plausible to me! |
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Post by PICTUP on Mar 27, 2016 8:45:27 GMT -8
Cheap chinese junk in our VW's??? Perish the thought!!! Oh wait……forgot...C(hinese) I(mport) P(arts) But seriously, having a seriously accurate clock in a car is not high on my list. A cool accessory is though and the quartz movement doesn't look or sound the part I'm afraid. I think I am gonna PM the guy and see if he wants to give me his clock mech…  I got that cold many seem to have gotten this winter/spring so once the worst was over I figured I should clean my bench. This required finishing the clock. Now that I had solder in hand, I thought I'd give it a go. First I pushed the copper sprung connector into place and held it there with a piece of heavy wire after putting some flux paste on it.  Solder, being easily bent was inserted into the hole(sorry for the reverse angle)   And with a mere touch of the soldering iron   But did it work?? Well, yes and no. You see the clock has to ground to the housing and it uses a flat copper jumper to get around the rubber mounts. And this one was really corroded by the looks of things  On the right you can just see the flat copper jumper. So I had to try to remove those tiny little press retainers  Finding a screw driver small enough, but strong enough was the challenge  But they did come off  And here is what was underneath   And here is the jumper  This is what it is supposed to look like  I proceeded to clean up the rusty areas with the wire wheel on the dremel  Pressed the retainers back on  Reassembled and it worked, again sort of…  I say sort of because it ran for 14 hours on the battery, then stopped. Then another 11 hours and stopped. A bit of a tap would get it going again, but that isn't good enough. So I pulled the mech out to run it without installation into the actual clock unit that has the gearing for the hands. Well the mech has been running now for a couple of days without a hitch. So I am thinking the problem lay in the hand gears/axles being cruded up. So that is my next disassemble step. Regarding the solder temp…was it the right one, i.e. does that 4 degrees make a difference? Well, the last time the clock stopped it got really hot and sure enough the solder joint did indeed let go. Upon cooling down and resoldering it started right up again, so it did indeed do its job and the mech was not burned up. Now just gotta get those hands freed up... |
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Post by Volktales on Mar 27, 2016 19:22:51 GMT -8
Don the Clock Doc!
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Post by Wongai on Mar 29, 2016 7:55:00 GMT -8
Awesome start to what will be a satisfying restoration. You will be stoked every time you look at that clock. It's in pretty killer cosmetic condition. Would be great to get it working.
Well done Dr..
B
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Post by PICTUP on Apr 2, 2016 7:21:13 GMT -8
Awesome start to what will be a satisfying restoration. You will be stoked every time you look at that clock. It's in pretty killer cosmetic condition. Would be great to get it working. Well done Dr.. B Thanks Byron, Well I hope Brian will like it each time he sees it If Brian decides to put it in, it will be going in this car  miacvw.proboards.com/thread/19/brians-1972-ghiaAs suspected the hand axles and gears were in need of cleaning and lubrication. Incidentally, gears in clocks are never to receive lubrication, but they can be cleaned. When lubricating, only put some very light oil on where the axles are inserted into the plates. But the real culprit turned out to be something I wouldn't have guessed. The clock mech engages to the actual hands by way of a disc with a slot in it and a pin in a disc attached to a similar disc on the hands. Well I noticed that this slot was ever so slightly rough, but hardly rough enough to stop a clock…I would have thought anyway. But it was the last thing left to address after lubricating the hands, and the clock was still stopping at random(frustratingly I might add!) So I filed the slot ever so slightly and then used some 400 grit paper to really smooth it out. I did put a tiny bit of oil on it too. From a previous pic, here you can see the slot in the disc Well that seemed to do the trick. I did manage to get everything working and it has been running reliably for 2 days. As it looks now, and running on a 9V battery. I cleaned it up on the outside a bit too...    |
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Post by Pepper on Nov 11, 2021 16:34:25 GMT -8
Greetings,
My 1979 Super Beetle Convertible VDO Quartz Zeit Clock runs but not correctly.
Do you repair these or know who does? Hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you,
Pepper Pizarro
6710 N. Stonebridge Drive
Fresno, CA 93711
pizarro4@att.net
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Post by Volktales on Nov 11, 2021 20:18:44 GMT -8
I would imagine there would be several places in California that could repair your clock. Have you tried this question on TheSamba.com??? Don had a go at fixing his own clock to learn about them as opposed to specializing in them. I have tried a few as well but my success rate has not been very good...  |
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Post by PICTUP on Nov 11, 2021 23:08:35 GMT -8
Actually Russ, that was Brian's Ghia's clock and last he told me, it was still working a few years later. Regarding Pepper's clock, I think Russ was on the money with the potential of somebody on thesamba in the USA being able to service the clock. In fact, check here: www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1771605 More than likely if it runs but not properly, the main culprit is usually not wear, but dirt in the mech. Brian's clock was unusual, the other Bay window clocks I did were just dirty and a good clean and lube had them running pretty well. The company in the service link above even guarantee it for a year. Sounds like a good deal to me. Good luck Pepper. Cheers, Don |
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Post by JPL on Jul 6, 2022 8:13:02 GMT -8
I know that this post is somewhat dated but if you still receive this, are still around I would appreciate some assistance. Putting my 1974 VW Karmann Ghia back together, interior, gauges....when I grabbed the Clock I noticed something was rattling inside, took it apart and found a small piece loose; I'll try to attach pics. Not sure where it goes. If you can help, thanks. Can't see to attach any pics; if you can provide me with an email that would be great
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Post by PICTUP on Jul 6, 2022 17:59:47 GMT -8
I know that this post is somewhat dated but if you still receive this, are still around I would appreciate some assistance. Putting my 1974 VW Karmann Ghia back together, interior, gauges....when I grabbed the Clock I noticed something was rattling inside, took it apart and found a small piece loose; I'll try to attach pics. Not sure where it goes. If you can help, thanks. Can't see to attach any pics; if you can provide me with an email that would be great To attach pics you must sign in. Hosting them on imgur.com seems to be the way to go. Volktales did an informative tutorial on it here: miacvw.proboards.com/thread/960/post-big-juicy-pictures-imgur. By posting, all enthusiasts on the site can have input and we can hopefully all learn a bit of what to do with our vintage clocks.  |
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Post by rctscott on Dec 26, 2023 21:32:02 GMT -8
Hello, I too am finding this post in search of help in restoring my old bus clocks. I have several that I have collected along the way.
Can I trouble you to be more specific on what the name of the solder that you found on Ebay was and possibly a link if you have it?
Also, I checked the link that you posted for someone to restore the clocks on Samba, and it has been discontinued, so I suspect that either the person is now overloaded with work or has disappeared for now.
Thank you for the help!
Scott
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Post by PICTUP on Dec 27, 2023 19:52:04 GMT -8
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