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Fri Jun 20, 2008 9:25 am

Linda Grunthaner wrote: I don't recall who posted this site but it shows everything i need to know to put this bus together.

But I wish I had a good book of the head liner dimensions. Are there any out there? I am not sure if I need the bow sizes as I haven't opened the bus to see the goodies inside. I will surly post the pics when i do. It's like Christmas and my present is in the bus :lol:

Look I can almost measure these wooden slats. Anyone out there with a size and type of wood for my roof rack?

http://torlasco.tripod.com/westy/id4.html

Lin

New page!

It's believed to be european beech. White oak makes a good weather resistant substitute. Be sure you use exterior marine polyurethane spar varnish and countersink the screw holes before you apply the finish. You need a planer; the stuff off the shelf at a specialty wood place will be the wrong thickness. Remember this is all metric dimensional wood.

There is no book with the ceiling panel dimensions. I thought I was making patterns for you?

Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:37 pm

Major Woody wrote: Linda Grunthaner wrote: I don't recall who posted this site but it shows everything i need to know to put this bus together.

But I wish I had a good book of the head liner dimensions. Are there any out there? I am not sure if I need the bow sizes as I haven't opened the bus to see the goodies inside. I will surly post the pics when i do. It's like Christmas and my present is in the bus :lol:

Look I can almost measure these wooden slats. Anyone out there with a size and type of wood for my roof rack?

http://torlasco.tripod.com/westy/id4.html

Lin

New page!

It's believed to be european beech. White oak makes a good weather resistant substitute. Be sure you use exterior marine polyurethane spar varnish and countersink the screw holes before you apply the finish. You need a planer; the stuff off the shelf at a specialty wood place will be the wrong thickness. Remember this is all metric dimensional wood.

There is no book with the ceiling panel dimensions. I thought I was making patterns for you?

Hi Chris,
Do you know the size of these wooden slats? I took my rack apart today and other than figuring out how to straighten out one of the tubular pipes I can use our schools wood planer to get the wood to the correct size and yes I would rather oak and polyurethane. Are the poles and leg pieces aluminum I can polish them? And how would I straighten out one of those poles is there a special machine to straighten the pipe? Maybe I can send the bent one out it is just crooked. And What should I paint the steel with? Should I use a galvanizing paint?

As for the paneling I wasn’t sure if you would still make me the templates. I was at the shop today and it appears all the wood paneling including the ceiling is there although in need of replacement. Also the bows are still on the ceiling, which makes me very happy. I will be very careful of removing the wood from the bus and store them it neatly in my garage. If I can trace them for new ones I will let you know. How do I install the ceiling are they installed via screws or something else?

I want to order my new rubber gaskets for all the glass who do you recommend not too pricy but no poor quality ether? I’ll bring my camera to the shop on Monday.
Thanks Linda

Need these sizes:

Fri Jun 20, 2008 7:21 pm

I found Westy roof rack parts here:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=49933
Lin

Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:01 pm

I will measure the slats for you.
Just get new aluminum tubing at a place that sells dimensional metal. It's metric, a common size. Caliper it for the OD. You'll never get it to look right if you try to straighten it.
The bows and braces are hot dip galvanized. If they won't clean up with SOS pads then you can spend a GRIP to have them hot dip galvanized at a place that does industrial galvanizing. Those places have tanks full of molten zinc big enough to dip one of those interstate freeway overpass trusses into. They usually have a minimum order and they charge by the 100-pound increment. You have to go in there with a plaid flannel shirt on, a twang in your voice, and a lot of humility just to get them to talk to you. I got mine done here in Portland. It wasn't cheap but parts are only original once. The parts you take them will already need to be sanded and polished smooth--all they're going to do is add another layer. ALL rust and pits must be gone or they will ruin the finish. The repro rack bows, braces and clamps on the market are electro-zinc plated and the stampings aren't very good so don't waste your time with those unless you don't much care about originality. This is way down your list.
If you have access to the high school shop, then you have access to a nice buffer with a dust collector and presumably you know how to use it. That's going to be nice because these campers are full of mill finish aluminum that will need attention.

Sat Jun 21, 2008 4:22 am

Major Woody wrote: I will measure the slats for you.
Just get new aluminum tubing at a place that sells dimensional metal. It's metric, a common size. Caliper it for the OD. You'll never get it to look right if you try to straighten it.
The bows and braces are hot dip galvanized. If they won't clean up with SOS pads then you can spend a GRIP to have them hot dip galvanized at a place that does industrial galvanizing. Those places have tanks full of molten zinc big enough to dip one of those interstate freeway overpass trusses into. They usually have a minimum order and they charge by the 100-pound increment. You have to go in there with a plaid flannel shirt on, a twang in your voice, and a lot of humility just to get them to talk to you. I got mine done here in Portland. It wasn't cheap but parts are only original once. The parts you take them will already need to be sanded and polished smooth--all they're going to do is add another layer. ALL rust and pits must be gone or they will ruin the finish. The repro rack bows, braces and clamps on the market are electro-zinc plated and the stampings aren't very good so don't waste your time with those unless you don't much care about originality. This is way down your list.
If you have access to the high school shop, then you have access to a nice buffer with a dust collector and presumably you know how to use it. That's going to be nice because these campers are full of mill finish aluminum that will need attention.

Cool Chris thanks,
I need to open up the bus and locate the middle bar and the clamp plates or else I have to buy them. I'll check on galvanizing shops through my school as we are a vocational school district and we deal with a lot of companies hopefully the metal’s trade school will have a good contact or else I’ll check with my local welding shop and my metals distributor for a local contact. The pieces look fair but some spots have surface rust I'll try the SOS pads and if they clean up perhaps I should clear coat them so they last longer although galvanizing would be best? Thanks for getting those sizes for the wood I take it you have a rack on your bus too?

I finally bought a digital caliper with metric, inch and my favorite fractions so I don't have to use the school one or my dial caliper. I'll measure out that rod & hopefully buff out the other parts so I can get them to match.

Can you tell me if all the SO-42's had painted grey hubcaps like these, I’m trying to figure out which parts to keep and which parts to swap from my 66? The 66 has chrome caps and this 67 has rusty some spots grey. Should I sand blast the originals and repaint? Is that the proper thing to do?

Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:29 am

I'm bringing parts to my garage as we speak I am trying to figure out how to get all the wooden panels into my small station wagon to get home for making templates. Perhaps I should trace them out at the shop but there are tons of mosquitoes there so I am trying to get the parts home where I can work without flying visitors.

So far I have the several small boxes of parts and I'm picking up the bumpers today. I am hoping I am doing the right thing with wire wheeling the rust on the bumpers and then using por-15 before painting them.

I'm going to pick up paint for the bumpers and the body (section at a time so I can get her home) and I saw a 66 pop-top done in white & turks color and would like some opinions on color changes perhaps get opinions on value loss. I will not be putting my life's savings into this Splitty so perhaps the color change will be OK. any thoughts?

Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:55 am

I would like to pick up new tires this week so I can put the old tires from this bus on my 66 (these tires have great threads) and I hear Hankook tires are the best for long road trips are there any other tires I can get for the same performance so I can just pick them up instead of paying for shipping?
Lin

Tue Jul 08, 2008 7:59 am

chrome hubcaps...see my gallery for dimensions of the wood headliner...no real value loss if you are making a repainted runner out of a rusty non-op junker...

Tue Jul 08, 2008 9:10 am

marklaken wrote: chrome hubcaps...see my gallery for dimensions of the wood headliner...no real value loss if you are making a repainted runner out of a rusty non-op junker...

Marklaken,
Nice pict :lol:

Is that all there is to the headliner? I know the cab uses the grey and I have the grey cab interior from the 66 I also know the 67 Westy had painted grey caps (I have them) and that color is L 345 light grey, bumpers are L82 silver white.
Lin

BTW The 67 runs great and everything works fine! I haven't started up the 66 so still questionable but the po said it would run I am just dividing my time.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 10:46 am

marklaken wrote: chrome hubcaps...see my gallery for dimensions of the wood headliner...no real value loss if you are making a repainted runner out of a rusty non-op junker...

Chrome caps were an option. M181 I think . All would have had primered gray caps but a dove blue bus would have had dove gray or dove blue caps.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 1:02 pm

X2 on gray hubcaps.
Good originals are better than aftermarket, even if more work.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 2:54 pm

Major Woody wrote: X2 on gray hubcaps.
Good originals are better than aftermarket, even if more work.

Good tip so I should sand blast or hand sand the origional rusty grey caps and paint instead of using the fairly decent chrom caps from my 66 Microbus?
Lin

Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:12 pm

I am leaning toward using POR-15 http://www.por15.com/faq.aspon on the original bumpers and then painting but what will be the best prep; hand sand , sand blast or wirewheel? I figure I can test out the POR-15 in the process because I want to use it on the body where the rust is. I meet a guy in my area well an hr and a half away last week as he listed his 67 Westy on eBay and his bus has POR-15 on the whole chassis and it has been on it for many years perhaps 10 or more, it looks like he just put it on. Also he used it on some other spots but as I recall he had the entire bus dipped or media blasted (can't recall what he said) so the only areas I am sure of were the chassis. After reading the POR-15 website it appears it is a lacquer base. If I remember correctly you can put oil base over lacquer but not the other way around. It also says on the site it does not adhere to smooth surfaces but now that I think of it I would be sanding the non rusty surfaces of the outer body and using their pre treatment product. Any suggestions on using the POR-15 on the outer body rusty spots or am I on the right track? I was thinking I would have to use the clear they only have clear, silver and black. I haven’t decided on the color yet I thought I should keep it stock (pearl white) but the turks color on the bottom looks nice although more work.
Lin

Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:13 pm

Linda,

I would try a little elbow grease if your caps are not too bad. Otherwise, send them out to get media blasted.

Also, you asked about tires. There are a ton of threads on tires, but if you want ones you can pick up locally, see if anyone near you carries the Yokohama Y356. It's what I have on my bus, but as I recall they are around $125 tire which may be more expensive than what you are looking for. Remember to get a truck tire with reinforced sidewalls, otherwise your bus will weave all over the place.

Arthur

Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:17 pm

Use the POR or equivalent on the backs of the bumpers if you must, but use a flap wheel, wire wheel or some other equivalent abrasive on the outsides, then treat any remaining rust and get some epoxy primer on there.

The POR is really not necessary on any surface which you can sand to bare metal.

Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:40 pm

arthurnugen wrote: Linda,

I would try a little elbow grease if your caps are not too bad. Otherwise, send them out to get media blasted.

Also, you asked about tires. There are a ton of threads on tires, but if you want ones you can pick up locally, see if anyone near you carries the Yokohama Y356. It's what I have on my bus, but as I recall they are around $125 tire which may be more expensive than what you are looking for. Remember to get a truck tire with reinforced sidewalls, otherwise your bus will weave all over the place.

Arthur

arthurnugen,
Very good tip thanks I'm going to go to my Firestone dealer because I like their service I paid extra and I get free flat repairs (I get lots of nails driving to Brooklyn weekly) yes I would prefer to keep the tires under $100. each and I will see what they have is a truck tire with reinforced sidewalls. I never heard of that type of tire good to learn. Have you seen this video on tire age? http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=4826897 I got it from my Austin Healey Sprite club I was blown away by the old new tires on store shelves but glad I know how to read them now.
Lin

Tue Jul 08, 2008 3:58 pm

Linda, thanks for the link. That is very disturbing.

To summarize what was said on the video, everyone needs to check the age of their "new" tires. All tires have a manufacturing date: it will be the last four digits starting with DOT. It is much smaller than the tire size and may be on the interior sidewall.

For example, "1204" means that tire was manufactured the 12th week of 2004. According to the report, tires older than 6 years old should not be on your car for any reason.

I have bought three sets of tires in the last 6 months and will be checking them all tonight for sure. :shock:

Tue Jul 08, 2008 4:16 pm

arthurnugen wrote: Linda, thanks for the link. That is very disturbing.

To summarize what was said on the video, everyone needs to check the age of their "new" tires. All tires have a manufacturing date: it will be the last four digits starting with DOT. It is much smaller than the tire size and may be on the interior sidewall.

For example, "1204" means that tire was manufactured the 12th week of 2004. According to the report, tires older than 6 years old should not be on your car for any reason.

I have bought three sets of tires in the last 6 months and will be checking them all tonight for sure. :shock:

arthurnugen,
Yea I was blown away by that video. When I got back into vintage sports cars after making some Sprite friends they all told me on the list serve to replace all the rubber hoses tires gaskets etc. I knew all that but never wanted to admit a new tire could be dangerous. Then I got this link from another guy on our Spridget (Austin Healey Sprite and MG Midget car owners) list and I was amazed that they sell old new tires in stores I shop in. Yes the code reading is great for us to keep an eye on our new tires. I'll post this on the samba somewhere else maybe a tire section? It is so valuable. I bet those web sites with wholesale tires have 6-10 year old tires on their shelves.
Linda

Tue Jul 08, 2008 5:45 pm

Major Woody wrote: Use the POR or equivalent on the backs of the bumpers if you must, but use a flap wheel, wire wheel or some other equivalent abrasive on the outsides, then treat any remaining rust and get some epoxy primer on there.

The POR is really not necessary on any surface which you can sand to bare metal.

Thanks
Linda

Sun Jul 20, 2008 7:01 pm

I have a ton of photos to post on my bus but here is the origional icebox. The faucet and other hardware is there in a box but I have never seen anyone post what the origional sink pan looks like I would love to see a photo of one. Anyone have a photo? Or is there anyone out there who is a first owner of a 67 Westy and have ether a photo good discription?
Thanks Linda