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Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:48 pm

I know I've enjoyed reading these kind of threads, and have learned a lot in doing so, so I thought I'd share our rebuild experience with the rest of the Samba community.

A few years ago we began the process of sorting through my father-in-laws belongings. He lived out west, and had moved back to Florida with us, leaving us to deal with his property and a collection of old cars he'd built up over the years. There were a couple of Honda's still running, a couple of old MGB's not running and not repairable, an old Ford, a small pull-behind camper and a '73 Westy. At the time I had no interest in any of them, nor did the rest of the family, so we started selling them off as best as we could from 3000 miles away.

Through this process, the one item that seem to peak the wife's and grandkid's interest was the bus, so my next trip out I decided to take a hard look at it to see if it was restorable. Mechanical issues I could deal with, but extensive bodywork was not in the cards for me. I'm pretty picky, and having it restored by a body shop to my satisfaction would cost me a fortune if it were really rusted out.

Prior to the trip I read all I could find, including the Samba forum. Encouraged by the fact that there were still parts available for a 35 year old vehicle I headed west.

Much to my surprise, after crawling all over and under the bus, I discovered it to be nearly rust free. That was not the case with much of what I'd seen on Samba. Here's what I found.

The photo's say 2000. Disregard that, the camera was never set up correctly. There were some normal parking lot dings, a lot of surface rust, but not much else. The vehicle was filthy inside originally, but cleaner when I got there thanks to family living nearby.

It also ran. Not far, but it would crank, again thanks to family. Amazing since the vehicle had been last registered in 1993.

I returned home and talked it over with the local family. Even though the vehicle looked sound, we realized it was a gamble as it may end up here in two pieces, since I really couldn't give it a thorough going over. For all I knew the frame was shot, even though it looked solid. I think what finally clinched it was how interested the grandson (12 years old at the time) was. He had dreams of road trips and surfing/camping at the beach. Then, when discussing it with acquaintances, I had unexpected offers. Seems there was a whole underground movement of VW bus fanatics. Then finally the idea was thrown out, by my wife, that this would be a perfect tailgating vehicle. We could fix it up and paint it our team colors and take it to all the football games!

Well, I wasn't too crazy about turning it into the Gatormobile, complete with a blue body, orange accents, blue seats and orange and blue curtains, but tailgating sounded like fun. At first the kids offered to go in with me to fix it up, but I kinda figured that would eventually create ownership issues, and they didn't have the money anyway, so with the wife's encouragement we took it on and arranged to ship it out. Knowing it needed to be gone over mechanically, I interviewed a few local mechanics and picked one, then found a shipping company and set it up. Four weeks and $ 1,300 later I was at the mechanics shop on a Saturday night supervising the unloading of a filthy white bus with 4 nearly flat tires and a bent tie rod. They'd tied it down over a tie rod. Amazing!

Now I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but am not a VW mechanic by any stretch. I'd owned a '73 914 2.0 in college and for about 10 years after, and would still (I loved that car), except that one day it decided to freeze up a CV joint and wrap itself around an oak tree with me inside. It retired to the scrap heap, but left me with a fair amount of general air-cooled experience. That said, I knew when the bus showed up I did not want to start out with a lot of issues, so I told the mechanic to give it a thorough going over and get back to me with suggestions. Take your time, I said. He did.

Imagine any vehicle that has been sitting idle for 15 years. Lot's of things could be wrong, and they were. Brakes, fuel lines, tie rods, carbs, etc. Amazingly enough the compression was fine. The odometer shows only 86,000 miles, but it doesn't work. But I wouldn't be surprised knowing my father-in-law if this is original mileage. The transmission was fine. I did let the mechanic talk me into a single carb, again based on the theory that I wanted the kids to be able to drive it and not have issues. I still have mixed feelings about that one.

I researched and ordered new tires as well. Hankooks.

After another three months and a bunch of bucks for parts and labor later, I finally got to drive it home. The grandkid's have always called their great grandfather Bampa, so the Bus became the BampaBus (actually they called it the BampaVan, but I corrected that slight error in description). It drove nice, started right up, shifted okay, accelerated to 60 mph in only about 40 seconds (wow) and was still filthy inside. It doesn't look that way in this picture, but it helped raise many generations of mice while dormant. I went through several gallons of bleach and a fair amount of dismantling trying to get it to the point where I didn't feel like I was driving a roach coach, or a mouse house. Sorry, I didn't take any pictures of that. Not suitable for a family forum anyway.

The only problem was that it leaked oil . . . badly. I began referring to it as the on-highway oil disposal unit. It wasn't too bad at staining the garage, but on the road it would leave a cloud, especially when stopped at a light. Oil was coating the muffler. I was losing a quart about every 200 miles. Not burning it, but dripping it out. Now you might ask, why didn't the mechanic address this? In his defense, it didn't seem that bad at the shop. We expected it to drip some. I wanted to put off pulling the engine for a while if possible. Besides, we had an understanding that if there were serious issues I'd bring it back for another round of mechanicals before beginning the cosmetics. We were both crossing our fingers that it wouldn't be necessary. Lost that bet.

So I kept it for about three months and we played with it, ignoring the oil leak until I could no longer stand it. In the meantime I did a thorough cleaning then drove it a lot, making a list of issues, then began tackling them one by one. Things like a non-working horn (fixed), instrument bulbs, blinkers, heater fan, push rod seals, etc. The mice had done a real number on wiring all over the vehicle. I definately learned how to read a wiring schematic, broke in a Bentley and uncovered a lot of part and info sources on the web. I had a five page check list, and by the time I took it back to have the oil leak addressed I had the list down to three or four items that I couldn't figure out.

So back we went to the shop. This time with instructions to evaluate the oil leak, and go ahead and pull the engine, rework the shifting bushings, replace the clutch if necessary (it was), and clean up the engine and engine bay to showroom condition while it was out. Again the concept was, preventative maintenance. While the engine is out let's get done whatever we can find that needs doing and avoid my breaking down if I decide to drive it a couple of hundred miles. New muffler also.

Right behind the mechanics shop is a body shop. I'd already decided to paint it myself, I'm just too picky about this sort of thing to have someone else do it. I want it done right. But while the engine was out I worked a deal with the bodyshop to have them weld in a new battery tray (the only serious rust I could find) and paint the engine compartment. This is what I got back.

The top side of the engine was thoroughly cleaned, the shroud clear coated, the tins all painted black, all new hoses (except one heater hose I need to replace), etc. Already had a new carb, distributor, wires, etc. It looks great!

Turns out the leak was the oil cooler - mostly. Maybe entirely. I couldn't tell for sure as when I got it back this time (about three months later again), it was still leaking. Not nearly as much, but more than I'd like. I reseated the new push-rod seals, left the air diverters off and drove it. Couldn't tell exactly where the oil was coming from so I put it back on the jacks, wiped it all clean and ran it for while, then crawled under and watched. No push rod leak. Big leak at the seam between the engine and the transaxle. Apparantly the new gasket there didn't take. The mechanic said bring it back and he'd fix it, his dime. No issues there.

So back it goes, probably next week, for a last look by the mechanic before it hits my garage for a couple of months for painting and new interior.

In the meantime, along with the engine bay I made a deal with the body shop to clean up and repair all the dings. So it came back this time with dents pulled, bondo'd and primed for protection. I'll go over all this again prior to painting, but this was big head start for me.

Front view.

Side view.

And the other side view.

This weekend I hit the interior. I'd guess I have maybe six hours into dismantling, stripping it clean and pressure washing. Found a few old candy bars (went in the trash), lots of loose change, a bic lighter that still works and a disturbing amount of mouse droppings. A shop vac, more bleach and purple stuff then the pressure washer turned it into this.

Note the headliner is still in. I need a little help with that one. Two man job.

Here is a view of unmolested virgin paint behind the panels. All the insulation was still in place. This is not the pink stuff. It really makes you itch. Handle with gloves.

Little bit of floor rust, but only a little, and none all the way through. Underneath is the same. Original undercoating still in place.

I'll need to remove the old adhesive that held insulation and floor mats in place, etc. Sands off pretty easy. Is there a better way?

This is the heaviest rust I've found so far. Unbelieveable! How can a 35 year old vehicle have so little damage? I hope I'm not overlooking something.

Another floor shot. I've take a wire wheel and sander to some just to see how well it cleans up. No issue so far.

It needs to go back to the shop for one last round of mechanical issues as mentioned above. I hope to have it back in a week or two. If so, at that point everything else comes out including the dash and all windows then it gets a thorough cleaning, proper sanding, primer and paint. All new rubber on the windows, and a new windshield also (holes and scratches).

Here's where I could use some forum feedback. Several items. First is any suggestion on removing the surface rust I can't get to with a sander, particularly in places like inside the front door near the bottom. Chemicals?

Next is paint scheme? We are having a running "discussion" on this. Right now it is a single tone. The simplest is to repaint as is, which would be fine. But some of the family really like the two-tone versions, and are thinking white up top, blue on the bottom. But I don't like the idea of paint lines as you wrap the door edges. How was this done from the factory?

Any thoughts on clear coat versus factory original?

Is there a paint for the fiberglass top that matches the original factory color?

Bumpers are a different color from the body. Is that on the paint code?

Cloth interior versus vinyl? Any advantage one over the other?

And any other suggestions! Wide open.

I'll continue to post as I make progress. Thanks.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 2:53 pm

Looks great! Good year too :lol:

Sat Jul 18, 2009 3:16 pm

I would classify that as a keeper. A gently buffing and waxing looks like it is all it needs.

Sat Jul 18, 2009 4:06 pm

Sweet bus!

Fix it up and take those grandkids camping. Good memories will be made for all of you.

Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:23 am

Yea, what Randy said x2. :wink:

Sun Jul 19, 2009 5:37 am

TexasAirCooler wrote: Yea, what Randy said x2. :wink:

X3

Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:14 am

Believe me, camping is in the picture. Probably quite a bit. As for a gentle buff and rub, I tried that and in some spots it looked factory fresh, in others the surface rust left bare metal. So some paint was unavoidable. That being the case, might as well just do the whole vehicle.

Mon Jul 20, 2009 4:29 am

Looking good. We need ot see pictures of you AND the grankids in it camping. :D

If you hit a few VW swapmeets or clubs, maybe you can pick up a decent set of dual carbs for reasoanble money. That will help also.

Mon Jul 20, 2009 12:25 pm

....Cloth interior versus vinyl? Any advantage one over the other?

That mustard cloth interior is pretty rare and hard to find, especially the stool if you still have it.

Mon Jul 20, 2009 6:16 pm

The mustard cloth is definately not our favorite color. Any way we go, we'll change to something else. What we have is actually okay, no rips. Zipper busted on the rear cushion. But it is really dirty, mouse dirt. The cloth and the cushions have to go. Maybe I'll run the covers through the washer when they come off and see if they will clean up.

Sewfine has the mustard cloth. See the bus and vanagon catalog at:

http://www.sewfineproducts.com/catalogs.html

Tue Jul 21, 2009 6:31 pm

That cloth is a one year only item. If you don't want it, please send it to me! I'll pay shipping. Don't run it through the washer first! Dry cleaning is the best way to preserve the fabric.

PM me if you're really interested in getting rid of it.

Mike

Wed Jul 22, 2009 4:24 pm

Dreadnot:

It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get around to pulling the covers off and inspecting. If they are perfect, I'll probably see if I can get a few bucks out of them. If I let them go for free, you are first in line!

Mon Jul 27, 2009 5:48 pm

Some progress over the weekend. First I managed to drop it back off with the mechanic on Monday so he could address the oil leak from what we figured was the front main seal. I picked it up Friday. He'd pulled the engine, reset the seals, checked the engine plugs and reseated them, etc. There was a definate indication of oil slipping past the seal. So we hoped it was fixed.

Checked it Saturday morning and it's leaking there again. Not nearly as bad though, so for the moment I'll let it go and worry about it after the paint job is finished.

It's amazing just how long it takes to strip down a bus. All afternoon Saturday, all day Sunday and about three hours Monday evening and this is what it looks like:

(Adding photos)

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:05 pm

Hmm. No option to edit, so starting anew. Again, here's how it looks this evening.

The boss is keeping me honest. He's none to happy that his cushy interior is missing, but is willing to wait it out.

I'm quickly losing space in my garage. Doors stacked here. Interior takes up the whole other corner.

Again I am amazed at just how little rust there is on this bus. This is the one spot that had me most worried. Under the windshield. It looked pretty nasty at first, mainly dirty, but I hit it with a wire wheel and it cleans up perfect. Nothing rusted through at all. In fact, I've yet to find a rust-through anywhere (except the battery box, already replaced).

Later this week I start sanding and priming. [/img]

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:18 pm

Nice Bus!

I would go with original color on the repaint.

You had asked bout color of the top. I think, at least on the later (74-79) westy busses, the bumpers were a whiter white than the top.

I recently painted my top with Rustoleum boat deck primer and top coat

It came out alright.

where in Florida are you?

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:26 pm

Up near Gainesville.

Under a different thread this morning I learned that the bumpers for the '73 on my specific color are the same as the body, so I'll probably just match them. We are back and forth a bit on body color, but at the moment leaning toward keeping it factory. From a complexity standpoint, my preference. Sure would be easier than trying to two-tone it.

Still haven't confirmed the factory color on the top yet. That white looks really good.

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:43 pm

Have you figured out the M-code yet?

http://drive.to/m-codes

Mon Jul 27, 2009 6:54 pm

Pretty much. Picked up similar info off of Ratwell's site. This confirmed that my paint code, which is 9926 as it is a Westy, is the same Pastel White as L90D.

I haven't found anything indicating the top color though.

Mon Jul 27, 2009 7:03 pm

I always though they were all pretty much L90D pastel white.

Sun Aug 30, 2009 6:02 pm

It's been 4 weeks since the last post. Summertime, vacation, lots of things to get in the way. But still I've found some time for the BampaBus. I've managed roughly two weekends dedicated mostly to prep work. Primarily sanding, sealing, sanding then sealing and resealing, and lot's of sanding.

I have no fingernails left. I'm amazed at how hand-sanding those tight areas takes your fingernails with it.

The biggest issue by far was old adhesive. Chemicals wouldn't touch it. Sanding heated it up and turned into a stubborn paste. Sandblasting turned it into a sludge. What worked best was a wire wheel, but you had to be a little gentle as you could easily take paint off with it. There was a lot of adhesive. All over the front floor, front seats stands and sides of the front seat stands. Very, very labor intensive.

At this point I have now sanded and rust repaired the entire bus. Not the doors. They are all off and stacked to the side. Those come after the body is finished. I broke down and bought a cheap sandblaster from Harbor Freight. Works great! Really does well on rust, does not work as well on just paint. Get's you pretty dirty though.

After some additional research on Samba I decided to go with MasterSeries as a sealer primer. Ordered a quart, and I must say I am very impressed. It really seems to cover well, flows nicely and sands fairly easily. Hopefully it is as good long term as they say it is.

Here's a shot of the front floorboard after cleaning, prior to any sealer/primer.

Same location after I'd finished sandblasting any rust, hand sanding after then sealing with the MasterSeries.

Drivers's side, not completely sealed yet.

Not a very clear photo, but I discovered some old body work on each of the rear bottom quarterpanels (eighth panels???). Anyway, some bondo, some not so smooth repairs and some paint that definitely doesn't match the original. A near match white. Probably rattle can. I used the DA and took it back down to original paint.

Finally, the cargo floor. I blasted all this, went over what I could with a DA, went over the places I couldn't reach with hand-sanding, then cleaned it and sealed it with two coats of MasterSeries. It really looks good. Should last another 30 years.

Another view. Note that inside the walls there is still adhesive. These walls are virgin, unmolested, and without flaw. I don't see much point in trying to remove the old adhesive from the walls, then sanding and painting them. I plan to use something along the lines of RAMMAT when I re-assemble, and these areas won't be seen, so I don't intend to strip them.

So this afternoon I pulled the bus out of the garage, gave it a good bath, backed it back in, masked off areas I didn't want sprayed with filler primer, used wax and grease remover over the entire exterior, dried out the compressor, hung a painters-plastic curtain around the bus, set up the primer and guns, and was 100% ready to start priming! Then tested the gun before mixing the primer.

No air pressure.

The gun regulator quit. So much for priming the exterior. I'll pick up a new one tomorrow, and hopefully will find some time tomorrow evening to prime something. I was really looking forward to that step. Oh well . . .

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