TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:26 pm

OK, I get the message. I took pictures today. I use a Mac computer and the camera I have won't load onto the Mac so I have a PC upstairs to load the pictures and then put them on a flash drive and then load them on the Mac downstairs, well you get the picture. With a disabled wife and daughter it can be hard to find the time to do such things and then tonight I went and bought a good '74 bus bumper for $20.00 which took two hours but I couldn't pass it up. I had to get there before someone else got it. So I'll try and post pictures tonight or tomorrow providing my daughter will go to sleep at her bedtime and not fuss for two hours.

Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:36 pm

Lucas Grams wrote: With the right ramp the van could work as a back up van. "Watch your head on the way in honey" I don't live with someone confined to a chair, but I don't know if fitting a lift would be worthwhile. You may have enough room without removing the bed and closet. The sink and jump seat take up the most room, and there isn't much floor space to be gained under the bed. A foot aprox. if I am correct.

Oh yeah, pics needed!
We have a folding aluminum ramp to load the chair. It's a Jazzy electric and there is plenty of room in the VW. There is no sink. A lift would be nice but they cost $$$$$$$!

Tue Feb 09, 2010 9:54 pm

pjalau wrote: Rule of thumb to all posters (and apologies for the original poster, this rant isn't meant to pick on you...)

Posting a question on a message board is easy. Posting pictures is slightly less easy. You are asking a community of people with a wide variety of expertise, knowledge, and skill to answer questions that require all three.

We can guess, hypothesize, have theories, and occasionally deduce, but all of those are no more than best guesses for a question that probably needs a precise answer.

Humans are limited to 5 known senses, the internet reduces us to two - sight and sound. Sound, for the most part, is unnecessary. Sight, however, is very very useful.

Our sight can help us read the problem as best described by you, but it works even better with a picture. That picture really is worth the thousand words that it is rumored to be worth. Perhaps more.

So since I'm ranting about pictures (and really, I don't mean this personally, so please don't take it that way) Let's chat about the quality of pictures.
Blurry, out of focus, overlit, really bad cell phones. All of them are craptastic that do little to assist the problem. Make sure the photo illustrates the problem clearly. Make sure it is in focus. If you are taking a "close" photo, your camera probably has a "macro" setting that allows for very close shots.

And while I'm at it, and since this button has obviously been pushed and I'm on a roll, let's think about this for a moment...

It takes a little more time to take the photo, download the photo to your computer, upload it to a file sharing site, find the link, then post the link between the image tag. It takes far more time than it does to just post a question. However, since you are asking for free advice, advice that often comes a a hefty price from some of these folks (who are professionals), is it too much to show them that you are willing to go through the effort of posting a photo?

Bottom line, the time you take to ask the question is directly proportional to the quality of the answer.

Ask it, show it, be precise. The likelyhood of a good answer will increase, as will your ability to get back on the road.

Rant mode off. Apparently I needed to say that.

Regard the original post, sounds like a Westy. Care to post pics? There are lost of 71 westy owners in California, feel free to join us on a camping trip.
Me bad boy, me no send pictures. Thanks for the warm welcome. It's a good thing I didn't request technical advice. See, my wife has CP and is in a wheelchair and my ten year old daughter has Down syndrome (I'll send pictures if you don't believe me) and they both require a lot of attention so I get to non essential things when I get the time. Have you ever heard of contempt prior to investigation? [-X

:agrue:

Tue Feb 09, 2010 10:51 pm

Congrats on the '71. Even though T-4 people are a little mixed up and think that Late Bays are the best, us early Bay folks know that a '71 is by far the best year. The first year with disc brakes and other great features and the last year before they got complex and costly to repair. But that's a whole different story :lol: .
As far as yours, if it's a bright dark original red it's VW's Chianti Red. But a '73 bumper is not what you want to try to put on it. Sell it to one of the T-4 people.

Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:01 pm

camit34 wrote:

wampe...I only put this here to give you some grief is all. All of us here dig these things so much we just want to see more of them...pix!

Congrats on the bus...!!!

Tue Feb 09, 2010 11:28 pm

Oooh the suspense!

Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:16 am

Yeah, sorry bout that Wampe, I was in a mood, and obviously, I was posting a reply to the hoardes of people who say something along the line of "there's this part on my bus that goes under the lever that kind of hangs down and is shaped like an L - is it supposed to look like that?" and the rest of us sit here and scratch our heads and try to be helpful. So really, that was for them, not for you. Apologies. Thanks for letting me rant.

Still looking forward to pics though.

-P

Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:16 am

Fred1214 wrote: Yes we do trip over buses out here,I found this just laying in a field.

http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r217/Freds_Bucket/1969%20VW%20Westfalia/
It's for sale

That's what I was talking about! ](*,)

I guess that's the great tradeoff you folks get. You have to live where the environment can kill you (earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires...suicidally depressing washington rains...) to find the sweet deals.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:15 am

Quote: You have to live where the environment can kill you (earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires...suicidally depressing washington rains...) to find the sweet deals.
You forgot volcanoes, tsunamis, and mountain lions... actually, having grown up in Indiana I would argue that the midwest is far more 'suicidally depressing' and that the herbicide/pesticide runoff in the groundwater far more dangerous to one's health :wink:

Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:48 am

I posted pictures in: Gallery:68-79 Bus Campers. I bought a '74 front bumper which is bigger and stronger than the '71 bumper. I am thinking of using it if it will bolt up.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:53 am

Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:15 am

wampe wrote: I bought a '74 front bumper which is bigger and stronger than the '71 bumper. I am thinking of using it if it will bolt up. :bay_red:

Not going to happen, a 73+ bus has a completely different structure on the front, unless you have some fab skills to build some custom brackets sell it.

Nice looking bus BTW, alot of potential there.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:37 am

Thanks for the info. I do welding so brackets would be no problem. I think I am going to cut the front panel out and straighten it then weld it back and fiberglass it. That will be easier than doing it in place on the bus. Of course I will keep the '71 bumper.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:39 am

You should look for a straight front clip and put that on if you are planning on doing so much cutting and welding anyway. The rest of the bus looks pretty straight!

Wed Feb 10, 2010 11:53 am

patayres wrote: Quote: You have to live where the environment can kill you (earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires...suicidally depressing washington rains...) to find the sweet deals.
You forgot volcanoes, tsunamis, and mountain lions... actually, having grown up in Indiana I would argue that the midwest is far more 'suicidally depressing' and that the herbicide/pesticide runoff in the groundwater far more dangerous to one's health :wink:

in actuality portland is the most depressing and more people kill themselves in vegas then anywhere else, just like everything else in washington we're not really great at anything and not really terrible at anything...like bland porridge

http://realestate.msn.com/slideshow.aspx?cp-documentid=18184152#2

Wed Feb 10, 2010 12:31 pm

I tell everyone it sucks here, and you would not like it, rains daily, you start to grow down in place of your hair. There are no jobs, housing is over priced. I live on an Island, so rust is everywhere, saltwater is currently eating everything I own. We are over run with Canadian drivers that drive too fast, and Mexican drivers that drive too slow. You could take a poll on what we will die of first, an earthquake, or the tsunami that will follow, obesity related diseases, or cancer from the pesticides and herbicides in the breeze. Will we get shot by a road rager or a gang banger first? Will we get hijacked in our car or on a plane.. Good times. All those things having been said, I would never live anywhere else.

Wed Feb 10, 2010 3:13 pm

Nice bus wampe, bummer about the front nose but you got welding skills...you're set!

Wed Feb 10, 2010 4:39 pm

I had a little free time today so I cut the nose sheet metal out. It had been repaired before, there was 1/4 inch of Bondo in some places, not the best way to do it. I doesn't look like the frame was damaged. So now it's a matter of hammering the skin back into shape then welding and fiberglass and a very tiny amount of Bondo and red primer. Or maybe I'll just attach a 1/4 inch of plate steel across the front. Just kidding. Of course it started raining today. I put up a piece of plywood and a tarp to keep the rain off but it still is pretty muddy working outdoors but it's not as bad as what they are getting on the east coast. :bay_red: