TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Sep 30, 2014 12:35 am

It looks like I've became a lurker here after we came back from our trip to Argentina. It's lame, I know.

The Westy came back about a month after us, by boat. Since then it's been to Fred's Garage in Redwood City a couple of times, and it is back to running well.

This morning I dropped the van off at South Bay Body Shop, across the street from Fred's. It's going to get a bunch of rust spots fixed, and a respray, with all the glass coming out (I am going to use the chance to retint it, while I am at it). Rubber will be all changed too, of course.

So I come here asking for opinions: should I change the color? I've always liked the l90d pastel white, but maybe it would be cool to change it. My current favorite is a light grey, something like Porsche stone grey, or perhaps something a bit less warm. Door jambs would be painted too, so I'm not worried about mismatches.

Suggestions, comments and ideas welcome!

BTW--they had a Westy almost finished there (I think an 85 or 86), just painted in that brown metallic color. It looked fantastic. Does anybody on the forum own that? You will be pretty happy when you see it...

Tue Sep 30, 2014 4:23 am

White is fine but add interest, two tone it, stripe it or something.

Or just keep it white.
I hate when you open a door or engine lid and see the factory color. If you are going to change color, strip the unit and paint EVERYTHING the new color.

Repaints and color changes just raise all sorts of red flags......
But, that's just me.

Dave

Tue Sep 30, 2014 6:41 am

LURKER ALERT! :lol:

Glad to see ya back in the mix... there are too many of us with White Vanagons, but hell whats one more- jump in! :D

I will agree with Dave, door jambs are not enough, the van should match all the way around. When I had my cheap spray done on Gangrene I went with the factory pastel white since that was its original color. I wanted anything other than that, but I did not want to show the 1.8T and see the white lid etc, or open the slider and see interior white and not matching what ever color I went with.

Just my early more opinion :D

BTW... I still have additional graphics bouncing around in my skull, just too much white for me, yet it looks so clean... but I don't want to do the same bottom graphics and be like everyone else (shocker I know)

Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:03 am

Two tone is nice and you don't have to do the jambs but seriously, make the van your own with whatever you fancy. You have definitely earned it.

Tue Sep 30, 2014 7:47 am

It is a lot more work to change the color. You'd be surprised where the current color shows up in a Vanagon. I will be changing the color of my syncro project starting with a bare shell. Mostly because I will be welding in a pop top roof and the current colors is awful.

I would not worry about the resale value if you change the color and shoot just the jams. Take pictures of the before so that if you do sell it on, the van's original condition is documented.

Tue Sep 30, 2014 8:06 am

Good to see you are back. I would like to make that trip sometime.....

Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:52 pm

Thanks guys.

I know changing colors can be tricky. I'm not sure I'm bothered by the engine bay being original colors (the door jambs would bother me if they were different though). Also, resell value is absolutely not an issue. I am going to be buried in this van, or, hopefully, my yet to be born children will inherit and install a Mr Fusion in it or something. Anyway--the van is not going to be sold. And if it is, screw the resell value.

Tomorrow I'm going back to the body shop to talk about colors and paints. There's still a big chance I will stay stock. Even in that case, I'll probably have them spray the door jams anyway :)

I have to say though, I'm leaning more and more toward staying original pastel white. Maybe with bedliner/whatever that treatment is called all around the bottom, and perhaps a few black stickers marking the 2012-2014 trip down the Americas :)

I'll definitely post photos here!

Wed Oct 08, 2014 2:12 am

Progress.

The van is in the process of being dismantled. Glass is all going to come out in the next couple of days.

I decided to delete the old fridge vent and the city water connection. Less places for water to come in.

Also, main color candidate is now Porsche Stone Grey, here is a little paint patch they made to help me decide:

Wed Oct 08, 2014 6:53 am

Please change the color. I like 1967 Transporter, Sea Blue. Too many white vans out there. That Grey will look sharp. I did a color change, Just make sure it works with the white. I didn't paint the interior, just the jambs and the colors were complimentary. It got a lot of compliments

Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:56 am

That's great news Juan!

Keep us posted on the quality.
I am looking at finally dealing with some front window rust under the seal.
I don't want to take ii to just anybody, and the good shops in SF are full on restoration and charge big dollars.. not to mention booked up for a year or more out.

Wed Oct 08, 2014 3:36 pm

I live nearby and I am thinking about a repaint. What are they charging you?

Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:12 pm

juanb wrote: ......
Anyway--the van is not going to be sold. And if it is, screw the resell value....

I like your attitude.... paint it whatever "does it for you".

I don't see any reason in leaving it the original color just because that's what it's always been. Just my opinion.

..btw I just saw your old spare tire location idea for storage, awesome idea! just cut an old tire! 8)

Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:37 pm

Wow, it's been a while. I'm not even lurking here anymore! :(

The Westy is still in the body shop. I knew this going in--fast, good or cheap, pick two. They are working on it in between insurance jobs, and that's fine. Some progress pics:

sorry for the tiny images, they were sent to me from the shop at that size.

Glass is coming off this week I hope, and it will be sent to a tinting place at that time.

Kitchen is out (I took it out myself, it's in my garage!), and metal in that area will be replaced (there's a little bit of the typical rust in there, nothing too horrible).

Still thinking about colors. I want a non-metallic light grey.

In the meantime, we got a second car:

2006 Honda CR-V, all wheel drive. The last one before they started trying to make the CR-V look like a Lexus. I love this thing, it makes me wish that Honda made camper vans. Inline four, 2.4L, 150+HP, 25MPG. Tons of space inside (it's not a T3 though). A lot simpler then I expected from a 2006 model. It's going to be the daily driver so the Westy doesn't have to do so much work.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:34 am

Augh, my eyes!

You gotta warn before putting a Jap car on the site ... :lol:

Just kidding, my wife has one of those too (LX) and oddly for about the same reasons you mentioned. I hated the newer styles.

Totally OT to VW's but we didn't experience that superior Japanese reliability that all Honda owners brag about. Alternator at 70,000, power steering pump at 76,000. Emissions issues now at 84,000 (EVAP solenoid). My Base Caravan has 160,000 on it and less problems than the ole Honda. :) Hope you have better luck with it, they do the job nicely.

I look forward to seeing the westy done with that colour. I'll probably monstaliner mine. I suffer from severe L90D syndrome too :)

Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:28 pm

LOL, yes, I apologize for the OT Honda photos :)

My latest preferred color is Porsche Fashion Grey:

https://www.google.com/search?q=fashion+grey+paint...gQ_AUoATgK

I think a Westy would look awesome in that color, with bedliner black in the bottom and the top in white.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:32 pm

I would not change the color, unless you're doing it right (all glass out, stripped interior, door shells stripped. etc. Your resale will be better with the OEM color IMHO.

White doesn't show scratches, stays looking cleaner, and heats up less in sun. If I had my choice, I'd buy a white van. I like the white van/dark tint "stormtrooper" look.

Fri Dec 05, 2014 2:57 pm

I hear you.

This grey is very light. With that, and because the roof will stay white (it will be whiter once it has new paint on it!) I don't expect the van to get much hotter in the sun.

Glass will be out. Door jambs will be painted. It's not going to be a complete stripping of the van, as the interior will stay. I've seen a Westy that these same people changed the color of, and it was fine.

Resell value... meh. I have never been one to look at the resell value of the things I buy. I usually look at the price of things going in, and if I can spend the money without thinking about ever getting it back, then THAT's my criteria for being able to afford something. I enjoy the thing as much as I can, and when I'm done, whatever happens happens. I don't expect to ever be done with this Westy though, it will stay in the family for ever if it's up to me. Also, if I were too concerned about the Westy's resell value I would probably not be dumping over $5K on a mostly cosmetic restoration... ;)

Now the practical advantages of pastel white... (no scratches, looks cleaner) Those are very real and valid and are the reasons I've been hesitating about the color. I'll most probably go with the new color because of uniqueness, but you do have a point!

Fri Dec 05, 2014 5:26 pm

Something like this...

Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:17 pm

After too much time, I picked up my Westy from the South Bay Body shop this week. Since it was parked for over five months (!), I promptly dropped it off with John and Tom at Fred's Garage across the street for a once-over. Now I have it back, and it looks like new!

The color is, or should be, VW Pale Grey L345. Not sure it matches exactly though, they showed me tests until I liked what I saw.

Here is what I had them do:

- Take out all glass, bumpers, etc
- Cut and weld new metal in areas that had rust: under windshield, hatch window and one of the side windows, on the driver side wheel well near the safety belt, under the kitchen, on the rear on both sides near the bumper
- Fix all little dings, bumps and unevenness on the body accumulated in 25 years
- Delete the fridge vent (I took out the Dometic a long time ago) and the city water connection (I never used that, and lost it anyway when I installed the Shurflo)
- Paint the whole thing, including the pop top and door jams, using bedliner material for the bottom.
- Put it back together, replacing everything made of rubber with new parts.

The grand total for all this work was $5500. Not cheap, but I don't think it was terribly expensive either, given that we are in one of the richest parts of the world. They sure took their time--every time they got some insurance work, they put my van aside.

On top of the body work/paint cost, I must have spent another $1K on rubber and parts. I also got the glass tinted while it was out, that was another few hundred bucks.

Here are some more photos:

I need to paint the wheels. Those are Van Cafe Mefro 15", but they've been to South America and back, so the powder coating it pretty damaged. I'm thinking about painting them black--I want something that I can easily retouch when they get damaged again.

Now it is the turn of the interior. I've already started the rebuild of the stove cabinet. Also, I realized that I have some Pergo left from another project, and it's enough for the floor, so I might use it:

I am going to install new carpet in the front, and I'm pondering what to do about the seats. They are not in bad shape, but they are dirty. I might just reupholster the whole thing. In the meantime, I took one seat out and hit it with the power washer. Amazing how much dirt was there:

(here I just washed the armrest and a small part of the seat itself)

Not sure that will ever dry completely though :) I am open to a whole seat rebuild anyway, so we will see.

It's nice to have the van back!

Sat Mar 21, 2015 3:24 pm

Looks great and that price was a real bargain for that amount of work. :D