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Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:53 am

I have the same looking PVC pipe for a heater tube in my doublecab :shock:

Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:58 am

thom wrote:

My bus rocks the sewer pipe heater tube as well. It seems to work, so i see no reason to replace it.

Besides the no interior, hacked out bulkhead, hacked driver side engine vent, hacked and welded up gas tank, 3 new gauge holes, 4+ inches of bondo in rockers, and some house paint.. the rest seems pretty stock.

Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:03 am

:lol: WOW, great pics!
The rockers and 30% of the floor boards in my bus were "created" using marine fibreglass....oh and he used it to fill body dents as well (which was really fun chipping off with a hammer and chisel). Then he topped it all off with a fresh coat of shit brown deck paint, applied with a brush of course.
Engine mods included a toyota camry external regulator screwed into the shroud with 4 screws, a foreign carb which didn't fit the stock manifold flange so he welded the new flange on, a yellow rubber ball to block the one of the air ports, drilled an extra large hole in the apron to facilitate a custom dip stick made from a wine bottle cork then to tidy up the too large hole he used, what else, marine fibreglass.

Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:34 am

My 61 had the wheel wells cut, FOUR trailer light cut in the back, luggage area "access" hole, RV vent in the roof, aluminum door, kick and interior panels (that shorted on the fuse box!), a 12 inch round hole cut in the cargo floor, a back seat out of a Suburban mounted with 1/2 insteel "custom" legs. And the turn signals are operated with two rocker switches that illuminate and blink. It also had about a dozen trailer clearance "mood" lights on the inside, with a 24 inch VW logo that lit up from the backside on the ceiling and a plexiglass sign that was backlit and read "Radical 61"!

Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:43 am

PARTSSCOOT wrote: It also had about a dozen trailer clearance "mood" lights on the inside, with a 24 inch VW logo that lit up from the backside on the ceiling and a plexiglass sign that was backlit and read "Radical 61"!

you say that like its a bad thing :?:

Tue Apr 11, 2006 11:30 am

Add to that the blue shag and blue velour interior panels it was quite groovy.

Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:37 pm

Tue Apr 11, 2006 6:42 pm

That 'headliner" rocks Thom. Is that a bus you own or just one you've seen?

Tue Apr 11, 2006 9:11 pm

rusbus wrote: I did a lot of dumb things back when I was 16, and had my first bus. I patched the front floor with license plates and sheet metal screws. I made a new battery tray out of beer bottles and 2x4s. I drove to high school for a whole week with no starter, brakes, or handbrake. I had to use the transmission to start and stop the bus. Oh wait, this thread was supposed to be about dumb things the previous owner did!

Props to you for admitting to all that. :lol:

Tue Apr 11, 2006 11:20 pm

Tribalbus wrote: not dangerous,but totally a f@ckin piontless mod.a p.o. cut a rectangular whole and two round oes exactly like the dash for a stereo under the heater contol knobs and choke'\reserve cables under the front seat!!for what?you couldn't even see the stereo! and what a bitch it would be to wire?at least with something like hacking the bench to make a walkthrew it had its purpose :roll: .but a stereo under the seat ?when the same wholes are in the dash?why?i ask!i wish i could post a picture.has anybody else had a bus with this mod?
Actually i am planning that mod on my bus this week. Can you post pics so i can get a good idea of exactly how to do it?
thanks

Wed Apr 12, 2006 12:13 am

I had a '63 walkthrough in the Eighties that the PO had decided to cut the front wheel wells on. Nothing too spectacular about that... except that they were cut with holes to mount 6X9 speakers for a real cool 8 track tape deck. The front tires (on GM Rally Wheels) had actually polished the speaker magnets rather nicely from sharp turns. Bass response was kinda weak because of road noise coming through the speakers too. PO said he was on his third set of speakers since rainy weather was a little tough on 'em.

Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:26 am

Wow! 6x9 speakers cut into the wheel wells! :shock:

That is above average stupidity, makes my old spraypainted gold headliner and door panels seem kinda sweet!

Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:40 am

1. PO put an eye-bolt on rhe floor above the gas pedal, and a figure of 8 cleat on the dash. Then run a string through a hole in the top of the gas-pedal, thru the eye-bolt and up to the cleat. Hey-presto! Redneck cruise control.
2. Cutting out the spare-wheel bulge, that really pisses me off
3. Someone 'cal-looked my SC by de-guttering the cab. Twats.

Wed Apr 12, 2006 7:47 pm

Beer can cut and rolled to patch a leaky J-tube in a 36hp exhaust system.

Thu Apr 13, 2006 8:22 am

An intermediate 1500 engine I had developed a leak on a road trip. Turned out to be a 50 cent size hole over #3 rod that had been silicone- sealed with a silver dollar size Coors can piece and two brass wood screws drilled into the block. I replaced it with Tomato can and steel self tappers. It went 60k more that way and didn't die from it.

Thu Apr 13, 2006 5:24 pm

Barry Lynn wrote: An intermediate 1500 engine I had developed a leak on a road trip. Turned out to be a 50 cent size hole over #3 rod that had been silicone- sealed with a silver dollar size Coors can piece and two brass wood screws drilled into the block. I replaced it with Tomato can and steel self tappers. It went 60k more that way and didn't die from it.

Now THAT is a story. I'd have loved to see that engine. Talk about bullet proof.

Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:41 am

My bus is a rolling PO nightmare. It had the fiberglass insulation, the shag carpet, the flaired wheel wells, fur headliner, bondoed in scoops, purple plexi over the ragtop, etc, but I think the most over the top one was every other engine vent being removed and carpet being glued behind the vents. Maybe they would soak it with water for evap cooling the engine, who knows.

Richard

I did the hardware store gas pedal mod, but found that a removable pin hinge with one side removed and part of it cut off was almost identical to the original piece so it is still there to this day.

Mon Apr 17, 2006 7:59 am

rustybus wrote: My bus is a rolling PO nightmare. It had the fiberglass insulation, the shag carpet, the flaired wheel wells, fur headliner, bondoed in scoops, purple plexi over the ragtop, etc, but I think the most over the top one was every other engine vent being removed and carpet being glued behind the vents. Maybe they would soak it with water for evap cooling the engine, who knows.

Richard

I did the hardware store gas pedal mod, but found that a removable pin hinge with one side removed and part of it cut off was almost identical to the original piece so it is still there to this day.

My '60 double cab has old collision damage all around it which had been bondoed up, so some PO had taken thin aluminum sheets and pop riveted them over the damage. Of course, moisture got in there, soaked into the bondo over time so the wet bondo was trapped against the steel by the aluminum which is sort of like having a wet sponge permenantly attached to the side of an unpainted car. You can imagine the ugliness when I peeled it off. In addition, it wasn't enough to screw elephant ears to the vents, he actually cut them out except for the top, bottom and middle vent (got to maintain the structural integrity of the car). There are also the mandatory cut wheel wells with GIANT rear tires and small fronts for that trendy raked look :roll:
--Dan

Mon Apr 17, 2006 8:38 am

timmaah wrote: thom wrote:

My bus rocks the sewer pipe heater tube as well. It seems to work, so i see no reason to replace it.

my 54 baja sc has plenty of mods, most of which were done for specific purposes to improve its off-road capabilities.
But I don't see why hacking out the heater tube under the bus, even some of where the tubes from the engine hook on, would help that at all. Even though the roll cage eliminated the heater tube up the front of the cab, you could still have heater into the floor there. They hacked out the heater tube ON PURPOSE. WTF! :roll:

It may end up rocking the sewer pipe too

j/k :wink:

Mon Apr 17, 2006 12:34 pm

Does this count? Had a sweet ventalation system in the engine bay as well. Coil over shocks all around and two sway bars up front.