My 74 Westy

[914guy]

I have been lurking and learning for about a year.

I picked up a 74 Westy in May 2008. It sat in a barn for 9 years because the motor failed.

About 3 years ago, the PO started the process to bring it back to life. He bought a JC Whitney motor (a 76 2L), bought a new canvas, put shocks on the front and back, and put pads and new shoes on it. The PO died, and his brother sold it to me.

Since I bought it in 2008, we removed and resealed the gas tank, replaced the brakes (everything but the proportioning valve), got the wheels powder coated and got new Hankooks, and started to repair the windshield frame rust. We still need to learn how to use the MIG that I bought for the job. We also bought and installed new drive shafts and I picked up a new 74 exhaust from Craigslist.

It has been a family affair. My 18 year old son is the main mechanic and spends time when home from college working on it. My 17 year old daughter learned to sew and made new curtains. My 13 year old son has been helping me wrench as well. He has been bleeding the new brakes and helped install the calipers and pads. My wife is in charge of complaining about the bus in the garage.

Here's some photos of our project.

The Westy is pretty complete, but needs the windshield fram repair


The PO was a Deadhead. He registered the Westy as a motor home because he told me that the police need a search warrant to look inside.


Here's a closeup of the powder coated wheels.

[busdaddy]

Congratulations, I assume you have read all the FAQ and stickies and are changing the fuel lines, etc.. Nobody wants to see a first trip end on the hot side and that would also give your chief complainer ammunition for years to come, not good.

A Whitney engine??, I've gotta see some pics of this, it doesn't have a sticker on it like this one does it?

_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Wanted, 68-73 westy OG plaid curtains, singles OK.

[71_georgia_beetle]

Awesome story and what a bond the VW makes. I am a 74 Westy owner as well and I think it is the best camper version ever made. Good luck with it. Looks great.
_________________
71 Standard Beetle "Big Bird"
74 Westfalia "Winifrid"
Call me if I need you!
www.burelphotography.com

[otiswesty]

[VDubTech]

[Westy Steve]

The '74 and '75 have the same layout. It does have the big bed downstairs and the big bed upstairs, which is why I specifically hunted four, and bought one. Great if you have a larger family. I think the real drawback to the design, and perhaps the reason it is a two year model, is that the cabinetry is in your way alot. I think the ideal situation for a large family is to use the big bed downstairs, but make your own cabinets. Then keep the old ones in our attic or garage as the next owner might not feel the same way about custom cabinetry.

Do yourself a favor though...when you camp, also bring a tent...even if its a regular tent instead of a side tent. Getting everything situated at night with a bunch of people in the bus can be a real chore...its nice to keep some of your gear outside.

Steve

[71_georgia_beetle]

[914guy]

Thanks for the comments.

I have read all the FAQ. One thing I didn't mention is the we pulled the gas tank, cleaned and resealed it, replaced all the rubber in the fuel system (fuel lines, fuel filler boot, and the rubber line in the between the tank and the filler). We replaced all the fuel evaporative lines.

I pulled the motor because the clutch didn't work. Because it sat for 3 years in a barn, the clutch rusted to the flywheel and the pressure plate. I'm going to get a new clutch, pressure plate, and TO bearing so I don't have to do it again.

Since my Westy has 175K miles, I though I would pull the tranny and replace all the shift bushings.

The chief complainer thinks having an engine in the garage is dangerous - what about the engines in the other cars?

[WestyPop]

[averr789]

Alright well here are some updates from the progress of our work. The name of the game recently has been paint. Right now we are painting much of the sheet metal surrounding the engine. We are also painted the casting, which came out really well with the brush on enamel paint we got from sherwin williams (it is specifically for aluminum). We finally have all of the sheet metal we needed to back convert the heat exchangers to 72-74 as well. We also repadded the seats with a kit the previous owner bought. Finally we have finally started tackling the rust. I have been patching holes we found in the floors behind the cabinets we think were caused by leaky drain tubes. I have also patched the right rear fender and put in a new battery tray. We also repainted the engine bay with a 3 part kbs rust stopper system, the only problem is the paint fades when exposed to uv rays but we will spray the engine bay soon. So we will have a blingin engine bay in an ugly bus.

On to pictures





hole behind fridge


there is the beginning of the patch work of the hole behind the sink







finished battery tray


fresh brakes (for life preservation)


problem area in drivers side wheel well


another rusty area, the inner and outer drivers side rocker is toast,we think from the sink drain and ohio winters




and the seats

[914guy]

We've been busy with the 74 Westy. In October, we drove it for the first time - the PO had it in a barn for 9 years and it spent a year in my garage.

Here's the passenger side:


The rocker panel on the driver's side needs replaced:


The front floor looks rusty but we cleaned it and couldn't find any holes (except near the heat tube):


My son and I spent much time last summer cleaning and painting the engine and we painted the engine bay:


The new brakes work great. This winter, we are going to repair the windshield frame rust and rust in the back floor.

[barefootwestie]

Lookin' good. Progress is Progress.
_________________
tangerinemoons.com
My Bus Restoration Blog
http://myvwbus.tangerinemoons.com/

1973 Westfalia
"Getting better....one repair at a time."

Other VW's owned through the years, in no particular order:
'67 Beetle,
'67 Ghia Hardtop,
'72 Ghia Convertible,
'72 Westfalia

[averr789]

We did some more work on the bus over the past few weeks. We first began cutting rust out of and repairing the passenger side bulk head in. We next took the seats apart and refinished the springs with the kbs rust paint system. Also the seats will be fully redone in oem blue green plad sickness.
heres the springs after paint

[averr789]

Well its been a while and we have progressively been getting things done around our westy.

Recently I have been repairing the windshield frame and trying to prep the area to weld in our final frame pieces. One thing you will see in the pics is that we cut past where the frame curls and flattens so now there is right angled area where we will have to re bend the frame. Does anyone have any dimensions for this bend, so we can take it to someone with a break?

Also we got new plaid seat covers and have almost all of the interior complete and sitting in our basement.

We also have began repairing the floor. Next on the lists are the drivers side rocker the rest of the drivers side floor.

on to pics

Windshield in prep





I also kbs'ed the inside of the windshield frame and I will post pics after I touch it up.



Engine lid stripped and primed, aircraft remover is bomb stipper.



Dad working on the floor, the spots are paint not rust.



first piece in



seats re-covered with seat covers I got off ebay, my dads 50th b-day present haha.



pretty much the rest of the interior, cant go wrong with green and blue plaid.


I will try to update more often, tomorrow we are going to patch more of the floor and I am going to touch up the windshield frame.

Until next time cheers and let me know what you think good or bad.

[averr789]

Alright well you saw the seats in previous pictures but they were not totally finished. The covers were just sitting on the recently painted and re-padded.

Tonight we just started actually attaching the covers to the seat frames.

Since no matter how much I have tried I cannot seem to find a how-to on covering and padding the seats. Thus here comes a DIY on how to redo seats.

1. Strip the seats down. But (and this is KEY) make sure that you pay attention to how the covers go on. Also examine how the seat pads or horse hair are attached.

Sorry no pix here but you should be able to get the picture.

The covers are attached with hog rings, string or wire, and metal prongs which bend and fix the covers to the seats.

Make sure you are careful when you unbend the prongs. If they snap you will have to use alternate means to attach the seats or weld on new prongs.

2. Strip and paint the seats if they need it, which they probably do if you are re-doing them. We used the kbs rust killing system (sponsor us!!!!!!!). There are pix up higher in the thread but its pretty self explanatory. I would suggest spraying the seat frames because I brushed the paint on and it took a few passes to fully cover them. Also make sure to oil the sliders before you paint so they don't get stuck.

3. Re-pad the seats. This again is pretty self explanatory. I'm sure you can get kits on the web or at your local vdub shop. Ours was graciously left in our bus from the guy before (thanks man). This is also relatively self explanatory. The seat backs were the longer pads and and the bottoms were rounded around the front edge. The key here is tightness, think like goldmember on this.


"Tooooooiiiight like a tiger"

Our seat back pads were just one piece. To attach them we used hog rings. If your not familiar with these go to your local tractor supply and ask an employee and they'll set you up.



Here is a picture of the side of the seat back. Notice that we hog-ringed the pads to the seat springs and not to the outer frame. We did this because we wanted to keep the rings from snagging the seat covers and rubbing through.

Also a note on the tightness, make the pads tight but not so tight that they have no give.


There's the back completed.


There's the front.

The seat bottom pads we had were two pieces. We first hog-ringed the bottom, woven pad (it has a rougher weave). The top was the white pad like the one on the seat back. Again we attached them to the edges of the seat springs so that they would be out of the way of the covers.


A pic of the hog ring locations on the bottoms. IMO if its a pain in the arse to attach the hog rings you're doing it right. As they are kind of up and in the seat frames in our method.


Finished bottom.


Here's the picture of the bottom seat pad. Also notice the wire twisted around the seat springs. My dad did this to tighten up the seat frames as they were a little loose from all the years of trips to Dead concerts.

4. The FINAL stage, covering the seats. I thought this would be straight forward but this is where the paying attention to the old covers removal comes in and we didn't do it.

The first thing we did was replace the string in the seat bottoms with flexible wire. Then we put the covers in the sun for the afternoon to soften them up and make them more flexible.

When you look at the uncovered seat frame you will see an assortment of hooks all around the seat.

Again

"Tooooiight like a tiger!!!!"


First stretch the covers over the seat frames and line them up. Straighten the hooks out. Then starting at the top stretch the covers starting from top to bottom and and side to side over the hooks. There should be a double layer of vinyl on the edges of the covers. Take this layer and punch the hooks though.


Ahh!!! Our new seat covers have holes in them

For the driver's side the cover goes completely over the back. We stretched the bottom of the cover over the hooks first and then the top.


Here is what it looks like.


Here's the finished product, ignore my zoned out look haha.



For the bottom we again stretched and hooked. BUT first we stretched the wire, which was inserted earlier, tight and tied it off.


Like so (this may need refining).


In the end the bottom looks like this.


So far we have only covered the drivers seat back and the passenger seat bottom. The passenger side seat back is missing prongs but we are going to use wire and snap ring circles to attach it fully. (I will update with the results later.)

Also we have not yet put them in the bus yet but I will let everyone now how this all turns out and if our method has any flaws.

Cheers

[averr789]

I have a small update on the seat restoration. One of our seat back frames did not have all of the hooks used to hold the seat cover on. With age they had snapped leaving no place to attach the covers. But I came up with a simple solution which I wish I could have used on every cover.

I used leather rivets with holes in them. I cut small holes in the seat cover and put two rivets together. Then hit them with a hammer and blunt punch to put them together loosely then pressed them fully together with a vice. Then we used zip ties to fasten the covers to the frame.



There's a pic of the rivet. You can get them at your local hobby store or probably a fabric place.



There's what the back looked like finished.

[averr789]

Well we have been really cracking with the old girl recently. For the past two weeks we have been working until midnight (or later) every day to get her on the road and ready for Volks Fest '10 in Columbus.

The first big thing was getting the windshield frame finally welded up. It went pretty well after a few go arounds with the grinders and welder.

Heres a small write up.



First cut out all the rust. In our case the only trouble spots were the horizontal piece of the windshield and the edges of the curvature. We also had to repair some spots on the back lip of the vertical frame area (where the seal attaches). We just used some sheet metal of the same thickness. and smoothed it out.



Heres a pic of the corner which had rust holes. We also replaced a section in the center of the frame.



The we used our favorite rust sealing paint kbs to stop the rust inside the pocket beneath the frame.



Then take some cardboard and form it to the frame of the windshield until it is fitted to your liking.

From there its pretty simple just trace trim and then fine tune the pieces until you're happy. I tried to keep mine as snug as possible. Also I was pretty nervous that the frame would be off but I just followed the curvature of the front bubble (or whatever its called) and the windshield fits like a glove. Yours may not be the same though it all depends on the rust.

Finally when welding it is easy to burn through so you have to be careful and just keep adding metal until you get her all sealed up. We used some finishing glaze to get the windshield frame perfectly flat and the area around smooth.



Heres a side pic of the post weld/grind and pre putty stage.





The next step in the process was painting the nose. First we stripped the nose completely.

And we found.......




BONDO and lots of it and above is whats left.

We decided with all the wrinkles and dents that it was not worth putting the 3 pounds of bondo back in the nose so we got a dent pulling slide hammer and pulled what we could.

Then we primed and painter the old girl up. It went pretty well for one of our first time painting a car but we did have a few runs.

Also my brother did a sick design on the front.

Check it.



After paint. My bro at work. I laid several blends of paint (red, orange, pink and silver). We then cut out the design in tape and sprayed the white over.



Also painted grill and engine lid.



Alright next subject haha. The meet.

Last Saturday we went to Volks Fest in Columbus. It was great we met a lot of great people and saw some familiar faces and of course many many sweet rides.

On the way down the bus rode well. We actually were up until 3 am the night before getting all the heat ducts in order as we had some vapor lock problems (and still do in hot climates). But sure enough as soon as we got to the show and were waiting for registration she died and wouldn't start (vapor lock). I think its because of fuel line routing and the fuel pump being in the engine bay. Any suggestions???

The rear brakes were also making a lot of noise. I think the adjustment is off. Also I climbed underneath to check the brakes at the show and found that the cv joints were barely hand tight ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! But besides slinging a little grease which we packed tons of it in it survived over 100 miles of driving with loose bolts haha.


Anyways pics



The old girl at the show.





















This thing was crazy. The guy grafted a doublecab and a split bus together and had it sitting on 18s and air ride.

He said that friday the motor wasn't even in the thing! And he drove from indy.










Some water cooled wips







The rest of the pics have been moved to the show forum

[VDubTech]

Put show pictures in the forum where they belong. Pictures of Bugs, Ghias, and all that other shit don't belong here. I went to the show in Columbus this weekend too, way too hot to be any fun.

A question.....why would you go through all of the work you've done and countless hours fixing this Bus and then do nothing with the nose? Everything else looks decent, then you half ass it right at the end. So sad.
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First Trip in the RustyBus:
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[cece]

come on vdubtech don't be up tight give the kid some slack

[averr789]