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tarandusVDub
Samba Member
Joined: August 27, 2010
Posts: 1649
Location: Between Here and There
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 Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 2:00 pm Post subject: |
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Arrrghhhh, Mouse Patrol!
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1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
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Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD. |
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dhaavers
Samba Member
Joined: March 19, 2010
Posts: 7756
Location: NE MN (tinyurl.com/dhaaverslocation)
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:21 am Post subject: |
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Laser Cat - charged and ready, Captain!
Great thread & excellent work. Keep it up!
- Dave
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86 White Wolfsburg Westy Weekender
"The WonderVan"
<EDITED TO PROTECT INNOCENT PIXELS> |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 12:40 pm Post subject: Can't resist a sale |
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Made a big order at GoWesty:
front heater core
rear heater core
fuel lines kits
fuel level sender kit
fuel tank reseal kit
fatmat
hookup boxes kit - 2 of mine are busted up.
Back to the orange grove I go.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602180
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msinabottle
Samba Member
Joined: September 20, 2005
Posts: 3492
Location: Denver Area, Colorado
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 2:36 pm Post subject: Grasshopper Acquires Wisdom |
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Good on you.
One of the things you learn to do is accumulate your parts lists, then strike like lightning when a sale comes up. At the BEGINNING of the restoration, you'll be buying 'em by the crate. At the END, it's something here... Something there... This GoWesty sale, I went through the whole catalog and couldn't find anything I really needed that WAS on sale.
Van Cafe has specials, Bus Depot (write them!) gives Samba posters a discount, Airhead wants our business and Arizona Parts Haus is good for the basic stuff. PLANNING AHEAD is vital, since NAPA/CarQuest/Oreilly/Advance = FLAPS* are less and less likely to have what you need when you suddenly find out you need it.
*F_riendly L_ocal_ A_uto P_arts S_tore
Best!
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'Winston,' '84 1.9 WBX Westy
Vanagon Poet Laureate: "I have suffered in
many ways, but never, never, never in silence." |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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Ah thank you, I had been wondering what FLAPS meant!
Yes, once the MHEP is done (Mouse Habitat Eradication Project) is done and the interior back together (with new heater cores), and the pop top tent, I'll be tackling the fuel system next. I may hand all those lines and whatnot to a trusty mechanic.
That's the plan, anyway. Probably this winter, at the rate I'm going.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602180
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 8:24 pm Post subject: Flossing the air duct |
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Today was a milestone; all of the interior behind the front seats (except the pop top) has been cleaned.
I had vacuumed the slider door but noticed a little bit of insulation left in it, so I pressured up the air compressor to blow it out, and fortunately had the dust mask on because I found a cache of seeds in the bottom of the door! Explosion of seeds into the air! Whee! And then spent some time bleaching and vacuuming and blowing out the bottom of the door, where those wee little holes are. It's not perfectly clean at the bottom, but smells much bettah. The yellow is old adhesive... I'm going to try brakeclean or acetone to get it off.
So, even though I had vacuumed and sprayed bleach water and blown air into the air duct above the door, it bothered me that there might still be sludge in there, and perhaps mouse business as well. These two holes have those louvered air vents in them, so it seems important that I make sure it's clean.
So I rigged up a way to clean it: coat hanger, string, and a wet bleachy rag. Dragged it through a few times until it came away clean. So at least that little section, I don't have to worry about.
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=602180
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fleet_maintenance
Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2013
Posts: 323
Location: Upstate NY
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| Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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| Love that the handle "Ghost Ship" seems to have stuck. I have got to say that I think you're carrying out the most thorough cleaning I've ever witnessed. Carry on! |
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luVWagn
Samba Member
Joined: February 21, 2008
Posts: 1340
Location: Snoqualmie (WA)
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 02, 2014 9:55 am Post subject: my Norwegian grandmother would be flattered |
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She, my mom, and a few other Scandahoovians showed me how to deep clean.
Quick tip though: If guests are coming over, run the vacuum around to make vacuum marks in the carpet, and then Windex a few things.
So now it's time to tackle the paneling and cabinetry stacked up in the carport. That will take some time. Although maybe first I'll remove the pop top tent aluminum strips still attached to the van, and get rid of the rest of the stinky canvas. When some muscle shows up I can divert to the pop top removal, cleaning, and tent. New tent, can't wait!!
The dash is luring me, a fragrant siren, but I must stay the course! I'm watching you, Dave!
K
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32584
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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nevadaesh
Samba Member
Joined: May 08, 2013
Posts: 214
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:35 am Post subject: |
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Very entertaining thread - and so much work completed already. Any updates?
GHOST Ship -----Great name
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'85 Westy
'07 FJC
'02 Camry |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Tue Sep 30, 2014 9:45 pm Post subject: Creeping along |
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I was hoping for a little more progress to show you. I had been scrubbing away on the cabinets, and finished the last one, the kitchen cabinet, a couple of weeks ago. The mice had an absolute blast in there, in the storage cabinet, in the kitchen shelf, and in one half of the back shelf. Was nasty! You may have seen my inquiry about removing the stove top from the cabinet. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=607258&highlight=stove+remove
So, let's see. What can I show you.... how about a little before and after? That's always fun. And this will show you my ServantOfElwood(tm) Cleaning Process. I did this on everything.
Kitchen cabinet (eewww!!) before scrubbing down with Citrasolv and water:
After that washing, everything then got scrubbed with Soft Scrub With Bleach. That plastic contact paper or whatever it is they have on everything, it's got a texture to it, and this is the best way I could find to really get it clean. See how the dirt is ground in? I didn't care if I wore a hole in it or not. But it turns out it's really sturdy!
One more wipe down with cleaner, and all done. There is no mice smell at all:
Then I got busy with life. One weekend primered and painted a 9' high textured ceiling. Next weekend I recuperated from that And the rains have started! Summer is over! But I am motivated to get this back together, because I have a carport of clean cabinets to reinstall, if I want to ever use the carport again, and more importantly, a bunch of panels and bits and pieces on the hot tub cover! Can't use the hot tub!!!  So I am motivated to get moving on this!
Next step is to do some rust removal and treatment on the port side before I put the panels back in. There is not a lot. I don't think. I hope not. It certainly doesn't seem as bad as some of the East Coast vans I've seen on this site. I'm going to work on that this weekend. And then Fatmat, and insulation of some sort, I guess. The debate on this site about insulation, wow.
Oh! I got my order from GoWesty. I do love a sale.
And my friend who gave me the Bigfoot air freshener gave me another very important accessory:
Play it, kids!
Link
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 8:06 pm Post subject: Rust removal |
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Started this phase. Here are the rust spots - Over the port side rear fender, inside:
and outside:
and let's not forget the sea monster fang mark on the slider:
I've started inside, so I can get it treated and then start putting the insides back together.. Most of my time has been spent farting around getting supplies. Started with a Dremel. TOO SLOW. Found that I could fit the cordless drill in there... but what kind of brush? After a few trips to various hardware stores, I found this at Lowes:
Perfect, 1", gets everywhere and I will use the Dremel for the teensy spots. After working on it until it got dark, I got to this point, which if I'm using a rust converter, might be good enough?:
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And I have these treatments/paints. Haven't tried them yet.
Not much else. The dash is SO stinky! But I'm staying the course!
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sat Oct 18, 2014 7:20 pm Post subject: Did some primering |
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One of these days I will take Ghostie to a real body shop, get new window seals, the whole shootin' match. But for now just want to stop some of the bigger rust areas. I'm sure there are more lurking elsewhere. Will have to wait!
Did some more wire brushing on the rust areas and some primering.
Permatex inside over port side rear fender. Used a little paintbrush. Contrary to instructions (thin coats, what?), was liberal in application so it could run into the seam.
Outside wirebrushing, and Dremeled the seam with various tips and wheels. Rust dust from seam smelled mousy. 
Then several thin layers of rattlecan primer that is supposed to be good over paint and light rust.
Taped some plastic bags over the primered areas and in a couple of days will top coat them with more rattlecan paint. It's supposed to rain until, I don't know, next July probably. May have to break out the blue tarps! A PNWesterners best friend.
Link
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32584
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, this is just a temporary fix. I don't think I'm making things worse. Seam sealer, huh? Can I just use stuff like for the bathtub? The silicone whatis? Because I think we have some.
Oh, and I killed our Dremel dead. Shaft broke or something... So hubby got to go buy a new tool 
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Crankey
Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2004
Posts: 2656
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 12:25 pm Post subject: |
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some silicone cause rust. you need seam sealer made for metal. sorry, it's a hassle but you should get the right stuff. and as long as your going to the body shop supply store you might get stuff to do a more long term job on the rust.
you can wait all you want to fix it. but the rust will never wait to make lunch out of your bodywork.
who is Elwood ? the dog or the cat ? |
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djkeev
Samba Moderator
Joined: September 30, 2007
Posts: 32584
Location: Reading Pennsylvania
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:14 pm Post subject: |
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Somehow way back when, people became convinced that Silicone sealants are the best thing to come along since sliced bread!
Truth be told, they rarely withstand the test of time, peel off, shrink, discolor, and leave a horrible hard to remove residue behind.
No, no silicone for body seams.
Seam sealer, not caulk, auto body seam sealer.
While you've got the interior out clean, prime, seam seal and paint every seam you can find.
Be sure to Look down in those deep holes in front of the back wheels, rust likes those dark places.
While purchasing seam sealer, get a quart of epoxy primer. It adheres wonderfully!
You can brush it on as well though the vast majority of us spray it on.
Epoxy Primer is a two part mix, only mix what you will use within an hour.
Much better than any rattle can product ever sold!
Dave
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Stop Dead Photo Links how to post photos
Ghia
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=392473
Vanagon
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=6315537#6315537
Beetle
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=482968&highlight=74+super+vert
Last edited by djkeev on Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ServantOfElwood
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2014
Posts: 200
Location: The Wet Side of WA
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 1:25 pm Post subject: |
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OK, I got honest-by-God auto body seam sealant. But I'm going with rattle can primer and paint. I know, I know.
Elwood
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The Ghost Ship - 1984 Westfalia 2WD
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Crankey
Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2004
Posts: 2656
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| Posted: Sun Oct 19, 2014 2:44 pm Post subject: |
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excellent ! and I really like your cat. I hope to have a cat of my own next year.
no guilt trip on the rust. do what you can and have FUN !!!  |
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BUT I've got my heater box out and torn apart!! )
