eche_bus: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper

[Wasted youth]

I am truly impressed by the care and diligence you and your wife are putting into your bus. My sincere hope that you enjoy thousands of miles of smiles...

[eche_bus]

Power Inlet Box REVISITED ... or The Thing That Really, Really Wouldn't Die.

I've been trying to get things ready so as to install the refrigerator. The power inlet box would need to be wired and mounted, then the woodgrain wall panel fabricated, and the fridge could go in!

But the box had other plans for my time.

A while ago I made a new box gasket out of neoprene. It fit the box. When I test-fit the box against the side of the bus, it became clear the flat gasket was too thick and wouldn't compress enough for the perimeter of the box to sit right.

While fiddling with the box, I began to notice the cover was no longer moving freely. Not only that, the rod that serves as the hinge pivot point began slowly walking out as I'd open/shut the cover. This all seemed to work perfectly just before I set it on the shelf.

I swear, this thing is cursed!!

Little did I know when I first pulled it off the bus that I was literally looking into the face of evil. This is a photo from way back when I first removed and disassembled it. See the happy people in the photo? They are happy because they are not working on a Westalia power inlet box and instead, drinking lots of wine.

Me? I work on the box. If you go back earlier in this thread you can read about all the "exciting" work that has gone into it this far. Let's just say it's getting more than a little ridiculous.

So, what's a guy to do? Well, get to work fixing things *again*. Not done 'til it's done right ... right?

[Tcash]

Hi Eche
What does the prop circled in red catch on? I have the prop rod, but I do not see what it would locate under to hold the seat up.
Thank You
Tcash

[eche_bus]

Power Inlet Box REVISITED - the fixes

Hinge spring
I tried and tried to bend the hinge spring in such a fashion that it would work properly. Finally giving up, I put out the word I needed a new one. Somehow in all the taking apart and putting together I must have bent something, and no amount of reasoning, pliers, and good intention was going to bring it back.

Biscuit79 saved the day by selling me a far-gone box with a perfectly good hinge spring. A few hours later (the lid is extremely tough to re-install), I had a properly working lid again!

What's special about the gasket
This is an original gasket. So what's the big deal? The big deal is that it is molded with two thicknesses of material. The inside is thick to seal the inside of the box. The outside is thin, for sealing the box perimeter. I thought I could do it with a single thickness and make it work. Nope!

How to make a new gasket ('cause you sure as heck can't buy one!)
I used closed-cell Neoprene/EPDM/SBR blend foam sheet for gasket material as it is UV/Ozone/Waterproof and so is a commonly used for this sort of application. McMaster-Carr sells this in 42" wide sheets, in increments of a foot long. $4-5 per linear foot. It is sold in extra-soft, soft, and firm varieties. I used soft, which was OK, but would likely use firm if I was to do it again.

1/16" thick is used for the base (on right). 1/8" thick (on left) is used for the center. Cut out a piece of the thick material to match the thick part of original gasket, then spray glue on the back of it and slap it down onto an oversized chunk of the thin. Once the glue is dried, trim the thin piece so it's exactly 1/8" larger than the thick center on all sides. Doing it this way avoids precision placement during gluing.

Here's a tip: to cut rounded corners, use a small washer that matches up to the radius desired. Press it down firmly, and trim with a sharp X-acto knife.

Did you notice the blue painter's tape? I use tape to allow me to draw guide lines and it makes for better cuts. Don't do what I did and use the blue stuff on this gasket material though. It sticks way too well and you can easily ruin your new gasket as you try to remove it.

Here are the two layers glued together and trimmed:

After the trouble with the blue tape, I switched to low-adhesive painters tape which 3M and Ace Hardware brands make in a lovely shade of violet. Although I'm showing it next to the old gasket, all measurements were taken from the box itself. Holes were located and punched through before doing any more cutting.

The center now cut out, the gasket is ready to use.

My god ... it fits.

Put that baby on
Box wired, screwed down. No longer on the shelf!

One less hole in the side of the Westy

Could finally move on to making the long wall panel that sits in back of the fridge and stove/sink ...

[eche_bus]

[Tcash]

Thank you. I was stumped. Mine is missing all together.

[eche_bus]

Long LH Wall Panel Fabrication and Refrigerator Install

Background
That set of woodgrain wall panels I bought from NLAVW went in pretty well, and sure looked nice, but when it came to the real long one that runs along the left wall, I ran into some real trouble.

The OG panel is a whoppin' 73 1/16" long, and so in order to fit onto their laminate sheets and make shipping viable, NLAVW's set cuts this into two shorter sections. Right out of the box, I noticed a slight curl to one of these sections, and was worried this would complicate joining the seam, unfortunately located in a too-visible spot right over the fridge. My worried were well-founded, as despite a good storage environment, the section curled more and more. There was no longer any way to join the two sections, let alone install the curled one.

NLAVW took full responsibility for the problem, offering to send replacements. I suggested that better results could be had by sending me just a sheet of their laminate; I would cut my own plywood backing, and could then relocate the laminate seam to a much less visible spot behind the sink/stove cabinet, and that's just what they did!

Plywood
The plywood backing I used is good 'ol 3mm Baltic Birch. This usually comes in 5' x 5' sheets, but as this wall panel is over 6 feet long, couldn't avoid making it from two pieces. After a review of cutouts and mounting screw locations, I decided to make the plywood sections 40 and 34 3/16" long. The laminate sheet, 48" wide, would then bridge and cover the plywood joint with a solid span of material.

After tracing the old panel (and reinterpreting some of the warped original dimensions), the new panel sections were cut with a jigsaw and sanded. Because of the overall length, much care was taken to ensure things followed the original contours very closely and the section joint true and square.

The moment of truth - laying old over new. Everything lined up great! The blue tape on the left locates the plywood seam and the one to right marks where the laminate pieces will join.

After making real sure they were properly lined up, the two sections were joined temporarily with some gaffers tape to keep them together during laminate gluing.

Laminate
Let the gluing begin! Here we're just using a couple of pieces of wood to make sure the first laminate section joint edge is square with the top edge of the plywood. Didn't want the wood grain looking skewed! The laminate, free to slide over the dowels, was butted up against one board, then pressed down from right to left, removing dowels as we went. Once in place, it was rolled firmly to ensure proper adhesion.

Once the second laminate section was glued down, it was allowed to dry for a day or two before the (tedious) process of routing it to the plywood's contours.

As the plywood was so thin, I couldn't use the follower bit in my laminate router so had to resort to doing it by hand using a Dremel router attachment. To prevent damage to the plywood, I had to keep it away from the edge, requiring extensive use of a laminate file (yellow handle, seen above) to remove the excess. This special file (Plasti-Cut 5912) works remarkably and precisely well. Still, nervous and tedious work considering the laminate came all the way from the UK!

The end result was very good, and you can barely see the joint between the two sections of laminate! Hint: It's about 2/3 of the way to the right between the control panel and sink pipe cutouts

Final details
After so much work to make this panel, I wasn't about to see it warp again. Last step was to seal it with 3 coats of Wipe-on Poly Varnish.

Once all the panel's mounting holes were located and drilled, the ashtray housing was cleaned, repainted, and installed. It's held in place by bent over tabs.

Installation
After much study and deliberation, I decided to remove the moisture barrier. Putting in the furniture would commit me to a decision and the risk of trapped moisture due to an imperfect seal was too much.

I have to admit, I was really sweating the panel installation, worried over whether such a long panel with so many mounting holes would line up properly with the original holes in the wall. 3 around the control panel, 5 along the lower edge and 1 at the top right corner, all located from a warped, weathered original ... I just kept waiting for that one that would be trouble. But ... everything lined up great!

The black you see behind the control panel hole is black cloth tape attached to the outside wall. When I first removed the control panel, that is what I found inside, so that's what I put back. Only thing I can figure is that is served as some sort of electrical insulation for the exposed terminals on the panel.

Look good enough for ya?

Refrigerator
The restored fridge has sat quietly in the basement shop, waiting and waiting for this moment. After carefully sliding it in place, tipping up and over the cables, and plugging its connector in, it was attached with a bolt, washer, and two screws. Home again, at last!

What about that big decal between the control panel and ash tray though? Whoever made the one sold by most VW part retailers must have been blind. The OG one is on the left, crap repro on the right. Why is it so friggin' hard for the VW community to make accurate reproductions? I'll make my own, and will make it available to others here soon.

Still, can't be too bothered by a stupid decal. This son-of-a-gun is coming together. Here's the new view from the front seat!

What's next?
Working on carpet/heat vent/sliding door floor trim, fridge power control panel. Need a break before jumping into the sink/stove overhaul.

[Stuartzickefoose]

Kickin butt! Easily one of the most detailed buses on the samba. Easily. Right up and past skills and curtis....your KILLING It. And its tough to beat those two, as they do astounding jobs themselves! Way to go!
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[busdaddy]

I'm impressed again, nice work!
_________________
Rust NEVER sleeps and stock never goes out of style.

Please don't PM technical questions, ask your problem in public so everyone can play along. If you think it's too stupid post it here
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[poptop tom]

Damn eche! I never want to park next to you!

Great work and attention to detail. And thanks for documenting!
_________________
'76 Deluxe Campmobile

[eche_bus]

Thanks, guys.

I figure it this way: the interior is the part of the camper you see the most and spend the most time with up close and personal. To me, restoration means to bring back to like original condition, and that's what drives me. That said, you've seen I've had to make concessions here and there, due to limits in means and available parts. That's going to leave me near-term with a camper with a beautiful interior, a shiny but multi-flawed exterior, and a list of mechanical issues which have been waiting for this inside work to complete. If there's a "Phase II" down the road, it'll be to pull it all back apart and give it the paint and bodywork it deserves.

Stuartzickefoose - I really appreciate the compliment, but skills and curtis have many, many areas where they've shined. I believe I've nailed the furniture pretty well, though!

[NLAVWParts]

I'm glad we got you sorted out and I'm sorry you ran into the problems.

We will take a close look at this piece and see what can be done to make a less visible join and we will look into the warping issue to see what we can do to eliminate this, thanks yet again for your feedback

[NLAVWParts]

We actually are making an "H" shaped black plastic panel joining trim as used on original westfalias to cover the seam of 2 wooden panel joints. They will be ready later this year and it will solve this problem. With the "H" jointing trim to cover the edges, no one will see the panel joining seam anymore and it should replicate what left the Westfalia works

I am not totally sure if the left hand drive interior had this originally but we will investigate as the RHD version had this piece on the joint here

[Stuartzickefoose]

[eche_bus]

[NLAVWParts]

Odd isn't it, you now have me intrigued so I will be investigating this at all the shows over here

[captincanuck]

Could that be another one of those deluxe only things? My 79 does have a H channel. It is located right around where the power panel would be if it was a deluxe (which it isn't). Or maybe they ran out of really big pieces of wood between 76 and 79
_________________
1979 Westfalia "FireFly" Subaru 2.2 with Subaru gears 5spd.
Build Thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=634777&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[eche_bus]

I did some digging in the photo gallery over at http://www.john-perry.com/vw/gallery.html and it seems like the split + vertical black joint trim was likely introduced in the '78 model year. It didn't make any difference whether P22 or P27, all the Westys from 78 and 79 showed the split/trim. None of the '76 or '77s there had the split/trim, but I also only found one '77 to look at.

So, I'll retract what I said about all late Westys having one long continuous wall panel. Seems I was only half wrong though.

[gabbs]

Absolutely stunning! Great work *wipes drool off side of mouth*
_________________
Bay Pride!
Openly bay, cuz it's ok to like what ya like
Babes in buses rule!
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Love, Peace, VW grease

[Amskeptic]