my '67 westy restoration

CoBusDriver · Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:21 pm Post subject:

Mark, DUDE that looks SWEEEET. I can't wait to see it in person when its finished. Keep up the good work man!
_________________
Big Mike
'58 standard
'71 westy

marklaken · Posted: Tue Jun 14, 2005 6:18 am Post subject:

just a quick update...been trying to stay motivated...work slowly continues...been straightening up my roof, used a 2x4 wedged against the floor to push on dents from the inside and hammered down the high smile-like dents in the roof...it's pretty good now...

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

and i pretty much have the passenger side all straightened up...worked out the snow plow dents on the rocker by welding on nails and pulling on them while tapping the high spots...you can see i probably should have replaced the rocker as the seal area is heavily corroded, but after hearing horror stories about repro panel's fit, i decided to try and make mine last for a couple more years (plus i am getting tired of replacing metal):

and lastely, i think i finally have the rear pass. corner pretty straight:

hopefully by this time next month, i will be completely in primer and preping for final paint...
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

TimAlan · Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2005 7:18 pm Post subject:

Truly inspirational!

SpinningBus · Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 5:06 pm Post subject:

*BUMP*

Any update? I DEVOURED this thread.... Embarassed

marklaken · Posted: Mon Oct 17, 2005 6:59 am Post subject:

some parts collecting, a bit of primer, a lot of sanding and some serious degreasing in the engine bay - not too exciting...been busy all summer so progress has been slow...
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

big bus mike · Posted: Tue May 16, 2006 9:46 pm Post subject:

Mark... Any progress? I just got a '65 SO-42 and need some motivation.

eastcoast63 · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 6:36 am Post subject:

Mark nice work on the bus.

what are the plans for the rims? lowering?

marklaken · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 11:04 am Post subject:

hey mike, glad to here that you too got a split westy...gonna make it up to vw on the green this year?...i will be floating around for awhile...

man i've been sidetracked for awhile...entered a sculpture in the kinetic sculpture race down in boulder which ate up all of my free time...see it here if interested (about half way down the page, there is a video clip called "kbco kinetic sculpture race" with a small thumbnail pic of our tiki boat going over a ten foot tall mud pile: http://9news.com/video/

buying a welder has been bad news...all i do is play around with various side projects...

i owe this thread some more pics...and will get on it...

as for lowering or rims...maybe someday (ala rizzag style westy), but my current intent is to get it back to near-stock and enjoy it for a long while
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

marklaken · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 7:39 am Post subject:

well summer finally ended and cabin fever got me working again...finally welded in my rocker panel:

I chose to go with a lap weld, which has its advantages and it's disadvantages...a little more forgiving on inexperienced welders because it is harder to blow thru, you can use screws to clamp the two panels against each other very tightly, and it is near impossible to have the lower panel stick out (which is hard to fix if it happens - either a bondo nightmare or lots of shrinking and hammering)

On the downside, a lap weld is a potential moisture trap and an obvious repair from the backside of the panel. also, with the seam, it is much harder to use hammers to get the seam to look right...I think as a result of luck and patience, my seam came out very close to where it needed to be...so no hammer work was needed...

While doing the work, I had to lengthen the schofield rocker panel 1/2" - I fabed a new flange and welded it to the frontside of the rocker panel - I also used a rust product (MasterSeries CT) on all the interior rocker surfaces (and also weld thru primer at the hot spots)...I also had to bend more curve into the rocker panel - I used a peice of pipe and lots of patience to do this...even so, I still got two small creases in the panel that will need to be shrunk...despite all this work, the schofield panel was much better than the brown brazillian cheapy that the previous owner supplied with the bus (see my gallery for a picture comparison)...

Here the side of the bus is, ready for filler and primer (Pics next week)...the side of the bus was scuffed using 60 grit on an electric orbital sander followed by 220 grit on a foam block - it is suprisingly straight...

also found some time to clean my engine bay a bit and fix the support member in my engine bay that a previous owner did the old "Carb Cutout" to...
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

Major Woody · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:42 pm Post subject:

Nice attention to detail. I spent a ton of time on my engine compartment. I wish I had taken more pictures because it was badly butchered when I started.

P-Dub · Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 3:14 pm Post subject:

Kudos to marklaken and all who document their progress. Threads like this are a modivation for me to get off my ass and get to work. I look forward to see your next installment.

marklaken · Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 7:36 am Post subject:

Well here was a long two days of work - glad it's behind me...

Lines show high ridges that were caused when I shaped the panel to fit...I used a shrinking disc to lower them a little bit...

after shrinking - not a cure-all, but a lot better...From here I went to filler...

I used Evercoat's "Metal 2 Metal" to fill any small pin hole issues along the weld seam - The product claims to be waterproof (but it still contains talc?) and I figure it might give me a little extra protection from any moisture issues coming in for the seam on the backside

Midway through putty work - used Evercoat Rage Gold

after many frustrating hours of putty work, I am starting to get pretty close

got the garage spray booth setup

This pic shows teh areas I masked off for etch prime

The fruits of my labor...got the nose resprayed for a second round of finish sanding and the driver side sprayed for the first round of leveling sanding (like I said before, It is pretty close - only real area of work to do is around the rocker panel replacement)

All in all, I am pretty pleased with the workmanship...I wish I had spent more time shaping the panel before welding so I could have gotten away with a bit less putty, but the work needed to be done, the motivation finally hit me again and the weather was very warm for mid-october...glad I am finally to the point that I'm at...
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

Major Woody · Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:46 am Post subject:

Do you have someone who you know who is a good painter and can tell you when the bus is ready for the first color coats? I would not trust myself.

marklaken · Posted: Tue Oct 17, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject:

Major Woody · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 3:38 pm Post subject:

Looks good, Mark. Any progress photos?

Skim · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 7:22 pm Post subject:

kick ass thread
_________________
GFK
Samba since before the towers collapsed. Still here.
1953 Kabriolet
1954 Sunroof
1959 Lowlight Ghia vert
1960 Lt Grey Double Cab SMZ LEGIT
1963 Deluxe Turkis Walk Thru 15 Window OG Paint

TimGud · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2007 8:28 pm Post subject:

Looks good!

marklaken · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 12:29 pm Post subject:

My main work has been undoing excessive filler work on rocker and roof, additional metal bumping, and redoing filler work...I also primered my engine bay and fiberglass poptop and have been block sanding everything...I decided to purchase urathane enamal single stage paint from TCP Global and it arrives today. I was hoping to spray the interior and roof this weekened with topcoat, but am going to be delayed a couple weeks...

I decided that this bus was never meant to be repainted stock colors since half the thing was trashed and the other half was hacked back together by me. There are plenty of fine examples of pearlwhite SO-42 and mine wouldn't be one of those, so I decidd to try Pearlwhite over Birch green...plus my wife wanted two tone and I'm whip'd...so that's the way I (er, I mean we) decided to go...(if it's too minty, I have enough pearlwhite to redo the bottom or I may order another bottom color)

I'll post some progress pics in a couple weeks
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO

Vintage Split · Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 11:55 am Post subject:

My wife wanted two tone too. I'm doing the same colors as you are.

Have fun.

marklaken · Posted: Tue Sep 11, 2007 7:32 am Post subject:

update pics...took a couple months off, but am back on the wagon...undid my driver's side rocker filler and redid it...much closer now:

here's a picture of metwiz's battery tray installed with the two homemade fabricated side pieces that my westy originally had. I assume they were factory correct, but have not seen anything that confirms this.

Lots of sanding which is not very exciting to take pics of, but here is the body last weekend before and after my final coats of high build primer (I hope)...

Before:

Worst bondo area - I feel bad for posting this one - where snow plow hit the rear wheel arch seam, I could not get it to come out and did not feel like disassembleing it to fix it...so I filler'd 'er!...guess we'll see how it lasts

After:

And a quick test of my two tone colors i did before my final primer coats...after many years of considering what to do, flipping between just about every possible color combination I could think of, I finally settled on non-factory Pearl White over Fjord Blue...I hope my body work is upto the task of the dark lower color...if not, I'll end up going backwards and painting the bottom OG pearl white (or birch green, as I got a gallon of that sitting in the garage as well)

October marks three years of sporadic work...A couple weeks of final block sanding and then setting up the garage for topcoat before it gets too cold out...
_________________
Wish List:
1967 Wesfalia SO-42 Parts Needed: Kitchenette, Cot Poles

'65 rear left beetle fender

15" Bus Wheels in fair condition

Mark Laken
Fort Collins, CO


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