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theizzardking Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:03 am

this is the paint code that was offer to the spokane's 1974 world fair,

Quote: I think someone said it was offered up to Spokane WA during the 1974 Worlds Fair.


http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3...mp;start=0

chazz79 Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:11 pm

Yup, it's called a "wild westerner" paint package that was offered in the california/oregon area. They were used in the 74 worlds fair it would be pure coincidence if mine were one of them. The color combo is rare so I'm keeping it. The rest will be completely my interpretation of what it should be. The top hole is one inch in from the raised line on the roof edge (@8.5 inches up from the drip rail) Cut along the inner support rails just rear of the driver and just fore of the rearmost seat. The top is held in place with sheet metal screws, around 10 per side. The bed platfore goes up first then add the top up over it. A buddy and me put it up today but it'd be better if three or more dudes heaved it up there. I had to get it screwed in place because spring is upon us and the nosey neighbors would have a codes letter out on me for having too much crap laying out. I'm in mansfield, Ohio; we need more bus folks in my neck of the woods.

Is it looking more like the teenage mutant ninja turtles van?

I love the rivi top, it was worth it to me to drag a donor bus home from tennessee (500 miles) just for this!

theizzardking Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:16 pm

yeah the rivi top on my westy is my next sunny day upgrade!!! got the donor sitting in the driveway already, how was mounting the rivi hinges?

chazz79 Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:18 pm

I'm using stock headliner up front and some birch or other wood in the rear, haven't made my mind up or gotten that far yet. Hopefully I can get to the 2.3 ford conversion next so it'll be drivable and give me a summer to work out the bugs. I aim to have it all done by this time next year.

If anyone's up for trades I have the 73 and down westy stuff (side cabinet, zbed, and headache rack). I'd gladly trade for a full width zbed and a matching headache rack. I want all my windows free so the kids can check out the scenery on trips.

chazz79 Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:22 pm

once you get the top up there leave the x-brace legs spread eagled and resting in the rain gutters. Attach the rear x-brace to the back of the wooden bed to keep it from flopping. After this point it becomes a one man opperation of wrestling it up to where it belongs. The aluminum angle that screws to the roof lines up with the raised roof line that's pressed into the roof skin @7.5 inches up the roof from the drip rail. The aluminum angle is 1 inch wide-thus the need to make your side cuts 8.5 inches up from the drip rail.

theizzardking Wed Mar 25, 2009 2:30 pm

cool thanks copied to notepad and printed for install, DUDE I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED FOR THIS MOD!

i'd help you if i could i got 1 full westy and a full rivi split bed as well as a few headbangers. shipping would screw you though.

Buscuss Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:33 am

The colors are, as far as I know, a '73 only combo. The 9643 code isn't listed anywhere I've looked. I'm pretty sure the top color is L62H, Bali or Yosemite yellow. The closest match to the bottom color I've found is L65K, Ravenna green.

Chazz_79, what is your source for "wild westerner" and that it was offered only in the CA/OR area? That it was special for Expo 74 at Spokane is hearsay also, though buses of this color may well have been used. No verification that I've seen, ie, from Expo 74.

chazz79 Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:50 am

Buscuss wrote: The colors are, as far as I know, a '73 only combo. The 9643 code isn't listed anywhere I've looked. I'm pretty sure the top color is L62H, Bali or Yosemite yellow. The closest match to the bottom color I've found is L65K, Ravenna green.

Chazz_79, what is your source for "wild westerner" and that it was offered only in the CA/OR area? That it was special for Expo 74 at Spokane is hearsay also, though buses of this color may well have been used. No verification that I've seen, ie, from Expo 74.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=319543&highlight=ugly


check out the origional window sticker that rossvw provided. It's still a rare color combo but there were alot of these same "wild westerner" busses that were used in the worlds fair. They were featured in the brochure and all were 9 passenger's as far as I know. The info provided in the "is this rare or just ugly" thread is invaluable to all us,, ahem-blessed with this color combo.

Reigs311 Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:13 pm

I'm in mansfield, Ohio; we need more bus folks in my neck of the woods.

Is it looking more like the teenage mutant ninja turtles van?

I love the rivi top, it was worth it to me to drag a donor bus home from tennessee (500 miles) just for this![/quote]

I drove to Seneca Falls NY for my top, did the same purchased a donor bus and trailer the whole damn thing home! I am currently doing the floor right now, unfortunately I was not lucky enough to receive a top with good canvas. Mine smells like mice "leftovers" and has some holes and the zippers are seized up. I believe I spoke with you before for some parts. I am near the cleveland area about and hour and 40 mins from you! Looks good so far, good luck!!!

BellePlaine Fri Mar 27, 2009 10:07 am

chazz79 wrote: I'm using stock headliner up front and some birch or other wood in the rear, haven't made my mind up or gotten that far yet.

Hey Chazz,

That's what I've done too. The Birch is really easy to work with. I think you'll like it.




BTW, cool bus!!!

chazz79 Fri Mar 27, 2009 12:59 pm

Thanks!

The only part of my origional headliner that wasn't ripped up was the part that was over the drivers heads so this is actually working in my favor for a change. I left my cut portion of OE vinyl a little long and I think I'll just pull it tight and attach it behind the riviera trim that covers up where the bus was cut. It should look pretty factory.

chazz79 Sun Apr 05, 2009 4:17 pm

got a little more done in the way of tearing this up and inspecting the mess. I cut out the passenger dogleg in preparation for putting in a klockerholm reparr peice. I have to fix the back bulkhead wall before I can continue but you can see what a pile I'm working with there.

I have plenty of extra steel from the hole I just cut in the roof to do these repairs. It looks like flat sheet steel will do the trick

The klockerholm metal is the right shape but a lot lighter wieght material.


BellePlaine Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:49 am

Looking good Chazz! You sure are making good progress in little time. It may be too soon to know, but any idea when she'll be roadworthy?

chazz79 Mon Apr 06, 2009 2:04 pm

I've promised to take the kids to disney world march/april next year so I have to have it road worthy by then or I'll have some disapointed rugrats. That'll be my first major road trip with it but I hope to have it drivable before snowfall so I have a few months to work out the bugs. It's alot of crap to do in a year. But here's a checklist.

Replace both doglegs, rockers, battery tray, cab corner, and rear wheel arch fronts.

Paint it

purchase a full body rubber kit and toss it back together

Toss together an a/v audio system (who sells a deck that reads all media Ie. dvd's mp3's cds etc...)

Recover all the seats

install a headliner

somewhere in there I'll find time to put in this ford 2.3 and devise a "down low" cooling system.

I hope to have less than 4000.00 invested when done. So far I'm into it for @350.00

chazz79 Thu May 14, 2009 6:05 pm

I got this bastard dogleg fitted. I don't have experience with anything but this klockerholm peice but I'd hoped for the 135.00 I have invested in it that it'd fit a heck of alot better. Fitting involved severe amounts of trimming and alot of hammer & dolly work to get it to look right. My bus has no signs of accident damage so I really didn't think it would be that rough of a job. I have to do the other side but since it's not as bad I'm just doing a skin. I also have a couple rockers and rear wheel arch patches coming.



Lots of plug welds to grind down, overall door gap is @3/8 inch where it was once 1/4....Consistant gaps are imposible with these. I'll gladly try mexican parts on my next bus.



Now in green on green on blue on brown on black on white. That's a color scheme the neighborhood society can appreciate.

chazz79 Wed May 27, 2009 6:33 pm

I've removed the rockers and alot of other cancerous skin (lots of that).
The new klockerholm corners will probobly be held on with dzus fasteners so I have radiator access, unless anyone else has a better idea. I'll be stuffing a radiator or two up the side air vents to cover cooling duties and keep the bus stock appearing. It'll take a bit of engineering to make it look right as most of these conversions end up unfinished or as some frankenstein bastard creation that no sane person would lay claim to. I hope for my bus to become neither.


Update/edit


I've used the rocker and forward fender but I'll have to make the little peice of "slider delete" panel that's still missing.

chazz79 Wed Jul 29, 2009 5:48 pm

as I get closer to painting I thought I better put on the tires and wheels I want so I'm not clearancing them after paint. I found this set of passat wheels cheap on craigslist, the bolt pattern is right but the centering hole is way small. There are posts about putting passat/audi wheels on busses but none too specific about the headaches involved. The center caps won't fit unless I use some spacers (not a fan of those). The center hole has to be enlarged by 1/2" diameter. Bus wheels aren't hub centric so this need not be a precision opperation. I just whored the holes out with a die grinder with an aggressive burr bit on it. @15 minutes a wheel and they fit nice. I'm up for suggestions on centercaps.


The tires will be replaced with lt215/75/15 BFG all terrains in a C load range. I intend on running this fully loaded and possibly pulling a trailer so these will hold the weight and give me the cruising rpm's that I'm looking for.


This pic shows the center hole difference in the new wheels as compared to the drum. It's alot of material to remove but worth it to be able to find tires other than the hankooks out there.

chazz79 Thu Jul 30, 2009 6:10 pm

here's a good side shot. It'll look a little less low rider-ish when I get the new tires on it but overall I like the look.

update and edit



settled for a 205/75/15 michelin x-radial. After re-evaluating things I thought it'd be counter productive to do a bunch of sound deadening work just to toss knobby tires under it. These are 27 inches tall and should bring my cruising rpm down a bit. On the positive side these clear nicely without any fender trimming or suspension work.

chazz79 Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:13 pm

From reading other build threads I found it may be better to just leave the rear light mounts in place.



I'll flange the klockerholm corners to create a strong lap weld around the rings. The corners are both made wrong by the engine door in that they extend into the door area 1/2 inch before the 90 degree break. This part will need to be cut off and just but welded.

The rear valance panel is spot on and needs no modifications out of the box, by far the best peice I've gotten.

The Klockerholm battery tray fit well enough although I wish it were as thick as the vw peice I'm using on the other side.

So far I've spent as much on patch panels as most west coaster's pay for their entire bus.

chazz79 Sun Aug 16, 2009 3:12 pm

more cut, grind, weld, repeat.


As long as my under metal has been 80-90% there then I'm rolling with it. I'll patch what I need to but in the end it'll be covered with rhino-lining or some other high-build protective substance. The pitted stuff has all been grinded/wire wheeled then coated with chassis black. The chassis black is very simular to por 15 but @2/3 the cost. At this point I'm looking to save money wherever I can.


As you can see there's about as much wrong with this side as there was with the other. It's nice to see things rust symetrically here in ohio.



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