TheSamba.com :: View topic - 1960 SO23 Westy

Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:03 am

Super nice work.

Sun Mar 17, 2019 3:44 pm

Oliver at East Coast Autowerks made some major progress on the cargo area this weekend.

Bottom of the bulkhead was fabbed and front top hat was fitted

Cargo rocker was fitted (note that it was green)

Sizing up the cargo floor

Test fitting the cargo rocker again (note that this one is now gray)

Preview of what is soon to come.

There is still more prep work before the floor is welded in, but getting closer.
In looking forward to getting my hands dirty again next weekend.

Sun Mar 17, 2019 5:56 pm

Nothing quite as sexy as a big tall rocker that goes all the way up to the first horizontal reinforcement. Makes my pink parts hard.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 2:44 am

Awesome work !

Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:49 am

Thanks for the feedback.

I got to visit the bus (and Oliver) yesterday and put some time into cleaning and restoring the air box components.
At least now it shouldn't smell like mouse piss when we are driving down the road.

Here are the pix.

I also had access to Oliver's paint both, so I painted the pedal components.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:11 am

As I was messing around with the air box components, Oliver welded in the cargo door rocker and short rocker.

There are still some areas that need attention before the floor can be welded in, but we certainly are getting closer.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 3:59 pm

This weekend, I also took delivery of the rebuilt transmission, steering box and front end with CSP disc brakes.
Once again, Jon Furst (hazetguy) absolutely killed it.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 4:53 pm

Just a huge word of thanks to a couple people who helped me get these things finished:
Due to time constraints and marginal cores for me to rebuild, the spindles were done by Jeff Gagnon. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=28541
The transmission center section was rebuilt by Billy at RustyBottom Garage https://www.rustybottomgarage.com/

Thanks for helping make these components come together!

And also to the several people I purchased new/nos and used parts from through the Samba classifieds. vwearl, obsolete man, and any others who I can't recall at this time.

And to Mitch for letting me use his welder (yeah, I know you're reading this, stalker! :) )

Sun Mar 24, 2019 7:03 pm

Yes, for sure, thanks to all involved.

The last thing we worked on today was the lower nose.
After lots of measuring and double checking our measurements, the cut was made and we were committed, thankfully it came out great.

I also peeked through the back door to check out all that lively gray.
This really gets me excited to get behind the wheel of this bus!

There is still a lot of finish welding to do, but the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter.

Sun Mar 24, 2019 7:09 pm

So you did use the WW rocker. How did you end up fitting it?
This is from mine today:

BTW I love the hand-painted "R" on the passenger door. Keep it!

Mon Mar 25, 2019 5:01 am

Culito wrote: So you did use the WW rocker. How did you end up fitting it?

Yes, the Wolfsburg West rocker came up about 1/8" short, so we welded a shim of metal to each end, rather than cutting the structure of the rocker. Basically, the end flaps are double thickness. Does that make sense?

Your bus is looking good, keep up the nice work.

Mon Mar 25, 2019 7:18 pm

npbusguy wrote: Culito wrote: So you did use the WW rocker. How did you end up fitting it?

Yes, the Wolfsburg West rocker came up about 1/8" short, so we welded a shim of metal to each end, rather than cutting the structure of the rocker. Basically, the end flaps are double thickness. Does that make sense?

Your bus is looking good, keep up the nice work.
Got it, thanks!

Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:05 am

=D> =D>

Tue Mar 26, 2019 10:41 am

Sweet!

Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:29 pm

Thanks guys, your kind comments are appreciated.

The crusty fuse box has been on my mind lately, so I decided to try and clean it with the white vinegar and fresh lemon juice method that Evan Larson, Easy E, shared in a forum.
It cane out great, and with no effort at all.

Here are the pix:

Fuse box as the vinegar was being added. Check the terminals, they are almost black with corrosion.

The solution started to change color as the corrosion literally fell off.

The original fuse box cover was pretty crusty too, so I soaked it in the solution and then polished the rust stains off with a tooth brush and a baking soda/white vinegar paste.

3 hours of soaking later, and my fuse box is as good as new.

The solution is just enough white vinegar to cover the part, and freshly squeezed juice from one lemon.
About half way through the process, take the fuse box out of the solution and brush the terminals with a tooth brush or equivalent.
Rinse in soapy water and let dry.

Special thanks to Easy E for posting the tip in the first place.

Tue Mar 26, 2019 4:36 pm

Sweet! I use a product called "DeOxIt" (100% solution) to treat electrical connections after cleaning. I'm a big fan.

Sun Apr 07, 2019 6:31 pm

Rear floor is being welded in, lower nose is finished being welded and the rotisserie is being mocked up.

Sun Apr 14, 2019 6:22 am

When I pulled the wiper motor out of the bus a few weeks ago, it looked like this:

There was no way to clean that hunk of junk up, so fortunately TouchNicksThing gave me a replacement motor for the bus. I spent a couple hours cleaning all of the hardened grease out of it, and converted it to 12v with one of Wolfsburg West's handy 12v armature.
Now the wiper motor looks like this:

Sometimes these little projects are the most rewarding.

Mon Apr 15, 2019 4:26 am

More metal progress. I've never really seen a regular bus with rust in this area, but it seems that many Westies fall prey to the tin worm here. Makes me wonder if the marble mat traps moisture. In either case, it is fixed thanks to Oliver.

We went from this:

To this:

Also got rid of a weird electrical plug. It was neither normal US spec, or Euro spec, so away it went.

I also disassembled the front door window frames to get them ready for paint. It is amazing how hard old rubber can get, and yet, it is a pain in the ass to try to break it apart and slide it out of the channel on the top of the frame. At least that is a once and done process.

Mon Apr 15, 2019 8:43 am

npbusguy wrote:

Angle is off on the rotisory sections. You wont be able to roll or balance the bus past the first section.

They should be 30º (15º cut) making the second section from the top vertical. That leaves the top section of the rear one about 5" from the drip rail.