TheSamba.com :: View topic - Hell In A Bucket! WildIdea's 1977 Sage Green Westy

Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:02 pm

MorkC68 wrote: Nice work on the split screen, is it yours?

Yessir, I don’t know if I could go through all this if it wasn’t my bus.

Last year Kev offered up to me his shop as a better place to perform the metal work as my stalls are attached to my house and his shop is not. We didn’t want all that grinding, sanding and paint to migrate into and contaminate my home. Plus he was going to be out of town for a stretch and constant eyes on a place are always a good idea. It was tough to get into a groove of going there after work, changing clothes, maybe shovel the walk and turning the shop on and then closing it all down and driving home late, but once I dug in I got into a routine. That was basically after New Years, stalled for the Rally and then a final paint and then the bus back to my house at the end of August 2018.

Now that the bus is back at my house I can attach the mechanics a bit at a time each day before and after work. It’s really a pleasure to have her here now and things are moving fast because she is at my place. Still, I’m doing a lot of reading and learning as I go through parts I’ve never seen or worked with before. I do think this bus is much simpler to work on that my Bay, but the parts crustier and sign that others have had their hands all over it. On my Bay I was virtually the first person to do the services and I was taking apart things that were factory. Here, I’m seeing things that are not factory parts or services and I’m not super versed in recognizing what is original and what is not. Makes it fun though. So far, nothing really surprising.

I still have my front and cargo floors to weld in and thought that OK to do at my house, but I needed to get the shifting coupler replaced. I thought I should do that before I buried the area with the floor. Problem was that it was fused and nothing I could do would free the grub screws. I realized I needed to pull the engine and transaxle and remove the shift rod and replace. I have never done this before and was a little nervous but after reading my manual and lots of real-time text messages from Brian, I almost had the transaxle out by the end of a day, only to get hung up in the parking break cables. I couldn’t see how they were connected to the dust covers as dirty as they were. Right around then I walked hard into my raised deck lid and said “and now I’m done for the day!”

The next day, I started fresh and pulled the parking break cables and out she came.

I don’t know how long that’s been in there to get that dirty. Looks like a mess, but I’m stoked that it’s all going well and nothing looks trashed or rusted out.

I’m back to spending an hour here an hour there doing my best at cleaning this area. I get my gas tank drained, sender seal replaced, rubber filler neck gasket, felts all worked and replaced. Looked good.

I pulled the shift rod and blew out a mountain of rusty dust and then cleaned it like a rifle with a homemade bore brush and oily rags. Pulled that wire a dozen times and now she’s ready for the new rod and bushings.

One day I got off early and with good temps I was able to open the garage door and start on the transaxle cleaning. I threw down a worn mattress protector and started in. For some reason, to me, this is satisfying work. Just digging all this funk off, it’s hard to know when to stop. I dulled down an angled pic and dug into the tough lacquered grease in the crevices. I tried the oven cleaner someone shared here and it really melts the tar and washes clean with water. Did get one small chemical burn on arm. I made such a mess that I soon realized I should just press on and finish so I would only need to clean up this mess once.

I started at 5pm wasn’t in bed until midnight and hadn’t even touched the reduction boxes. Took almost two hours to clean up the shop so we wouldn’t track oil into the house. Got the one half of the shift coupler off the trans shaft once I could get on it at a better angle and a little heat. I still have to clean the metal rear mount and install new rubber mounts that Brian had on hand.

There is just a lot of area to clean and it takes time. I don’t want to get aggressive and burn through the paint, so I just use car wash soap with simple green and a thin wire brush made of brass and just pick at it slow. Then I come in from another angle and see what I missed. I go about an hour at a time or until I just bang my fingers till I can’t take it anymore. I found some cool numbers under an inch of oil.

I now have my soft break lines replaced and clutch and throttle channels cleaned, oiled and re ran with new lines. Getting ready to re install the transaxle then drain and replace fluids in box and reduction boxes. Then finally, maybe, if it makes since then, do the cargo floor.

So yeah, when Cat says let’s go for a drive, I’m about it. It’s gonna be great to someday have this one going too. Super grateful to have a Bay runner going that really takes pressure off your back to plow through things just to have something to enjoy and frees up my mind to just take my time and enjoy the process. Thanks for checking in!

Fri Oct 26, 2018 11:10 pm

white74westy wrote: Send some of that cooler weather this way please bro! We're so ready.

I actually got to take the bus out last weekend. We had a little "cool snap" I think the high was 76 degrees. The bus really enjoyed not laboring through 95% humidity and ambient temps in the 90's. She just seemed to drive a little differently...a little happier. Anyhow, it was a real joy! Spent about an hour and a half, driving down by the beach. Really looking forward to a little respite from the oppressive heat.

Cat and the pups look really happy! 8) Happy b-day Mrs. WildIdea!

I bet that felt great to get a drive in! Your bus is so clean Im sure it got some looks and made a few smiles. I love working on a bus, that’s one kind of satisfaction, but piloting one after all that is a whole new level don’t you think!

Sat Oct 27, 2018 12:40 am

Brilliant:)

I like the photo of them side by side in the garage!

Even though you may only get an hour here or there, it’s sometimes a rewarding hour, little jobs ticked off the list.

The splittie looks nice and tidy and, if the Westie is anything to go by, that will be a good bus too by the time you have done.

Looking forward to more :)

Sat Oct 27, 2018 5:41 am

Right on Man! Your Ties are the best I've seen at any show! Sunshine Daydream Walkin' with the Tall Trees!

Sat Oct 27, 2018 9:49 am

Buggeee wrote: Right on Man! Your Ties are the best I've seen at any show! Sunshine Daydream Walkin' with the Tall Trees!

Thanks! I saw some this year at Shoreline that had me stunned, believe me. My days off have been a series of morning tieing and then jumping on something for the bus and around lunchtime doing the finishing steps on the dyes and cleaning up the garage. Then, when I sell something, lately, it goes directly or saving for bus parts I need. Really takes the sting out of an order and it pleases me to have the two hobbies connected and supporting each other.

Mon Dec 24, 2018 3:22 pm

Merry Christmas everybody. I haven't been posting much but I've been reading yours believe me. I had a lot going on lately like everyone else I'm sure. For one I had to report for Jury Duty in November so I didn't book and work appointments during the week just in case I was called in. Turns out I only had to go in one day and wasn't selected so I basically had a whole month to work on the bus, make tie dyes and rock hunt. I call it Light Jury Duty now. The weather was great and several days over 60 degrees so I was able to crush a few projects on the split. In fact, the weather has been pretty mild lately other than a few high wind days.

I've been all over the underside of the 65 getting to everything I could before I welded in the cargo floor for good.

Just as a precaution, I tossed in the seats to see how everything was going to look and work and I quickly found out the middle seat mounts were in the wrong place for my ⅔ bench. I'm grateful I had them on hand to take practical measurements and be able to change things before I got to far with the install and paint.

Once all the welding and drilling was done I painted the underside grey on a warm day and even took the pieces out back to bake in the sun and they got hot to the touch and baked really nice. Stoked, I went ahead and pressed on a few days later. I used panel adhesive along my long wall to minimize paint loss and warping and rosette welded the rest of the floor in.

A few days of grinding and prepping for paint and low and behold, another warm day on the forecast to target. I pressed hard for that day and caught it. I shot the primer and a few hours later the paint. Flashed out fine but still took a finger print 6 hours later. Nervously, I re read the stat sheet and it said give it 10 hours, then a week to use and 3 weeks for final cure. I relaxed and after that timeframe, it's tough as stone, which is nice being its the floor and all.

So now I have the front floor still to do. The piece this project started with! It's all good though as I've learned a lot since I first pulled the rusty remnants out that are gonna make it go smother going back in. One of the best investments I've made lately was wheel dollies. I can now swing the bus around for that extra few feet and I'm really gonna need that to crouch down in that front floor area. I'm also planning on reworking another transaxle with RGBs and will be able to now with the extra 4-5 feel I can now access in my garage.

Enough about Red in my Sage Westy thread. None of that work would be as enjoyable if we didn't have a bus to drive around.

Typical South Dakota weather to get snowed on in September and be dry as a bone Dec 24th. I was pretty stoked to be able to get the bus out for a little fluid circulation and keep the hibernation effect from kicking in. We all piled into the bus this morning and headed over to a great friends Christmas waffle bar gathering. Always nice to see friends we don't get to see often. Of coarse we got to talk buses and choppers.

We couldn't stay forever as we had to get home and prep for another gathering to my parents. My Dads birthday today so we always get to go there and celebrate both that and Christmas. They go all out and my kids love my older brother "Uncle Christmas" we call him and his family. Picture a metal head dude in a ugly sweater. So before we start heading back home we take the long way and pop into a few photo ops for the murals thread and just have a blast messing around. Getting waved at and stopped by a off duty cop I work on for some friendly jabs for pulling on the wrong side of the street. Several thumbs ups and waves. I call them Analog Likes and those are worth ten digital ones to me.

We have this thing called Art Alley downtown that is designed to keep the graffiti to one area of town. Seems to work if you don't count train box cars. Pieces get painted over all the time and gets refreshed pretty often. There were some cool ones out today.

We were having a blast and said "You can't put this in a box and wrap it".

I really like this Native Lakota one of the medicine wheel with eagle and pipe.

Wow, my bus looks extra long in this picture.

Just a few more pics before we bail on the Ally. All the arial wiring is neat yet weirdly distracting. Like veins of an organism. Bio mechanical. My Chopper buddies love to hide wiring, cables and oil lines, but I kind of like them as I think they have their place on a machine if they are organized.

Next is getting this rear sway bar installed. If this weather stays over 45 degrees, I'll open the garage door and install it. Reading up a bit and checking the Ratwell site. Thanks everybody for all that makes the Samba such a great place. I can't thank you folks enough. Wishing a solid and healthy New Year to everybody on the forums. Peace!

Tue Dec 25, 2018 1:19 am

What made you decide on the rear sway bar?

Great PCs!

Tue Dec 25, 2018 9:03 am

yellowCOwesty wrote: What made you decide on the rear sway bar?

Thanks Man!

Nothing really other than Brian had one laying around and asking if I wanted to try it. I think he was getting tired of seeing it in his garage and now I've been tripping over it in my now so its gotta go on. Ratwell has a thorough write up so I figured why not. Brakes it down from front only, rear only to both and compares the combos. Brian says it will take me an hour to install which really means 4 for me being my first time, haha.

Tue Dec 25, 2018 3:37 pm

We had such a good time yesterday we decided to get the bus out again while we could before some expected snow tonight. We headed up to the Hills for a hike. Never got over 30 degrees so that was a bit chilly but it made it kind of fun at the same time.

South Seas climbing area just behind the monument has some really nice walking paths. Followed by some hot chocolate and warm ups back at the bus.

Pretty cool Christmas day drive and a welcome break from all the normal holiday activities. Snow tonight maybe, so we were trying to impress the idea of going outside while the opportunity presented itself and hunkering down with the new gifts when the snow falls.

Wed Dec 26, 2018 11:27 am

Woke up to this, so really happy we had a few clear days AND the time to take advantage of them.

Notice what gets to park inside. I promised Cat I'd dust off and start her car all season. Decent trade off. Actually, her wet car driving into the garage has its own mess to clean. Someday a shop, but dusting off a two cars a few dozen times a year isn't that terrible.

Mon Mar 11, 2019 9:23 pm

You've been mighty quiet for a few weeks, WildIdea. :?
Has the winter been freezing you out of the garage?

Tue Mar 12, 2019 9:52 am

KentPS wrote: You've been mighty quiet for a few weeks, WildIdea. :?
Has the winter been freezing you out of the garage?

Yeah, hi Kent! Thanks for asking.

You are right, I’ve been laying low with the oppressive winter temps. The news said Rapid City and airport had the coldest February in recorded history, going back over a hundred years of record keeping. They said the high temp for the month was 8 degrees. It was cold in Jan and sill cold now with a blizzard predicted for at least 12 inches tomorrow.

That kind of cold not only pushes me inside but into the basement. That isn’t bad as I have a pretty developed jewelry laboratory complete with lapidary equipment and silversmithing bench, etc. Time in there is always a joy and hard to come by.

The cold has hurt my property though, my concrete flat work is looking like Stonehenge as when water gets under it and freezes the ice can move mountains. I have a few doors that aren’t shutting right all the sudden. I bet the frost is 3 feet in the soil right now. Doesn’t usually get like this. So the 8 months of outdoor plans I have will have to get crammed into 6 months and two of those will probably be taken up by me fixing gutters and dealing with proper runoff for next year.

Tie Dyes don’t work well either or do what I’m looking for when the shirt is frozen solid, so that is even on hold.

Bus wise, not too much to report. Brian and I are all poised to do an involved break job and a few odds and ends on the bay. All the parts are sitting in a pile. He’s up against this same issues though, so we’re still several weeks from getting the green one over to his lift.

I have been hitting the split a little here and there. Taking parts off and bringing them inside to get dolled up and set out to be final install when it warms up. I bet I could be driving Red if I had an uninterrupted week and 50 degrees.

1st up was looking after my steering column. I’ve learned by now that if there is tar around a seal, it’s toast and not leaking because it’s dry. Hazetguys write up really helped me get the new seal installed. I went after the race area with magnification and really got it spotless before installing the new seal. I implemented the tape trick and it seems to be holding fluid in its place. I don’t know how one could change this one out on the bus, but surly it’s easier to get to it while it’s out.

Other little stuff like my break pedal. I wasn’t sure how this came apart, even after searches here it wasn’t clear. I found a part listed for sale at WW and the catalog showed me what it looked like and I was free to go ahead and drive it out with a mallet. Thinking the slotted end indicated threads but now I realize it’s only for tightening the bolt up to the frame tightly. Once the scale is off and greased up its ready to go back on. I’m really looking forward to have butter shifting and properly operating foot controls. I’m also not going to go without my pedal pan. I can see why folks would leave these off but I bet the road dirt is what’s responsible for the bushing sesure and seal failure.

New master for front disk system Brian is building.

And a little metal work in preparation of my new floor. I still need the weather to cooperate so I can get the underside shot before I weld it in. It all adds up, it I will admit, my momentum has be hit with the forced break. I’m chomping to get after it again. I know I’ll be mowing the lawn soon enough, it’s under there waiting!

I hope every one is well and I’m Reading what others are posting. I just don’t need to get a comment on every little issue and debate. Some of you do it so well and are much faster at typing!

Sun Mar 31, 2019 8:02 pm

I have everyone in my life primmed to know I’m gonna disappear out of the blue when Brian phones that it’s time for the Westy. We’ve been talking, so I decided to back the bus out and dust her off a little. Clean her up and organize the tool chest, detach battery tender, check the oil, tire pressure, etc. the easy stuff from setting 3 months in the garage (we did get her out twice over Christmas) and organize all the break parts and whatnot we’ll be installing next week. Still stick tree season and sand on the roads around here, but dry. Winter finally loosening her grip.

We hopped in for a spin to a place in town for dinner, kicking off the 1st run of 2019. started right up and handled well. High hopes for the season and getting situated for a real trip this summer.

Mon Apr 01, 2019 6:50 am

May the wind always be at your back and the rest stops plentiful!

Thu Apr 04, 2019 5:18 pm

It’s always good when Brian reaches out and says its time to bring the Westy over. We arranged a night for me to come over with it and have him drive be back home. One morning he power washed the underside of the engine and let dry. You see, whe have been fighting dripping pushrod tubes. We have a three point project list with a break job, finish gauge install, and try to get my pushrod tubes dryer.

We needed a one inch drive for the rear axle nut and socket, so we just decided to jump on the push rod tubes. We’ve been after these tubes a few time now, with the last one being sympathetic help from one of Brian’s buddies who tossed him some stash OG seals. Thinking that would do it, and it helped, but in the end still leaked. Now I think I’m pretty realistic about a small leak here and there (not like my brother who’s a total freak and prob has a piece of folded paper in his wallet within a pea sized dot on it to show his mechanic) especially on my vintage machines. A drop on my headers smells but it’s nothing to get super upset about, but I’ve learned that on a type 4 a bit of oil can track to the cooling fan and broadcast a mist all over the heads, which I don’t like.

Brian mentioned that he saw a tool on the homemade tool thread that spread out and trued up the ends of the tubes and so he reached out to the member whip618 and he shared the measurements, thanks! Then Brian made the tool at some point and has been ready for this session of maintenance.

Brian takes the lead on the disassembly of the rocker arms walking me through the process. What a big help. I’m is such debt to this guy. I can keep my eye on the ball mostly, but I didn’t really realize until I stuck my head in there that the O ring traveled with heat expansion inside a barrel in the head. Pretty neat. A little trick with a socket helps wiggle them out.

With the tool in a vice and a little grease, we get the tube placed and the new diameter is created. We measure a .006 to .008 increase.

They clean up with a quick wire wheel spin and new OG seals go back on the tubes.

We find the fit much more snug, but no incredible force needed to get then to seat back inside the housing holes. We’re pretty pleased so far and decide to forgo any additional sealants at this point hoping this rubber seal alone will do the job this time. The tubes are my original pieces with OG seals on aftermarket heads, so we’re thinking this is just the nudge they need to seal up, anyway, we’re pretty hopeful.

The rocker arms go back on and I get yet another rundown on the setting and adjustments for these, which never hurts if your me. I have to thank Brian, Brian’s friend for sharing the seals, and the member here who helped with the tool measurements. I really appreciate it and couldn’t do it without you guys.

We called it a night at this point as it was getting late-ish and we both had other things to attend to, so the other side should go faster now we’ve done it. I’ll report back if it did the trick or not.

Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:10 pm

Very nice!
I think someone should make and sell that pushrod tube tool. And sell me the first one!

Thu Apr 04, 2019 6:45 pm

I believe you should have washers on either side of those solid rocker spacers.

Sat Apr 06, 2019 7:47 am

Thanks for the comments notch, Kent, and Ralph

Last night we did the drivers side push rod tubes. It would have gone quicker accept it was my turn to get under the bus, which makes it go slower because I’m still green in this area, but what a great session and lessons. We usually start kinda late after our day jobs are buttoned up and family is settling so we don’t push it too late and try to squeak in a couple hours on the project, but it was 11pm when I jumped in my truck to head home. Stoked to get back into the bus routine after a momentum stalling winter season.

I picked up the proper socket extension for the rear wheel nut socket, so all set to disassemble the rears and get the drums out to get inspected and turned.

Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:36 am

Quick update on the progress. The last few days were solid for bus work. Now that the Westy is at Brian’s, I was able to get after the splits front floor again and spread out in the area the Westy was occupying. The cargo area has been doing a bunch of parts storage this winter and it’s nice to haul it all out and display it on a table and remember what I have. On the splits front floor metal, I’m down to the final fitment and hole drilling on that before I paint the underside and burn it in. I feel that once that is done all the other parts I have prepped aught to bolt in pretty smoothly. Getting excited about that.

I was even lucky enough to get over to Brian’s shop last night and disassemble my breaks and have a look at what my situation is. Brian let me do most of it, which I appreciate, with his commentary. I said your just keeping my Bently clean cause I’m not paging through it with break grease on my hands. He was glad his hands weren’t in it! Nothing hung us up and they came off with some average effort and off the get resurfaced today. I picked up a few new seals at a supply house my brother works at, was nice to see him.

And although we’re totally thawed out around here we are expecting yet another whopper winter blast tonight and the next few days. I scrambled to get the seals in case the town shuts down and we can still get some work in on the Bay. Will be too cold to paint for another week or so at a min. I’m always stoked to make any progress.

Mon Apr 15, 2019 7:28 am

We'll we had a another epic snow blast that landed us around 14 inches of snow as a system rolled in and just parked on us for 2 some days. No travel, no work, just hang out and do projects that naturally get put off and that desperately need it, stuff like closet organizing and cleaning but truthfully, a bunch of relaxing and movie watching until the dig out begins. I was able to really arrange my garages and get things in there sorted out and that always helps me enjoy them more and not feel like my shop sucks so much. Get back to being grateful for my space and look at its positives and that's easier if it's not all stacked up with overflow junk from months of winter. 60s and 70s forecasted and were looking ahead at some gorgeous weather, finally.

With the Westy at Brian's I'm taking advantage of the space and plugging away on some Split odds and ends. He's a busy guy and had asked to stand off on the brake job a min until he finished a final assembly on an engine until it's block was buttoned up, so no errant brake bits didn't land within. He must have late night crushed it because he asked if I could come over Sunday and do some on my rig. I try to never bug him about it but simply let him know I'm committed to the project as long as my bus is at his house, otherwise, I have plenty to do on my end. I know bugging a bro to hurry is never cool. I just thought, gee, I better clean up those dust covers before I go over there.

When we last met we had pulled the drums and rotors off and Brian had those cleaned up and I went after new bearing seals. I pulled the dust covers because they were a bit crusty and I just cant stand to work around loose crusty oil and dirt conglomerates. I like the feel of clean parts going together opposed to the dirty, rusty, sandy crunching. I'm sure you do too. This looks like a bit of wheel bearing grease mixed with road grime. I go with a basic hot water and Dawn mix and a light brush and slowly move to a blue soft touch scotch bright pad. As a point of method, when it comes to cleaning, I always start with the least invasive products, like basic water first, then move up from there. So far, I've learned that a coating of oil laced dirt on a VW part has like been protecting it and if I clean it, it ill rust overnight. Still, I appreciate a freshly sandblasted and re painted part too, but I always opt for an original paint piece even with blemishes, because the older paint seems to be more durable. Thats what goes through my head when I'm considering what to do with a parts finish.

Brian is like why did you bring a bumper? I was saying I realize my front bumper has been in my way and there is no reason I can't toss it back on the Split where it will be out of the way, accept there is a broken bolt in the drivers side slash mount. I had it drilled already and I knew he has some hardcore square easy outs. He was frowning about the prospects but we put some heat on it and it came out! Heck yeah! I said that's a good omen for the days session.

We decide to tackle the fronts and start degreasing and looking at the bearings. A few look pretty munched. Luckily, Brian has some new ones on hand and we press on.

He shows me this cool bearing packer and lets me have at it. I remembered gloves this time, thankfully, and we settle into a two man team consisting of a dirty guy and a clean guy. I stayed greasy and he touched the parts when they needed to stay clean. On my own I would have cross contaminated everything along the way for sure.

I learn how to replace races and install the seals and pack the grease.

Dust covers go back on and we slide the rotors on and bolt them up.

We think about stopping there for the day but press on a little more. I have my new soft lines on hand and we swap those out, bolt up brake calipers and insert the new pads. The first one kinda had me struggling until I figured out the sequence. Then the drivers side went on slick.

Thinking back, I always had brakes working on this bus and have gone after many many refreshes before this, which I know is out of order. Maybe next time I will start here. We had some crusty soft lines, a rough bearing and some minimal life on the pads. I'm glad to have some of these things finally looked at. Next up will be the rears, who knows whats lurking in those.