New Owner of a SO42, first bus!

[will t]

What a great bus you have there! I am in the process of doing a ground up restoration on a 67 camper so this is very interesting. Do you have your tires inflated to 65 lbs.? Sometimes the tire stores don't know those tires are supposed to have that pressure. I have the same tires on my 73 camper and my 67 camper. They are wonderful.

Earlier in the thread you were wondering "to stain or not to stain" regarding the Baltic birch panels you were going to make for your doors and maybe more. I will be making all new panels for my camper because somewhere along the line someone removed the Westfalia Birch ones and replaced them with dark stained weird 1/4" ply. Horrible. Anyway, for all the Birch I find that using a 1/3 turpentine 2/3 marine spar varnish first coat (brushed thin) followed by sanding with 320 (dry - I use a Porter Cable Jitterbug and by hand with a block) and then another coat of less thinned, like 80/20, varnish to turpentine leaves a really beautiful finish and appearance. The varnish will enrich the natural color of the Birch leaving it looking quite factory, and varnish is not pure plastic (which polyurethane is). It is made with or from phenolic resin, which is somewhat more "natural". I think it's better for all the senses.

I am actually doing the very same process on all the cabinetry wood surfaces of my camper right now. It was broken, dirty, moisture damaged, and more. Wherever the top layer of plywood was coming off (many places) I got it all off and then veneered it with Birch veneer. I am finishing it as described above. Everything was prepped ending with a final sand of 150 and then today I put on the 2 to 1 varnish/turpentine first coat. I'll sand it as described tomorrow and put on the 80/20 diluted coat. Brushing technique is very important with both coats. Thin is good.

I have some pictures but it's really hard to get the color in the photo to be what it actually looks like so bear that in mind when you look at them.

My overhead cabinet plywood was moisture damaged and the top layer of the plywood was coming off so I took it all off and veneered it.

Before:

Veneered with paper-backed birch veneer (contact cement for adhesive) and sanded:

First thin diluted coat:

On the jump seat I veneered the bottom and the back (front?) of the upper storage compartment and I just sanded the rest and coated it the same. You can see there is some color and grain difference between my veneer and the plywood from Westfalia, which is not birch, but I don't know what it is:

The insides of the doors, the undersides of the tables, and random other parts I just sanded and coated. In real life these are not quite as yellowed as they look in the photo:

The drawer inside was really trashed so I just veneered it. The sides, back, and bottom I just sanded and coated. Under and next to the drawer are unfinished pieces of veneer and the color in this picture is pretty accurate so the comparison is useful:

I did the wardrobe (veneered only the bottom of the clothes storage compartment) the seat/bed base (veneered the whole thing except the inside of the face of the cabinet), and all the rest but they are all drying where there isn't enough light to photograph them well. Soon (I hope) I will start a thread on this bus.

[timjames722]

Thanks, I appreciate it! I was not aware of that, I currently have them inflated to 44. I will give that a try.

Your cabinets look awesome. I did purchase some marine spar varnish satin to stain my new panels when I make them. My speciality lumber yard can’t get 1/8 inch ply in, smallest is 1/4. I wonder if 1/4 will be too thick for door panels?

In your experience how was it removing the camper interior? I’d like to give it a try to get to the large driver side panel to replace as well, and the floor.
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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[will t]

Thank you for the compliment! The cabinets are turning out well - so much better than they were. And I am using satin finish also. This bus was heavily abused by "restorers" along the way and everything about it is really rough, and really wrong. It will take two years or so to get it sorted out but I love them and don't care. It's so much fun, all of it. The bus came from the factory velvet green. I have always loved pearl white like yours (this is my 6th velvet green SO42, two 66's and four 67's) and I am thinking of making the color change. We are going to blast off every bit of paint on and in the bus anyway so the only way one would know would be the VIN or m-code plate or whatever. It's a dilemma though, because I am a true believer in trying to return everything as close to bone stock as possible. We'll see.

You'll find the steering much better and the ride fabulous overall with the tires inflated to the proper pressure. They are light truck tires and they are strong. It does say on them inflate to 65 psi but the lettering is really small!

Taking the SO42 apart is not particularly difficult. I keep a box of ziploc sandwich bags and some small pieces of paper right there so I can catalogue every piece of hardware, fastener, etc. I then put them in a shoe box and the ziplocs just stack in upright one after another. The box can then be labeled, too. I have to keep good track of all the little stuff because I am currently into two projects at the same time - the other being a 67 Ghia. I disassembled it completely including removing the body off the pan, so if I am not careful about keeping good track of everything it's trouble.

What part of the world are you in? There is a lumberyard in Denver where I am that sells 3mm Baltic Birch (roughly 1/8" thick) in roughly 5' x 5' sheets. The actual dimensions are metric. It is Russian I believe, but I'm not completely sure. Perfect material for this. Baltic is whiter than regular birch. If you are in a city of any size look for places that sell hardwoods and or specialty woods and see if they either have it or can order it for you. The big box store with the orange aprons will not have what you are looking for. 1/4" would not be suitable for interior panels in my opinion. And if you are going to replace the ceiling panels you have to have the thin stuff because it has to be bent quite a bit the opposite way to install it. It has to be flexible and the 3mm stuff is. I would be happy to help you find some if you like, but again, it depends on where you are.

[will t]

From the SO42 Instruction Manual a bit on the paneling:

[kafer60]

Good looking westy you have there. I am working on a 67 myself, I would recommend moving that fuel filter to under the fuel tank. It surprises me no one else has said anything yet, lol.

[timjames722]

[timjames722]

Had some time over the last week to test out making new cargo panels

Here’s the original, not thrashed but the other is. I wanted to make them uniform so we made new ones. Keeping all OG wood.

Original insulation, door was in better shape than I thought.

I used 1/8 lauan, 2 coats of Man O’War Spar varnish satin

All back together, I’m digging it.
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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[timjames722]

After a bit of practicing on scrap, decided to give the cargo rocker a go.

How do you think these welds look? Any tips.. heat up down/ wire speed?

Thanks!

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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[kintail]

The old vinyl t-molding can be rejuvenated by removing it and stretching it by using a heat gun carefully to its original length. Before doing this clean it with spray 9 or something similar.

Removes the age related ripples.
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Scott

[BarryL]

[timjames722]

They look good to me. Try breaking one. On mine I put a lot more. Mine is a '67 but I followed the original spacing.

[/quote]

Awesome, thanks! Shoulda looked at yours before I welded but I think
it’ll do! I’ll make sure to put a lot more when I attached to the inner rocker
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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[Huetti_1989]

[timjames722]

Just came across this SO42 rack that had been sitting in a barn for a long time. In the process of cleaning the wood and removing the black spray paint on the metal. Slats measure 45 5/8. Did not come with any clamps.

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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[von_hansel]

I find like this is getting harder and harder. Congrats

It also has both tags; SCORE!

There are OG and repop clamps in the classifieds currently.
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[timjames722]

[von_hansel]

[timjames722]

After 20 days in transit, my clamps arrived. Got the roof rack clamped down and ready for the road.

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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[timjames722]

Drivers side window frame to door seal was crusty, decided today was a good day to replace it.

Basically fell apart in my hands after removing it

Little rust always puts up a fight

New seal in place ready to go. Kudos to guys who do this by themselves. I ended up calling my dad to give me a hand to line this up. Didn’t expect it to be so awkward lining up.

After some time we got it, my dad there celebrating

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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[timjames722]

Finally got around to replacing the panel on my rear hatch. Turned out well. Decided to replace the old insulation as well.

Up next… switching to dual circuit master cylinder. Current single circuit one has a bit of a leak.
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66 SO42 L87

What's the point in callin shots? This cue ain't straight in line.

[mtnbus]

nice work !
great bus