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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 2:14 am Post subject: 1977 Westy Build. The Tale of the Free Bus |
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Well Howdy Guys! Looks like it's time for me to start a thread on the new addition to my VW family. Time for a lil backstory before the pics. Back 6 months ago a friend of mine had a guy walk into his motorcycle shop and ask if he was interested in an old bus. Tim(the friend) had been looking for a type 4 engine for his 73 westy for the last several years local and soon jumped on the deal. $600 later he had the bus delivered to his shop where it sat for some time before being moved to a pasture behind his house. During that time we talked vw a bunch and finally i asked him a few days ago whether or not he had moved the engine over to his 73. As a self employe-ed business owner, he explained to me that he hadnt the time to pull the engine . I tossed around the idea of selling me what was left after he got what he wanted ( the factory a/c also was on his list) and he replied with the idea of fair trade. I pull the engine and a/c and I would get to keep what was left. on top he threw in a type 4 engine (1.7 L) missing a head and some tinware. Not optimal, as i will have to source the parts, but the opportunity in itself just saves me money all around. I'm not interested in the broken ac unit anyhow , and i'm pretty sure i can find enough pieces to get her running.
Now on to the bus itself. Acording to the original owner (only owner till swapping hands very briefly) It only has 75,000 miles on it (questonable). As the story goes, he drove it until 1985 when the fuel pump gave out and he decided to convert to a weber carb system. apparently he never got it running right, and just let it sit. Needless to say , when i dragged it home my brother was ecstatic to get the bus, as he had been asking if i could find one so he could learn the "way of the Volkswagen gurus". I don't need another project, but he's willing to do a majority of the work with my guidance ( kinda out of my element here as well, pre 68 beetles are kinda my thing) I downloaded a bently manual and sent it to kinko's to be bound in spiral (2 copies). The bus came with good paper, but no keys( made loading and unloading a fiasco), so the first thing i did was get Gabriel from gabvwkey.com to cut us a set from code. Withou further adieu, i give you the bus
(my brother)
The door was off it's guide when we went to pick it up, so we removed it
what's left of the top ( was hanging down in pieces before we opened the top
Man that's shiny
We started cleaning( wearing maskes and rubber gloves).. Pretty much all of the interior is usable, except for the carpet
out it comes
WTF nails everywhere
bucket full of stuff we pulled from the bus, including a ton of pvc fittings (all the same shape)
We kept cleaning by flashlight and shopvac, will upload cleaned pics this weekend. All of the venier has come up from heat and mosture, but we plan on fixing that soon, as well as disenfecting . There was a ton of rat shit, and even had to chase off the giant rat, who had made his nest under the sink. (He even rode through a 10 mile bus ride from the other house)
As a final note, the only part of the floor with rust is the front passenger side, which will need patching, but the rest if the floor now shines like the day it was new. Let the adventure begin. We hope to have everything lined out before school starts in august so we can go camping. Let's see how far we get
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 2:17 am Post subject: |
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oops forgot a bunch of pics
I was suprised to find the jack complete still in it's packaging
All of those pieces were removed while vaccuming
During loading and unloading the only dammage we occured was to the bumper as shown here. Seems pretty easy to knock out
That's all for now
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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Tcash Samba Member
Joined: July 20, 2011 Posts: 12844 Location: San Jose, California, USA
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:42 am Post subject: |
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With an iron and a putty knife you can remove the rest of the plastic. Strip the glue and re-glue the plastic back down.
1978 Westfalia Cabinet Refacing
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jtauxe Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 5780 Location: Los Alamos, New Mexico
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 7:58 am Post subject: Re: 1977 Westy Build. The Tale of the Free Bus |
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Gret find, Bret. A classic project bus, for sure. These are great "before" pics, and will make the "after" photos all that much more impressive.
Bret2094 wrote: |
... Without further adieu, I give you the bus... |
That's funny. _________________ John
"Travelling in a fried-out Kombi, on a hippie trail, head full of zombie..." - Colin Hay and Ron Strykert
http://vw.tauxe.net
1969 Transporter, 1971 Westfalia, 1976, 1977, 1976, 1977, 1971, 1973, 1977 Westfalias,
1979 Champagne Sunroof, 1974 Westfalia Automatic, 1979 Transporter, 1972 Sportsmobile, 1973 Transporter Wild Westerner, 1974 Westfalia parts bus, 1975 Mexican single cab *FOR SALE*, 1978 Irish 4-door double cab RHD
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:07 am Post subject: |
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You have a gem under all that junk for sure!
I'm looking forward to seeing the after pictures. _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 8:13 am Post subject: |
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Bala wrote: |
You have a gem under all that junk for sure!
I'm looking forward to seeing the after pictures. |
You'll get some this weekend
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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babysnakes Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2008 Posts: 7106
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:01 am Post subject: |
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Welcome to the Bay side Bret. You have a nice project there. Two things I see, you need to add the Westy to your list of vehicles and
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Just another 20 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" |
Well you pretty much fucked yourself with the tag line.
Have fun. |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 10:18 am Post subject: |
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babysnakes wrote: |
Welcome to the Bay side Bret. You have a nice project there. Two things I see, you need to add the Westy to your list of vehicles and
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Just another 20 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" |
Well you pretty much fucked yourself with the tag line.
Have fun. |
Lol i knew it was a matter of time before someone mentioned that. Mainly applies to beetles for me, but honestly never expected to get a bay for free. Bout time to add to my car list. It's missing a parts car as well.
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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Stuartzickefoose Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 10350 Location: SoCal for now...
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:11 am Post subject: |
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was gonna make the Fatchick joke as well...babysnakes beat me to it!
are you planning to run a carb or FI with this one? _________________ Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 11:30 am Post subject: |
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Stuartzickefoose wrote: |
are you planning to run a carb or FI with this one? |
The plan is carb, since i understand how to work on em, and since the engine block ill be getting is missing all of the fuel injection pieces. Great to see that the destroyer is reading along
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 1:46 pm Post subject: |
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Started scouring the internet for engine parts and came across a vanagon did the 1980-83 come with a 2.0 liter aircooled type 4 engine? If i could get it cheap enough i might just give my buddy the complete engine out of a vanagon. what yall think? any parts to steer clear of?
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, pretty much the same engine. A few small mods to put it in a '73, but nothing major. I would keep that original engine with you're bus if at all possible. _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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sonofamitch Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2012 Posts: 325 Location: Evergreen, CO
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grandpa pete Samba Member
Joined: July 06, 2008 Posts: 6426 Location: St. Petersburg, FL
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Peabody Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2013 Posts: 372 Location: Tennessee
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 4:48 pm Post subject: |
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grandpa pete wrote: |
Whats a ej22 |
If you have to ask you can't afford it big boy. (Beer Fest reference) _________________ '71 Transporter "June" (traded a nissan hardbody + some $) (daily)
'76 Westy "Sandy" (traded an ak-47) (on hold)
'77 Westy (parts)
'74 Westy (parts) |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:26 pm Post subject: |
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Sounds like an ominous reference to a suby swap. No tengo mucho denero para suby. Other projects got my wallet a lil skinny
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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babysnakes Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2008 Posts: 7106
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:09 pm Post subject: |
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Peabody wrote: |
grandpa pete wrote: |
Whats a ej22 |
If you have to ask you can't afford it big boy. (Beer Fest reference) |
A high quality T-4 rebuild will set you back around 4K, a decent Suby swap will set you back around 3K. |
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Bret2094 Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2012 Posts: 665 Location: Linden, Texas or College Station Texas
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 6:21 pm Post subject: |
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babysnakes wrote: |
Peabody wrote: |
grandpa pete wrote: |
Whats a ej22 |
If you have to ask you can't afford it big boy. (Beer Fest reference) |
A high quality T-4 rebuild will set you back around 4K, a decent Suby swap will set you back around 3K. |
I hate to be the typical cheap ASS, but building something my brother an i can limp by with for a while is the plan. I'm the one with the $$ and ive been putting my eggs in my 59 rag build. besides 4 k isnt that the price for farming everything out? i can do pretty much everything besides lineboring cases myself. SUby sounds cool though, but i'm too much of a purist.(i'll get off my high horse momentarily)
Bret _________________ 1959 baja beetle ragtop( going back to Full body)
1959 beetle
1960 Beetle frame Custom buggy
1962 Karmann Ghia
1967 beetle( august 66, first car)
1967 beetle (parts car)
1977 Westfalia Camper
1972 Plymouth Duster
Just another 22 year old jackass who caught the bug, and lives by the motto " NO fatchicks allowed" , I've got too many cars as is (buses N/A) |
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eche_bus Samba Member
Joined: October 07, 2007 Posts: 1318
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, that's in ruuuuuffff shape. I'm eager to see it brought back to roadworthy and rodent-free condition! |
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Stuartzickefoose Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 10350 Location: SoCal for now...
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Posted: Tue Dec 09, 2014 9:23 pm Post subject: |
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listening with interest:) _________________ Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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