eche_bus: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper

[driverinmyhead]

Panels looking good! Can't wait to see how they turn out!





Amskeptic: posted my 2002 and Hot Rod to my gallery (don't want to clutter up eche's thread).

I have heard a lot of negative stuff about 2002's (my neighbor bought one new and had trouble)... but I LOVE my little BMW! Out of well over 100 cars (probably getting closer to 200).... the little 2002 is in my top 10 for PURE FUN!

[eche_bus]

Waiting now to go out for screening. Yes, they do all look the same, which is a good thing. I engrave a small serial number on the back of each when they come in and register that number along with the person's name in a spreadsheet. Each panel's original parts go into individually serialized ziploc bags. So, you get your own panel and old parts back, not someone else's.

A closeup of a painted panel. The perfect eggshell gloss:

[Tcash]

Ok, I was going to ask you how you know which one belongs to who, they all look alike. Just to give you a hard time! Should have known you had it covered.
Looking good
Tcash

[Bleyseng]

Awesome!!! Too bad we had to wait so long for that last one to come in...
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70 Ghia Black convert-9/69 build date-stock w/133k 1600 SP-barn find now with a rebuilt tranny and engine
77 Westy 2.0L w/Ljet, Camper Special engine-95hp and with LSD!(sold)
76 Porsche 914 2.1L L20c, 120hp Djet (sold)
87 Syncro Westy Titan Red 2.1L 2 knob 100k miles

[eche_bus]

No harm done Bleyseng.

The panels are back from the silkscreener.
Don't believe me? Well, here ya go ...

See that "R" on the end of "BATTERY CHARGER TIMER"? Yep. Right where it belongs.

Now look at the wording "D.C. FUSES" just above the fuse holder hole. Uh, oh ... there's only one fuse!
Gotcha ... that's just how Delta Six made 'em originally!

[curtis4085]

Those look bad ass. Wish I had that model Westy so I could have bought one!

Did you happen to ever get a hold of the company that now owns Delta 6 to see if they had any old stock of the covers? I was able to reproduce the shore power decals threw them.
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Special Thanks to:
Headflow Masters - Vista, CA
www.headflowmasters.com

[eche_bus]

[Keith]

Holy crap!

Ooh, I think I can see mine......LOL!

Well worth every penny!
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Formerly known in the forums as "OVALTEEN"

"I firmly believe that some villagers from Botswana could probably build a better road than PennDot."- Splitty

"If you do anything to your car someone will hate on you for it. People absolutely love to complain and find fault with others. Don't let it bother you. Just live and have fun."- Lind

[Wasted youth]

Ahh... To be young again! Lookin' good!

[driverinmyhead]

Can't wait to see how those restored panels turn out!!!! My cheap replacement isn't cutting the mustard........

.

[eche_bus]

All of the current batch of control panels are finished, boxed up, and waiting to be shipped out. If yours is one of them, you should have received an email telling you this. Let me know if you didn't get this email ('cause it's time to pay).

It was a proud sight, all those "new" control panels sitting there (that bare one is mine. You know, cobbler's children and all that ) ...

It was real hard to pick a "most improved" one. The one with the extra fuse holder and binding posts drilled into it was a likely winner, but I can't find my "before" photos of it.

So, I'll pick this one instead

They all look like this now.

That's going to be it for panel work for now. I've had to put a lot of stuff on hold getting these done, so it's time to catch up on a few other priorities. Besides, this isn't the "control panel thread", it's the one where I post things I do on our own bus! Anyways, a big thanks to all that let me rework their panels

[Bala]

Amazing! Can't wait to see one installed!
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1976 Westy

1966 Beetle

[driverinmyhead]

Here you go:

Just like 1978.

[otiswesty]

Wow
Me want one too
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1978 Sage Green P22 Westfalia
1989 T3 Syncro Single cab

Just a regular guy

[Bleyseng]

Put mine in today!!! super nice job.

_________________
70 Ghia Black convert-9/69 build date-stock w/133k 1600 SP-barn find now with a rebuilt tranny and engine
77 Westy 2.0L w/Ljet, Camper Special engine-95hp and with LSD!(sold)
76 Porsche 914 2.1L L20c, 120hp Djet (sold)
87 Syncro Westy Titan Red 2.1L 2 knob 100k miles

[eche_bus]

Thank you to everyone that shared photos of their control panel installation. It makes me very happy to see them there!!!

We now return you to our regularly scheduled program ...

Front Door Overhaul: Completion!
A long, long time ago I started working on the front door overhaul, got the left side all done and sealed up, the right side rebuilt but left off here:

Had to make a new water shield and foam pieces that go around the door handle and window crank shaft...

... and glue 'em all onto the door like so.

Oh yeah, we're putting speakers back in, so decided to add a flap of plastic to keep water running away from things back there.

Last step was to make a template to transfer speaker cutout and mounting hole features to the "new" door panels. (My wife is very good at this sort of thing!)

The doors are at last ready for interior panels!

[eche_bus]

Front Door Interior Panels: Overhaul and Installation

Background: It's a long and tiring story but when I started on this project there were no replacement panels. Then Bus Depot came through by importing panels that were the right color, but otherwise looked nothing like original late bay panels. At this point I committed to restoring my originals. By the time that Bus Depot came through with correct-appearing repros, this work was well underway and I decided to see it through. So here we go...

Original condition
When we first bought this contraption, the door panels looked better than some, but still pretty sad.
The left one wasn't awful, but had a gouge on the left end, wrinkles, loose vinyl, and some pretty good warping going on where the speaker had been installed. The speakers were high quality Polks, but the grilles were in a bag with other loose stuff, no longer able to stay in place as they were split in several places due to age.

The right side was plenty bad. Vinyl was curling off the top edge, and all around the perimeter was ripply and unglued. The Masonite at the bottom was disintegrating.

Here's a look at the original cards:

Made new cards
I tried buying repro door cards, but found the drill holes weren't even located right. So using my originals as templates, I cut my own cards out of Masonite. This was a buttload of work, but they were exactly right. Results on left.

But what I found out (the hard way) was that USA/English Masonite was just slightly thicker than the metric stuff used on the OG panels. The retaining clips couldn't even be forced into place. So I had to route out all 21 clip locations on each panel. But when I was done, those clips fit.

Reusing the OG vinyl
On to the vinyl. It was filthy from nearly 40 years of entropy. Nothing a good brush scrubbing with Formula 409 couldn't deal with!

In the end, the vinyl looked pretty re-useable.

More trouble
Here is where the photos stop for a while. I bought new 1/16" foam to use under the vinyl (the original had long converted to a yellow powder), and sent the works over to an upholstery shop to have them stretch the vinyl onto my new cards. So far so good. After weeks and weeks of checking in with them, I stopped by to inspect them and they'd done a good job of stretching the old vinyl, but where they'd repaired holes and splits, the dye-work was complete crap. I ended up getting my money back for the dye work, then having to finding another guy to re-do the first guy's work. He was quick and did a great job, but end-to-end what I just described took SO MUCH TIME.

Panels done
I'll spare you all the detail involved in transferring the speaker features to the new panels (remember, the old vinyl had shrunk, the alignment was only so precise, and the end result had to work with the door metal cutout). After spraying the backside of each panel with a clear lacquer to add a little more "moisture insurance", after more than a year had passed since first starting down the overhaul path, I finally had panels ready to install on the bus!! The upholstery shop used staples as they couldn't otherwise stretch and align the ancient vinyl properly. This worked out just fine.

Installed!
So here you go. Left door. There's a couple small wrinkles in the upper corner, but they look much worse in the photo (darn flash) than in person. The armrest is the original one and showing its age, but I'll keep an eye out for a good repro or NOS replacement.

Inside view. Steering wheel still waiting for replacement (restorable one on shelf).

Right door. Not shabby, eh?

Inside view. That steering wheel though - ugh.

A closeup of the aged speaker grille. These were both broken in multiple places with the speaker cloth loose and half-glued. Never know it to see it now!

Last words
I'm aware that these panels with the new foam inside have more of a puffy appearance than OG. It's not because the foam is too thick, and the OG panels used foam too, but the heat seams were originally pressed and stuck flat against the cards. This aspect couldn't be duplicated as there was no way to get an upholstery shop to both stretch the old vinyl back in place and glue down the seams. Believe me, I tried. The reflections from the camera flash makes them look puffier than they actually are, as the seams are still distinct. So you'll have to just trust me when I say in person it really does look good, and this is the OG vinyl!

[Tcash]

Looking good.
It is a good idea to water proof the backs of the door cards (panels) while you have them out.
Waxoyl
http://www.waxoyl-usa.com/Products.aspx?code=WAX-001&key=cat
Water proofing
https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-insta...fing+spray

(My wife is very good at this sort of thing!)
Aha now the truth comes out.

Good Day
Tcash

[crushie]

Nice work, too bad it's green.
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1974 VW Combi 1800 Auto. Weber 32/36

[notchboy]

Lemonade is good!
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