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wcfvw69 Samba Purist
Joined: June 10, 2004 Posts: 13385 Location: Arizona
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 8:41 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Pinetops wrote: |
Clean looking work on the rocker. |
X2!
You have to HATE road salt..! _________________ Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc
Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.
**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours** |
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CpTrps1 Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2015 Posts: 90 Location: Woodstock IL
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Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2016 10:02 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Nice work. I really look forward to cutting out all my bondo. |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 6:19 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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CpTrps1 wrote: |
Nice work. I really look forward to cutting out all my bondo. |
Thanks fellas! Yes salt sucks and Yes its incredibly satisfying removing bondo and riveted in panels. Bondo is like make-up, it fools the eye from the ugly truth lol.
Salt would have destroyed this bus since it lived its life in NY, but thanks to some ambitious soul "restoring" this bus in the 90s I think that extended its lease on life. |
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killerbee2003 Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2011 Posts: 63 Location: nashville tn
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Posted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 7:12 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Good looking bus. Your project is moving along nicely. Mine is a little more slow going, but I appreciate all the work that goes into it. Putting these old campers together for our families to enjoy is a great motivator. Stay with it! _________________ The past is history, the future a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present!
70 westfalia bus |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 11:36 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Thanks killerbee, I checked out your build and man you have done a lot of work!
So I went to the machine shop yesterday and yeehaw my heads look really great. I dropped off the last of the bits he needed - cam, springs, bearings, etc and he said he needs another week or so to wrap it up. As an added bonus he is going to clean up my engine case in their huge parts washer.
The plan right now is to finish all of the welding and paint everything next fri/sat. I will just paint whatever is done and put this beast back together. |
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busboyjake Samba Member
Joined: September 22, 2002 Posts: 393 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:01 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Cool bus and nice work! Looking forward to more updates on your progress. _________________ 1965 Pearl White Caravelle Camper
1978 Dakota Beige Westy
1969 Montana Red Westy (for sale soon) |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2016 6:00 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Thanks busboyjake.
Next up was to patch up the inner wheel well and close off the inner rocker. I still need to dress welds, and apply seam sealer.
Couple of spots on the dogleg, after patching decided to strip the entire thing.
Next up I noticed some rust bubbling at the bottom 1" of the nose, plus the bumper is pushed so I wanted to replace the brackets so it sits properly.
Well it was worse than I thought, tons of filler. This quick body repair job is domino'ing, but it needs to be done before I mix up the yellow paint.
I wanted some time to think about how to tackle the nose so I thought I would quickly prep the driver rear corner which I assumed was solid. Well 2 hours later it was. Ugh, check out the riveted panel patch, actually well done.
It was applied right over rust, oddly enough not at the seam, weird.
This is where it sits now. I have an extremely aggressive timeline to finish all welding before this Saturday so I can lay down some yellow and blend in my repairs. I might be pushing it a bit. I made a list of about 12 areas that still need welding and its about 22-24 hours worth of welding. Might need to take off work.
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 8:06 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Patched up the rear corner. This was actually fun and took a lot less time then I thought last night. I used my extra time last night to drink beer, listen to music and organize my shop.
Oh and I replaced this engine lid hinge which seized and broke from no lube over the years. The burn marks are from my torch since the screws were very rusty. I will paint the whole hinge carrier now.
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curtp07 Samba Member
Joined: November 28, 2007 Posts: 874 Location: Mass
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Posted: Tue Aug 09, 2016 5:07 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Love the vintage speed exhaust. Great pics too.
What was the reason for dropping the heater boxes? I often wondered about doing that...good and bad.. _________________ Subaru |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:28 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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curtp07 wrote: |
Love the vintage speed exhaust. Great pics too.
What was the reason for dropping the heater boxes? I often wondered about doing that...good and bad.. |
I'm considering a thermostatically controlled propane furnace to replace the stock heater. My friend has this furnace in his 68 weekender (link below) and it works really well, shutting on and off through the night. It's not cheap but the endgame here is to keep my family warm.
http://www.propexheatsource.com/heaters/hs2000-furnace/
As for the VS exhaust and headers it was a personal choice as I really like the sound and according to John at aircooled.net these headers allow better airflow. I'm running 914 heads which I believe have larger intake and exhaust ports. I have read that some folks do not like the noise these put out. We shall see. |
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Abscate Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014 Posts: 22573 Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 8:43 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Are you going to winter camp? 6000 BTU is a huge heater for a bus and that will keep you warm at the Arctic Circle.
Above freezing, its warm sleeping bags and body heat for us. _________________ .ssS! |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2016 9:19 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Abscate wrote: |
Above freezing, its warm sleeping bags and body heat for us. |
Yup for this season that's exactly our setup . Honestly need to think about it some more when the time comes. I'm open to any and all suggestions. Right now my priorities are finishing up metal work, paint blend, reassemble interior, engine build and brakes. |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 1:07 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Its been a busy 6 weeks since I last updated. More and more surprises along the way, but I am finally turning that corner.
Front brakes done. I usually lay out all of the parts and clean any hardware that may be re-used. I had issues with receiving wrong parts, etc, but worked through that.
Zimmerman rotors and NOS pads
New rear drums
Rear laid out
Before I could put it all together it was time to clean and paint. Tons of sand and mud everywhere.
Painted with my favorite, Eastwood chassis black. Super gummy tough stuff. Yeah I know it should be yellow but I prefer the black.
The 72 has a 1 year only rear brake setup. The albatross! I finally got all the right parts and put it together.
Next I thought, hey you need some new shocks since there was NO SHOCK on the passenger side, what the hell. So I started on what I thought would be a simple job and quickly learned the upper captive nut was spinning free. Oh fantastic, lets pull the tank to get to that. Well, I had to anyway, so now its clean and ready for re-install.
Forgot to mention got my Hankook LT tires mounted and wheels painted.
Once the tank was out, I could cut very small access holes and re-weld the captive nut. I decided to do this on both sides because the time is now.
Random fun thing. Restored my power since I had to remove it to fix the long panel/rocker. I found a sticker that was as close looking as the original, but a little different.
Back to metal work. Finished the lower nose which was worse than I thought.
Welded the floor, b pillars, rear wheel wells, it just felt never-ending once I dug in. But its all done and seam sealed.
Next up was the inner rocker on the sliding door side.
Then the sliding door track. Here is a tricky one. I had to slightly alter the track so it wouldn't bind towards the a-pillar. I came up with an idea. I decided to leave a chunk of the track on the left and right of the opening to define my height. It ended up working great. The door opens and shuts great, but could use a door "tune-up", go through the cam, rollers, etc.
Also patched the drain hole that one of the previous owners hacked, and patched with a piece of gutter and loads of filler. I won't be using the stock fridge/sink combo, but rather a period correct coleman refrigerator.
Started getting my engine parts. My carbs turned out really nice.
And last, but definitely not least, I have all of the parts back from the machine shop and various vendors to do my build. I will not build my engine until I am 100% done metal work, paint touch up, interior and roof assembly so I can have a nice clean organized garage and the right focus. Its just how I need to think or I get overwhelmed and make mistakes.
This was very expensive for me. I changed my strategy and consulted with Greg at Fat Performance who I think is a hell of a guy and set me straight. I will run his cam, lifters, and type 1 HD springs with stock keepers, along with the rest of my setup. Heads have new valves, guides, seats and look amazing too. Case is so clean I have to keep it covered in plastic.
More on that later. But I will stay at it and try to update more regularly. |
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chabanais Samba Member
Joined: July 27, 2002 Posts: 4866
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 2:23 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Nice. Love the color. _________________ "I spud therefore I yam." |
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mark d Samba Member
Joined: February 06, 2013 Posts: 219 Location: Costa Rica
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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2016 8:27 pm Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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really enjoying your thread. good luck _________________ 1972ish westfalia
"what good are tractors without violins ?" jose figueres |
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2016 3:14 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Thanks mark_d and chabanais, appreciate you guys checking it out.
Next up is the cab floor. Which actually isn't all that bad for a Northeast bus.
Cut out the rust and made a patch.
I was going to take a short cut and just do a section of flat steel, but then I remembered, I had a chunk of floor pan laying around from welding a floor into a dune buggy from a side job. So I grafted in the pressed section I needed into my patch to match the contour of the original floor.
Laid it in place
Welded it in
Here is a shot of the main cabin after I "schmootzed" the seam sealer. I may have gotten carried away but hey it won't leak. This all gets covered up with my wood floor which comes later after prime and paint. Take note of the random b-pillar repairs, they were both rusted out there because they were PACKED with mouse nonsense. I had to hose, scrape, etc to get them clean.
Last here is a shot of my vintage coleman icebox I picked up from a good friend this weekend. I prefer the icebox because its actually smaller and yet it has more storage for food. Plus you can easily pick it up and move it outside if you have a large group hanging at your bus.
Period correct hah, coleman = July 71, bus = June 72
Couple closer shots.
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 1:36 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Next up was to patch an area on the drivers side floor. Again I decided to graft in the pressing section of the beetle floor I had as a scrap.
The battery tray was too far gone to do a patch, so I bought this tray from Klokkerholm. I had to strip the paint and reshape the corners because it was made so poorly.
Now its autokraft!
And my 6 year old daughter helped make this puzzle, comparing old to new.
Here she is keeping busy on a wood track I built racing the Beetle Tonkas. Had to share how I keep them busy and not catch heat from the wife My son is causing trouble somewhere in the yard too.
Ok back to the battery tray...
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Schwing Samba Member
Joined: May 10, 2009 Posts: 2506 Location: Centreville, MD
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 1:49 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Next up was the b-pillars and the seat belt mounts.
Driver side:
Pass side:
Always save your Gerson scraps. They are gold.
Took a break from welding to put on my Westfalia decal. I don't think its correct for 72 but I really like it and don't care.
Also bought a bug screen at the last show for $20 and it had one bad snap, and my bus was missing about 5 upper buttons. Bought a kit on just kampers and now back in business.
Wheel well patch, unavoidable if you replace your inner rocker.
Dogleg
Amazing how bad the rust is once you wire wheel it:
No filler, but needs a skim
Primed the cabin and front floor. Later realized it was a stupid move to use Rustoleum Primer, so thats now stripped off.
And last a quick sneak peak of the vinyl floor I picked up yesterday. My wife and I weren't trying to match the wood panels, just a contrast in the same family. Whatcha think? (This will go on the new plywood subfloor I need to cut, thanks to the mice destroying the other one).
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Pinetops Samba Member
Joined: March 24, 2007 Posts: 2987
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Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2016 2:23 am Post subject: Re: 72 Westy - first bus |
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Nice work! I'm enjoying the updates. The flooring looks pretty good from here. _________________ "A rolling bus gathers no rust." |
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Sloride Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2002 Posts: 925
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