Byron's '63 Camper

[Pinetops]

A 3m paint and rust stripper wheel followed by a wire wheel should get it pretty clean. That's what I did on my roof, I only have a had a couple small spots come back through, mostly where the paint was a little thin.

This was during the process:

A spot sand blaster setup can be put together pretty cheap at harbor freight if you decide to go that route. Spot blasting is ideal because you can really get the pits good and clean.
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"A rolling bus gathers no rust."

[Gwdghiaguy]

[Pinetops]

Yes, I used a product that contains phosphoric acid. If you don't want to tackle that roof just yet with paint and the whole deal, it will be ok for a while. It is true that "rust never sleeps" but it's not going to get dramatically worse over the course of a few months. I would just plan on giving it some attention at some point. You could also just treat it with some phosphoric acid or naval jelly for now just to try to get the rust to convert and neutralize to some extent.
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"A rolling bus gathers no rust."

[Gwdghiaguy]

I know I'm getting waaaay ahead of myself but I couldn't help it; I had to see what's under all this paint and red primer. Some lacquer thinner and a little elbow grease and here we are:

I'm excited! Like having presents under the tree for the whole year; you know there's something good wrapped up under there but you can't look yet. Or maybe I could just clean off little spots as I get discouraged to keep the momentum going....

And isn't it great that all you need to move an old vw is a riding lawn mower? Here's her home for ever how long it takes.

Going to pick up my mig welder (CL find-a Hobart 140) tomorrow and next week I start learning how to weld (NOT on the bus). Have a great long weekend everyone.

byron
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1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[zuggbug]

Love the Christmas analogy. That gray looks strong. Enjoy the build and thanks for keeping us posted.
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SOUTHERN INTEGRITY AIRCOOLERS
58 15 window
56 westy

[camhead39]

i have a camper like that fully restored.it is an alabama made for mongomery ward or colman mine has valances over the windows. and is a 1967. can send pix to your phone [send phone no.]

[Gwdghiaguy]

[camhead39]

yes there are more to the awning framethose are the ends of the frame.the little brackets are for the vertical post.the canvas is also correct.

[GERMANAIRE]

Very Nice Find!! Some nice goodies in there to. That elbow grease will come in handy on that grey. Keep posting the progress on that paint removal I cant wait to see whats under there. Thanks for sharing, Peter

[Gwdghiaguy]

Spent some time at the rear end today. Went from this:

to this:

Took the pic while the engine cleaner was doing it's thing. Gunk and then the pressure washer before I put in on my engine stand-I hope that will help keep the shop somewhat clean. Cleaning up engines and greasy parts is fun but what a mess. I plan to rebuild the top end and do a good cleaning. I won't mess with the bottom unless something comes up. And I am stoked to see all the tins there; you all know how these things get hacked over the years. I got lucky finding this unmolested bus. Oh and always check that the heater cables are disconnected before you spend 5 minutes tugging on the motor trying to get it loose. I just assumed both cables would be rusted away; one was still there holding on for dear life. But this is only the third engine I've ever pulled so i'm still a novice; laugh away.

And I've spent some time on the rusty spots on the roof-very mild flapper disc and then some rust converter on the bad spots. I'll take some pics of that later. Thanks for reading.

byron
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1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[BarryL]

Nice original bus pressure plate.

[Headliner]

Hi Byron,
Nice bus,
Grey color will look killer!
easy to dust in some color around the rust repair areas.
Keep up the awesome pics cant wait to see the progress

[Gwdghiaguy]

Can someone tell me if this cylinder head is toast or not? And if not what can I do? Thanks!

_________________
1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Gwdghiaguy]

The guys in the engine/performance forum told me not to worry about it. ^^^ But I sent the heads to be machined and the guy is going to fix that along with the exhaust manifold studs that are broken off and I get new valve seats. So I'm waiting on those to get back.

In the meantime I've been busy cleaning cleaning cleaning:

A trip through my cheap Harbour Freight media cabinet (works great with my cheap HF compressor), then some rustoleum primer and semi-gloss black and I have a complete set of engine tins ready to go back in:

Got a rebuild kit coming for this but the membrane looks pretty good so I'll try to stay with that one since everyone complains about the new ones. I'll probably just use the gasket from the kit:

These were just toast.

Was looking to spend big bucks on new ones but I found a couple in my stash that were covered in a half inch of oily grime that was the perfect preservative. An entire Saturday afternoon spent scraping, cleaning, and priming later:

There wasn't one bit of rust on these; one even had og paint in places. Happy I found these; my wife was not impressed until I told her how much money I saved cleaning these up.

A fairly clean engine waiting for heads and new parts:

My carb cleaned up well. Rebuild kit on the way:

Same for the distributor-I think it turned out pretty good:

And then there was the day I got tired of cleaning parts and took off a little yellow paint and red primer:

I'll update in a couple of weeks or so. Thanks for watching!

Byron
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1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Gwdghiaguy]

I've made it to page 140 in the Wilson book! Installing the cooling tins and exhaust. And then I found this:

<loud scream>

Why did I remember to install one but not the other? I'm such an idiot. So let's take this side of the engine apart and put things right. Only took a half hour or so. I was able to get this far because i finally found the correct size piston rings: 83x2.5x2.5x4 :

And my loving wife got me this for an early Christmas gift:

One of my vw friends said "at least that won't rust" Proud of my oil stained thumb and first finger too. Happy Holidays samba community!

byron
_________________
1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[BarryL]

[Gwdghiaguy]

[Gwdghiaguy]

Lacks eleven days being a year since my last post; oh well, you all know that life happens. My 77 Honda 550 has taken up some of that time; messing with my baywindow bus has used up a little and a ruptured Achilles tendon killed June, July, August and most of September. So now I am ready to get back on the camper!

The engine is still on the stand and I took the transaxle out last week to start clean up (this is after several hours of scraping and purple stuff):

I learned that years of grease and grime are the perfect protective coating when I got my baywindow. Should I take the reduction boxes apart and clean all their guts or just go with it?

And since I had everything out I started cleaning up the rear end (it helped that it was 72 and sunny today):

I should have done a before pic. It was pretty nasty. I will try to update things more often now that I have some time. Thanks for reading!
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1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mandraks]

darn, also had 72 degrees, but i spent my day raking 2 acres worth of pinestraw and leaves
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regards

Uli

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'53 3-Fold Oval, L35 Metallic Blue, looking for a narrow hatch panel

[Gwdghiaguy]

Got an early Christmas gift today:

and it only took me three pages to find out what I've been doing wrong all these years:

I've been wearing the wrong clothes. who knew?
_________________
1957 Oval Window
1963 Alabama Camper Bus
1971 Ghia
1971 Baywindow Bus

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!