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A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:22 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

As promised, let's get to the paint.

So, a lot of props must go out to my friend Dave. Dave is a VW fanatic. He owns a couple of really cool split window buses. In fact, that is how we met. I saw him pulling up to a local big box store one day and struck up a conversation. After that, I would drop in and chat with Dave from time to time about a couple of his projects and we would trade stories etc. I was bringing my bus home from the bodyshop one night and stopped in at Dave's, on the way to the house. I asked him if he would consider painting the bus for me. You see, Dave works for a different paint and body shop...and he's pretty damn good at what he does! Dave has done what so many of us long to do with our families. Several years ago, he dropped out and took off, out west, with his family to go camping and exploring. Grand canyon, nature reserves, national parks, the whole enchilada. His kids, now grown, still speak fondly of the trip. I had been telling him for years how I would love to be able to do the same...maybe not on the same scale, but certainly to be able to get my children out into the woods and enjoying nature. I think Dave could sense my genuine desire to do so. However, he politely told me that he really wasn't interested in doing "side-work" as he really didn't need it. I told him that I understood and asked him to call me if he thought he might ever consider it. Now, you may or may not have heard, but 2017 was an extremely busy hurricane season for us in Florida. This was a real PITA. However, it did present one bright opportunity. I think it may have lent itself to helping get my bus in to the booth. Several weeks after I spoke to Dave, I received a text message asking "year of manufacture and VIN?" My first reaction and text was "it's a '74 and I don't know the VIN off the top of my head, why?" I get the same question in response, along with a note that tells me "you can find the VIN number on your registration..." Yes, thank you, I'm well aware, however, I'm nowhere near my bus or the registration, so I tell Dave, "I'll have to get it to you later. What are you up to?" It turns out that the shop had a new manager and Dave was getting approval to do work after hours. SWEEEEEEET!!!! I was hoping and praying everything would work out. The following day, I got another text that asked if I still wanted to paint the bus? Ummmm, yes please!!! So I decided to call Dave. He told me what the ground rules were to be. 1) We're going to paint the bus. 2) You've got to be here tomorrow (Friday night) after work and 3) We have to be done by Sunday afternoon. OK! Let's do this! I called my wife and explained what was going on. I basically told her that I was going to be very scarce that weekend. I am so thankful I am married to the woman I am! She said, "Sweet, hurry up and get it done!"

I showed up at Dave's work, at 5:30, Friday night. We had the bus in the booth by 5:45 and started working on her:
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We had to formulate a plan of attack. Dave had another really cool guy, Jordan come and help out. We decided that we would do the interior, the first night and handle the exterior the following day. Jordan sprayed a guide coat on the outside, while I disassembled the doors and anything else that neede to be removed. Dave finished prepping and taping:
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It doesn't sound like much, but as with nearly everything else on these vehicles, it all starts to add up. By the time we finished all the prep and got her ready to spray, it was already nearing midnight:
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Holy cow...there's color going on!!! So pumped!!! Very Happy Cool
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I got home and was in bed by about 2 am. Needless to say, I went to bed with a very broad grin upon my face, even knowing what was yet to come, the following day!
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 5:35 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

The next day was like being a kid on Christmas morning. I couldn't wait to get back to the shop to see what previous night's efforts looked like. We agreed to get over to the shop for 9 am, as we knew we had a lot left to do. I was so stoked to see what I found when I got there!

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Wow...just Wow!!!
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WildIdea
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 6:18 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Super cool, turned out great inside. Gonna be fun to build up on from there.
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notchboy
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 8:01 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

white74westy wrote:
notchboy wrote:
Looking good. Keep up the good work! It will encourage me to finish mine. Cool


Thanks for the encouragement Jason! So many of your projects have served as motivation, especially the '74 tintop! Can't wait to see her when she's done!

I hope this thread will do the same for others.

Later
a.




Keep pushing through brother Cool
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OK, this thread is over. You win.

Jason "notchboy" Weigel
1964 1500 S
1964 T34 S Convertible
1977 Westfalia Camper pop-top
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PostPosted: Sun Feb 18, 2018 10:27 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Looking fresh in there! Can't wait to see the finished product!
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 1:26 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

WildIdea wrote:
Super cool, turned out great inside. Gonna be fun to build up on from there.


Thanks man! Been a blast so far! One thing I've been agonizing over is the interior wood panels. I can't find any formica that is remotely close to the early bay coloring. I think I've decided to put the originals back in place for the time being, until I can find something that makes me happier. In a way, I kinda feel like I want to save some of the used/lived in look. I don't want to rob her of her history. We'll see. Cool
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PostPosted: Mon Feb 19, 2018 2:16 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

With the unwrapping completed, we had to quickly return to work...and there was A LOT of work done on Saturday. It was a really long, marathon day of doing final sanding and prepping on the exterior, in the hopes that we could get her back in the booth. As such, I have very few pictures of the day's progress. The three of us literally worked all day prepping all the pieces that needed paint. In fact, about 4:30-5:00ish, Dave says something like..."if we don't get her in the booth by 8:00 tonight, we'll probably have to come back tomorrow to try and finish her up." Ok, challenge accepted! We all dig deep and keep working. Bear in mind, that until you've tried to prep a car with this much surface area, you can't quite possibly imagine the number of hours that go into these things! Finally, right around 8:15ish, we start getting close.

We got doors, engine hatch, rear hatch, slider, rear panel covers hung in one booth:

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In the next booth, we have the pop top, luggage rack, bumper brackets, over riders, and bumpers, prepped and ready to go:

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Then of course, we finally roll the bus into the third booth. Keep in mind that the fatigue levels at this point are pretty high! In fact, that would be putting it lightly. We had all already worked a full week, all of Friday night, into the early hours of Saturday morning, long enough to go home, take a shower, get some sleep and do it all over again, all day Saturday. It's now about 10:00pm ish. We're feeling fairly accomplished. Jarod looks at me, looks at Dave and says, "you know, we're here, why don't we go ahead and finish prepping the bus, so that its ready to go for tomorrow?" We all begrudgingly agree and start prepping the bus.

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Nearly two hours later, we're ready to go!!! There was lots of back taping and prep, so that there would be no tape lines. These guys really know there stuff and I think it shows! Their skills and efforts were amazing to witness! Well...as things would have it, once again, Jarod leans over and says, "well you know, everything is ready to go, why don't we just paint it and get it over with?" Dave looks at me wide-eyed and says "dude, I'm beat. I've been beat since 4:30!" It was clear that Dave was ready to call it a night! I can't say I blame him. I was pretty cashed out too. Jarod isn't having it and says "tell you what...rock paper scissors. I win, we paint it tonight. You win, you get to take your sleepy ass home to bed." Amazingly, Dave doesn't hesitate and agrees to the terms. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Dave wins. Jarod says, "hang on dude. it's best of three." They shoot again, and Jarod wins. Unbelieveable, we're tied one a piece and the final shoot is going to decide if we stay or go. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot! Jarod wins!!! The look on Dave's face is priceless. He's pissed! I start in on them and say something like, "look dude, let's just go home. We can come back in the morning to finish up." Dave's not having it..."Nope! I lost fair and square." something along the lines of "F you (to Jarod), F you (to me) and F you (to the bus)! Now let's paint" I've got images of Eddie Murphy in coming to America running through my head:

****Careful 18 and over please!!!***
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaKj9iISQUE

As all that is playing out in my head, I'm telling him "listen man, I don't want you all tired and crabby, painting my bus, all pissed and ready to be somewhere else!" He assures me not to worry. He wants it done, just as bad as the rest of us. So the deal was that the two of them would sling the paint, and my job was to make sure that they never ran out. I would go between booths and ensure that their guns remained full of paint. They started laying down color around midnight:

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Man it was so much fun watching all the hours of work leading up to these moments! Aweseome!!!!
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Watching these two work was amazing! Anyone that thinks there's nothing to painting a vehicle properly is gravely mistaken and only fooling themselves! I'm not saying it can't be done. However, doing it and doing it well are completely different things all together!
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:32 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

After everything was said and done, paint guns cleaned etc. it was time to head home. I got home some time after 3:00 am. Grabbed a quick bite, hopped in the shower and crashed, some time around 5:00am! Completely spent...but still beaming! What I had witnessed was awesome and I couldn't wait to get back to the booth on Sunday to see how things had turned out! We decided to get a little rest before we headed back in. I think we agreed to be there around 11:00am if memory serves. From there it was Christmas all over again...two days in a row! Absolute permagrin. Pretty ridiculous actually. I've been cheesing ever since, but a little more controlled these days! Laughing

The three of us dragged ourselves up there and got to work, putting her back together. Every door, and hatch was carefully hung, so that I could drive her back home. All the other bits and bobs went inside the bus, neatly wrapped like gifts to be opened later. After a few hours, we were done! My neighbor came by with a trailer and took the pop top and the luggage rack home, so I didn't have to try and mount it over the fresh paint.

I only got a couple of shots of her with Dave, just before I pulled out of the bay, on the way home:
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One of the coolest cats I know. Totally helped make dreams come true!

A couple of days later...she is tucked away, back in the garage, waiting to be put back together:
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Not even going to lie. There were many times that I would go out to the garage and stare at her. It was awesome (still is awesome) to walk by her and see her in all her beauty. I still get a big grin all over my face, when I open the garage door! There I said it, and I'm not ashamed of saying it! Laughing Any of you that won't admit to the same feelings are probably not being truthful! Razz Cool
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:35 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

oakman wrote:
Looking fresh in there! Can't wait to see the finished product!


Thanks dude...Me either! Laughing

All kidding aside, thank you for the shout out. It has been a lot of fun documenting the journey. I hope it is enjoyable and inspires others to do the same. It has been extremely rewarding, not to mention a couple of decades in the making!

Later
a.
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 5:37 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

notchboy wrote:




Keep pushing through brother Cool


I'm getting there bro. It would be pretty cool if we could get the two '74's together someday. I think it would make for some cool pictures!

a.
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:10 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Looks like a million bucks! I like how you guys just pushed it through. The white body with blue plaid is one of my favorite color combos too!

I can totally relate to not getting enough looks at her from the garage door.
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71whitewesty
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 7:56 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Wow, looks awesome. Looks like you guys did a great job. I feel your excitement! Very Happy
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orwell84
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 20, 2018 8:55 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Nice work. Sometimes you need to take your time and sometimes you just have to get it done. True wisdom is knowing when. Your bus looks super and I enjoyed reading the whole story. I also have owned my bus for a long time (since 1990) and am slowly getting it ready for paint. What kind of paint did you use?
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:54 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

WildIdea wrote:
Looks like a million bucks! I like how you guys just pushed it through. The white body with blue plaid is one of my favorite color combos too!

I can totally relate to not getting enough looks at her from the garage door.


Thanks dude! The work has been totally worth the reward. I know you're aware of it. I've been having fun watching your progress. The contrast between the colors is amazing. Oddly enough, after I spend any amount of time around any of these buses, I really fall in love with all the color combos. There's just something different about the color palates of yesteryear.

Oh, and by the way, I still sneak peaks, as often as I can! Smile
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 11:58 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

71whitewesty wrote:
Wow, looks awesome. Looks like you guys did a great job. I feel your excitement! Very Happy


Thank you sir! I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, so far. I'm hoping to get her reliable enough to begin taking nice long road trips with the family. Like so many others, I eagerly await your vacation videos with your family, as I hope to do similar things. They serve as a great source of inspiration.

a.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 12:05 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

orwell84 wrote:
Nice work. Sometimes you need to take your time and sometimes you just have to get it done. True wisdom is knowing when. Your bus looks super and I enjoyed reading the whole story. I also have owned my bus for a long time (since 1990) and am slowly getting it ready for paint. What kind of paint did you use?


Thank you! That is what I've hoped for all along, is that people are as jazzed as I am about seeing another bus get cleaned up and hopefully, many more years of memories made! Having owned her for as long as I have, I find a strange sentimental value that I have placed on owning her. Its just been a part of my life for so long, that I cannot imagine it any other way. I just chuckle when people ask me If I'm interested in selling it.
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PostPosted: Wed Feb 21, 2018 1:37 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

After working on the bus all weekend, I had to return to the grind and go back to work. The entire week, I would walk by the bus and gawk at her, on the way out. Ridiculous! I had to wait an entire week before I could get started again. It was probably a good thing, taking a little time off. It gave me time to sit back and enjoy the fruits of my labor to this point, as well as the ability to formulate my plan of attack. My gameplan was simple. I wanted to start at the top and work my way down. First up would be getting the tent mounted to the fiberglass top and then of course the top to the bus. I still have the original "green" tent that came with the bus and took a bunch of pictures of it before I removed it, so that I would remember how to put it back in:
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I don't want to bore people to death, but there are several more pictures (much the same) in my gallery, showing the tent as it was installed by the factory.

It is too bad that my original tent wasn't in better shape! I would have loved to use it again. Alas, there was just a little too much mileage on it and it was beyond repair. I called REI to see if they would be willing to patch the tent. They would, however, they wanted to be sure that the fabric was strong enough to withstand the repair process. The trick is to fold the fabric over and tear it, like you would a piece of junk mail, you were getting ready to put in the recycling can. If the material rips, then it is considered too weak to reuse. I was totally bummed out that mine would not pass the test, as I love the original color...UV is really tough on this stuff!

Holes that needed to be patched:
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Zippers that needed to be repaired:
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Such a beautiful color:
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Onwards! I ordered the best I could, which was the OE German tent, from Bus Depot. It is machined beautifully and I hope will last for many years to come. I took a rough measurement of the crease on the original tent and made a little jig to help me when it came time to install the new tent. I marked off 11/16" on a piece of 2 x 4 plywood:
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I then lined up the seem with marking on the 2X4:
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Got a used piece of Ivory soap to mark the edge:
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This is what you're left with:
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From there it is very simple. Take the tent and lay it inside the pop top. The stitched seem will be pointing up towards the sky. You will then place the soap line down towards the fiberglass poptop, where it meets the piece of lumber you'll be stapling to. The soap line should still be visible to you. If you have put the soap line in, where you can't see it, you've done it wrong. Then, take the white plastic trim pieces and lay them over the tent. Take a look at the picture of the old tent and copy the layout:
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See how the plastic trim piece lays on top of the tent?
Don't freak out about getting it totally perfect, just close enough. Getting the trim piece in this position is critical, as you don't want it showing once you open the top. In essence the trim piece will be trapped between the outer layer of the tent and the interior of the fiberglass top. Again, I reiterate, it should not be seen once you have opened the top.

Well, as luck would have it, as soon as I started working on the project, it started to rain. I do live in Florida, and this is kinda par for the course Rolling Eyes Naturally, I threw a tarp over the bus and waited for the showers to pass, while I continued to work in the garage:
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Finally got done in time to have a neighbor help me hoist the top back on the bus.
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The fun of attaching the tent to the bus was saved for another day. In fact it was so much fun, that I decided not to take any pictures of the process. In reality, it wasn't nearly as bad as others have made it out to be. I had done a bunch of research and was prepared for the agonies that laid ahead. Yes, getting in the rear corners is a PITA, but if you're methodical, it can go fairly smoothly. One helpful tidbit. I found that using an awl that had a 90 degree bend on the end, made puncturing the tent a lot easier, so that getting the screws in place was also made easier. Anyhow, I think it came out great. I'll post a picture with the pop top extended later.

Got her back in the garage and my youngest co-pilot took a turn at the wheel, in approval of the recent work that had been completed:
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Cool
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 12:49 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

I went to mount the luggage rack back on the bus and realized that I had misplaced a couple of the rubber grommets/spacers that go between it and the top of the bus. Doh! Embarassed

I came up with a fairly simple solution. I went to my local ACE hardware store and searched their stock for rubber stoppers. The top of this one matched the size of the originals:
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From there, I took a utility knife and carefully cut the grommet down to the thickness required:
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Next, grabbed the drill index and matched the nearest size drill bit to the diameter of the hole in the original:
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End result:
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Worked well to keep the top seated correctly.
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PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 1:34 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Now that the pop top and the luggage rack were back in place, I continued to work my way downwards. First step in the process was to install the rebuilt jalousie windows. They went in nicely. I could have reused the original screws, but I decided against it. I sourced some stainless screws from the local hardware store:
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I used the jalousie window rebuild kit from Wolfsburg West. They seem to seal up very nicely to the window, as well as fitting the bus opening properly. I took a picture of the bus as I was putting her away for the night. Notice, still no windshield:
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From there I continued to move to the other side. Got that jalousie mounted as well as the passenger side rear window:
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The final piece of glass to go in that day was the rear:
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It is amazing how nicely things go together when you have the right parts. I bought the German window kit from Bus Depot, several years ago and stored them, until the paint was done. They kept amazingly well! The release agent is still visible and the fit was awesome. I'm very pleased with them to this point.

After all that was done, it was time to rebuild the smoker's window, for the rear of the bus, as well as the vent windows for the front, cab. I started disassembling the smoker's window first:
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A little crusty in the usual spots, but not too terrible. I've seen plenty worse.
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I kept the original rubber, and I'm really glad that I did!!!
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After I had sanded and painted the window, I began to reassemble it. The new rubber was mediocre at best. I'm sure it would have worked fine, but it just didn't feel right. So one Friday evening, while my wife and I were watching a movie, I set up shop in the living room, with a bucket of warm soapy water and a tooth brush and scrubbed the old seal. After I was done, it came out extremely clean, with no rips or tears. Here's the trick. I am sure that it has been mentioned here a bunch, but you should really have some gummi fledge on hand if you're serious about preserving the rubber on your vehicle. I have a friend that works for a dealership, and I was able to buy some from him. You may be able to check with your local VW or BMW dealerships and ask them if they have this:
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It really is amazing stuff!!! I treated the seal and left the excess to sit over night. The following morning, i wiped it off and was amazed by how well the seal looked. It looked brand new! The rubber was supple. I am pleased!
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Now, let's back the truck up a little. I must confess, that the smokers window was taken apart again and redone. I used some rattle can paint, and I was not happy with the way it came out, at all! To begin, the paint never fully cured. What a mess! I pulled everything apart again and sent it over to Richard and Dawn over at PowderTech Plus. I asked them to sandblast the frame as well as the vent windows. Here's what they looked like, when I got them back:
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white74westy
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Joined: May 02, 2011
Posts: 777

white74westy is offline 

PostPosted: Fri Feb 23, 2018 2:09 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

My recent rattle can experience left me knowing that I wasn't going to be happy with the color or finish that was available to me from a box store. I sourced an old VW paint code, which I believe was L43 (gray black). I got one of the local bodyshops to mix and paint the windows.

While I was waiting for the work to be done, I decide to take on one of the stools. I'm not sure why I don't have too many before photos of it, but I just don't. I dug this one up...and as you can see, the material was in pretty sorry shape:
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Oh yeah, don't be jealy of my sippy cup either! Laughing

Anyhow, I started to pull it apart, in the hopes of salvaging whatever I could. I'm a firm believer in the original, plaid, material that was used by VW in these Westys. In fact, you'd be surprised just how nicely they come out, after a gentle cycle wash. Trick is not to dry them in a machine. Just leave them out to air dry. The colors will usually spring back to life, once you've washed out the 40+ years of muck that has worked its way into the fibers. With that in mind, this was beyond being saved. As I mentioned earlier, I have bought pieces in the past, and kept them for just such projects. Here is how things went during the disassembly:
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Here's what the old foam looked like:
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I simply replaced the foam with some 1" high density foam that I bought off Amazon. I cut it to size, along with a piece of the plaid and started stapling:
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I used some 1" gaffers tape to cover the seems:
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I'm pretty stoked with the end result:
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