Hell In A Bucket! WildIdea's 1977 Sage Green Westy

[WildIdea]

Looking over my pile of parts spread out and getting it sorted. The plan is to get this stuff test fit and see how it's all going to set together and start making adjustments as needed.

Old cooler gets seals and mounted.

The carbs have been gone through and are all prettied up. These are the Webers Brian has been holding onto for just such a build and I'm pleased he selected my project for them to service. They're probably happy to finally be off the shelf too.

Fan housing comes into play all set up with new cooling boot and whatnot. It's finish is raw and I expect it to season in nicely over time with a natural weathered look from bits of oil and grim that get wiped off. I'm planning on driving this bus and have accepted this is all gonna get dirty someday and this won't be the last time I detail the ride.

This beast is looking larger all the sudden.

Some of the first tin is getting a test fit. I went with gloss black thinking it would show with the inevitable oil and dirt better. Now I'm thinking a matte finish might have been a better choice, but I can live with this. I have to really. We'll see how it looks in the vehicle. It may look great or not be a big deal at all.

The crankcase breather pops on with a satisfying snap of the locking bail. That little piece took a whole week to detail and now here it is setting all proud on its own little pedestal. It's such a great feeling of a many step project coming to its conclusion. This project is getting traction like never before.

A quick peak at the inside of the bored out and machined intake manifolds. We had to get the tin around them trimmed up a tiny bit, but other than that, they pretty much bolt right on. I would think a gasket would go in here but I guess not if the surfaces are perfectly flat and smooth.

A step back and just take it in. These parts go on and off a few times for some minor adjustments, mostly around the mounting bolts and where the tin clears, dressing it up just right so it looks clean.

Again, this is a mock up. Were getting familiar with the systems, especially the cooling flaps and the motor mount and get all caught up with what order all this goes together. I'm so glad I'm here to "help" and learn as it all goes together. It's a huge help in understanding how all the components talk to each other. I visualize it like organs in a body. When one fails it taxes the next and harmony with each is strived for.

[WildIdea]

A list is forming on things to do and complete as well as bits to locate, etc, but were having fun now. We press on to see how this is all gonna look.

Being were not running the heater boxes, I'm thinking of some way to get these passages sealed up.

That's something to work on soon, but for tonight we get back to trial mounting the carbs and linkage. This stuff is looking neat on here. Brian walks me through the steps to get them aligned and working together. I may have to hear that a few more times before it sticks. We throw the filters on just for a look see.

I thought this looked big when the fan shroud went on. I say, just hold that exhaust up there so I can get a picture of what we dealing with. What a beast!

These pics go around the circle of friends pretty fast. Everybody has been pushing for us and were pretty excited. Still lots to address, but we have our own set of instructions and a list to tackle. It's gonna go pretty fast from here. I've got stuff to order like some seals and a head temp gauge and probably a tach from Dakota Digital.

Brian always likes to break in his engines himself and put about 500 miles on them before he delivers them. To seat the rings proper and chase any leaks and whatnot. I get that. He's attached to this project in a big way. He has a buggy he can mount the motor in but were thinking mounting the engine in the bus and just letting him drive the miles himself in that. He says, normally he would be OK with that but he's nervous about driving my bus as clean as it is now. Thinks I should be the first one to drive it. I said, I trust you man and you deserve to drive it as much as me, just don't be the first to camp in her! We decide that when both the bus and the motor are ready, we'll trailer the bus to his house and mount it there and let him drive it to work etc. for the break in.

We slow it down a touch now. Kev wants me over to get the pop top painted and Brian needs some time to get the motor details completed, so we head back to our corners and get our noses back to what we each do best.

[riverside66]

Yeeeeaaaa man, this is the fun stuff for sure! Lookin good!

You may be interested in the CB Performance weblink kit. It's inexpensive, and it adds a spring to the other end of the throttle on one of the carbs, therefore making it a bit more like true right/left carbs. It also supposedly reduces the twist flex that can occur on the throttle shaft of the carb with the spring on the back.

Interestingly enough, it looks like CB Perf may have discontinued this cool little item (they list it as NLA on their site). I JUST bought mine from them just a few months back (if that) so that's a very recent change...

Aircooled.net has them still though: http://vwparts.aircooled.net/WebLink-Web-Link-Weber-IDF-Carburetor-p/weblink.htm

Also, you prob have a plan in place already for using that (really nicely cleaned up) crankcase breather, but you might find it a bit difficult to locate a proper hose to hook up to it. If you plan on venting to one of the carbs, you might find it easier to use one of the breathers from a '72 - '74 bus, like this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/VW-Bus-breather-box-can-c...mp;vxp=mtr

This is almost a perfect fit with one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Air-Filter-Fitting-Nylon-...mp;vxp=mtr

I hated that plastic look, so I painted mine gunmetal before using them. Just my bargain basement $.02

Love watching this build, so keep 'em coming!
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1977 Standard Beetle -Sold-
1979 Transporter - "Wheatbread" -Sold-

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

Back at the homestead I had been tinkering with what I could in the engine bay checking the final things off the list.

One of the last pieces is the Blaze Cut fire suppression tube. I wasn't sure what size I was going to go with but was thinking the 6 foot would be about right. My Dad wasn't familiar with this at the time and my parents had gotten a new refrigerator for their house and were handing down their old one to me for one of the shops and in our discussions my Mom suggested I get Dad one of those for his old car for the fridge. That's a sweet deal and we ordered a 6 footer for him thinking I'd hold it up in mine just to see before I ordered one for me. When it came we decided the 6 foot length was fine and I ordered a pair for my buses.

My Dad's project car is a 37 Chevy and it has double wing like engine lids and the Blaze Cut mounted on its rails sets pretty much right there in your face. I asked him if that bugged him. He said heck no! Makes me look like I'm taking care of business. Right on. Someone's Nova burnt completely in front of everyone last year at a downtown car show last year, so it's not just buses that are prone. You know we take fire suppression seriously and it's really cheap insurance.

I showed this pic to someone and they said that light in there looks pretty cool. Ha! I wish, I said, but it's fire suppression. I will have to get some light in there though at some point.

I also address the pealing paint on the roof with some Por 15 and don't even paint it over. I just didn't want to forget about the spot and it was the right temperature for the application that day.

Brian said the alternator pulley was installed backwards by the battery shop that refreshed it. Said it was stuck on pretty good. I'm glad he was dealing with it, me not having the proper tool I surely would have damaged something in frustration. Looks like things are lining up pretty nicely now.

There were some clearing issues with the exhaust tubes hitting one of the pushrod tubes a tiny bit. He said he marked the exhaust and took it to work where on his lunch break he heated it up with a torch and put the proper dent in the pipe with the side of a socket. Just needed about a ¼ inch of gap to not bind. Its stuff like this that he's working through, but although he's being thorough it's getting finished up pretty quickly.

It was finally time to get after the pop top. I certainly didn't want Brian to be waiting on me over this and Kev was all ready to go, so he came over early one day and we unbolted the top and walked it over and set it into my truck bed. A stout strap and it's off to Kevin's booth.

We knew from the beginning that someday we would get into this, it's just that we all knew it wasn't essential gear. Now it's pretty much down to this and why not? Were not into putting stuff off at this stage and it just worked out.

The condition was pretty much exposed fibers and we wanted to get it sanded, primed and painted with as many steps as necessary to get it smooth. I didn't want to walk by it one day and see fiber textures anymore.

We get it staged and start to peal the old rotted and rusty weather strips off the edges. Just more junk to chip off this baby. Feels good.

I take a side and Kevin the other and we just start sanding the first cut. Him with an orbital and me by hand focusing on the inside corners. Thankless work. I hope to never do this again and we swear it'll be our last top refresh as fiberglass is just the worst. We wear masks and gloves and I even tape my gloves to my shirt sleeves.

I bet we worked 5 hours just sanding this piece together. We focus on the sides but we really get the whole thing pretty decent. We say, if this is our last one , let's make it the best one ! I for sure pealed back skin from my nails on at least three fingers and literally worked them the bone. Kevin too. It was nice though to just rock out and visit some the whole time. Really, working on the Westy is overall enjoyable and good clean fun even during the worst of projects. I really wanted to get out of my contaminated clothing and into the shower, but we wanted to get a coat of high build primer on before we called it a day.

We wash the pieces and wipe them down several times until we're convinced it and the room are mighty clean and get some grey high build primer with hardener all mixed up and ready to shoot. Kev lets me blast them and after we clean up the spray gun we finally call it a day to let dry overnight. We make arrangements to meet again the same time in the morning to start sanding all over again. We need to hustle as Kev needs to get other projects going that can't set outside very long and I have a long work week looming too. Fine with me. It will be great to have this knocked out.

[Xevin]

Damn dude, I haven’t been following this closely. Skimmed a little. But next time I go for a good read. It will be this. Looks awesome and reminds me of Eche bus. Just don’t go selling this bus prematurely. I need good time action shots
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Keep on Busin'

[Hoody]

I have been watching the engine build and am curious what gauges you’re going to use to monitor your new engine. With the flat tops what is your CR? There was a pic of all of the parts laid out and it looked like your builder changed his mind and installed an aluminum cam gear on the new cam. I hope that was the case. Reusing a mag cam gear is playing Russian roulette and it will fail. With the high CR from the flat tops, no heater boxes to aid in heat shedding, I surely hope your builder enlightened you on the importantance of CHT’s. Gauges only cost a few more hundred and will be the difference between realizing an issue and catostrophic failure. Just a thought.

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

[klubbs]

Great work and attention to detail !

[Hoody]

You may want to consider going to all DD gauges. You can set them to flash at a particular temp so you know your in a dangerous situation. They are ambient temperature compensated so they are waaaay more accurate at the actual temps. If you bought a vdo tach there is a ring you can buy to surround it and it will fit perfectly where you’re clock would mount.

[WildIdea]

Back in the paint booth bright and early the next morning to sand and paint some more. Kev and I reconvene across from each other in silence and slowly break in the finger soreness from the previous days bitter sanding session. I banged the tips to smithereens yesterday and thats not a good thing for a tattoo artist, but I can keep that to myself and just push through it.

Our goal is to sand and prime again, take lunch, sand and clean the piece and shoot a sealer and paint over the sealer before the end of the day. It seems that if the temps and humidity are in our favor the dry times for the primer are just under two hours to sand.

The high build primer shows up dark grey in some pictures and turns lighter when dry and almost white when sanded. That stuff works pretty well filling in the small imperfections and sands pretty quick, but its hard to know when to quit. Kev and I start orbiting the piece, going over each others spots cleaning up what the other guy missed.

Total sanding party.....and after a few hours we decide its probably as good as we can get it, but with some renewed vigor we hit around the edges and the places it will show the most one last time. When you think the long lid has got you whooped and you start getting into the smaller angles of the luggage rack you quickly wish you were back on that piece.

Finished first primer sanding and pre second primer coat.

Finally we hit it again with a 2nd solid coat of high build and leave for lunch wondering if were getting anywhere. It seems like it looks just the way we left it last night.

We take a long lunch and putter around the shop waiting for it to flash and harden enough to sand on one more time. I wouldn't know how to describe the emotions surrounding the project, but its a cross between a pitiful dirty job wearing an uncomfortable mask, joyfully polishing a part of the beloved vehicle, and imagining it finished setting high atop a pristine bus. Paying some dues for a higher outcome.

When the piece seemed ready, we tested to see if the paper was binding up and it wasn't, so again, we set to sanding the piece all over. Kevin is cussing me out by now, but we have a system and walk it through the steps pretty methodically this time and in a few hours it's all set to shoot some sealer and then finally paint. Whew!

Supposedly, the sealer works better if the paint goes on when it's tacky and no later than several hours, but not overnight, or it would need sanded again. Basically, we shoot it and by the time we're done fiddling around with the spray gun and setting up the final paint mix it'd flashed and is ready to cover.

Again, Kev lets me do the final squirt and says if it gets a run it will be my fault. I don't mind, I would prefer to spray it myself actually. His HVLP gun is dreamy and super fun to use. Way nicer than my Walmart special. Explodes the paint in a bazillion tiny particles that take off in a prefect fan. Builds up super even and no fear of getting a run as it tacks up pretty quick and flows in just right. Looks like what we were hoping to see.

And were out! Way more exhausted than the day before even, but it's done for now. I think we bailed on the project for a few days just to let it gas off enough to get a ratchet strap back on it and frankly, although stoked, we should really step away and heal those fingers.

[WildIdea]

[Jack_O_Trades]

I've been following this thread for a short period. Your posts are inspiring. It's one of the build threads on this forum that has inspired me to get off my butt and get back to work on my bus after sitting for two years. Your attention to detail has also inspired me to do things for my bus that I never really thought about (specifically cleaning up the wiring).

Since the topic of aftermarket gages came up, this is what I did for my bus. I didn't want to carve up my dash, and I have a radio installed in the dash

Here is the tach bracket

And here is what I ended up doing with my additional gauges

[BUSBOSS]

Nice job! Is there a reason why you left the luggage tie-down cleats in while painting?
_________________
All the redemption I can offer, girl, is beneath this dirty hood
1976 Westfalia
1970 Karmann Ghia Convertible (sold - but not forgotten)

[Hoody]

I forgot to mention in my last post that you should seriously consider treating your fan shroud with Gibbs Brand. Magnesium oxidizes VERY quickly. It was coated from the factory with some seriously toxic stuff. I am guessing you had yours blasted. You don’t want to leave it raw. I polished mine then applied the Gibbs Brand. The fan shroud will patina to a nice dull gray. It’s similar to a penetrating oil. You can just brush it on. Has to be recoated once or twice a year. Very easy to do. It gets into the pores and seals out water. I cleaned my tranny to bare metal and used it on that as well. Both have magnesium in the alloys that VW used to make the fan shroud and tranny. You will be very pleased with the results. Otherwise your shroud is going to oxidize really fast and you will have a powdery mess on your hands. Also consider replacing your original footman loops on the luggage rack with stainless loops and hardware. They won’t bleed onto your new paint job. One more thing with the luggage rack. Get the seal from the BD with the bulb. The other one is useless. No need to notch the seal the water will find its way out.

[WildIdea]

Jack_O_Trades wrote

"Since the topic of aftermarket gages came up, this is what I did for my bus. I didn't want to carve up my dash, and I have a radio installed in the dash"


Thanks for posting! Your gauge pod is Killer! Nicely done friend. That is an effort way past functional and very aestetic.

Like has been mentioned, I like the idea of putting the Tach into the clock area and yours looks great in there. As neat as it looks to have a vintage cassette player in the dash my plan for the stereo is to have it and the speakers mostly hidden and something I can dial in with my phones playlists, freeing up the hole for gauges. Not as innovative as what you are doing. Cool thing here is, one can change it up as you go without much damage to the dash.

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

I've always liked the saying that "If you don't have time to do it right, you sure don't have time to do it again!" That always rings through my mind when making decisions on the bus. There are so many different ways to tackle each circumstance. Just not one way to do any of this and it depends a lot on the individual pieces on the bus. Take mine for example. Pretty clean OG paint that survived and a roached out interior and Kev is working over one that needs rust and paint repair and has a totally Gem interior. Still, they all seem to have some areas that never escape damage, but after that it's chaos. For me, there is a huge learning curve and sometimes I fumble and have to redo stuff but I try not to get locked up with fear of doing something less than optimum and sometimes I just have to think for myself. Ultimately, the decisions are the prerogative of the owner.

I'm not out to be recommending anything with this thread, just showing what we did and what seemed to work for me and what did not. Time will tell if they were wise or not. Sometimes I can be a total bonehead, so that's why this is not a motor build thread or a tutorial.

We thought we were jamming before but now that all three of us are involved at the same time, it's really moving along. Brian is getting ready to prime and test the motor on his end and Kev and I are wrapping up the lid and getting it back to my house to reinstall and tent.

Seals and stickers are the fun part and now its looking dolled up so we load it up and get it back to my house.

We put some old foam under the strap just in case and it travels well. Problem is, I don't really have anywhere to put if for now, so it goes into the den on the coffee table. I still need to pull the tack strip and get all that prepped. It seems the velvet on the lid is pretty intact although a touch dirty where the opening is. I vacuum it a bit an get the loose material sucked up and I'm pleased it's as nice as it is. I can't imagine figuring out how to respray that stuff. probably needs its own spray gun. Pulling the tacks from the strips is slow and one needs leather gloves for this, ask me how I know.

The luggage rack is fun to install. Gloves on for between the headliner this time!! Looking decent up there. Honestly, I was worried it would look too shiny being I'm running my OG paint with all its blemishes. Maybe it will wear in fast and start to match up to the patina.

It's back to bus parts taking over the house and this piece is ridiculous. It basically becomes a 10X5 ft coffee table and my family adapts rather nicely! This is life at the house for a week or so. Movie night with a Westy top and a perfect Lego deck for building on.

As tolerant as these guys are I can't go on with this for long and it motivates me to take it to the next step. Were looking at the weather and my next free day or two with crossed fingers....