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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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 Posted: Mon Dec 31, 2018 5:58 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Burlyhammer wrote: |
I miss welding
You shouldn't be denied. Come on by, and I will give you something to weld. I would even be willing to crank up the heat in the shop to 55F  |
I'd be perfectly happy if it were just above freezing! I'm not used to working in such comfortable conditions! Funny you say that though, it was about 55 on Saturday and I took the opportunity to paint the front axle beam. I wish I had time to do the other parts but they just weren't ready .
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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easy e
Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2008
Posts: 3931
Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:55 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| easy e wrote: |
Looks nice!
Are you going to use the red plastic trailing arm bushings? |
The bushings that need the crazy long reamer? I couldn't find a source for replacements... or the reamer for that matter. Mine seem tight and I'm probably going to reuse them unless ... are there other options out there?
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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easy e
Samba Member
Joined: May 28, 2008
Posts: 3931
Location: 1 hr north of Santa Barbara
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johnharte
Samba Member
Joined: October 08, 2011
Posts: 10
Location: Sydney
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| Posted: Fri Jan 18, 2019 2:15 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Just read through the whole thread - Thanks for sharing! |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 10:35 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I have the front axle beam mostly back together. Even if I never finish the bus at least I'll have this work of art to cherish forever:
I'll leave the spindles and tie rods off for now to make it a little lighter and easier to install.
Someone had asked me why I was working on the suspension stuff before finishing the rest of the body so here's the rub. I'm trying to sell my house. I need to get the bus towable again hopefully in the spring. My short term goal is to get the underside finished and get the wheels back on the bus so it can roll. The thing stopping me right now is the cold weather and not being able to paint large areas. smaller stuff I can move inside where its warm but spraying epoxy or urethane just isn't going to work until it gets a little warmer out.
Here's the current plan of attack.
prime the belly pans in epoxy.
spray some body color in the wheel wells with some overspray like they came with from the factory
install the front suspension , steering components, brake lines and components, etc.
replace the reduction gearbox housings on the center section
install the transmission, axles, suspension, brake components etc.
THEN get to the rest of the body work wherever I land.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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Burlyhammer
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 1693
Location: Great north woods Maine
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| Posted: Tue Feb 05, 2019 10:32 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| looking good! Nothing like a few good weather days to get a project moving! |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Thu Feb 07, 2019 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I shot the color on the bottom today. I had a few runs I'll have to sand out later. that will prove whether my paint-with-a-heater technique works or not. It seemed to work good for the epoxy primer. I used the propane torpedo heater to get the garage really hot...over 90 degrees. I turned it off, shot the paint, let it air out and then turned the heater back on. Its still going right now to cure the urethane paint and its 35 degrees outside. The surface temp of the metal is 90 degrees as measured with an IR heat gun.
In hindsight, the SPI grey epoxy primer is a damned good alternative to the factory underside primer . It has close to the same sheen and close to the right color. I could have just left that, but since I already had shot most of the underside in color I wanted the belly pans to match. Next time, I'll just use the grey epoxy to mimic the factor primer.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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ryans65
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2016
Posts: 1260
Location: Yulee FL
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| Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 5:22 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| That underside is looking fantastic! |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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Burlyhammer
Samba Member
Joined: March 07, 2002
Posts: 1693
Location: Great north woods Maine
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| Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 3:57 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| That blue looks great. What color are you going with above the belt line? Nice to finally have some decent weather, and glad to see you making progress 😁 |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Thu Mar 14, 2019 8:52 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Burlyhammer wrote: |
| That blue looks great. What color are you going with above the belt line? Nice to finally have some decent weather, and glad to see you making progress 😁 |
Yes, finally above freezing! Your build is motivating me to get some stuff done. Once hockey season is over and I get my life back I'll be able to move faster. I plan to do dove blue below the belt line and pearl white above and on the interior.... much like a '63 samba would have come with mouse grey but with dove blue replacing the grey. The m-plate and inside the headlight bucket both say "BLUE" (or blau) so I gotta keep some of it blue  and its one of my favorite vw colors. I was tempted to do beige grey and dove blue but it didn't look quite right.
I've been sandblasting a lot of parts getting them ready for paint. I hoping to reassemble the undercarriage and re-do my rear axle next.
Spraying that dove blue REALLY makes me want to paint the rest of the bus. I have to be patient. Getting a good dove blue wasn't easy. I tried 3 different manufacturers factory color code for dove blue and they were all ugly. I finally went to a nason dealer and had them mix a code I got on thesamba and it is perfect...very close to what this bus was before i stripped it.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2019 4:51 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I'm going to re-paint the engine bay to the right color. It was bothering me that I put the air filter bracket in the wrong spot so I fixed it.
I'm going to put some proper seat belt anchors in there before I paint it.
Here are the new axle tubes in primer:
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2049
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 11:35 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I painted the engine bay today. I love this color. The camera doesn't do it justice, it shows different shades of blue in different lighting. its pretty cool.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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bally
Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006
Posts: 1182
Location: Melbourne, Australia
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| Posted: Mon Mar 25, 2019 2:51 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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Looking great. I've always loved dove blue but now I feel I need some in my life 😊😊
Keep up the great work and updates. Thanks. Dave |
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