My 1970 westfalia story

[k@rlos]

After 13yrs of owning it and 14 yrs on the samba I thought I’d better make a thread about bus....

So, I grew around vw’s as my dad had owned them since the late 60’s. In 2007 At 18 (I’m now 31) I decided to get a bus of my own. Due to being in the U.K. the only buses in my budget were total shit boxes so an import was the only option. I went on holiday to my aunts in Salt Lake City and then found my bus on this site, we took a weekend trip to San Francisco to view it. I struck a deal, arranged the export and continued with my holiday. Couple months later it arrived in the U.K.

It was a bit rough n ready but I was rolling a bus at 18

The years went by, it had a bad blow over so I rubbed it back to the original paint and touched a few bits up with rattle cans. Lowered it on a 4” king & link pin beam, dropped spindles and adjustable spring plates. Built a 2110 motor, with 44’s, an fk8 cam & DRD big valve heads coupled to a freeway flier box. It’s been all round the U.K. & seen most of Europe too. Come 2017 the old thing was getting tired so it went into my friend body shop for a full resto and bare metal paint job. After having a new cab floor, lower front panel, rear corner, passengers door, sliding door, engine lid and tail gate it was done

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[k@rlos]

Along with the paint job I restored and repaint the pop top, fitted a new pop top canvas, a complete seal kit, new bespoke wiring loom, refitted and overhauled the interior and fitted a 12v diesel heater.

The mechanics & running gear got a total rebuild too. The engine was rebuilt and upgraded, the DRD heads had started cracking and the valve guides had come loose so they where replaced with a pair of CB performance 044 ultra mags with 42x37.5 valves so to accompany the better heads the Engle FK8 was changed to an FK10, upped the compression to 10:1 and swapped the 44IDF’s to 48IDA’s on scat trac manifolds. The ignition system went from being a Bosch 009 with msd coil & soft touch rev limiter to a full Mallory cdi system with a unilite distributor, promaster coil, hyfire 5 control box & 10mm Taylor leads

I also upgraded the 002 freeway flier to fully built 091 6 rib. It’s got full weddle gear sets, strengthened internals, a limited slip diff and a longer 3rd & 4th gears

The suspension & brakes got a revamp too, the beam I originally lowered it on was a 4.5” slamwerks king & link pin item but it took a nasty knock once when I had to avoid a car on the wrong side of the road and was bent in the middle so that was changed to a 4.5” beam from transporterhaus with caster adjustment. I also rebuilt the spindles, fitted new rear trailing arm bushes then topped it off with blistien shocks all round.

Brakes are Porsche 944 turbo hubs, Porsche/brembo calipers with EBC discs & pads the. The backs are stock internals with CSP bay window drums with Porsche stud pattern, all worked by a late bay non servo master cylinder through goodridge braided hoses, with the addition of a hurst line lock
Due to the Porsche brakes I needed Porsche wheels so rather then the fuch that everyone in Europe has I went for gasburners with 205/60 15 rears & 165/55 15 fronts.

[k@rlos]

Come January 2020 After 18 months hard work and many late nights in my workshop it was ready for a full year of shows, festivals and drag racing events.

Although 2020 has been a disaster we managed to get to Santa pod race way a couple times and do quite a lot of wild camping around Suffolk. Not what we had planned but better than nothing.

Hot rod drags at Santa pod

Camping with friends on the coast

More coastal camping

[k@rlos]

Although I’m extremely happy with the result there has been a few alterations along the way

Phelonic carb spacers from Gary Berg

I originally had 38mm vents in the IDA’s but thought I’d try some of the berg grooved versions, after talking with Doug & Gary they suggested 40/35’s. The difference is most surprising, a lot more bottom end grunt and pulls to the higher rpms much cleaner too so well worth the money

For all the time I’d had the 2110 I used an 1” 5/8 merged header and a dynomax turbo muffler, but after 10 yrs I fancied a change. Began looking at CSP pythons then saw a lot of good things about A1 in Cali, so I contacted tiger and he built me an 1 5/8 sidewinder with race bullet muffler and fully mirror polished finish. The quality and fit are superb, it sounds amazing too. Engine feels a lot more free breathing too.

[old DKP driver]

Congratulations
It looks great and seems very well thought out in the details and obviously is
Show quality,
Happy Holidays to you.
_________________
V.W.owner since 1967

[k@rlos]

[k@rlos]

https://youtu.be/q0Sr8_aOVSs

Can’t beat eve sound of IDA’s, straight cut cam gears & a race bullet muffler

[k@rlos]

1 of the best things I’ve fitted was the electronic smiths speedo, it’s self calibrating so low profile tyres aren’t an issue. I’ve checked it with my sat nav after setting it up and it’s pretty much spot on. I’ve accompanied it with an Autometer monster tach and oil temp & pressure gauges. Also converted the dash illumination lights with LED’s.

The actual camping interior is more or less original but I’ve removed the sink unit because I never used it, the fridge was crap and it took up so much room. In its place on the bulk head is a spice rack which work perfectly for me and the missus. There is a 110ah leisure battery in the back section of the cupboard, a pair of 6x9 speakers, an amp & a subwoofer under the buddy seat. A modern iPhone capable head unit is hidden in the glove box and an original Motorola radio in the dash which illuminates with the dash lights. I made a new solid under bed panel and covered it with repro westy laminate, the little door made it difficult to mount the speakers and heater outlets so that got sold to a friend who wanted 1 for his stock style resto.

The heater is a brilliant thing, it’s a 5kw diesel heater which I got from eBay for a mere £120 its mounted under the bed runs off the leisure battery and has a 5 litre tank which is fitted in the bottom of the wardrobe so it’s easy to fill up. Keeps the bus lovely and toasty both when camping and driving

[MorkC68]

There is something about a white, early westfalia, they look good.

Read your thread through on earlybay a while back, good thread!

I like what you have done with the look, lowered on gasburners, it doesnt look overstated
_________________
Major; 1977 Westfalia Campmobile
- Subaru EJ20
- Koni Classic adjustable dampers & Empi Heavy Duty Anti Roll Bar
- 180W Solar System

My blog: https://twolatebays.wordpress.com/

[k@rlos]

[MorkC68]

[k@rlos]

I think the task I disliked the most throughout the whole resto was rebuilding the Louvre windows. Their fiddly and getting them shiny again took its toll on my fingers

The finish Richard was able to get on the roof is superb, that took a lot of work also. All the wood on the underside was original, rotten and in generally poor condition. My father in law is very handy with woodwork and owed me a favour after rebuilding the diesel injector pump on his car so he sorted all that for me with some nice marine grade wood. Finished off with a Wolfsburg west canvas in the correct colour

[k@rlos]

2110cc 90.5x82
Genuine AS41 crankcase, full flowed and shuffle pinned
CB performance 4340 82mm Chevy journal crank
Gene Berg equaliser pulley with Berg pulley bolt
Wedgemated & full weight genuine Vw flywheel
Gene Berg gland nut
Kennedy stage 2 pressure plate
Dalkien friction plate
CB performance 5.5” H-beam rods
Mahle forged 90.5mm stroker pistons & barrels
Tru-arc wrist pin clips
CB performance CNC ported 044 ultra mag heads
10:1 compression ratio
Stainless steel 42x37.5 valves
Heavy duty dual valve springs
Chromoly retainers & collets
CB performance 8mm head studs
Engle FK10 camshaft
Udo Becker tool steel lifters
Fast fab push rod tubes
Manton chromoly push rods
Scat pro-comp 1.4:1 rockers
Scat-trac intake manifolds
Weber 48 IDA carbs
Gene Berg 40/35 grooved venturis
Holley red fuel pump
Holley Red pressure regulator
CSP bellcrank linkage
CB performance 2 litre deep sump
Gene Berg 30mm oil pump
Fan assisted oil cooler under cargo floor
AN10 braided oil lines
Gene Berg pressure relief pump cover
A1 exhaust’s 1” 5/8 stainless sidewinder header & race bullet muffler
Mallory uni-lite distributor, Hy-fire 6 control box & pro master coil
Taylor 10mm silicone ht leads
Scat tinware
75 amp alternator
Gene Berg race fan
CB performance bolt on rocker covers
Fast fab breather box
All moving parts balanced and match weighted
Blue printed and built by Hector Howe

[k@rlos]

Started the bus up for the first time in 2 months, turned the fuel pump on, 3 pumps of the throttle pedal and she started Left it running for 30 mins to get nice and warm too, roll on spring!!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/2wOCu-BL1r8