My first split bus: Where do you start?

[15W40]

Hi everybody - I've lurked here for several years with my 75 westy and I'm now the owner of a 1966 standard bus. This post serves as an introduction and a general question of "where would you start" if this was your project. I found it locally in WA from a guy that had owned it and worked on it himself for the last twenty years.

The engine and transmission run and shift beautifully. Brakes seem to work fine. Lights all work. I disconnected the heater because I think one of the heater box levers is bent causing it to stay on. The steering was atrocious. All linkage completely shot including the center pin bushings, but I've already fixed that.

What remains is a basket case of an interior, rust in all the usual places, and a lot of water leaks. A professional restoration is not out of the question a few years down the road. I'm comfortable doing interior and mechanical work. I have some experience welding and patching but it is not my forte. What's good low-hanging fruit to fix on this to make it a fun driver in the meantime? Any advice or commentary from people who have been down this road is much appreciated.

- Charlie

[chiroracer]

I am in the same spot with a recently aquired bus. It has almost identical rust profile as yours. I did a lot of mechanical work first to get it where we are both at now. I am collecting repair metal right now and getting my welder set up for sheet metal. I dont know where I will dig in first .
I will patch all the areas first that will allow water into cargo area and are not seen .Like in the front wheelwells
When I start to get better at welding I will tackle the visible areas. in the doglegs and rockers. I hope to do it peicemeal even though cutting out large areas might be more efficient . Very inspired by the great metalworkers on the forum.
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66 bajawestfalia
2/1600 buggy Kreger chassis 4 baja 1000(waiting to re emerge)
71 911 track car
65 kombi EZ camper (sold to OG owner in oregon)
69 class 11 racecar Sold to GH racing now the famous Dora SCOREchampion

70 class 11 prerunner

[Eric&Barb]

1. Fix the water leaks, so that you do not get even more rust repair to do later.


2. Brakes

A. Upgrade to dual master cylinder for much less chance of loosing all brake pedal stopping power all of the sudden.

B. Switch to one of the rust proof brake line kits. The rears especially look nasty, so possibly ready to blow out from the 1,500 PSI that can surge thru them.

C. Replace all flex brake lines if much over 8 years or unknown age. Those lines are two hoses one inside the other. When the inner breaks up it can turn that hose into one way valve resulting in one dragging brake.

D. Good time while doing all of the above to switch to DOT5 brake fluid so you can go 8 to 10 years between needing to take the brakes apart due to needing to replace leaking wheel cylinder/s from inside rust. DOT3 standard brake fluid sucks water right out of the air so every 1-1/2 to 2 years you are tearing the brakes apart to get out rust and replace a wheel cylinder or two.. Best to clean out all the old DOT3, let evaporate off parts like the wheel cylinder while those are apart for a week or two and then assemble it all back together and pour in the DOT5.


3. Dial in the engine compartment of missing and not quite right parts.

A. Lower fresh air clamps. Those hoses can pop off without clamps and heat damage heads or the entire engine.

B. Fan shroud plastic clips for the spark plug wires. Without those you are spilling out needed cooling air, and the cables can get damaged from rubbing around or the hot heat riser tube of the intake melt thru the insulation.

C. Metal fuel line from just in front the front engine tin all the way to the fuel pump. Flex fuel line and fuel filter just rubbing around is not great to have. Also again looks like sitting on the heat riser pipe of the intake where it could melt. There is also a small metal bracket to hold that metal line to the side of the shroud, almost certainly missing.

D. Get the Wolfsburg West factory style battery cables. Much better quality and will outlast many times those FLAPS battery cables as long as you do not over tighten the battery clamps. Plus that replacement clamp you have on the positive cable is just another connection for battery acid to get into so another place to clean twice a year.

E. Intake heat riser pipes sealing tins. You are allowing hot air that has already cooled the engine to get sucked back in. Kind of like pissing into your own bowl of Cheerios and wondering why they are so damn salty.

F. Clean up a good used vacuum advance distributor that is listed to work with your carb, or at least borrow one from someone for a week. Think you will find it makes the bus drive in town so much nicer.

G. Pre-heat hose to the carb. Needs a pipe to suck hot air off the rear of #4 cylinder lower rear side. You like us live in a cool wet climate and having the carb ice up is not helpful.

H. Paint engine tin to keep it from rusting up.

Need more images of the engine for further info. Especially showing the front of the shroud around the left side. That will show if you have the dog house cooling system (a must upgrade for a daily driver bus) and if so any missing parts. Plus need shot of the rear (rear as in closer to the rear bumper) engine tin, to ID it and advise.

If you can make it to Woodburn Raceway just south of Portland Oregon that is a huge VW swap meet May 31.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Eric&Barb]

Added to the brakes part of the list in last post.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[70bus]

As far as metalwork goes, prioritize anything structural - beams, top hats and stringers, floors, lower nose. Pretty rockers and doglegs don't mean much if the bus behind them flexes or breaks; also, what little crash protection there is will be compromised by weak structure.

Most PNW states don't do salt, so you might be lucky and those outriggers, rockers and doglegs are the worst damage you have to fix.

Ditto on dual M/C, or put in front disks. My singlecab has a dual M/C and actually stops quickly and straight... but I have a disk swap on deck since people will pull out right in front of you and expect your bus to have modern brakes to save you both.

The nice thing about the interior is that it's a blank slate; do a full custom whatever-you-want job, or meticulous factory-perfect resto. Or seal it all up and turn it into a mobile aquarium; it's your bus.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[pondoras box]

I always make my buses stop before going. That includes the emergency brakes. If you don’t go dual circuit this is doubling important.

As far as welding goes if this is your first restoration save the doglegs / A pillar for last. There is a lot going on there.
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Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion
Plus a lot of other rusty junk

[BulliBill]

I agree with the above. Always make the vehicle stop perfectly before making it go. I generally replace all the brake components with new ones on a new-to-me old VW, flexible rubber brake hoses too. Thoroughly inspect the hard metal brake lines for signs of rust too, and replace if necessary. It's your lives and the lives of all of us around you that depend on your thorough job with your brakes.

Bill
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I'm looking for these license plate frames for my fleet:
Coeur D'Alene - Lake Shore Volkswagen
Mission VW - San Fernando
Thornton VW - Stockton

Thanks for any help!

[KTPhil]

Stop before you go.

Link

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Current Fleet:
- '71 Fastback
- '69 Westfalia
Retired:
- '67 Beetle
- '65 Beetle (x2)
- '65 Bus
- '71 Squareback

[15W40]

@chiroracer - That's the predicament for sure. Almost every panel that needs to be replaced connects to another panel that needs work. Where do you stop? If I do dig into rust repair, I might do the floor, driver inner rocker, outriggers and jack points.

@eric&barb - Thank you so much for all that info! This is exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. I'm attaching some better pictures of the engine compartment at the bottom of this reply. Your input on that would be appreciated. Also if you or somebody else has a good quality picture of what a "correct" looking 1600 dual port motor would look like, can you share? Then I've got something to compare to and sort out incorrect parts. All the red painted stuff drives me absolutely nuts. I'd love for the engine compartment to be the prettiest part of this bus.

The brake hoses have been replaced with stainless braided lines but the rest of the brake system is old and not improved on. I'll probably do the dual circuit upgrade and run new hard lines.

@everybody else! Yes ditto ditto ditto on the needed brake upgrades. I will prioritize that. The parking brake works great but obviously the last thing you want is to be panic stopping and have to switch from pedal to e-brake.

[70bus]

Well, you won't have a 'correct' 1600 DP engine since the bus likely came with a 1500 SP, and the tinware has differences. However, they share enough in common that you can usually make it all work. E&B and Clara et al will help you figure out what works AND looks period-as-possible for your setup. I think the firewall tin and the breastwork tin are the main things, and what you choose tends to dictate other tin.

There's a neat pic Clara took of all the 1500 tin

thread it's in:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4090878&highlight=#4090878

looks like an Einsturzende Neubaten record cover (or Pink Floyd's, fer you hippies)

I have a 1679cc SP in my 65, and it looks fairly stock.

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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[BarryL]

What is the hose going down from the spare tire compartment?

[Eric&Barb]

[70bus]

Hopefully not a urinal, as the pipe seems to come out above the heater box. Would make cabin air a little zesty.
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Eric&Barb]

[15W40]

The hose from the spare tire well is for changing the water in the koi pond. It drains into a small patch of kale growing behind the wheel arch.

The tailgate is rusted through all around the seals. I suspect that leaks water and prompted the PO to install the drain hose. Is there much reason other than price/availability when choosing between a new tailgate and a used one? My other vice is classic ford trucks. That community always rags on replacement body parts for being inferior to used OEM.

Regarding the pre-heat hose, that would require a different tin somewhere right? I don't see a hole for that anywhere here but maybe I'm looking in the wrong spot.

[Eric&Barb]

[Eric&Barb]

Still waiting for.....

[Eric&Barb]

[70bus]

[15W40]

E&B - I checked and it does appear to have the dog house. Photo attached here.

70bus, your point is well taken. I am usually tempted to buy what’s cheapest and have seen that play out poorly. I went and ordered a dual master cylinder and your advice encouraged me to do the front disc brake conversion at the same time. Buy once cry once right? I’ll do all the lines while I’m at it since I got a new flaring tool recently that I like.