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tschroeder0
Samba Member
Joined: April 14, 2008
Posts: 2098
Location: Boulder CO
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 Posted: Thu Feb 20, 2014 1:58 am Post subject: |
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I can say for sure that this is nice work, I can almost see the van from my house...and in the true spirit of recycling the sheet metal from this van is has now been welded into various parts of my own van.
It's pretty funny that within about 100 yards there are two big van projects happening in our neighborhood and we didn't even know each other prior to seeing each other working on our vans. |
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Sir Sam
Samba Member
Joined: July 19, 2009
Posts: 1724
Location: Fort Collins Colorado!
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| Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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Your post brings up nightmares and fond memories of my pop top conversion. I'm looking forward to doing it on my syncro.
_________________
'91 Carat Westy
87' Syncro + '87 Westy conversion coming soon |
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malibu
Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2011
Posts: 116
Location: Horse Heaven, WA
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| Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 9:00 pm Post subject: |
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Wow...Beautiful work. Those are the best looking seats I have ever seen.
_________________
85 westy weekender - 2.5 suby
85 full westy - 2.2 suby - Sold |
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unclespanky
Samba Member
Joined: December 14, 2007
Posts: 1081
Location: Insanity Cruz
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| Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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Neat thread and nice work!!!! I had to laugh at your opening statement as I just dropped my 76 K2 XL350 seat off at the upholster today.  |
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mblotz
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004
Posts: 296
Location: D-town, at base of the rocky's
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| Posted: Wed Feb 19, 2014 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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not getting a whole lot of van work done as of late, to busy training the new shop dog, Rosylaine (Rosy). she has big shoes to fill to live up to the 2 shop dogs we lost in recent years, but she is trying hard to make them proud! 10 week young old english sheep dog
should be able to get back to work soon enough |
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mblotz
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004
Posts: 296
Location: D-town, at base of the rocky's
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| Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 5:24 pm Post subject: |
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| 16CV's wrote: |
Mr blotz .
I really like the License plates as a border around your Garage ,very clever and super cool.
Stacy |
I try to keep the plate off of every car and motorbike i have ever owned, its a fairly complete collection up there, missing a few here and there and the # is actually staggering (i have a spreadsheet somewhere with the list). its true, i have a sickness--but i sure have enjoyed my sickness |
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shadetreetim
Samba Member
Joined: January 10, 2011
Posts: 1994
Location: Riverside, California
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| Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 1:15 pm Post subject: |
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Inspiring work, and beautiful results. 
_________________
Tim Potts
Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!
'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5 |
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Escorial Syncro
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2004
Posts: 449
Location: Manitou Springs, CO
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 9:39 pm Post subject: |
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Mike, thanks for posting pics of phase one!
That is some tidy work. Having done a few of these I really appreciate the way you fitted that roof section. And the interior roof finish turned out really nice. Wrangling the headliner and ending up with something you can use (and not ruining it!) is quite a challenge. Looks amazing.
Joel
_________________
Joel Lane
1985 Vanagon converted to syncro, ALH TDI w/GTB2056 turbo, Reimo clone top with Westy interior
2002 Toyota Tundra 4x4 |
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16CVs
Samba Member
Joined: February 22, 2004
Posts: 4253
Location: Redwood City, California
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 8:08 pm Post subject: |
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Mr blotz .
While I did my conversion differently ,still some nice work . Looks like you are kicking butt and taking names .
I really like the License plates as a border around your Garage ,very clever and super cool .
Any look ,keep up the good work .
Stacy
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia Triple knob (bastard)
1989 Syncro Tristar Triple knob "Swedish"
2013 Jetta Hybrid a true "Zwitter"
Samba member # 14980
Call anytime number 650 722 4914 .
Keep Your van running and upkept tastefully for the love of the hobby.
Don't let your van end up in an "abortions" thread. |
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Farfrumwork
Samba Member
Joined: October 10, 2008
Posts: 692
Location: Mile High
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 4:12 pm Post subject: |
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Dood - You should show a shot of the completed/painted roof seam.
It is nearly undetectable! 
Looks totally factory
_________________
sold  -> '85 Wolfsburg Syncro / 'Built' DOHC EJ25 (a great machine!)
'07 Legacy spec.B, road tuned stgII
'17 4x4 Sprinter, stone grey, SMB pop-top, on 33"s
"Blood stains, speed kills - Fast cars, cheap thrills - Rich girls, fine wine - I've lost my sense, I've lost control, I've lost my mind" |
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mblotz
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004
Posts: 296
Location: D-town, at base of the rocky's
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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not forgetting to weld in the important spot welds you removed to attach the roof section to the inner roof structure. careful you dont start a fire--ask me how i know! this is the center section which is edge welded, but spot welds go 270 degrees around the structure, its really stong
then the even longer process of stitching the spot welds together with seam welds, short distances at a time in different location to avoid warping the metal. then the grind it flat process--ugh, takes a while
then body work, body work body work, only to get it in primer
and eventually in paint.
i decided to paint the top body color, i like it. some prefer white. i kind of like the late model look
that was kind of my goal before winter, but fall was so nice this year i kept going and did the rest of the body work as well and got the whole van painted
top receiving new busdepot canvas, fit as advertised
had to enlist farfrumwork to help me lift the top on, but fit like a glove and really easier than we thought it would be--TAHDAH, instant syncro westy
i looked at a lot of options, but decided to finish my hole with the factory tin top headliner. heated it with steam and stretched it into place. can always add westy panels later, i just liked the clean look
now, just waiting for parts to move forward with phase 3 |
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mblotz
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004
Posts: 296
Location: D-town, at base of the rocky's
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| Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 3:30 pm Post subject: phase 1 |
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| Escorial Syncro wrote: |
How did I miss this thread? Those seats look so professional. Nice work. Glad that syncro and poptop setup found the perfect home. Can't wait to see progress, thanks for sharing.
Joel |
i figured i better post phase 1 write up as well, sorry its out of order. guess there can never be to many build threads
here is the van as picked up from Joel, he just didnt have time to get to it, and knew i was missing being in the "syncro community", or maybe tired of me buggin him-ha
and i chose the hottest day of the fricken year to drill out hundreds of spot welds, releasing the top from the roof structure that was cut from the donor
when i got the balls to make sure i was doing the right thing, i cut the headliner, i wanted to leave enough hanging in case i decided to reuse it in the end product
and then i measured, and measured, and grew a bigger set of balls and cut a hole in the roof--worlds largest sunroof now
the center support for the tin top needs the spot welds removed and eventually take out to make room for the westy center support which is flat. then lots of fitting and marking luggage rack holes takes place
roof was probably on and off 15 times for fitting and recutting to make it fit just right. finally happy with the fit
this part was tricky, finding the location for the hinge supports. did as others, use some of the sticky black goo from the roof, screw it to the donor section, install donor section and remove screws, hopefully it stays in place. worked pretty well actually
then comes the long process of adding structural spot welds all around the roof
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Madeouttaglass
Samba Member
Joined: September 18, 2013
Posts: 228
Location: Shelter Cove, California
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mblotz
Samba Member
Joined: February 25, 2004
Posts: 296
Location: D-town, at base of the rocky's
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| Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 6:08 pm Post subject: |
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| furrylittleotter wrote: |
You could free up a lot more space by giving me that Ural.
What swap you going with? H6?
Neil2 |
no way man, i love that darn russian POS, i mean, URAL! and my dog loved it, who we sadly lost last summer, but a new puppy (another old english sheep dog) comes home on sunday who will be riding in the URAL her whole life.
i i did a h6 last time, which was awesome except for economy, im doing a 02 2.5L this time |
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Escorial Syncro
Samba Member
Joined: May 02, 2004
Posts: 449
Location: Manitou Springs, CO
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| Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 8:49 am Post subject: |
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How did I miss this thread? Those seats look so professional. Nice work. Glad that syncro and poptop setup found the perfect home. Can't wait to see progress, thanks for sharing.
Joel
_________________
Joel Lane
1985 Vanagon converted to syncro, ALH TDI w/GTB2056 turbo, Reimo clone top with Westy interior
2002 Toyota Tundra 4x4 |
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OddN
Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2010
Posts: 690
Location: Northern Norway
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| Posted: Tue Jan 28, 2014 5:57 am Post subject: |
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Great job on those seats. The fabric looks a bit like the one used on early Multivans in Europe. I have those seats in my syncro.
_________________
1991 VW Multivan syncro 1,9 TD |
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tam_shops
Samba Member
Joined: November 15, 2012
Posts: 1531
Location: Vancouver BC
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| Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 10:49 pm Post subject: |
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Oooh, you top stitched them yourself, NICE job! The factory look is what caught my eye with yours b/c of the details like that, yours looks original. Enjoy!
tam
| mblotz wrote: |
| ahh, got ya, its a top stitch i added, and was in the original seats as well. not 100% necessary other than maybe keeping the fabric and foam a little tighter together, but most just for looks. on the front seats there is a piece of listing sewn in on the back one to hog ring it down to the foam and make it tight, so it is necessary there |
_________________
1987 Vanagon Westfalia GL Automatic
Making it special:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=545885 |
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furrylittleotter
Samba Member
Joined: May 19, 2008
Posts: 1506
Location: West Seattle
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| Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:51 pm Post subject: |
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You could free up a lot more space by giving me that Ural.
What swap you going with? H6?
Neil2 |
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Farfrumwork
Samba Member
Joined: October 10, 2008
Posts: 692
Location: Mile High
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| Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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The BLOTZ does some nice work
Just wait folks
_________________
sold -> '85 Wolfsburg Syncro / 'Built' DOHC EJ25 (a great machine!)
'07 Legacy spec.B, road tuned stgII
'17 4x4 Sprinter, stone grey, SMB pop-top, on 33"s
"Blood stains, speed kills - Fast cars, cheap thrills - Rich girls, fine wine - I've lost my sense, I've lost control, I've lost my mind" |
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sandoz
Samba Member
Joined: November 17, 2007
Posts: 86
Location: Denver, CO
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| Posted: Mon Jan 27, 2014 6:43 pm Post subject: |
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| Perfect timing with the weather! Good to see your making progress.... |
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