85 Westy refresh. Plenty of questions to follow. Bulli Klinik

[Bulli Klinik]

Prior to painting these things, I'd like to figure out a rear hitch set-up.

Was there an OEM hitch available for the Vanagon? Something which tucks below the bumper? Though I have a 2" receiver on the front for a bike rack, I don't see a need for something that large in the back. I'm not towing anything substantial, just my little boat.
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Followed that up with a 36 grit on the grinder, then 80 to clean up any surface imperfections.

Then did final sanding with a DA.

I kind of dig restoring bumpers. Lot's of metal to work with and it's fun to get brutal with the big hammers. Far less delicate work than metal finishing some 19 gauge.

The front bumper should be a piece of cake. A couple of minor dents and some paint prep.
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

I had to shrink down a high spot that was stretched. Quickly heat to cherry red, smack it down into itself, then planish.

You can see a lot of hammer marks on the surface. A lot of hammer blows overlapping one another to get it nice and smooth. I also used a chisel on the back side to lift some sharp dents.

Once it was almost there, I ran what I could through the planishing hammer to get a smooth finish.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

This is after the first round of hand work.

Here's the tools I used up until this point. The heavy blocking hammer was used the most, followed by the ball peins to get into the tighter spots. The welding clamps were used to make minor adjustments in the flange areas and the dollies were used to do some smaller adjustments. Regular body hammers are pretty much useless on this heavy stuff. I clamped the bumper to the heavy plate to do some planishing.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

As mentioned earlier, there's still plenty to do. While I take a break on the dash, I figured it was time to address the bumpers. I want black bumpers and I was planning on buying some reproductions, but I'd rather have some OE thickness/quality units. I have a front bumper that's in decent shape and I have a pair of rubber trims, but my back bumper was pretty worked.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Inspected the harness and replaced a broken connector.

I noticed this brutal chopping and crimping of a group of wires. Electrical tape was unwinding from it and it looked questionable. I haven't looked at the wiring diagram, but I imagine that this was likely from the dealer installed AC. The wiring wasn't pretty, but was nice and tight so I reinsulated it and added a bit of strain relief to the wires.

Also replaced a melted down blue wire that was going to a group of three relays, likely the AC, and soldered some questionable crimps going to the master cylinder.

I think I have pretty much all under dash work completed; grounds, heater box build, control valve, lubed wipers, windshield squirters and hoses. Waiting on the antenna and then get the dash back in. I still have to install an auxiliary fuse box, but I want to get the dash in to get a better perspective on where to mount it.

Is there anything else I should address while I'm this deep?
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Also cleaned up the grounds and ground tree with some phosphoric acid.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

I wasn't really sure how to wire the mirror/cam, but I pulled a couple 16-2 conductors up the pillar and another pair to run to the back for speakers. If nothing else, I can use one pair as a pull wire to feed the cam cables to the dash.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

[markswagen]

you don't need to wait on that one, it's not a difficult one to do with the roof lining in, l just did an 84 westy the other day, l put the mic for the stereo trough while l was at it, also a 10awg wire for just in case, it didn't add time to the job, and cost the customer a couple of $, better to be looking at it, that for it, IMHO.
to be sure l didn't lose the original wire part way through, l soldered a draw wire to one, it wouldn't have come off either way l don't think.

[Bulli Klinik]

I had to repair the overhead tray. The wood screws were stripped out the fascia panel. I used some more Q-Bond with some cut off toothpicks to fill the holes.

Installed the roof rack hold downs with some of the sealing goo.

Then I buttoned up the Vanistan, flapper door installation. This is a really nice kit! I was thinking that I could come up with something similar on my own, but I'm more than glad I bought the kit. Props to Vanistan and I'm looking forward to good heat in the Bus.

Only thing I would have done differently is install the recirculating flapper thing prior to putting in the heater box. I had to wallow out the hole to a perfect 2 1/8" with my drill and grinding wheel. Not a big deal, but it would have been easier on the bench. There was also a flange that's located inside of the box which needed a bit of trimming. It opens and closes smoothly now.

I think that other than cleaning up the ground tree, I'm about ready to get the dash reinstalled. I'm chomping at the bit to get the forward headliner installed, but I'm waiting on a back-up camera/mirror unit to arrive so that I can wire everyting prior to assembly.
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

The forward, headliner panel was in decent shape with the exception of a big crack right above the driver. I know I've cracked my noggin on that panel in some of my old Buses while bouncing around off-road. Probably the same thing happened here with the PO.

I removed some of the loose plastic liner on the back, dug out the crack a bit and laminated a small piece of press board that I had around. With that secure, I re-laminated some plastic on the back side and scrubbed the panel. Glad that head shot didn't split the vinyl!

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Thanks!

I've been trying to spend some more time on this and getting my head around the project. It's been apart and dormant for some time and I've forgotten what order some of the parts go back in. If you're doing a project like this, take a LOT of pictures and be attentive when boxing and bagging things. Much of what I'm doing now seems like two steps forward and one step back, but it's been enjoyable working on my own projects for a change and I'm in no hurry.

The vinyl on rear section of the ceiling was delaminating and shrinking. I carefully used some heat to lift the vinyl. It's delicate.

Then laid down some adhesive, re-heated it and stretched the vinyl back into shape.

Some of the bubbles on the vinyl were hard and set in their shape, but I learned that getting them good and hot, stretching the material to the outside of the panel and using a roller to push the vinyl back down gave me good results. A lot better, anyhow.
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[4Gears4Tires]

Always impressive work.
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'87 Syncro Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition
'85 Westy Sciuridae Domus Edition

[jimf909]

Good work is done in this shop.

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- Jim

[Bulli Klinik]

The lower portions of the floor received the Kill-mat treatment.

I painted the ends of the rails with some Dura-liner and picked up new hardware. I still need to pick up a threshold rubber before installing the outer rails, but I'm happy with it.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

I prepped all the rails and shot them in a coat of epoxy, followed by some rattle can action. The original paint was some strange, plasticized product which wanted to lift in sheets, but I managed to get it feathered out pretty well.

There was little bit of wood delamination/deterioration happening in the sub-floor, so I repaired it with fiber reinforced filler. This stuff is tough as nails.

Got that feathered out and re-laminated the vinyl with some Landau top adhesive.
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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

I thought that I had all the pieces, but it turns out I was missing a single panel and two of the mounting tabs. I knocked out a panel with some basic chasing over this weld bead and a washer for the center depression.

Did the final folds in the brake.

Then I made the two retainer tabs for the end of the channels.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Been making a bit of progress on the Van. Heater box is installed. I put in the Vanistan heater control valve and got started on the Vanistan fresh air flap.

I wanted to re-make the floor in the back to eliminate the seat tracks, but I couldn't seem to find a suitable match to the original material. I ordered some samples from here: https://www.marinevinylfabric.com/products/marine-...&_ss=r Though they looked promising, they had a pretty heavy texture that I didn't really want. After spending way too much time trying to come up with a solution, I just decided to restore what I had. Stock never goes out of style, right?

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Bulli Klinik]

Also did some work on a couple of old-timers for some customers. Nose jobs and Safari window installs. 56, walk-thru panel for a local distillery, Black Hat Distillery.

And a very rare and cool, 66, SO-44 tin-top.

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Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs