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ryans65
Samba Member
Joined: February 16, 2016
Posts: 1345
Location: Yulee FL
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 Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2023 7:50 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I did the exact same thing!!
| edgood1 wrote: |
I assembled the bumpers this morning. The came out beautiful and were going together beautifully.
until...
the god damned bolts that come with the wolfsburg west front bumper hardware kit are too long and mangled one of the overriders.
The curses that came out of my mouth..... words can't express my fury. The really shitty thing is that I thought they looked too long when I was loosely assembling things together, looked for something smaller but didn't haven't anything. I figured they'd be fine and I guess I didn't notice them bottoming out. grrrrrrr...... |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2024 6:25 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I've been terrible about updates. I'll do my best to catch up.
The bus runs, drives and stops. I've just about finished the body with the exception of the sunroof. I chipped away at the headliner little by little over the winter. I need to fix a couple spots, but I'm very happy with how it came out.
I had a little mishaps with a ladder falling on the drivers rear corner and I resprayed it last weekend.
I installed the rear bumper this morning. Getting all the brackets to line up with the little bolts on the bottom of the rear corners was a pain, but I had it on in about an hour with minimal swearing.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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Huetti_1989
Samba Member
Joined: February 13, 2011
Posts: 1332
Location: Austria
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:24 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I spent the last few weeks restoring a hunk of twisted metal that used to be a sunroof on a late 60's bus. This is the donor bus, it was found in the woods a few years ago and there wasn't much left to save:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8136363&highlight=#8136363
It was about as close to gone as you can get. I seriously considered buying a new assembly but I enjoy the challenge. I started by taking it all apart and seeing what, if anything was saveable. The header assembly was rusted solid, the aluminum bows were mangled and the tension hops were all badly rusted and bent....everything was severely rusted.
After lots of sandblasting, straightening, fabricating new parts, welding, drilling and tapping and painting I have a functional unit. I used as much of the original as I could. Several pieces were too far gone and I made new ones. I got all the soft parts from Grumpy's metal, great stuff.
All assembled:
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia
Last edited by edgood1 on Wed Jul 24, 2024 6:20 am; edited 2 times in total |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Tue Jul 09, 2024 10:28 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I also repainted the entire driver side of the bus. When I repainted the rear corner it came out too nice. I had color sanded the driver side to get out some orange peel and I couldn't get it to match the gloss, so I just bit the bullet and repainted it. I'm much happier with it.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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Peter_N
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2014
Posts: 332
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 12:00 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| edgood1 wrote: |
I've been terrible about updates. I'll do my best to catch up.
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Just came across this topic. What a great project and result you're aiming for.
I'm preparing for putting in the headliner too so was happy to see some more pictures of the process.
I started gathering binder clips but I guess I need more 
Could I ask, what glue did you use for the window surrounds? I read in other topics 3M 90 works pretty good.
For the sewing in the seam, did you just fold the material or sew two separate pieces together?
Thanks! Peter
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My 1958 PGSG project topic |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Wed Jul 10, 2024 6:32 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Peter_N wrote: |
Just came across this topic. What a great project and result you're aiming for.
I'm preparing for putting in the headliner too so was happy to see some more pictures of the process.
I started gathering binder clips but I guess I need more
Could I ask, what glue did you use for the window surrounds? I read in other topics 3M 90 works pretty good.
For the sewing in the seam, did you just fold the material or sew two separate pieces together?
Thanks! Peter |
Thanks for the comment! The binder clips are great. It's good to have both the small and medium sized ones. The small ones work well in the window corners. I used Weldwood Landau top contact adhesive for all of the headliner, sprayed and brushed on depending on the location. I really like it because it sets up quickly and is very forgiving. You can brush some on to a mixing board thick, let it set up for a couple minutes and then brush that on to fabric without it bleeding through. It takes some practice but once you find that sweet spot it's great. I use that trick for gluing folded over seams.
and yes, I folded the material and stitched it to reproduce the seams on a factory cloth headliner. I like adding these little touches to make it look authentic, although my bus is very far from an authentic deluxe 
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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Peter_N
Samba Member
Joined: February 19, 2014
Posts: 332
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Thu Jul 11, 2024 4:44 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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Thanks for your reply and the tips!
The Weldwood glue is not available in my country but similar contact adhesives will do fine I guess.
I think it came out great with the seams the way you did it!
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My 1958 PGSG project topic |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Mon Jul 22, 2024 1:14 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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While I'm waiting for the sunroof cover I started working on making a bay window rear seat fit a split bus with a heater log. I have a collection of seats going.
It looks like most bay window rear seat bottoms are similar with the exception of the middle leg. The one on the left is a very early bay window seat 68-71 and the one on the right is a very late bay window seat, 78 or 79. The earlier one has the middle leg set back and almost fits in the bus.
I opted to use the late bay seat and move the middle leg because the frame is in much better shape.
Here it is after I moved the middle leg rearward. Notice that the middle leg doesn't sit flush with the outside legs. The outer two legs fall into the grooves in the floor and the middle sits on a depression that is a tad higher.
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It fits nicely now.
The rear seat backs are completely different early to late bay. The early bay version is much closer to the split version, but a tad shorter and it has a bracket on the bottom that I cut off.
The late bay seat back folds down and is a completely different design.
It oddly has holes pre-stamped into the frame where the seat brackets for a split or early bay window bus would be:
I opted to use the early bay seat back since it would be a lot less work to be close. The mounting brackets are already there and in the right place. I just need to add some brackets for the luggage area jail bar.
Once I'm done with the modifications I'm going to sandblast and paint them. Seat covers are coming soon.
_________________
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: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 2:47 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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The sunroof is installed.
This took a while and a lot of adjusting which requires taking the sunroof off and putting it back on several times. I kept doing it until I was happy...and I think I even adjusted it a couple times after I took those pictures. The bus is now weathertight.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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BarryL 
Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2004
Posts: 15233
Location: Casa de Oro, California
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| Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 6:39 pm Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Yayyy. Looks sanitary Sano. |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2024 10:40 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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I've been working on the rear and middle seats. I extended an early bay window rear seat by about 1.5 inches and modified a late bay window bus middle seat to look like a correct seat. The middle seat from a late bay bus is considerably different than a '63 middle seat but I got it close enough for rock and roll. The early bay rear seat is pretty close to the right one.
I still need to clean them up a bit but they're getting there.
I'm working on getting the middle seat grab bar together but I'm struggling to get the grip on.
_________________
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: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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Stocknazi
Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2004
Posts: 5462
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| Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2024 7:37 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| edgood1 wrote: |
While I'm waiting for the sunroof cover I started working on making a bay window rear seat fit a split bus with a heater log. I have a collection of seats going.
It looks like most bay window rear seat bottoms are similar with the exception of the middle leg. The one on the left is a very early bay window seat 68-71 and the one on the right is a very late bay window seat, 78 or 79. The earlier one has the middle leg set back and almost fits in the bus.
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I see you widened the rear seat back a couple inches. Did you have to widen the seat bottom?
It looks like they are pretty close to the same length in your pictures with covers installed; maybe the bay bottom is close enough it doesn't need to be widened for split bus?
_________________
WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).
"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Thomas Jefferson |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2024 10:46 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Stocknazi wrote: |
It looks like they are pretty close to the same length in your pictures with covers installed; maybe the bay bottom is close enough it doesn't need to be widened for split bus? |
For the seat base I widened the top part of the spring frame 1.5". I loosened all the clips on the springs, added 1.5" of steel bar to just the top section of the spring frame, slid the clips/springs accordingly and then reclamped them. I ended up with a rear seat bottom that's about 1.5" inches wider where the upholstery meets the wall panels with no gap but still stretches over the unaltered bottom frame. This seemed easier and more logical than extending the bottom frame.
On the seat back I extended both the tube frame and the spring frame since the side mounting points are on the tube frame and need to be extended to the wall.
Here's the backrest with the brackets welded on and painted:
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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Stocknazi
Samba Member
Joined: June 18, 2004
Posts: 5462
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| Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 8:38 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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Very clever how you widened the seat bottom. It certainly looks the part and 99% pf people would never notice the lower frame.
_________________
WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).
"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
Thomas Jefferson |
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Nacho_74
Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2018
Posts: 83
Location: Norwalk,California
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| Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 10:31 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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Please post more on the interior door panels. I've been pondering on making my own as well but need some pictorials. Great work BTW!  |
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edgood1
Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004
Posts: 2124
Location: Plymouth, MA
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| Posted: Wed Aug 21, 2024 10:40 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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| Nacho_74 wrote: |
| Please post more on the interior door panels. I've been pondering on making my own as well but need some pictorials. Great work BTW! |
I made some more this morning. I'll take some detailed step by step photos for the next few.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia |
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ted698
Samba Member
Joined: June 17, 2016
Posts: 142
Location: Shropshire, UK
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| Posted: Thu Aug 22, 2024 7:33 am Post subject: Re: '63 Panel Camper to Deluxe conversion project |
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^^^^ WOW! Those are a thing of beauty!!
yes please for some How To's
Where did you get the vinyl from? |
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