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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 6:49 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Holy shit.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 7:58 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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We did the thing!
It’s not anywhere near perfect, but we’re pretty darned pleased with the result. By this time it’s early November and now the fun part can begin, trying to locate all the parts that have been floating around for 5 years (and one move). Our next goal is to get LB reassembled and back on the road in time for camping season.
After letting the paint cure for not long enough (about a week) we started reinstalling the windows. It’s amazingly easy with smooth freshly painted windowsills and a generous application of silicon spray.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 8:46 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Studying to figure out how to rebuild the rolling window mechanism. It turns out that there are many wrong ways to do this, and it took a few tries to get it right.
I got kicked out of the garage for a little bit during a short temper flare up so I didn’t get many pics.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 9:11 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Rebuilding the cockpit.
Yes, he took the risk and went with the light colored dash because it looks cool. Worst case if we can’t deal with the glare we can throw a dash mat up there.
Threw the seats back in. The grunginess isn’t sitting well with me so I’ll have to do something about that soon.
And now that the dash is reassembled the windshield can go in.
He spent a whole day just rebuilding this jalousie window, no pics of that, I think I was at work or something.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sat May 19, 2018 9:38 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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https://charla.smugmug.com/LeroyBrown/Rust-RepairBody-Work/i-hRN7Vhj/A
I can’t figure out how to embed video right now but here’s a quick clip of LB firing up after years of slumber. We needed to get him turned around to start working on the other side. So much easier with power! |
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Sloride Samba Member
Joined: February 09, 2002 Posts: 925
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 7:59 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Sloride wrote: |
Looks great guys. Was wondering you have been. Enjoy the camping season. |
Thanks, it has been a long time. It’s so easy to get distracted from a long project like this, it’s exciting that we’re almost done with this stage. |
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 8:26 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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All turned around
This slider door came off of Winky the yard bus which was not a Westy so Ben had to mark and drill the holes for the jalousie window. We had considered going with the slider window to cut down on camper rattles but decided against it.
Big day! We brought the Westy top around from the back shop for a light refurb before installation.
This damaged corner needed a bit of attention, we’ll get to that after the upper bunk gets installed.
Had to lose this old sticker
But we decided to keep the old mural. We just can’t bring ourselves to erase all of LB’s history. We call these “ghosts of hippies past”
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 8:53 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Now it’s time to start thinking about interior decorating.
We took a trip to town to check out what was available at Joann Fabrics. Ben had never been to a fabric store before and he was running around like a big kid checking out all the cool stuff.
When it comes to decorating I’m very conservative, but Ben has a flair for the flamboyant. Most people are completely shocked when I tell them that because he’s typically a pretty low key guy.
We were shopping for fabric to cover the interior Westy panels. I liked a simple burlap type light brown fabric, and he was in love with a faux ostrich leather vinyl. We compromised on this chocolate brown faux leather basket weave vinyl.
We were also debating on what type of flooring to use. Sheet linoleum, linoleum tiles, wood plank, vinyl plank, you name it. Ben eventually mentioned that whatever we went with he wanted to have a rug, so we wandered over to the rug isle of Home Depot. It hit me that it would be silly to pay for two different layers of flooring so we just decided to go with simple adhesive carpet squares. Nothing fancy and easy enough to replace if we don’t like it on the long term.
Just a mock up.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 9:16 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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New(ish) wheels and tires. 15” used wheels for $150 in good shape but not quite perfect. Ben talked to his tire guy at work and was able to get a good deal on a set of Nokin Entyres for about $300.
Of course the wheels were thicker than stock and Ben wasn’t happy with the amount of thread engagement with the nuts so it was another $100 and a bunch of work to swap out the wheel studs a few weeks later.
The To-Do/Shopping list. So nice to be able to cross things off.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 9:41 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Sub-floor and carpet cuz we were bored that day but wanted to work on something simple.
Back to the Westy top. Ben really didn’t want to mess with fiberglass patches on this broken corner, so we brainstormed some ideas on how to reinforce it. I offered up the thin nylon cutting board that I had in my camping kitchen kit and Ben liked the idea. He cut it to shape and epoxied it in place. This spot is only visible with the top up and mostly covered by rubber seals so we weren’t too worried about it, it’s better than it was so we’re ok with it.
A little body filler on the outside, didn’t get a pic after it was sanded.
Paint, just Rustoleum, nothing fancy.
Luggage rack, yes we painted over the tie down brackets.
Repaired corner
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 11:54 am Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Whooo boy, working on the tent and getting the roof back in place. This was a little sketchy with only two sets of hands but we got it done without putting any scratches in the new paint.
We opted for the top down approach on the tent installation since the top was off the bus it seemed like it would be easier to staple the top edge first. I got to be the inside man while Ben was outside stretching the canvas and spotting the existing screws holes. This was a sonuvabitch let me tell you. Trying to set a tiny screw through the aluminum trim, while punching a hole through the nylon strip on the tent, and hitting the invisible hole with almost zero working clearance was difficult to say the least. I got three corners done before tossing down my screwdriver and declaring that my hands were cooked and I was done for the day.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 12:06 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Bumpers. We went white on the front bumper at first but we weren’t really digging it so we rattle canned it again with a metal finish. It works better with the aluminum wheels.
Luggage rack
Finishing up the tent with fresh hands and a better state of mind was definitely a good decision!
Bendejo is watching you.
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cdennisg Samba Member
Joined: November 02, 2004 Posts: 20233 Location: Sandpoint, ID
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 2:13 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Great updates. We are really enjoying all of this! _________________ nothing |
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 2:49 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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cdennisg wrote: |
Great updates. We are really enjoying all of this! |
Thank you!
A photo dump of this magnitude is actually a lot of work, I’m glad to hear you are enjoying it. |
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 2:59 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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This was a gorgeous day in February. Bluebird skies and cool but not cold temps, working on the bus outside gave us a much needed dose of vitamin D.
Front seal
It got so warm Ben had to ditch his beanie!
Cut to fit
And a new Westfalia sticker.
Peeeeeel it!
https://charla.smugmug.com/LeroyBrown/Rust-RepairBody-Work/i-46WWCV9/A
Look at that ground clearance!
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 3:15 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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I got to work on the interior panels.
The headliner had a very bad painting of rainbows and puffy clouds that looked like it had been done by a kindergartner, but the plywood was otherwise in pretty decent shape. Instead of cutting a whole new piece of wood I opted to just cover the existing one.
Pretty simple, just needed some spray adhesive and a few small clamps.
Got a couple other panels done too.
The dome light still works!
The cats just love hanging out in the bus.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 3:21 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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Monstaliner branding. Where’s my free shit?
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 3:26 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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It was almost time to start installing cabinetry and the curtains needed to be done before that so another trip to Joann’s netted us a nice plaid flannel. Purples and browns to tie the mural in with the rest of the interior.
I had to watch a couple videos on YouTube to relearn how to use my sewing machine.
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Charla Samba Member
Joined: March 15, 2012 Posts: 93 Location: Colorado
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2018 3:42 pm Post subject: Re: Bad Bad Leroy Brown Gets some more huevos. |
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We had to wander around the old homestead for a while to located all the cabinets. The big ones were in the shop, but the headknocker and the closet were in the basement storage room.
We were kind of torn on where to go with the cabinets. We had already stripped the Formica off of the kitchen cabinet a few years back. We didn’t love the white background but liked the natural wood look. Since we didn’t like the white and couldn’t go natural in those areas we choose a dark brown to go with the panels and carpet. We then decided to just paint over the rest of the Formica or strip panels that were damaged and paint those. We hoped that the dark on the rest of the cabinets would work with the natural surfaces we already had. We also did a thick coat of spar varnish over everything to improve durability.
Stripping the Formica is easy. A heat gun and a chisel is all you need, but be careful! This stuff is sharp on broken edges.
We decided to ditch the old fridge in favor of extra storage space. Ben added a back panel on this cabinet to improve stability.
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