Westfalia 1985

[rene p. l.]

Just want to share this project

Back at the end of the summer 2017 when I bought this Westy. Originally a British Columbia Westy, the frame and undercarriage are really amazing. Lots of dents and abuse but the bones are good. I noticed it was resprayed on the driver side, rocker is shot but the problem comes from the inside.

Long story short... was powered with a 1.9L and automatic transmission, which I never like.

So, during 2018 and 2019, I just made some functional upgrades to it like an awning, new pop-top tent, gas powered Espar heater, and replaced all the broken parts.

At the end of summer 2019, the catalytic converter failed, clogged the exhaust and the engine comes underpowered, the compression was not really good also.

So, I decided to just put it in my garage and do a massive overall during the winter. Kids are still young and loves to go camping, so I need to act fast to have it ready for next camping season. The list was really long, all bushings, radiator, all coolant lines, brakes lines (hard and flex), brakes (big brakes, and al new parts for the drums), power steering lines, all new tie rods, ball joints, new coil springs and shocks, swap the automatic components for the manual components (pedals, shifter linkage) all the Subaru engine swap.

The westy goes out of storage in July 2020, 3 days before my summer vacations, straight to the the alignment and then let's go! The test drive was not even done yet. No problems, let's go anyways! The test drive last about 2,800 km (1,750 miles) on two weeks. I had three small issues only, not bad at all. A bad knock sensor, a noisy fuel pump and craked fuel expansion tanks.

I noticed last summer that my filling hose for the potable water was leaking, the city tap water hose was leaking also. Now it's time to look at the damages these problems have done. When I removed the cabinets, I found out why the driver's side was resprayed, a small incident at the lower C Pillar.

The winter 2021 project is to replace the rusted parts... more to come as I don't have yet my replacement panels.

[4Gears4Tires]

That is a very common spot for the campers to rust out! It seems like they all rusted there due to the insulation holding water. Good luck, that will be a good bit of work.
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'87 Syncro
Ferric Oxyhydroxide Superleggera Edition

[Schnippzle]

Overall, nice looking van. My 83 tin top transporter rusted out in exactly the same place but didn't have any camping equipment...just a badly installed window conversion.

[Bulli Klinik]

They all rust there. If you look at my 85 Vanagon thread I posted detailed information about that repair.

I just noticed that you have two external hookups on your Van and I have three. Is that something unique to Canada?
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I've never met a Bus I didn't like.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[Ahwahnee]

[the_benjamin_effect]

I had asked the same question about the electrical hook up a few years ago.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=656326&highlight=[/quote]
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-1967 Sundial Camper 1914cc "Sunny"
-1978 Deluxe Westfalia Jake Raby built PowerStroke 2109cc "Westy"
-1987 SYNCRO Westfalia GoWesty 2400cc "Ruby"
-2000 Subaru Impreza Sport EJ22 ¼ million miles "Trusty"

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. I.A.M. 751
International Brotherhood of Naval Flight Engineers. I.B.N.F.E. LOCAL 8251
My other ride has 18,400 horsepower!

[rene p. l.]

[rene p. l.]

[Bulli Klinik]

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for the replies about the hookup. Never been to Canada and never noticed.
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I've never met a Bus I didn't like.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[rene p. l.]