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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Tue Oct 10, 2023 6:34 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Wow, I guess I haven't been keeping this up to date!
Not much to report, we've been busy building a new house and moving in over the past several years.
We did make our annual bus trip in December. My first time camping in New Mexico. Explored Lincoln National Park, and it was a pretty fun adventure. Dispersed camping is new for me and was so nice to just pull over and set up for the night. Unlike Texas where you have to check in and pay pretty much everywhere.
_________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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scrivyscriv Samba Electrician
Joined: October 04, 2011 Posts: 2918 Location: Memphis
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Stuartzickefoose Samba Post Whore
Joined: February 07, 2008 Posts: 10350 Location: SoCal for now...
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 4:43 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Glad to see your still at it! Get your new clock installed yet? _________________ Stuart Zickefoose
2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual
206-841-7324
[email protected] |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 2:10 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Not a whole lot new to post, but a bit.
Somehow managed to get these YOM plates approved at TxDOT.
Fitting for our annual Big Bend Bus Bash coming up on the 26th. Guess my bus is a her, Mrs. Big Bend Bus.
Did a more permanent fix for the hole in the pop top. I was using a piece of plastic jug to seal it up, but after a few years it had deteriorated badly. So, my pops (thanks for all the help and use of your shop!) and I made a nice aluminum cover.
And, I had noticed recently that my brake fluid was going low extremely fast, but hadn't noticed any leaks. So I was suspicious of the master cylinder leaking into the booster. Ordered a new MC and rear wheel cylinders for the back. Didn't know if I needed the wheel cylinders, but thought they were a good "just in case" item to throw in the "basket". Man am I happy I did. Drove out to may dad's shop and on initial inspection didn't see any liquid at all around the MC or booster. In fact they looked pretty clean and in good shape. So I headed to the back and what do ya know the driver's inner wheel was covered in fluid! Pulled it all apart and found a pretty nasty mess in there. I had some new shoes I pulled out of a bus we saved years ago, so on they went with the new cylinders. So, all new rear brakes. After a quick bleed that are working fine and no leaks!
Also changed the oil and adjusted the valves.
Just about ready to hit the road to Big Bend! _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:55 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Evil Clown wrote: |
Here's A badge idea maybe in black on your cover.
[/img] |
My cover was so weathered after a few years I threw it away. _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Dec 17, 2018 1:54 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Cap10323 wrote: |
Hey, I own a 77 Westy in the same color and was wondering, where did you buy that canvas? my canvas top is all original, and flawless except where it got caught in the lifting mechanism once and ripped, looking for some color matched material to make a decent looking patch, since I'd feel bad throwing away an original canvas in such good shape.
Sweet bus BTW. |
I got the canvas from a company called Suntech Fabrics. But their website disappeared long ago. They were selling on eBay, but not sure if that is still the case. They sell seconds of Sunbrella material, so it's good stuff.
Thanks! _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Evil Clown Live
Joined: January 08, 2009 Posts: 1343 Location: Wacky Macs
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Posted: Fri Aug 11, 2017 10:14 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Here's A badge idea maybe in black on your cover.
[/img] _________________ CARRY ON
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I'll take a Happy Meal with Prozac please |
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kiss my airy VW ass |
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German word for constapation:
Farfrompoopin |
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Chinese word for constipation:
Hung Chow Chow.. & it was GR8! |
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Cap10323 Samba Member
Joined: July 24, 2016 Posts: 604 Location: Ohio
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 8:41 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Hey, I own a 77 Westy in the same color and was wondering, where did you buy that canvas? my canvas top is all original, and flawless except where it got caught in the lifting mechanism once and ripped, looking for some color matched material to make a decent looking patch, since I'd feel bad throwing away an original canvas in such good shape.
Sweet bus BTW. _________________ -Ian
'77 Westfalia - 2.0 F.I |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2017 1:35 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Thank you! I've been camping a bit recently, but no real work since before the Big Bend trip. I have a worsening oil leak that I need to address soon. I did daily drive it for about 2 months when my daily driver was totaled. So that was kinda fun! _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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senseless1707 Samba Member
Joined: June 03, 2017 Posts: 42 Location: Seattle, WA
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:56 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Just read through this entire thread. Amazing. Picked up a 76 Westy in the same color last weekend. Very excited to get it on the road and clean it up. You have done a great job. _________________ 2014 VW GTI
1976 Westfalia Camper |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Jan 09, 2017 8:06 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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No real work on the bus, but tuned it up, packed all my gear and spent 5 days going to Big Bend with 4 splitty bus friends for the annual Big Bend Bus Bash. More pix in the gallery.
Managed to break my CB antenna and replaced it later at a truck stop.
Camping the first night at a friend and fellow samba member's house.
Major bumpy and dusty 27 miles to the Ranger Station in Big Bend.
Got to do enjoy some "high clearance vehicle" roads to and from our camp at Ojo Escondido.
Campsite at Ojo.
We hiked up on this ridge and you can see camp waaaaay down there.
On the border, that's Mexico behind us.
Nice views on the South road.
Our final morning in the park. We camped on the banks of the Rio Grande and threw rocks into Mexico.
Gas fill up outside of Trilingua.
It was DUSTY!
Anyway, about 1200 miles with no issues for me. A couple mechanical gremlins popped up for others and our youngest tripper was rear ended by an idiot not paying attention in his rented Nissan. Overall though another amazing trip and we all made it home safe! _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2016 8:32 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Doing some landscaping in front of our house and the bus hauled these bags of rocks with no problem!
_________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Vee Dub Nut Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2004 Posts: 1182 Location: Dallas, GA
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:57 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Bala wrote: |
Vee Dub Nut wrote: |
It was a wet weekend huh? We only ended up going on Saturday. I had planned to drive back out with just me and the boy Sunday, but the distance and weather persuaded me otherwise. |
It just sprinkled a little really. Not even bad enough to put the top of the bus down (I slept up there Friday night). Nowhere near the storms we had last year. But, I think the sustained threat of rain was actually worse. The show was pretty nice on Sunday though, tons of cars and no rain.
Sorry we missed you. We were selling a few items and roaming the swap area most of Saturday. |
We drove through quite a bit of rain on Saturday both up there and on the way back home, but while everything was wet Sat, not a lot of actual rain while we were in Fredericksburg. I heard lots of folks went through quite heavy rains on the way home Sunday though. Your right though, constant threats of rains, but definitely not as bad as it was last year.
I'll make sure to hunt you guys down at the next gathering. _________________ Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006
67 Beetle (TBD)
74 Transporter (EJ25 Swapped) - Build Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
See all my VW pics on Instagram @ vee_dub_nut |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:38 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Vee Dub Nut wrote: |
It was a wet weekend huh? We only ended up going on Saturday. I had planned to drive back out with just me and the boy Sunday, but the distance and weather persuaded me otherwise. |
It just sprinkled a little really. Not even bad enough to put the top of the bus down (I slept up there Friday night). Nowhere near the storms we had last year. But, I think the sustained threat of rain was actually worse. The show was pretty nice on Sunday though, tons of cars and no rain.
Sorry we missed you. We were selling a few items and roaming the swap area most of Saturday. _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Vee Dub Nut Samba Member
Joined: April 25, 2004 Posts: 1182 Location: Dallas, GA
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 11:11 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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It was a wet weekend huh? We only ended up going on Saturday. I had planned to drive back out with just me and the boy Sunday, but the distance and weather persuaded me otherwise. _________________ Fightin' Texas Aggie Class of 2006
67 Beetle (TBD)
74 Transporter (EJ25 Swapped) - Build Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
See all my VW pics on Instagram @ vee_dub_nut |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Apr 25, 2016 8:00 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Had a nice drive out to the VW Classic in Fredericksburg last weekend. I didn't get a ton of pictures, but for the record:
Checking out the show on Sunday.
The swap meet had fizzled out by Sunday with the threat of rain, but I made some pretty good scores for the beetle on Friday and Saturday. Including two seats for 5 bucks!
We made it about half way home and the skies opened up!
Glad I rain-xed and fog-xed the windows before I left!
Sorry for the lame update and lack of pictures! I'll do better next time! _________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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Posted: Mon Mar 28, 2016 10:00 am Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Camping time!
This past Friday, got the bus all loaded up, checked the fluids/tires, etc. Wife and kid are ready. Hop in, the bus cranks over great at first then I get the vrrrr, vrrrrr, vrrrrrrr, clicky clicky clicky. Battery is dead. A quick jump from the Passat and we were on the road. My battery was just about 4 years old, and not wanting to risk getting stranded we headed straight to O'Reilly's and threw a new battery in. No other issues and we had a great time at my son's annual spring camp out at Pedernales Falls State Park. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures except for this one when we stopped for gas after replacing the battery. The guy noticed My Austin Beer Works stickers and we chatted for a bit. Nothing more exciting than that for now. The '66 beetle is getting some attention currently.
_________________ 1976 Westy
1966 Beetle |
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tonyx Samba Member
Joined: March 10, 2012 Posts: 15 Location: Nanaimo B.C.
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 5:22 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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lucky bug |
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Bala Samba Member
Joined: December 04, 2003 Posts: 2613 Location: Austin, TX
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tonyx Samba Member
Joined: March 10, 2012 Posts: 15 Location: Nanaimo B.C.
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Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 6:57 pm Post subject: Re: 1976 Westy, my project |
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Go fix something and go on another adventure!!!!!! Really enjoying reading about all the fixes and travels |
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