eche_bus: 1976 Westfalia Deluxe Camper

[eche_bus]

Thanks, Stuart! I'm done for tonight, but there's more coming real soon, believe me.

[AB westy nut]

Great work here! I'll be tackling a similar refurb of the turn signal, washer system and wiper system at some point as well so this is a great read. Thanks for the comprehensive documentation.
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1963 Ruby Red 356 Cabriolet
1976 Sage Green Westfalia Deluxe

[eche_bus]

Best of luck with the refurb. If you have any questions, please let me know.

[benrusso]

[eche_bus]

Thanks, benrusso. Ask, and you shall receive ...

First, a warning. You're going to see a whole lot of stuff coming apart before you see much coming back together. One of the ways to keep things moving along is to deal with unmoveable obstacles (like having to wait for people to get back to you on TheSamba Classifieds) by moving on to the next thing not waiting on a part. The trick is to not get too far ahead.

With the dash area waiting on several things, it was time to dig into a "little" problem with the sink. When I bought the bus last fall, all I knew was that the water pump didn't work. There was no water in the tank and I figured I'd tear into it at some point to see why. I traced power all the way up to the pump, the switch did its thing, but the pump was dead.

As soon as I got under the sink P-Trap, I discovered water dripping on the nearby shelf. The P-Trap held old nasty waste water that had frozen, expanded, and now partely melted, was leaking from the junction with the sink fitting MADE FROM BLACK ELECTRICAL TAPE!!!

I'm embarrassed to have missed this before purchase, but it's kind of dark under there and I was more concerned with big things like rust and mechanicals.

Now, you think I could get that broken P-Trap out of there? I turned the nut on the left about twice and it seemed to seize more solid than welded steel. The real trouble was access. I simply could not remove the top shelf with the P-Trap in place and I couldn't remove the P-Trap with the shelf there.

The whole pipe needed to get free so I could push it upwards away from the shelf so the shelf could be tipped enough to remove it. I went back outside the bus to remove the external fittings.

First the shore water connection. It needed replacement anyways.

Next the sink vent. Which could at least use non-rusty screws.

Down underneath to get things disconnected.

Finally removed the floor pipe cover plate - think it might need a new seal??

The pipe could now be moved and the shelf removed. It was still a major battle to get that P-Trap loose!

The P-Trap, banished to the depths of hell.

[eche_bus]

After the P-Trap excitement, it was time to return to the original water pump problem. I knew it would be a lot easier to replace the pump with the tank removed and I wanted to inspect the lines and fittings and disinfect the tank well anyway. So, armed with good information from TheSamba and the Westy Service "Manual" (more like booklet, seriously), I did everything I needed to disconnect and remove the tank. There was a problem.

The tank wouldn't budge.

I don't mean like it just didn't want to move like it was in a little tight. It felt like it was glued or welded in place. It wouldn't tip or rotate. It quite literally was "one" with its surroundings. I pushed, I pulled, I checked and double-checked that I'd removed everything I should. Nope.

Then I banged on it with my fist. My reward was a thin crack appearing across the face of what had been a flawless tank.

Wiser as to the wrong approach, I realized the only way I could see absolutely everything and figure out what kept that tank rigidly in place was to remove the whole cabinet and come through the bottom or back. Oh well, needed to repair the laminate anyways. So out she came ...

You can see the condition of the insulation behind the cabinet. Not doing a whole lot of insulating these days. And, I could see the rest of the "didn't look too awfully bad" carpet is actually pretty sad after all.

The cabinet went into the house where I could inspect it in the warm, well-lit basement. Still unable to see the source of the tank's "fix-ation", I decided to try tapping a wood wedge under it, figuring I'd already cracked it, so "what the heck".

POP! The tank moved, but was still fixed to the side of the cabinet. I repeated the wedging to the side and the tank was free.

Some time in the late Eocene (look it up), shampoo or liquid dish soap must have spilled and sought out the lower ground of the tank shelf. Here, it spread to coat most of the underside of the tank. Where it had spilled from, it coated the side. As the years went by, it became a glue. And, no doubt due to some molecular recombination, it now smelled like a nasty, cloying combination of dead fish and baby shampoo. At least it was still water soluble.

... and that's the how the sink/stove moved into my basement and kicked off its own overhaul. Future posts will show it going back together in a much improved condition.

[Stuartzickefoose]

what a story i like it.

Keep it up!


what are you gonna do about the insulation?
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Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[bryancald]

I am so glad I found your "ongoing restoration" project.
My wife and I just picked up a 77' Westy deluxe in the same color scheme as yours. Our interior is pretty intact and in good condition.

Would you mind if I hit you up about the fuel tank/venting/evap project.
This is my number one priority as gas fumes make their way into the interior from time to time.

Looking forward to your next post.

Bryan

[eche_bus]

[eche_bus]

Alright ... the backlog has risen to the point where I'm going to try to catch up again. Trouble is, I keep going in one direction, run into obstacles and then move in another direction. Oh well, here we go again!

Trying to get at the nuts that hold the dash top in, I noticed that removing the corner fresh air duct was a great way to get access to the corner nut. The RH duct came right out with just a tug. The LH duct wouldn't budge. I realized the only way to remove it was to open up the metal plenum it connected to. The old gaskets made sure it took a lot of prying, but it finally came open.

I noticed that there was a rubber seal on one end of the duct tube.

I realized the RH rubber seal must have fallen inside the RH plenum when I yanked out that duct tube and wondered why it came out so easily when I had to work so hard to remove the LH one.

So, I opened the RH plenum and got the answer.

There sat the half-chewed seal, nestled in a bed of ... well. Kind of disgusting to think we used the air vents last fall. Cleaned both side plenums with a bleach/water mix. Went on to locate a good used replacement seal (surprise ... no NOS or repro available).

The easiest part was simply cleaning up a bunch of plastic parts. (The hard part had been finding replacements for the missing ones):

[eche_bus]

I said things had jumped around, and jump they did. For months and months I'd tried to find an exact replacement heater blower fan to replace the original that had literally turned into a siren. Turn it on and it could scare wildlife for 100 miles. As a siren it was very good. As a blower, not at all.

It turned out VW used 3 or 4 different ones in late bays and the connectors varied widely. I didn't want to cut and splice ... how hard could it be to find the right one? Answer: Hard. Very hard. It wouldn't have been so bad really if it weren't for the guys that swore they had one "exactly like the one you're looking for". A special kind of blindness is all I can figure.

At last I found the right one. It blew air. It didn't howl. Same connector.

Just one catch - the wires where they came out of the housing were falling apart. I soldered them up well and slathered the area with RTV. The ground wire had been spliced and repaired.

I no longer cared.

Finally able to test out the heating system I discovered only a meager airflow at the front of the bus. The valves just off the heat exchangers seem to open/close as they should. Could only imagine what might be blocking things further upstream. Project deferred for now.

[eche_bus]

Ok, back inside the bus to pull out the 'fridge.

The laminate on the refrigerator is in pretty good shape, but it's coming unglued in places and the black vents have seen plenty of contact. You can see one of the holddown straps is missing and one has been replaced by a leather stand-in.

Behind the fridge it was nice to discover no more mouse activity, but there was plenty of deteriorating insulation.

The plywood just below the curtains needs to come out too. It needs to be restained and it's delaminating. Not quite sure yet how I'm going to fix it, but plenty glue and clamping seems the right direction. With this out, we get a good view of things.

Note the area just to the lower right of the curtain. There's a rectangle of what seems to be double-stick tape (seen as lighter color in photo) with a couple of long pieces of black cloth tape as well. It's in the area of the fridge/power control panel. I guess I'll find out what it's all about when I put it all back together!

We finished the job by removing the rest of the insulation, vacuuming everywhere, and washing it down with bleach/water just in case of mouse "activity". It's now ready for re-insulation. The space is less than 2" deep, so I picked up some 2" thick foil-backed stuff from Home Despot that's typically used for water heaters. Will post later with finished results.

[eche_bus]

On to a little small work. The corner dash air vents were in pretty good shape but the foam that's supposed to be glued to the vanes was long gone.

I noticed the foam on the repros from Bus Depot doesn't seem to extend beyond the edge of the vane. This doesn't seem right as it would leave a gap and leaves me wondering what the point of having the foam would be. instead, the original foam appears to extend about 1/4" beyond the edge of the vane all around, which would seal well.

I degreased and scuffed the surface of the vane where the new foam would glue (It only took trips to 4 stores to find the stuff and I had resort to cutting up a shop-vac filter. Savage, MN is a suburban wasteland.) The vanes are above, cut foam below.

I used Hi-Strength 90 spray glue to stick the foam to the vanes. Didn't want it to fall off after a few uses!

The final result should do the job.

Yeah, I know. Not exactly hardcore restoration.

[eche_bus]

A little more small work. I tried to find a new replacement sink vent cover but had no luck (only saw ones for sale in UK, but not willing to spend that much time/money for this part). Time to whip this one back in to shape. You can see it needed much help. The plastic was delaminating!

I don't know how this will hold up, but it's worth a try. Sanded the daylights out of the delaminating area and hit it with body filler.

With things properly shaped, it was ready for primer and paint.

The end result is not half bad. "You've come a long way, baby". Best I could tell, the color was originally off-white, almost cream colored. Used Krylon Fusion 2322 Dover White.

The seal that sits under this part was also pretty ugly, stained black and grey and kind of half-cooked in places. Bleaching it for half a day helped, but it's only just useable. A search for a new replacement turned up nothing. I'd appreciate hearing from anyone that knows of a source for an NOS or new repro.

[eche_bus]

Over the winter I've pulling parts off and setting them aside to have them painted with epoxy primer and good hardened automotive paint. I used to do all my own spray gun painting, but sold off my compressor and equipment (it's a long story) so now rely on a good friend that does excellent work. The time had come to "git 'er done".

Left-to-right: fridge brace, windshield wiper arms, fridge vents, AC switch/outlet cover, rear seat heat vent. You can't really tell from the photo but there's two levels of gloss as original. Dig that crazy background, eh?

There's more. Ash tray, battery holddown, AC inlet box, snack table leg, stove control cover.

The AC inlet box (shore power) is actually spray can painted. Original is kind of an odd color. Close match seems to be Dupli-Color BGM0522 Storm Gray Met. Blob you see on cover was a casting defect I ground down. This will be covered by a decal. It would have one on it now if the one sold by Wolfsburg West was actually right.

The ashtray is now waiting to be silkscreened. I tried to find one I could just clean up, but no deal after 3 tries. Every one I tried was just as bad. Available decal is the usual VW aftermarket junk.

The table leg you've seen before. It's the one I straightened enough to use but hadn't repainted it. It's now perfectly straight and repainted in hardened Urethane like the rest.

And now, the Pièce de résistance. <drum roll, please> ...

(click for larger image)

It "only" took multiple phone calls, emails, abuse from TheSamba paint sub-forum, and a sh**load of money to locate and buy all the Glasurit chemicals to shoot in real hardened automotive Grey-Black, but its done and done right. The repro vent covers look a little too light to me, but the Grey-Black dash paint changes to look more grey in the sun. I didn't want to paint them, as the originals don't seem to exactly match, either. I noticed the corner vents were originally a different shade and gloss than the rest too, so I painted those with the grey-black spraycan paint I got from Wolfsburg West. The dash top is the best looking part of the bus right now and yes, that does feel a little odd.

Thank you, Westfabulous, for the dash reference help!

That's it for now, but there's plenty more coming soon.

[Stuartzickefoose]

keep it up!
_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[kguarnotta]

This is great, thanks for the details and photos!

I've just recently picked up a '78 westy.

I'm trying to find a replacement for the refrigerator light. Let us know when you get to working on the fridge control panel...

Thanks...
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-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[eche_bus]

[kguarnotta]

cool. would you be able to measure the size of the hole in the panel?

My bus is in CA and I am in Boston, I forgot to measure it when I was with it. I've looked locally for a new light-but can't find one. The only place I've been able to find a light is online-but I'm not sure the dimension I need.

Thanks.
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-Kevin
Lincoln, MA

'86 Triple Knob Syncro w/EJ22
'78 Westy
'69 Single Cab
'65 Kombi - EZ-Camper

[notchboy]

Devil is in the details! Keep up the good work.
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