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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 1:16 pm Post subject: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Here are some initial pictures of my '73 Westfalia project. Bought it some weeks back, and it's a 'US import 1700 TYPE 4.
I've just pulled the engine, and torn it apart to find, that one piston was totally destroyed, So the engine needs a complete rebuild.
Luckily there isn't a lot of rust, considering the age. I will post some more pics, as the project get along
Last edited by Nicklastl on Wed Jul 24, 2024 1:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 1:17 pm Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Clatter Samba Member

Joined: September 24, 2003 Posts: 7769 Location: Santa Cruz
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Posted: Wed Jul 24, 2024 9:16 pm Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Um,
There is only one engine for this bus?
Or are there two?
One pic shows an engine together,
And the next shows a piston mangled - presumably during disassembly?
That isn't your work, is it?  _________________ Bus Motor Build
I have excellent news for the world...
There is no such thing as patina.
It does not exist! |
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3am Samba Member

Joined: September 06, 2023 Posts: 27 Location: Germany
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 7:27 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Looks a good honest base to start from. Nice find.
Are you doing a full restoration from the start or just to get it on the road first?
Look forward to seeing your progress _________________ 1979 Devon Moonraker
Luxuriously slow, reassuringly expensive |
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Willin Samba Member

Joined: October 10, 2019 Posts: 257 Location: Bozeman Mt
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 7:29 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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WOW! That's ugly! What does the cylinder look like?
Looks like a nice bus. Good project. _________________ 73 bus. Org. 1700 with dual Weber 40 idfs, bus header with Empi qp muffler, CB magnaspark 2 " ready to run kit". |
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NASkeet Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006 Posts: 3188 Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 10:22 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Keep in mind that a GREAT MANY vehicles in the USA & Canada, have NOT been subject to the same regular, mandatory roadworthiness inspections as those in Denmark would be, so there might be many faults with the brakes, steering, suspension, drive-train, lights, windscreen wipers & washers etc, which previous owners have overlooked or ignored.
Did you not fancy a Danish 1968~79 VW Type 2 motor-caravan conversion such as POBA or Fixbo!?!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247708
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=246083
My parents and I toured parts of Norway, Sweden & Denmark, in our British specification, 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan, during the summer of 1982.
I was able to get our passports stamped in Norway & Sweden, but not in Denmark!
At a campsite outside Friedrichshavn, Denmark, during our Scandinavian, summer touring holiday in 1982, I came across a magazine article (Sven Stigø, "Her er vejen til det selvekørende feriehus, Camping, May 1982, Danish Camping Union), written in Danish, which seems to be about campervan furniture & equipment kits, for DIY retro-fitment to 1968~72 or 1973~79 VW Type 2 vehicles.
_________________ Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk
Last edited by NASkeet on Sat Jul 27, 2024 8:28 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 10:53 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Clatter wrote: |
Um,
There is only one engine for this bus?
Or are there two?
One pic shows an engine together,
And the next shows a piston mangled - presumably during disassembly?
That isn't your work, is it?  |
There is only one engine to the bus, and the piston picture, is from when i opened the engine.
I've made another tread asking if someone would have a guess why i looked like that.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=794140 |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 10:54 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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3am wrote: |
Looks a good honest base to start from. Nice find.
Are you doing a full restoration from the start or just to get it on the road first?
Look forward to seeing your progress |
Full restoration from start to finish before going on the road. So it's a long way to go!  |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Thu Jul 25, 2024 10:59 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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NASkeet wrote: |
Keep in mind that a GREAT MANY vehicles in the USA & Canada, have NOT been subject to the same regular, mandatory roadworthiness inspections as those in Denmark would be, so there might be many faults with the brakes, steering, suspension, drive-train, lights, windscreen wipers & washers etc, which previous owners have overlooked or ignored.
Did you not fancy a Danish 1968~79 VW Type 2 motor-caravan conversion such as POBA or Fixbo!?!
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=247708
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=246083
My parents and I toured parts of Norway, Sweden & Denmark, in our British specification, 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental motor-caravan, during the summer of 1982.
I was able to get our passports stamped in Norway & Sweden, but not in Denmark!
At a campsite outside Friedrichshavn, Denmark, during our Scandinavian, summer touring holiday in 1982, I came across a magazine article (Sven Stigø, "Her er vejen til det selvekørende feriehus, Camping, May 1982, Danish Camping Union), written in Danish, which seems to be about campervan furniture & equipment kits, for DIY retro-fitment to 1968~79 or 1973~79 VW Type 2 vehicles.
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Wow, that looks interresting!
I love to see old pictures like that! Back then when the cars werent that old like they are today!
The bus will be going through a big restoration before going back on the road.  |
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Clatter Samba Member

Joined: September 24, 2003 Posts: 7769 Location: Santa Cruz
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Posted: Fri Jul 26, 2024 10:25 pm Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Nicklastl wrote: |
Clatter wrote: |
Um,
There is only one engine for this bus?
Or are there two?
One pic shows an engine together,
And the next shows a piston mangled - presumably during disassembly?
That isn't your work, is it?  |
There is only one engine to the bus, and the piston picture, is from when i opened the engine.
I've made another tread asking if someone would have a guess why i looked like that.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=794140 |
Oh, yes, i read that other thread as well.
People agreed that the piston was damaged during disassembly.
It didn’t look like it had been back together since, because a big burr was showing at the edge of the damage.
There was a lip of metal thrown up at the edge of the mangled oil ring.
Since i saw the engine together in your pic,
The only conclusion is that you damaged the engine during teardown?
The motor was stuck at the mains, right?
That cylinder was seized to the piston?
You had to pry off the cylinder using the oil ring groove?
Maybe you used a puller?
Even if you didn’t do that,
Your leaving the under-cylinder tins in place as you pulled the heads and barrels had to involve some prying and bending and whatnot.
I’d suggest slowing down a bit and studying the Bentley.
Doing these engines in the right order will make things easier.
They are kind of particular and require diligence.
There’s a beginner rebuild thing i did in my sig that might help.
Good Luck with your project.
Always nice to see people give these things love. _________________ Bus Motor Build
I have excellent news for the world...
There is no such thing as patina.
It does not exist! |
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NASkeet Samba Member
Joined: April 29, 2006 Posts: 3188 Location: South Benfleet, Essex, UK
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Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 11:37 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Depending upon how easy you and your family find it to raise the elevating roof, you might wish to consider retro-fitting a pair of gas struts (i.e. gas springs), which is discussed on the forum.
The standard Westfalia cutlery drawer is rather small, with no sub-divisions and wastes a lot of space above it. I fabricated & retro-fitted a larger one with five 2/3 depth sub-divisions in June 1975.
I later incorporated an electric water pump for the sink unit.
_________________ Regards.
Nigel A. Skeet
Independent tutor (semi-retired) of mathematics, physics, technology & engineering for secondary, tertiary, further & higher education.
Much modified, RHD 1973 VW "1600" Type 2 Westfalia Continental campervan, with the World's only decent, cross-over-arm, SWF pantograph rear-window wiper
Onetime member, plus former Technical Editor & Editor of Transporter Talk magazine
Volkswagen Type 2 Owners' Club (Great Britain)
https://vwt2oc.co.uk
Last edited by NASkeet on Sat Jul 27, 2024 1:07 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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orwell84 Samba Member

Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 2772 Location: Plattsburgh, New York
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Posted: Sat Jul 27, 2024 11:53 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Looks like a solid and complete bus. I have the same one except it’s an automatic.
At the very least the books mentioned above are a minimum requirement.
I also like the idiot guide as an overview.
Disassemble your engine with care. Just because it is old and has been mistreated doesn’t mean there aren’t many reusable parts that would be hard to replace with good quality. The stock oil pump comes to mind. Clean and sort as you go. Even some of the basic hardware wastes time and money if you have to replace it. Case nuts and bolts and cylinder studs come to mind.
There are also a couple good books on doing a complete restoration on a bus. Really helpful for understanding how to approach rust repair. One is published by Haynes.
Good luck with your bus. |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 11:29 pm Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Tbh, i can't really see how I would have been able to cause so much damage during disassembly.
The cylinder didn't bind to the piston, just a bid to the crankcase, just like the other cylinders did. And when I emptied the engine for oil, there was parts of the pistonrings in the crankcase, which made me really nervous when i saw that
But I dunno. At least I have a reason to buy a new cylinder kit for it! |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Sun Jul 28, 2024 11:33 pm Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Got a bit further with the project this weekend.
Disassembly the engine bay to fix the rust, change the right batterytray - Including the rust which also appeared and welded a new right rear corner in place. The rust on the right rear side is new fixed. Time for the left side, which luckily isn't as bad.
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3am Samba Member

Joined: September 06, 2023 Posts: 27 Location: Germany
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 12:22 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Great start! I can see your standard of work is high, so I'm going to enjoy following this one  _________________ 1979 Devon Moonraker
Luxuriously slow, reassuringly expensive |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Mon Jul 29, 2024 12:29 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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3am wrote: |
Great start! I can see your standard of work is high, so I'm going to enjoy following this one  |
Thanks! I've done fixing cars, mostly collisionrepair and bodywork, for a living for over 10 years. So i've learned a thing or two  |
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Jesper_P Samba Member
Joined: November 18, 2014 Posts: 2 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Mon Aug 26, 2024 11:11 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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looking good .
where you at in DK ?? |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 7:45 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Jesper_P wrote: |
looking good .
where you at in DK ?? |
Near Ringsted  |
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Nicklastl Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2024 Posts: 48 Location: Denmark
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 7:58 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Since my last update, i've done some more work.
Engine bay is now rust free, and has been painted Niagara Blue L53D, so once the engine has been rebuild, it can be fitted in the newly painted bay.
Today i've emptied out the whole cabin, to get an overview of all the rust.
So far so good
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orwell84 Samba Member

Joined: May 14, 2007 Posts: 2772 Location: Plattsburgh, New York
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Posted: Sun Oct 13, 2024 9:05 am Post subject: Re: '73 Westy rebuild project - Denmark |
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Rust doesn’t look bad. Take some time to figure out how it goes all together before doing any cutting. There are places where there are many layers of metal welded together. Less is more. |
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