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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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 Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 8:51 pm Post subject: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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In short. I helped a friend by this bus from a family in the early 2000's. He drove it a few years and feel idea to move on. I had a Vanagon that was my project at the time he was selling. I bought the bus from him and put it in storage in 2005. It has been inside since.
A lot has happened. Family, a house, etc. The bus has followed along over mountains and across boarders. A few years ago I made the very painful decision to sell the vanagon.
I am now gathering momentum and direction on getting this bus ready to camp with and use. That is what this is about.
The bus has been rear ended and needs metal in the rear. It has a leak at the windshield. The sliding door has fell off. The brake pedal goes to floor. The wiring is a mess. The drive shafts are wrapped with duct tape.
The good 😊
It runs! The seats have been rebuilt. The interior is complete except the stool. All the glass is good.
There is a lot to fix. I have no aircooled experience so this will be a challenge.[/i]
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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Skipro
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Joined: June 17, 2010
Posts: 43
Location: Squamish B.C.
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| Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 9:21 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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One job at a time......keep the camping with the family in mind and the time to wrench will be easier to find.
Craig.
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Yosemite Yellow 1975 Westfalia (78 2.0fi) |
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Tcash
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Joined: July 20, 2011
Posts: 12844
Location: San Jose, California, USA
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 9:57 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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This weekend I removed the steering wheel bracket and extracted some broken bolts. I was able to heat the aluminum enough to get the broken pieces moving. One had to be drilled through the other I was able to get vise grips on.
In the photo there are six new bolts! Before it was a hodge podge of brass screws, standard bolts and nothing.
I have a lot of wiring to fix. It starts with getting a turn signal switch to replace the after market fix. Then I have to sort out a fuse and relay box. I plan to use load reduction relays for the head lights. I am not sure what the wiring was like originally. I did look for diagrams for the bus but not find any definite diagrams.
I bought ambulance fans for it years ago so they will be finished up at the same time. Feeling around on the back of the dash it seems I may be able to put another hole through for the original switch.
The back of the bus needs metal. I was hoping to find corners up to the body line and the metal across the top of the engine hatch but I have not found any locally. So I will start with bottom corners a battery tray and a lot of heating bending and swearing. I do have the original rear door but the skin has separated from the internal frame. The brown door is in fine shape other than the damage it sustained in a field.
Both floor pans have some sort of sheet metal duct tape or roof tar patch. They will need to be done.
The bus is still shiny where the body isn't damaged! I believe the body color is L71. I am not sure about the nice vinyl stickers but they are cool.
IT IS mostly rough and very little diamond.
The plan is very casual. In that I will fix things as I find replacements. So I will be at it a while.[/img]
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 10:00 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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Thanks Tcash! I have lurked for years. Read for weeks. And finally decided to try documenting my attempts.
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 8:47 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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Today I collected a signal switch with housing a lower roller and a warm air pipe for the intake.
The signal switch has a long stock and needs some wires reattached and a general clean. The bus is missing the relays related to running the headlights. There is cylindrical flasher that is hanging on wires I will need to sort that out too.
There is a lot of loose engine tin that needs to be welded or reattached with screws. One of the interior louvered window seals is missing. I have been told these are no longer available.
The wiring will be great to have sorted.
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 4:47 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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I had the hance to do some work on the bus this weekend. Two projects in progress. I switch back and forth depending what needs time for thought.
I have a 10 fuse 69 which helps with sorting the wiring. I believe I have a two switch master cylinder installed. Wired but it would explain theextra plug down there. I hooked the signal switch up to test it and I have one front light working and one rear light working, opposite corners. I will clean the switch and make sure I have good connections. The brown and brown with white wires are not connected at the switch. I need to figure this out for high Bram control.
The other thing I am doing is fixing the sliding door. The lower roller was very worn on the original and the replacement is much better. I have many adjustments to make before the door works smoothly.
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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Tcash
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Location: San Jose, California, USA
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:08 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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TCASH
Thank you for the links. The operation of the door was intuitive when I first met the bus so many years ago. I wish the door on my 84 worked as well.
The challenge I am faced with is getting the gap around the door to be even. It looks like the rear needs to drop a bit but I am not sure there is adjustment in the rear roller. I could run the front of the door higher but it would be a lot of shim under the door. The bearing is slightly loose and it is probably enough to make the door out of adjustable range, however, the top edge of the door nearly hits the gutter as it swings in. I will poke at it again soon. And read the Bentley again.
Thank you for following along.
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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airschooled
Air-Schooled
Joined: April 04, 2012
Posts: 12728
Location: on a bike ride somewhere
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| Posted: Sun Feb 28, 2016 10:18 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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The gap when closed is set by the striker plates, so you could bump the rear plate up a mm at a time until it looks good. A smidgen of grease on the anti-rattle wedge helps too, but not too much to attract grit.
Robbie
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One-on-one tech help for your Volkswagen:
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:44 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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The rear plate would have to lower the door a few mm to make the gap similar. When I lower the plate it the door binds and doesn't latch well. I was hoping to lower the skin in relation to the rear sliding hinge.
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Nathan
69 Westy "Pearl" Stock |
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nateairman
Samba Member
Joined: January 26, 2008
Posts: 30
Location: Wet Coast BC
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| Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2016 8:16 pm Post subject: Re: 1969 Westfalia work in progress |
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I had a few minutes to look at the door again. The strike plates were not aligned properly. The door now closes well and the body lines look good. I will have to clean and grease it all at some point but it will be after some body work is done.
I have a few rear doors. It looks very hard to remove the skin and weld it to a good frame. Is it?
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Nathan
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