1965 SO42 Westy

[Squilly]

Keeping track of my progress and getting advice/input from you samba Westfalia experts for my '65 SO42 that I found after it had been sitting for 20 years.

The history so far is that I found it over the summer in a small mining town here in Colorado. Took me a couple months to eventually track down the owner, who of course wasn't interested in selling it at first. He was heading out to do something then and I told him I'd come back another weekend when he had more time to talk. So I went back a couple weeks later with the 15 window. Didn't find him on Saturday so I stayed at a friends in Winter Park then drove back on Sunday and was able to catch him. After letting shooting shit for a while about skiing and what not I let him drive the 15 and just geek out over VWs. Couple hours later he came around to letting me take it home and we made a deal. A week later it was on a trailer home with me.

Ran through the brakes, bearings, topped up fluids, and bought a 1600 from Painters that they had pulled out of a wrecked bug. Made it a bit over 100 miles, had a starter go out, towed it, and lost the pop top. Did some bodywork during my internship with JJ at KCW.

Now its got my 2332 in it, a new top, new shocks, trans mounts, more bearings and RGB stuff, clutch cable and arm, and has been cleaned out so I could tear into the rust repair.

Unfortunately there was rust-through not only on the outside of the cargo floor near the cargo doors, but also right in the center. Of course because there was all this I had to replace a lot more than just the floors.

Cut everything out and I think it lost 20lbs worth of dirt that was hiding everywhere.

Spent my week-long spring break fitting and welding in replacement metal. All WW and KF.

[Squilly]

The weekend before I started all this repair I spent cruising around the various parts of Colorado on my way to KCW and our camping trip. This bus went from snow piled higher than the roof to playing around in the sand with the baja within 24 hours and handled it all no problem. I love tall campers.

After all this I got the long rocker cut, fit, and welded in one night; definitely a late night though...

Threw the floors in in the morning to see how they would fit, and right away they were pretty close.

Those are all welded in now, pics to come later. Also dropped my sketchy steering box to be rebuilt by Wolfgang and wasted a nice KF front floor for my little rusty but in the front.

My plan from here forward is to wrap up the little bit of rust repair thats left, strip it down and bodywork it smooth, decide on a color, and figure out interior plans.

Forgot to include the M-code porn earlier too. Gibraltar delivery.

[velvetgreen]

good save on that bus! great to see it out driving again!

watch out driving in utah apparently!

https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/archive/2017/04/...PoLwFMrJQN

[easy e]

Lookin' good Will!
Are those W.W. floor panels?
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aka: Evan
Spreadsheet for Bus RPM, based on gearing & tire size (Excel format)
Searchable, click-navigable 1958 Bus Parts List

[Squilly]

[AS350driver]

[srfndoc]

That's quite an mcode plate for a poptop Westy. Somebody went to the dealer and checked all the boxes. Good luck with the build.
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[Squilly]

Well, lots of progress since my last update. The previous owner filled all the seams with silicone so that all had to be stripped out, which was easier with the doors off. While the doors were off I went ahead and replaced the lower door skin.

Got the new battery tray out after removing some custom "bumper brackets" the previous owner had welded on in order to clearance the beetle exhaust that was on it at some point. The new KF battery tray fit nicely with very little finessing.

Working my way around the bus I noticed that the gap between the rain gutter and the side panel widened as you moved from the rear passenger side to the front. It was noticeable from the outside but really obvious from the inside. To correct it I found the point where it looked like the welds had broken apart, hooked a portapower to the inside of the gutter, and linked it to a ring I had welded to the cargo floor on the cross member. Just a little bit of pulling and the whole passenger side panel got pulled into a better shape and make the gutter gap and the door gaps a ton nicer.

The spare tire mount on the nose was probably used as more of a bumper given how much pin and shrinking work it took to get it back into shape and stiff.

Undoing the wrapping on the heater tube revealed more rust and the rear cross member was too thin and weak for me to live with, so more replacement metal went in. Ground down all the welds to look nice and smooth too.

Then did some more finish metal work and getting every little dent pulled on the corner and nose before we started mudding on the nose.

Spent 3 days block sanding the long panel....
I didn't think it was necessary to make it so nice its going to be used and driven off road and on trails and will be scratched, but John likes to punish me for being in his way.

The paint shop was out of grey poly, so we had to do black. Just shows more imperfections so I get to make it even more perfect, and spend more time fixing every little thing! Including my handprint I put in it while it was still drying

Up next is the roof and then removables!!

[srfndoc]

Really nice work. Since it was two-tone painted originally are you sticking with that or going a single color? The color code on this thing is really unique, never seen a poptop Westy in L680 over L289:

What does the color code sticker just below the mplate say? The paint on the bus now just looks like standard Sea Blue/Blue White.
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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[totemwesty]

Did you have to search a lot for the replacement pop-top?
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"I set sail for the new world, then I burned down the mast.... It wasn't the first time, and I know it wont be the last..." Bloodkin
'67 Westy Pop Top

[Squilly]

[Squilly]

[srfndoc]

ReproWesty is making them now. They are not cheap but sure look nice:

https://reprowesty.com/webshop/vw-t1-westaflia-so42-poptop-hefdak/

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RPM=(MPH*336* (R&P*4th*1.26))/Tire Diameter in inches

[crofty]

[Squilly]

[crofty]

And so it appears to be ! Learn something new everyday.
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Your Vanagon sucks, Stop waving at me.

[Braukuche]

It's two year, 65-66.
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[Clara]

[hitest]

[Squilly]