Picked up a 78 Westy

[championbaum]

Busy weekend, replaced the shocks, disasembled and cleaned the cv joints, repacked them, and replaced the boots, got rid of some rust and redid the wheel wells, there is an area I had to cut out and need to get some metal to weld over it but I’m going to wait a bit and treat the area with Por-15 behind the weld first.

What’s weird is it seems like there are 3 different brands of cv joints, and one seems to be an original with 08/72 stamped on it.

Also, I assembled as They were, but after looking at the Bentley manual I believe the groove that runs on the outer housing is supposed to be away from the boot, well I think I have 2 backwards, but it’s not real clear unless I’m missing it. Didn’t seem to make a difference when we had them off , and of course I left the manual at home so I couldn’t check. Seemed to drive fine as is, what do you guys think?

Edit: good cv joint info https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7745894

Edit 2: oh fun I will be flipping a few cv joints...

[championbaum]

What are you all replacing the tar board on top of the engine bay with, just masonite pegboard? I'm starting to work on the rust in the battery trays, and id like to replace the crumbling board so I can install the Blazecut fire suppression I picked up. I am assuming y'all are mounting it on that, right?

[vwwestyman]

I guess I didn't check out your thread earlier.

I really like having the water tank and faucet on my '78. One of the more frequently used features when I'm camping-way more often than the fridge or stove, and I use those too.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[championbaum]

[championbaum]

Hey should there be a plastic or rubber boot on the throttle cable tube on the engine bay side, the metal piece. Mine is metal on the metal cable, and my cable is pretty sketch. I ordered a new one and will replace it when it comes in.

I assuming there should not be a grommet or boot there, but thought I would throw that out.

Bentley is surprisingly silent on that topic, but there is a bunch of info here. I just hope the cable I bought is the correct length, we will see when it comes in...

[vwwestyman]

[championbaum]

Cool...

Got a lot done today, redid CV joints because a few were installed in reverse, changed gear box oil, changed oil, changed oil strainer gaskets and cleaned everything up in that area, there was so much grime it seems like it had been neglected for a long while. I put in the seal on the engine bay, started prepping the battery trays for POR-15 treatment, and greased the front end as well while I was waiting for the tranny fluid to drain.

I also tested my RV battery control panel switches and I think I will be able to use everything except one switch. The refrigerator switch is fried, but I am going to replace that switch and rewire things to power a usb charging panel or something (I have no refrigerator, just a cooler), or so that is the plan.

I drove it home from my friends garage where i am doing the work and I was laughing the whole way because it was shifting so smooth, I can't express how much of a difference that made. it was pretty awesome...

[championbaum]

[championbaum]

Started cleaning up the seat pedestals and passenger seat swivel seat mount.

The glue was a freaking nightmare to remove, I am going to try my hardest to avoid reapplying due when I get new seat pedestal rubber or carpet. I don't care if it flaps around in the wind, but I would rather never have to do that again. I will post pics of the final clean up from the doors/pedestals later.

Tip I stole from another build forum, WD-40 really worked the best without removing paint like acetone, especially on the door glue which seemed not to be a true contact glue, door glue was still sticky so i think it is the glue that allows you to remove and reapply stuff, can't remember what its called at the moment.

I tried every method out there to remove the glue, I am more of a woodworker so I started with a e heat gun, which of course removed paint, went through different solvents, acetone works well but removes paint pretty bad. WD-40 really worked best for me.

But it was still a huge pain in the ass.

The foam in the nose section had been retaining moisture and i have some pretty rotted out spots. I am going to weld a patch in the passenger side, but the driver side is in a pretty tough spot, so as a temporary fix I will use POR-15 and fiberglass to keep the water out until after this summer and a few camping trips (hopefully).

I am removing that foam, probably end up putting a few squares of rattletrap and some reflectix in there to avoid anything that holds moisture. I am going to work on cleaning it up best i can, then treat it with phosphoric acic a few times, and then POR-15 as much of that area as I can get to.

The control panel had a bad short, and the switch circled is fried. I found some switches I think will work as replacements on order. I don't have the refrigerator cooling unit so i am going to try to keep the wiring for the inverter to the 120v plugs and then use that switch for something, not completely sure yet. I need to study the wiring a little more to see how to set it up. I am still not sure if just buying a more modern inverter would be the better option, I need to test a few things on the original inverter to see if it works but haven't gotten there yet.

[championbaum]

Should I be able to power the 110v plugs on the bench seat off of the rv battery?

The diagram calls what I thought was an inverter (dc to ac) as a rectifier (ac to dc), so I’m a bit hung up on that. Why the need for a rectifier or inverter if you are going only 110v ac to the 110v outlet?

[vwwestyman]

No, the outlet only gives you power that comes in from the outside plug. Think of it as a nicer way of getting power into the Bus than dangling an extension cord through a window.

The rectifier converts power from 120v to 12 volts to power the fridge and to charge the battery.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing

[championbaum]

[championbaum]

Slow progress, I know it looks like nothing has been done but thats 2 days worth of work cleaning the doors, installing door weatherstripping, grinding and treating rust, cleaning up glue, etc. Still not done on the driver side, it is a bitch to get to everything under and around the brake reservoir and in that cubby under the seat.

Redone gas pedal at least lol. Used a bedliner spray on top, it was rusty and crusty before.

Seat pedestal ready to go.

I got the switches in to redo that darn RV battery control panel and they are momentary rocker switches not the latching ones, so I can't get that shored up like I wanted to.

I also finally took out the crusty tar board in the engine bay, they were riveted in and a pain to remove, also the drilled out part of the rivet is now probably stuck in that beam to rattle around for all of eternity...

I will take a pic later but i put some sound insulation in, and then the old plastic wrapped insulation, and holding it all in place for a bit will be a piece of flat metal I had laying around. I can slide a piece of masonite above it as a barrier if I ever want to, makes it a bit easier to remove all that.

I also noticed i missed replacing a few crusty fuel vent lines around the charcoal canister and replaced them, and mock fit the Blazecut into place just for the hell of it. I will adjust a bit better later.

So, while working on the rust up front i realized i need to figure out where the water is getting in from, headlights or fresh air vent. Eh I'll dig in a bit later.

[championbaum]

Cleaning up the wiring a bit and ran across this? Pump is a goner but doesn’t look like what the Bentley or Haynes shows the windshield washer setup to have looked like. Maybe the PO went from the pressurized washer setup to an electric. I guess I’ll just wire in a universal pump into the switch they added and get it going until I can clean it up a bit more.

This is an electric conversion from the original correct? Any pump recommendations?

I’ll take some more pics later but I found a relay for my rv battery so the batteries aren’t in parallel anymore and required the control panel and all seems well, I’m getting 14v on the rv side when running, and all the switches and even the battery meter are working. I still need to test the 110v side. Very cool, excited to have an auxiliary battery.

Got the cockpit pretty much cleaned up, just trying to tidy up the wiring a little better. The interior reinstallatiin is being held up basically by me needing to replace the stereo and wire in speakers. Don’t wanna spend the dough quite yet, and there is a ton of rust to clean up in the mean time...

[championbaum]

Oi, days of grinding rust and grime have been getting old so I’ve been cleaning up the wiring.

Dome light! The wires from the door buzzer switch were fried so this is the first time the dome light has worked since I’ve had it, and it works in conjunction with the door switch so that’s cool.

The wire from my emergency brake warning light to the actual switch is disconnected, problem is I am not finding the actual switch. Is it obvious and I’m just missing it? Also the light does not illuminate so I’ve been looking at the wiring diagrams but it should with that disconnected when the e brake is engaged so something is up there.

Put the subfloor back in.

I removed the sliding door and replaced the seal and cleaned everything up, when I reinstalled I forgot to put the stop latch back in and when I was admiring how smoothly it operated the door fell off! Luckily the bottom bearing bracket wasn’t bent and everything was fine.

Got lucky there.

Figured out most of my wiring mess is stereo related so I’ll clean it all up as soon as I get a new one.

No pics but I got the rv battery control board rewired and working. One question for you guys is since I lack the refrigerator, would it be unsafe to wire that into an accessory fuse panel? It’s always 12V whether city or batter power running through the rectifier, so I think it will be good, not sure if there is a risk I’m not thinking about when on city power.

Anyways been putting a ton of hours in, hoping to be back on the road soon.

FYI phosphoric acic f*cks up the engine seal material if you didn’t know...

[championbaum]

Getting the wiring cleaned up. I need to replace a few dash lights, and rewire the egr light which is completely missing. Found several ground connections thy were broken and were most likely the reason behind some inconsistent behavior in my dash. There is a switch under my fuse panel that controls power to the stereo, I kept it but may change things up later on. The stereo needs to be replaced anyhow. I’ve wired the switch to power the stereo either off the main or rv battery.

Still working on cleaning up the undercarriage, just going a square foot at a time. I actually drove it to a car wash place today so I could use the sprayer to remove some caked on mud under where the propane tank sits. I’ll reinstall that soon, after I treat some rust, prime, paint and undercoat it. I probably spent 1.5 hours getting it in order so I could drive it 3 blocks to the car wash lol.

Got the back seat reinstalled, no pics but I’ll get some in a few days after I get a few other things in place.

Basically just powering on, been trying to put a few hours every day in at the least...

[championbaum]

Steady working on things. I repainted the propane tank and went to put it on and figured I should get rid of the rust on the undercarriage before I reinstalled it, so a 20 minutes job turned into a 3 day job which I’ve learned is the common occurance.

Before: this area is a bit to the back but is what the undercarriage looks like for the most part

After:

I ended up buying 3m undercoating which was twice as much as the stuff I redid the wheel wells with so we will see if it’s any better.

My son helped paint the tank so he went for a missle theme I guess. Whatever it takes to get a little help I guess.

Cleaning up the undercarriage is a tough gig, super dirty and I’m filthy afterwards so I find things to do between motivational lapses, I’m about 40% there though at this point.

Also mock fit the floor in and installed the bench with speakers, I decided to leave the door off and use that space to mount speakers, made some braces to go behind the veneer in the space where the door would be so no cutting of the actual bench occurred. If I don’t like it I can always cut out the veneer and put the door back in.

I will probably by a stereo head from j bugs soon, the retro looking ones with Bluetooth, they are just pricey so I’m having a hard time pulling the trigger.

I need to haul the rest of the interior over to double check a few things but all my wiring should be good until I go to install some guages, which are also pretty pricey but I’ll get there.

Oh also installed a new steering dampener but haven’t driven it since. Inspected all the steering components and need to replace a few things since the boots are busted.

Still need to replace my ratty throttle cable as well, I bought 2, just haven’t gotten there yet.

[championbaum]

Also, just want to say thanks to everyone for past posts. I’ve been able to figure out a bunch of stuff from searching this site. I found the spare battery relay in a box of parts and was able to reinstall it and get everything wired up just by browsing different threads, so thanks a ton, hopefully my stupid posts will help someone at some point.

[Tcash]

There is some info on the EGR light in the owners manual.
Type 2/Bus Owner's Manuals / Other Manuals
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/archives/manuals/type2.php

Good luck
Tcash

[vwwestyman]

I have a Retrosound radio in each Bus and really like them, even if they are a bit expensive. I would have to say that I bought the second after using the first for a while would have to speak to the fact that I like 'em! They can be had on Amazon and other places so check around a little for best price.

You can wire them (and many other radios) to turn on when the key is simply in the ignition by using the door buzzer wire to provide the "turn on" signal to the radio. This is easy on 74 plus Buses, requires a relay on the earlier buses.
_________________
Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

1978 Champagne Edition Westy, repowered to '97 Jetta TDI
1973 Wild Westerner
My Thing