Hell In A Bucket! WildIdea's 1977 Sage Green Westy

[wcfvw69]

You mentioned play in your steering. You can leave the bus on the ground and have a family member rotate the steering wheel slowly a bit back and forth to see if you have any worn tie rod ends, swing level play and get a feel for the steering gear play. The steering gear is adjustable. Most people never adjust it or adjust it correctly. There's a good write up in the Bentley on how to do it right.


Link


When I bought my bus in 2014, I went through it mechanically. You can see the link to that thread below. The video is of one of the bad tie rods. It had a wasted and blown steering damper and all the tie rods were original and had play/slop. When I first drove it after buying it, I was shocked at how sloppy and scary it was to drive. I've since replaced all the tie rods, steering damper, shocks, center pin, ball joints and tires. I also took apart the steering gear to clean and reseal it. I also adjusted it correctly. I'm very pleased with how it drives and feels now.

I recently had the opportunity to drive Colin's (Amskeptic on The Samba) 1977 bus with only 70k original miles. Obviously, things were still very tight and crisp on it with all the original VW parts in place. I was happy as my bus feels just as tight now as that one is.
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Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

Just got back from a beautiful drive with the Family up to and around Custer, Needles Highway and the Game Loop.

We had dropped my daughter off at a summer camp 5 days ago near the town of Custer and today we headed there to pick her up. She had requested a bus ride up there but it was raining pretty hard that day, so we skipped it and took the truck. We thought she would be pleased to see us pull up in the bus with the dogs along.

One the way up we laugh that there are the two things we have on our roads in the summer, Bikers and construction cones. G-man commented, he didn't know there was that many orange cones in the whole world...HaHa. Were just glad they maintain them and that people come here to vacation on them.

No problem getting to the camp, we just took our time going 35-45 MPH on the mountain roads, sometimes slower....

The road to the camp was gravel and a little bit technical, but no problem for the bus. Although she missed home, she agreed we should take the scenic route back to Rapid City. We blast off towards the Needles and get right into the best tunnel stop of all. The Needles Eye. You see, the Black Hills are an ancient mountain uplift. In its glory they were 14K tall but now eroded to 5-6K and probably only still around because the core rock type is granite. This is the last stages of decay and rock erosion, sculpted by eons of weather, leaving fluted spires like nowhere else on earth. In the 20s-30s depression era, The CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) built these spectacular roads throughout to enjoy the splendor. Man, I can only hope they wanted their ancestors to enjoy their work, so enjoy we must.

On each side of the tunnel there are pull offs, I get into a perfect position to really enjoy both the bus and the views. It's pretty rad. As always, folks say nice things about the bus. A lot of the complements and thumbs up come from bikers, which I think is cool.

The guys rotate seats and get all set to hit the Game Loop in Custer State Park. There are buffalo, goats, burros, deer, etc, but we really just want to see the buffalo herd.

Dogs chilling and the hand outstretched to high-five some aspen leaves.

More tunnels, then we come into part of the herd.

Its hard to get your fill of the park but there are storms predicted and this time of year they don't lie and can be fierce, so as this daydream plays out, we head on through paradise.

The Bus is running and handling beautifully. I wonder how I ever drove it without shocks before....

The foothills come fast and were round the corner for our neighborhood in no time for a lunch at home.

What a day with the family and the Bus! Temps were 75 if that and nobody was in a hurry or stressed on the road. If this is all I ever get to do with the bus, I'll be good with that. Thanks for checking it out, later......

[Tcash]

Now that is what it is all about.
Thanks for posting.
Tcash

[LazyLightning75]

Love the mini road trip and pics of the family enjoying the bus. Thanks for sharing. After reading your post there was nothing left to do but , ,
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1975 Riviera 1.8L FI

[wcfvw69]

What I found striking about this photo is this- The 40 year old VW bus parked next to the other modern cars in this photo, doesn't look or stand out like an old, antique vehicle. To me, it looks normal and not out of place.

Great photo's BTW! There's a chance that there maybe another generation of future bus lovers/owners with all these kids getting exposed to these VW buses! [/youtube]
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[brass gears]

You take some of the best photos man. Lovin’the thread...

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

[WildIdea]

[yellowCOwesty]

Are planning on coming down to Boulder in that beautiful bus this weekend?
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'78 Westy
Currently yellow and white "Sunny"
A few other air cooled VW and Porsches over the years

[WildIdea]

[yellowCOwesty]

Sounds like you have been busy!

I took the kids to the NYC Bobby and Phil show on Friday night this year and we drove the Westy down to Boulder last year.

We ar heading out in a few minutes to go again so I was going to keep my eyes peeled for you and your family.

Bill
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'78 Westy
Currently yellow and white "Sunny"
A few other air cooled VW and Porsches over the years

[WildIdea]

[Clatter]

Thanks for taking the time to write this all up..!

FWIW,
You’re missing out not taking your bus on road-trips;
That’s where they really shine.
When you can pop the top and all sleep contained anywhere a car can park,
It makes it so you can leave your itinerary open,
And just drive until you don’t feel like doing so anymore.
It makes for a completely different trip.
RV parks always have a small spot for ‘just a car to park’.
You can even just pull into some random neighborhood if you arrive late and leave early.
When your schedule becomes flexible,
You do more of what you like, and less of what you don’t.
You can take whatever side trip,
And no longer have to stress about making some destination for the night’s stay.

We do bus trips so much,
That we took the ‘real’ car (regular car!) on a long trip,
And we forgot that we didn’t have the bus.
We were all tired and needed a night’s sleep,
Hotels were all full, we tried one after another.
Found a great campground.. But.. Oh, No..!
Never again...

Now that you have your bus shaken out,
Start driving it to work or regularly,
So you can trust it.
Sitting can be bad for reliability, just like neglect.
Now that you have been driving it,
It will be as trustworthy as ever.

Go for it..!
You’ll see what I mean.

We’re heading from Santa Cruz to Seattle next week...
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Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[WildIdea]

[quote="Clatter"]

FWIW,
You’re missing out not taking your bus on road-trips;
That’s where they really shine.


I guess I simply just don’t have the balls yet to take the bus on a road trip like this with my core 4. In fact, I haven’t even spent the night in the bus yet. Not even one stinking night. Our next opportunity is coming up though and was hoping to do an overnight at a Hills campsite with just one of the kids for starters. This is a whole other new phase I have yet to get experience with still. Believe me, we’re itching. Thanks for the encouragement!!

[vwwestyman]

Take 'em!

I don't know how far away you are from the nearest camping area, but one of the things I love about the bus is how easy it is to just decide to go sleep in the bus at the state park that is a few miles away. Just get in and go.

If you're really nervous about the cramped quarters or something, and have a spot that isn't too far away from home, you could do what my friend does when we go camping.

His wife comes separate with his daughter! That way they can have fun during the evening with a campfire and all that, but the ladies can go home and sleep in their beds while we stay in the bus.

So your wife could drive a separate vehicle and head home if for some reason it just isn't working for everyone. Think of it as a life raft!
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Dave Cook

President, Wild Westerner Club

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

[WildIdea]

Vwwestyman,

That’s an excellent idea! That’s really where were at right now. We’re all strung out on amenities and I need a reduction program!!

We want to get up to the property of our “someday” future build site and get to loving on that with the bus. It has a great fire pit we can pull right up to. Plus, I need to spray some weeds and chainsaw some pine. This will be our training ground. And yes, it’s an hour away from home so if someone wants to bail, they can.

[WildIdea]

Sunday drive with family for a lazy day drive to a nice dinner. Cat caught this picture.