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A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 11:22 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

orwell84 wrote:
Glad you got your case back and are moving forward again. Parts look great.

I get the overwhelmed part. I got my crank, rods and balanced parts on Friday. They are way better than the old parts I’ve been throwing around in my last rebuild. I’ve got that handle them like a bomb that will go off feeling again.

Looking forward to seeing more of your build.


Hey man! Thanks for checking in!

Just like we've talked about in the past, one bite at a time...only way to eat the elephant! Laughing Laughing Laughing

As badly as I want to get things done, I'm trying really hard this time not to rush things. I find that most of the deadlines are self-imposed and help add to that awful, nagging feeling.

Anyhow, I hope things are going well for you! I look forward to hearing about your progress!

Cool
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2020 11:25 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

I started a dedicated thread on my engine rebuild:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=739070

I can't wait to get this thing back in and hopefully a good long run out of her!
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2020 3:34 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Early Christmas this week at the white74westy house:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


You keep hearing people say how these things are works of art, they truly are magnificent when you see them in person!!! Len's work is second to none! Excited for what's to come!

Cool
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2020 6:47 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Still waiting on the camshaft. The work has already been done. However, the lifters couldn't be saved. Rather than to sell me what she believed to be an inferior product, Faith recommended that I wait for the new batch. Hopefully I should hear something from her fairly soon and we can get back to building the engine.

I had a little time to look at the heads a couple of weeks ago. Almost immediately I noticed that there would be a problem with the thermocouples that I bought. I bought them off the internet somewhere. They're 14mm with 24" of shielded cable. However, the part that attaches to the ring sits at a 90° angle.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Subsequently they wouldn't fit properly in the notch and definitely wouldn't allow the ring to seat properly under the spark plug. I asked Len if he would be willing to take a look at the heads and the thermocouples to see if anything could be done. As always, he was more than willing to oblige. He removed some additional material from the original notches, and I think they're going to work great.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer...
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:06 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Camshaft and lifters are on the way! Hope to receive them later this week, or early next week. Yahoo! Hopefully, that'll mean the I can get back to putting the engine back together!
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old DKP driver
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2020 2:26 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

We are all looking forward to seeing your build going forward!
Nice heads Very Happy
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 5:41 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

old DKP driver wrote:
We are all looking forward to seeing your build going forward!
Nice heads Very Happy


Thank you sir! Cool
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Wed Sep 09, 2020 6:01 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

While I'm waiting to get the cam and lifters back, I decided to do some preventative mainainence. I opened up the firewall and replaced all the fuel lines in the engine bay.

Started with this little bugger, as its always one of the ones I like doing the least:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


As you can see, I went through the opening left by removing the tail light. Lots more room that way! Right before I tightened up the clamps:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Also wanted to take a moment to highlight the fuel lines that I used, the last time I installed them. I bought the correct size, metric hoses, from Belmetric.com. It's the flenor product that they offer:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Here's a link to the fuel line for those interested: https://www.belmetric.com/multifuel-hoseethanol-ap...sv33dl8vl1

It's reinfoced and is designed to be used with a bunch of different fuel types, including high ethanol content fuel. I was really curious how it would hold up. I'm happy to report that after approximately 6 years, they show no signs of deterioration! I split a couple of pieces, in order to see what the insides would look like:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


The white stuff you're seeing there is leftover paint from the vapor lines. I was also pleased to see no deterioration on the ends either! I prefer to run non-ethanol fuels, as such, I didn't run very much ethanol based fuel through them, so maybe that played a part in it; I don't know. Either way, I was well pleased with the results and decided to use the same stuff again. I hope this proves useful to those that wonder if the Belmetric fuel lines are worth it. BTW...no this isn't some kind of ad, just a friendly FYI. Laughing Laughing Laughing

Next up, replacing the hardboard insulation panels at the top of the engine bay.
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Sep 13, 2020 3:15 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Not a very productive weekend, but a lot of fun nonetheless!

I was out of town for work this Friday, meeting with a customer when I received a call from my neighbor. This was highly irregular, as it was in the middle of the day. Naturally, I thought something had to be wrong. He is a retiree and I worried that perhaps something bad had taken place, and that perhaps he might need some help. I answered, "yes sir!" Much to my surprise, it was not his voice on the other end of the line, but rather that of his wife. If you'll recall, quite some time back, I made mention of my neighbor that was once a seamstress. She is a lovely retired lady from Germany. She agreed to help me make new curtains for my bus! I'm not the type to rush anyone, and truth be told, I've had so much other stuff on my plate that I really hadn't given it much thought. Well, she was calling to ask questions about the curtains. Very exciting! I couldn't answer the questions then and there, and asked if I could come by later that afternoon. I really have very little left to do on the interior of the bus, but this is one of those things. Of course it was all I could think about for the rest of the afternoon, until I could get back to town. I'm really glad things worked out the way they did!!! The whole way home, I was thinking about the curtain patterns that I had given her. I can't remember where I got them, but I'm pretty sure it was off TheSamba. Anyhow, the more I thought about it, I just knew that what I'd given her was just not right. I met with her and we talked things through. The plans/patterns I had given her were for a later model bus, that probably wouldn't have been quite right for the '74. Happily, we walked through it all and I hope to have a complete set, precisely like the ones I removed, all those years ago. I must mention, that I did have a couple of them left, which I left with her to use as templates. Anyhow, she had a couple of them finished when I got there. Here's a little teaser:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


As you'll notice in the first photo, the new material is a very close facsimile of the original in color, and pretty close in texture to the rest of the material used in the bus. Thankfully, it is UV resistant, so hopefully, they'll hold up a lot longer than the originals did, specific to bleaching that is so common with the curtains in our buses. Needless to say, I've been over the moon...I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I can't wait to finally be able to finish the interior of the bus!!!

Yesterday, I got to catch up with a couple of my buddies. My neighbor has a '72 Westy. He recently bought a small trailer to pull behind his bus. It needs some work, and it's going to make a fun little project. However, he didn't have a hitch. Another friend of ours, that lives just around the corner has some pretty amazing fabricating skills and agreed to help make the hitch. By the way, he also has a sweet '72 tintop. I pulled up in my EVC and thankfully at one point, had enough wherewithal to take a picture:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Here's another shot of the boys getting some of the final touches done on the hitch:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


All in all, a great weekend in the books! I hope that everyone is keeping well, staying healthy and safe! Cool
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KentABQ Premium Member
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 7:22 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

A fellow Sambanista recommended Scotchgard "Sun Shield" spray to me.
It protects fabrics from fading...

https://www.scotchgard.com/3M/en_US/scotchgard/pro...amp;rt=rud

Wish I had known of it 3 years ago... Crying or Very sad
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Cars of today are so bland in comparison. It's like driving a celebration!"
---WildIdea

Bus ownership via emoticons:
Very Happy Shocked Mad Sad Embarassed d'oh! Pray Brick wall Pray Dancing Dancing Dancing ---williamM
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Jim Bear
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PostPosted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 9:22 am    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

white74westy, where did you get that fabric?

And...

I know everything causes cancer, but 3M Scotch Guard has been directly linked to cancer. I heard this some years ago. They found the main ingredient in cancer tumor tissues. Just saying. These chemicles are everywhere, but I personally choose to not exacerbate the issue and impact.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jun/25/anthonybrowne.theobserver1
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'85 Vanagon Westy - George In the Stable 2020-?/'74 Weekender - Ophelia In the Stable 2007- ?/'69 Beetle Convertible - SOLD 2017-2020/'67 Beetle - September SOLD 2013-2016 Sad /'67 SO42 Westy - Sage SOLD 1996-2001 Sad Sad/'69 Transporter - Baby Blue SOLD 1995-1995/'72 Westy - Nelly - SOLD 1990-1995--STOP FRACKING
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 1:54 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Jim Bear wrote:
white74westy, where did you get that fabric?


Hey Jim!

I went back and looked through my files. I bought the material early last year. This is the stuff I bought:

Sunbrella 15000-0008 Spotlight Citron 54" Upholstery Fabric

I'm not sure if its still available or not?!? You may have to google and call around to see if there's anyone that has a bolt of fabric left. I bought 7 yards. My neighbor (the seamstress) is working on the last curtain...the one that goes over the windshield. I think she said that would be enough - at least for a '74. Here's a sneak-peak of how things turned out:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I'm thrilled with the way it came out. The colors look amazing together, as a whole. I'll post more pics a little later.

Hope that helps! Cool
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 2:46 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Major stall on the project! To say I've had a full plate would be an understatement. Once again, it's time to get back at it. However, I fear there may be another stall waiting ahead, but I'll get to that in a minute.

When I left off last, I was waiting for my neighbor to finish up the last of the curtains. I got the call that it was ready to go in the middle of October. Yahoo!!!

Here is the lovely lady that did all the work for me:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


I took the curtain and laid the original atop of it, to get an idea of where to put the snaps:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


In case anyone is curious as to how to install them, this is a link to the stuff I used: https://www.sailrite.com/Easy-Snap-Fastener-Installation-Kit

Once I was happy with the position, I made the holes:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Snaps installed:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


Time to mount them in the bus:
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Popped the upper corner off in the image above, so you could see how it looks on the inside.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

That's how she looks from the outside. I'm thrilled!
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Sun Mar 21, 2021 3:07 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Before I went any further with the engine, and while I was waiting for the cam to come back, I decided to tackle the hardboard insulation panels that sit above the engine. Mine were beginning to look tired, like most of them do at this point in their lives. Nothing too difficult as far as removal, particularly when the engine's not in the way! Wink Very Happy While I was doing this I placed an order for some Werksberg replacements, back in August 2020. Covid and the holidays really made a mess of the USPS. It took nearly 3 months to receive the panels. No worries! Wasn't in a rush. I was pretty excited to open them up and get cracking. Much to my surprise, I wasn't going to be able to get very far. The joys of owning a '74 reared its ugly head once again. Laughing Laughing Laughing

The 74 and maybe some of the 75's have some strange one-year-only things going on. This happens to be one of them. As you'll see below, the part that sits above the right side of the engine, has a different shaped support bracket for the diagnostic module:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


In the image below, I have laid the original over the werksberg piece so you can see the differences and that it just won't fit:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.


As always, my dealings with Jim have been stellar! I sent him an email with pictures attached explaining my predicament. He stated that in all the years he's been doing this, he hadn't run across this before. I explained that the 74-75 were strange beasts. He was awesome and sent me an additional blank piece along with some scraps so that I could practice cutting before making my final attempt. I will update soon with results.
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white74westy
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PostPosted: Mon Mar 22, 2021 3:38 pm    Post subject: Re: A promise, patience, and persistence - My 1974 Westfalia thread Reply with quote

Trying to get going again on putting the engine together. Ran in to some problems with the cam:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9600781#9600781

Looking for help and recommendations!
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