Seamus-77 westy resto

[Spike0180]

[Jetfxr69]

Ended up ordering a bunch of stuff from aircooled.net. They got refered by a friend who was very pleased with their service. Had a tech question about ordering the correct rings, and John the owner, emailed a response within minutes. He directed me to the proper size rings i needed, and so dropped a few hundred of a bunch of engine bits and pieces I need.

Not against any generic place like rockauto or the others, but like that the place im getting my stuff from, specializes in vw parts and offers tech help to rundown the proper part numbers needed. Dont mind payin* a little extra for that kind of knowledge and service.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[ImAddicted]

John is a good guy. I remember back when he was setting up AC.NET, this was before forums were a thing and USNET ruled the day. He was very active in rec.autos.makers.volkswagen.aircooled (RAMVA). Some of those old members I see around here still - John Henry with his amazing '57 Oval (I think he has a DC or SC now, too?). Speedy Jim was a cornerstone of the group, like Telford, very willing to help out with electrical stuff, Bob Hoover was with us for period of time, this was before people pissed him off.

John has always supported the community, has good stuff, and stands behind it.
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[Jetfxr69]

just doing a hone and ring job and all new seals and gaskets. rattle can top and interior cab areas where needed and then need to start putting shit back together. garage is littered with parts and pieces and im tripping over the stuff. needs to go back where it belongs and quickly. may flys have arrived... bastards!
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

Today was a day filled with highs and lows. On the highs the month of rain finally broke and we had a sunny day today. Finally got a chance to clean up from previous ospho treatment of interior cab area, and prime and rattle can the finish. A low was how quickly my $34 can of match paint was used up. Wont be doing that again. Interior areas that get covered will get close to school bus yellow off local shelfs. Will post picture when finished spraying. Looks like shit right now.

Another tragedy averted was when I finished cleaning what I thought was a good head, and found the massive exhaust valve seat area crack, and then found a good replacement head in a pile of shit in basement. Im still amazed at how much stuff ive been carrying around all these years. Lost track of what I had and amazed evryday when I go hunting and find things. My replacement head had been previously blasted and cleaned and just needed the valves swapped over and lapped. Guide play was not enough to warrant a concern. A couple new studs and a lap job and she was good to go.

The previous tstat i found was junk, but found another today that looks good. Will clean up and test tomorrow.

In my haste to reassemble I broke a new oil ring. Again found a spare in a box of stuff. While it was in good shape and correct size, doesnt match the set, but will make it run.

All in all, with the dogs lying about outside garage, a decent day up in the north country. Sorry no pics today as im tapped out and dont feel like going back outside. Another nice day scheduled for tomorrow so pics then.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

Since weve had more than two consecutive dry days here, pulled the poptop and luggage rack off for new canvas and painting. I guess theres really no concern of rain, as theres nothing inside left to worry about getting wet anyways.

As pissed off as I was to find the nasty mess above headliner that the mice had made, im glad I had to remove in order to get to luggage rack hardware, otherwise I would have missed it. The interior side of the headliner was clean and dry, so had no idea of the mess that awaited.

A thorough bleach cleaning and dry out of headliner was required. What do you all put back overhead in the cab headliner area? Im assuming something to keep the top from sweating above.

Luggage rack was not in too bad of shape as I had painted it years ago, but it got a heavy Zud scrub cleaning and then some soda blasting and wet sanding. Gonna hit it with some Bulldog adhesion promoter, primer, and some gloss white enamel. Great piece of advice I read here was to use garden hose rubber gaskets with the little conical screens built in to put under drain holes as debris screens.
The extra three holes in the luggage rack is where I mounted a steel plate for my CB antenna mount back in the day. It wasnt so much to talk to the truckers, as it was to know and hear about them planning to rundown the “ pussy yellow hippie commie van!”. Funny part is, not all of us are or were what they thought we are or were. I live in NH. LIVE FREE OR DIE

Pulled hardware off poptop and worked on cleaning the flocking yesterday. As advised by others here, used a generic cleaner with bleach and a soft bristle brush and had at it. She cleaned up very well and no damage to material. You can see in the third shot the clean section at the bottom vs original at the top.

Of course now that top is out of the way on to bodywork. My worst spots up top are right in the corners above gutter drains. Im sure many have had just such an issue. Ive got a couple small holes opening up and wish to remedy now and forever. Without doing any steel work, what would you all recommend? Im gonna sandblast the area, and then treat and lrobably have to use some body filler to smooth texture up. Any ideas on filling the holes? Bondo, fiberglass, bondo glass, sprayfoam into the hole to create a backing? I know how to half ass anything, was hoping someone else will tell me to put the beer down and smarten up.

After reading multipe old threads and trying 3 or 4 different brands and colors of rattle can paint match, I think I found one. All the previous recommendations were from older posts, and the companies no longer make that color. I guess they change up every few years and discontinue and remix colors. I found one that will work for my interior repaint very nicely. The picture below is just a sample shot where the paint above is uncleaned and original and the paint below is rattle can fresh.

The paint is Rustoleum industrial choice school bus yellow #6KN96 . Was only about $6/can, so I ordered a dozen while theyre still available. When interior is done, will probably order another dozen to have on hand for the future.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[advCo]

Top is looking good, I'm getting mine done its a big milestone. New wood frame, gel coat on the top side etc.

I would 100% weld that corner up rather than fill it with putty or some other crap that wont last. get a rough form with a hammer and bag and get it close. Nobody will ever see it since the rack is on top but at least you'll know its solid.
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"He pulled the mirrors off his Cadillac ‘cause he doesn’t like it looking like he looks back"
'68/'70 Ghia Coupe Project
'70 Westy Project - Champagne I Wannabe
A bunch of vintage Japanese motorcycles
"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." -A. Bennett

[Jetfxr69]

Im limited on hammer and bag shaping as you cant get to the backside of this. It is a box structure that has no access from interior. Or did you mean just puddle up some weld and bridge the hole back to clean steel? Im not a good enough welder to do that without burning a bigger hole, but have a friend who can probably get it done and then leave the grind out to me.

I like the idead, but am limited on metal skills
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[ImAddicted]

short term - that’s what this is, right? Glass reinforced mud will get you through a few seasons though treat the current metal good first. Ideally, long term, a metal patch would be better. Get your buddy to tack on some metal, or if he not willing, let me know. The next few weeks are hectic but after that I could help. If you are just trying to get some camping in this season, marglass that hole and do it right in the off season.
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[Jetfxr69]

Just finished poptop. Went with all new stainless footman cleats from Gowesty. Will be using stainless holddown screws and bolts throughout both tops. Put the little garden hose screens it there. This will keep the huge hornets nest I found underneath out now. Instead of filling in the holes from the cb antenna plate, I made a new on, sealed it and attached with stainless rivets in the existing holes. This will make a great plate for my magnetic sirius/xm antenna.

Y

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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[notchboy]

Snazzy
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[ImAddicted]

Looking good!
Weather supposed be nice the next 4-5 days .

Are you going to be running a mag mount CB?
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[Jetfxr69]

Had the cb back in the day. Gonna use it for sirius antenna. Need a little Boneyard or some Deep Tracks and of course BB Kings Bluesville.
_________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[ImAddicted]

Ah, good. Was gonna say that’s a REALYY small ground plane:). If you do end up putting one back in, I recommend a good whip for best RX/TX in our neck of the woods. I’ll be putting my 2m/70cm in the middle of the rood to get max ground plane and a whip for the CB.
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[cmonSTART]

Do you have an Amateur license?
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[ImAddicted]

Not yet, was going to take the exam in Ossipee last month but couldn’t make it around life stuff:(. Going to shoot for next time they run the test. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid pouring over Heathkit ads in the back of Boys Life:) I have my radios, there’s a good repeater about 20 miles from me as the crow flies for 2m and about the same in the other direction on 70cm. Do you?
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[Jetfxr69]

Funny thing is, that I actually have a license, that ive never used. Back in the day I tried getting a job that required it, so took the test. Got the license, but not the job. So that and a buck, will get me a coffee at Cumby’s.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[cmonSTART]

I do. I got into it in 2017 for something new to learn about. Turns out I really rather enjoy it. I even installed a mobile rig in the Bus this year.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[Abscate]

Jeff...just get that metal shiny. Phospho off the rust, prime it immediately, the use filler on the holes. Save the welding for a full resto 5 years from now. Monitor it twice year for integrity

Most of the people here telling you to “ fix it right” have no clue of the labor involved on a weld
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.ssS!

[Jetfxr69]