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Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project
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xellex
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PostPosted: Mon Apr 13, 2020 1:57 pm    Post subject: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

So yeah... I've been meaning to document my build for so long now, it seems a whole life has passed already. Most people do this on FB nowadays but it seems so ephemeral
I can't believe it, I just checked to see when I joined here and it's been almost 12 years of lurking these forums. What I can say for sure is that there are some awesome people here, and the amount of information and stuff to learn from is staggering.
That being said, I will start with a little story... Bear with me, it's going to get technical and vanagon related at some point too Smile)
I came into the world of vw's thru the love for beetles, and I had this german look vw 1303 build project for years, starting back in 2007 I think.

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This was the car that got me to my first vw events all over Europe, club meetings, swap meets etc and I got to know some great people. Alot of my best friends are vw guys and girls Smile
But at the same vw meetings - me and my wife - we soon realised that there was something strange going on: As we were spending hours pitching our tent and going through our luggage, there was this other breed of people: The bus owners Smile)
Their beds were ready made in the back, the beer was cold in the fridge, they were dry, warm and cosy at night, they were having alot more fun time than us. That's when the seed was planted.
But of course when you say "vw bus" your mind automatically goes to the t1 and that's what we wanted.... a T1 (splitscreen) camper!
And that's why a few more years went by.... No matter how much money we raised, they were getting more and more expensive and you end up where you started.
So after a while, we "lowered" the bar to t2's (bay window) westys. But lowering the bar meant for me that the bus had to be in great condition to be worth considering. And I never found the one to knock me over. Or, to be honest I did find it one day, but at a price that seemed astronomic at the time.
And to add a bit more colour to my lenghty text: Some time later, I got one more vw. This time a mk1 golf cabriolet. This is when things get complicated and I didn't want to believe that.

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xellex
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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 1:55 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

And back in 2013, already used to going to 4-5 events every year either in our home country or to the western european countries in our beetle, a friend comes to me and says: Hey, let's try something different! There is this event called "Balkan Bus Meeting" held every year in another country, and this year it's in Turkey. Should be fun!
I told him Man I'm so tired of doing this in such a small space, it's not fun anymore. And he says I'll lend you a bus from a guy who's out of the country right now and he doesn't need it.
The bus was nothing special, pretty crappy at that time actually for a number of reasons, but that trip was so much fun you can't eaven imagine! It had everything: Great weather, great companions (we were 5 or 6 cars start to finish), a few adventures, fun roads, seaside, nice atmosphere at the event.
I took alot of photos but now I realise this is the best picture of the bus I drove:
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It's the orange t3 in the back
And a few campers that I really liked back then:

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 15, 2020 4:07 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

More! Very Happy

I was in Bucharest and Buzau last August and was supposed to be yhere again this August. That likely will be postponed. Maybe we can get together and you can show me the local VW scene. I hope to be driving my own bus for that trip and others. See my project in my signature.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 2:54 am    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Don't tempt me with those bus stories again! You know I'm a bug guy.
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PostPosted: Thu Apr 16, 2020 6:23 am    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Great story on you move into the T3 community looking forward to the rest of the story.
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xellex
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 1:41 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

dobryan wrote:
More! Very Happy

I was in Bucharest and Buzau last August and was supposed to be yhere again this August. That likely will be postponed. Maybe we can get together and you can show me the local VW scene. I hope to be driving my own bus for that trip and others. See my project in my signature.


It would be great to meet in person. Too bad you didn't come to Balkan Bus meeting in july! It was awesome! We had around 280 buses present at the event...
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xellex
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 2:06 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Ok, to catch up where we left:
Back from the meeting in Turkey, you can see clearly from the pictures that I liked alot of t3's, and of course syncros.
That was the moment when I said forget the t1, forget the t2, let's find a nice t3 westy and that's it!
Aaaaaaand I started searching....
Back then I owned a small restaurant, and one of my daily jobs was to go buy groceries for it... But no... I was constantly searching for buses. My waiter and chef were yelling at me Smile)
And I found it... A 1983 hightop westy. I was so blinded by euphoria that I thought it was perfect Smile
I think this is one of the first pics I took of it:
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It looked pretty clean and complete at first sight but that ikea carpet was masking BIG hole in the rear bench
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The headliner was replaced to a blue starry wallpaper
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The top hatch was replaced with a big sheet of aluminium
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The eberspacher was completely missing, the paperwork was a mess and had to be sorted and lots of others...
But nothing compares to this:
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Or this:
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 2:17 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

One of the first things I did to the bus was to slap on a set of AMG Pentas with a set of goodyear AT/R tires
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But those wheels were so damn wide that eaven the 215's had to be stretched to fit. That got me thinking it's not so nice to get a flat tire in the middle of nowhere so I soon replaced them with a set of 16 inch steel mercedes rims.
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Then winter came, and if you look closely in the first picture, you can see the whole rain gutter all around the car was loaded with fiberglass and painted black.....
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Rust started to make it's way out of the cracked fiberglass and it was a mess... I ripped everything out of there and alot of disapointment came with that...
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 2:30 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

On the first of may every year, my favourite place to be is Hannover Messe in Germany for the vw event.
This was the setup we had with a few friends in 2014 for that trip. It was alot of fun, as usual:
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A couple of pictures worth mentioning:
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And because we're in the vanagon section, I bet you haven't seen one like this before:
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The car bellonged to a vw employee and it's been like that from new, or so they say...
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 2:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Back home, I brought back a headlight washer grille with the larger tank so I quickly installed it with the correct wiring and all.
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There was no immediate fix to my rust issue so I decided to just use the car like that, and make the most of it...
This picture is taken in the Danube delta, with the orange bus that got me into buses, my white westy and a t2 that I later got to restore myself.
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It was our country's turn to organise the balkan bus meeting, where I fell in love with buses, so we tried our best. We organised an after-meeting trip in the carpathian mountains, which culminated with a syncro-only trip to the top. I rode shotgun in a syncro 16.... MAN! What a syncro can do! It's an animal not a car on wheels!
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And mine somewhere lower than the syncros Razz
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Oh, and I bought a side tent.... Considered it was a better choice to the awnings:
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Last edited by xellex on Tue May 12, 2020 3:43 pm; edited 1 time in total
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xellex
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 3:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

And that same year, came the longest trip in my westy... We did a summer vacation in Greece. It was perfect in every way!
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The very first day we got back, the bus got broken into... in front of my house, with me missing for maybe 20 minutes... Thats a long and very bad story, but he ended up in jail, where he bellongs!
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xellex
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 3:32 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Later that year, I sold my restaurant business with no plans to do anything else real soon so I went a bit crazy, starting to buy different buses, and thinking I could 'save the whales'
An ex german postal wagen
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An ex t2a westy
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A simple panel bay window that has seen better days
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And a few more not worth mentioning anyway.
OH! and I painted a grey stripe on the bus to take the eyes off the rusty bits.
I also installed some syncro (truck style) side mirrors. And the middle double glazed opening window.
The small wheels were on because I filed papers for historic vehicle registration.
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But this adventure got me where I would spend the next 4-5 years of my life. A restoration shop.
Right when I ended my restaurant business, a friend of mine, also westy AND beetle owner, closes a truck body and paint shop for personal reasons. We're talking 20 employee garage with space, tools and consumables (for Scania, Volvo, Man etc). And he says come here, and let's have some fun and try to make some money out of it Smile
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PostPosted: Tue May 12, 2020 9:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Yee haw! I'm looking forward to what's next.
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Current: 1990 Westy Camper - Bostig RG4, 2wd, manual trans w/Peloquin, NAHT high-top, 280 ah LFP battery, 160 watts solar, Flash Silver, seam rust, bondo, etc., etc.

Past: 1985 Westy Camper - 1.9 wbx, 2wd, manual trans, Merian Brown, (sold after 17 years to Northwesty who converted it to a Syncro).
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xellex
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 2:26 am    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

The whole experience in the body shop was more than awesome... I have learnt so so much... you can't even imagine!
There was only me and my friend there for 99% of the time. It was hard work, but we always tried to do the highest quality job and to always outdo ourselves.
Here's a few of our projects:
This one needed no bodywork but it was and USA import and it was sunburnt badly
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Another porsche, this time with alot of bodywork
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To this:
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Another porsche from this:
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To this:
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A prety rare Golf rallye from this:
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To this:
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One of the best t2 westy's I ever saw. We did all the paint inside, outside and under:
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Another bay:
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And another one from this:
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To this:
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A t3 westfalia:
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And there was much more, just like that.

But coming back to my bus story, I decided to take the roof off and see what was going on in there.... Remember, my friend told me it was beyond repair, and I was thinking he's wrong because his standards were too high...
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And this is when it hit me:
The roof gutter and the whole structure was so badly coroded... the rust went down through the pillars and actually the whole body was in very bad shape, most of it hidden by the previous owner.
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xellex
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PostPosted: Wed May 27, 2020 2:46 am    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Just before that, but I forgot to mention, we did another awesome trip, through Serbia, and Montenegro.
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And than my son was born and I think the last time I ever used the bus before taking the roof off, was at the seaside in my country, when he was 4 months old:
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xellex
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 2:22 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

After taking the roof off my bus, there was a while when I just didn't know what to do...
That coincided with my friend and shop partner selling his t3 westy, and we went to Austria, where we bought a beautiful, extremely well preserved 1982 VW LT Westfalia Sven Hedin. An awesome car, that I also used for a few trips because my bus wasn't functional anymore...
Here it is the day we bought it:
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Here, a trip to the seaside:
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Here, to the mountains:
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Here, arriving at a meeting in Bulgaria:
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Here, at a meeting in Turkey:
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And here in Greece:
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 3:15 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

But no matter how close you are to the owner, driving somebody else's car gives you an unconfortable feeling... A feeling that I couldn't get rid of, and I was constantly thinking of every solution possible - from long term renting of a motorhome, to buying a caravan to keep for a while.
And coming back to my t3, one morning I found this perfect body, absolutely rust free t3 caravelle. A true barn find in every way.
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I didn't stop to think of the details too much... I just went and paid for it (probably 500km away). All the trip and bringing it home was an adventure, but I finally had my donor in the shop...
But where does this leave me? One car that I almost abused borrowing, One dismantled westy, one possible donor, one wife with alot of free time after having our baby. Free time that we could use to travel, and no functional camper Smile)
Aaaand I had something else: This habit of drinking my morning coffee with my friend at the shop, and going through all the possible car ads. That'show we found the LT, that's how we found my donor, and now came this beauty:
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It's a car model that I never knew existed. A car that probably passed by me a hundred times in my life and I never set my eyes on. It's a car that makes my friend's LT look good, and we were constantly joking the LT is the ugliest car in the world.
It's a 1992 Mercedes Benz MB100, equipped as a camper by this company in Germany called 'La Strada'.
This company started making campers in the 80's on which platform do you think? Yes, our beloved T3's or Vanagons...
Turns out this particular model, the MB100 has some shared history with the VW group, at it's very begining.
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The car is in awesome shape, well preserved,low mileage, perfectly running and a pleasure to drive...
The quality of the camper stuff (La strada) is amazing. They actually still exist today and they make high end campers.
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The car is totally opposite to the vw t3 as an experience, it has a front (longitudinal) engine and gearbox, front wheel drive and a bit bigger. Closer maybe to the LT but not that big.
It also has a full bathroom with toilet and hot water shower.
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So that's how I became the guy who goes to all the vw meetings in a merc Smile)

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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 3:45 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

I love this thread!
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 7:25 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Yes, its fantastic!! Very Happy
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2020 1:03 pm    Post subject: Re: Build thread - My (love it & hate it) hightop westy project Reply with quote

Ok, so once I had the donor car in the shop, we quickly started dismantling it and man, I was impressed... Every nut and bolt was perfect. Never touched by anybody else, no rust damage, nothing.
I probably forgot to mention, the bus was a 1991 caravelle coach with a few nice options like a limited slip diff, night heater etc, bought from it's first and only owner.
Once everything was off, we started on the roof conversion.
I have to say I should have done more research before buying it, but as the donor was in such good condition, it blinded me a little.
Why am I saying this? Because hightop t3's and tintop t3's are structurally different at the roof, and it's sooooo much easy to start with a hightop donor like a postal wagen or something....
But then again, maybe it's much harder to find a hightop car with no rust at the rain gutters...

The conversion took alot of time and energy but in the end I was very happy with the result. We eaven did the front part, just like the original westy.
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I worked with the sheet metal from the roof I cut off, just because I can Razz
And because it's original VW sheet metal.
And because it was already treated and painted on both sides.
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These pillar mounts I chose to replicate, because it was too much work involved to cut them out of my car an clean them from unnecesary metal...
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Here you can see what becomes the front rain gutter above the windshield.
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The rear raised and reinforced portion, just like original:
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Here you can see the sheet metal that gets welded inside the rain gutter, and is then bent over the fiberglass roof. I also took the time to do all the wiring needed for the roof section of the car. Original, and also additional, like the solar panels.
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and again, the front part of the rain gutter, specific to the westy hightop, that we had to fabricate.
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1973 GL 1303s, 1983 high top westfalia t3, 1989 mk1 golf cabriolet
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