1975 Westfalia Rescue - "Project Orange Peel"

[okartguy]

Having lurked around this forum on and off for literal decades at this point, I thought Jan 1 would be the perfect time to kick off a rescue/revival thread for the '75 Westy I picked up a couple of weeks before Christmas.

I'd been keeping an eye on this one on Marketplace (photos from the ad shown below) for several weeks beforehand, watching as the asking price gradually decreased, and actually sending the ad link to various acquaintances in hope that someone else would get to before I did. No such luck.

The common reply I received from others who looked at the ad was "it looks like a rust bucket," but I wasn't so sure. My suspicion was that it was suffering from a poor repaint that was flaking off of red primer, which turned out to be correct. And so, when my yearly bonus arrived and the '75 was still awaiting a taker (I'd been in regular contact with the seller for a couple of weeks), I threw the usual array of shovels, rakes, and implements of destruction—and a spare set of wheels/tires—in the back of my truck, hitched up a rented trailer, and ventured into the wilds of Northeast Oklahoma to go take a look.

The story I got from the seller was that the bus had belonged to family friends who paid the seller to clear some property ahead of a sale. According to the seller, the bus had been parked since 2002, shortly before the original owner passed away, and hadn't moved since. The license plates, a mouse-chewed service receipt (more on this later), and vast quantities of rat shit backed up his account. That body, though... As I'd hoped, the bus was actually super-solid and straight, to include a perfect original nose. There's not even any rust under the windshield seal! And so, after forcing the slider open to make a better survey of the piles of trash, extra parts, and relative completeness of the original equipment, I struck a deal with the seller and set about extricating my purchase.

We moved a floorjack into position, hosed the lugnuts down with PB'Laster, and went to work with my cordless impact. Luckily everything came loose as intended (yay for the Southern Plains!), and I swapped on another set of bus wheels mounted with 27x8.5-15 Grabbers that I had lying around. The bus immediately looked 86% better. We got our cardio in for the month by using a manual winch to load it on the trailer, got it properly tied down, and headed back to Tulsa.

Once back to my rented shop space in town, the first order of business was to exorcise as much of the previous tenants' refuse as possible. I made a stop at the dumpster first thing, and got all of the big stuff (boxes of crap, chunks of aluminum siding, strings of Christmas lights, etc.) I could get out of the way first. There was no way I was going in any deeper without the requisite PPE, so I suited up and got to work beating on my ShopVac like it owed me money.

It took a couple of afternoons to make a decent first pass, and get things to the point where it started to look like a viable candidate for revival again. There were turds, nests, and piles of trash pretty much EVERYWHERE. I think the final tally was 4 33-gallon contractor bags worth.

While I know that I'll ultimately be pulling the interior in its entirety to get everything properly replaced, sanitized, and/or disposed of, it's looking (and smelling) much better as of this week.

I think this first post has gone on more than long enough, so I'll end it here. For the next installment, I'll delve into the mechanical side of the project.
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JJ
Tulsa, OK
'79 Westfalia / 2.0 + dual DRLA 40s / 16" steelies
'64 Mouse Gray Deluxe

[Iguana]

Sweet score, so whats the plan for it ? rebuild or get it usable and enjoy it ?

[okartguy]

[orwell84]

Wow! More like Project Hanta Hacienda. The mask and bunny suit was a good call. Cleaned up nicely though and looks to be a solid bus. Good luck with your project.

[okartguy]

Okay, so onto the mechanical side of the rescue.

When I first inquired about the bus on Marketplace, one of the first things the seller mentioned was that the engine wasn't stuck. Given that I was concentrating primarily on getting the bus extricated from where it had sunken into the ground, I never even bothered to verify the seller's claim on the day I picked it up. Thankfully, he was being truthful.

Once I got the majority of the hantavirus threat abated, I started going through cabinets, drawers, etc. to see what I might find. In the glovebox, I found a rodent-chewed receipt for a clutch replacement for a no-longer-in-business local shop dated March 2002. Checking the receipt mileage against the current odometer reading, only about 200 miles had been put on the bus after the work was done. I also used the information on the receipt to google the original owner's name, and found that he passed at age 83 in early 2003.

Given that the bus was likely shelved due to the original owner's age/illness, my assumption is that it was indeed "running when parked." Armed with that bit of optimism, I set about diving into the engine bay.

Obviously, there was a goodly amount of rodent caca, nesting material, and chewed wiring to contend with. My initial goal (hope?) was to clean out the engine bay and try firing the ol' girl up, but that soon proved to be a pipe dream.

First things first: as I made time to fully assess the situation, it became clear that not only had the FI been replaced with the dread Weber progressive, but the engine itself appears to have originally been a dual-carb version from a '74. The numbers on the shroud tell me it's an 1800, anyway, but given that the case has been painted at some point it's likely a rebuild and who knows what it actually is.

As I worked my way more deeply into the engine compartment, it quickly became evident that there were nests and god knows what else packed into every nook and cranny, particularly under the cooling tins and behind the firewall...

And so, realizing that between the chewed-up wiring and the stuff I'd already removed I was already most of the way there, I set about pulling the engine to make a full appraisal. Ended up taking me about 20 minutes.

In doing so, I was also able to verify that indeed has a nice new (20+ year old!) clutch assembly. Having pulled the valve covers and the breather box, I can also confirm that everything looks at least nominally clean and shipshape. So. Now my current plan is to complete a detailed and thorough cleanup of the engine, reinstall it, and see how it runs. I'm going to make some improvements beforehand, like reinstalling the missing cooling flaps, replacing the front and rear seals, etc., but am otherwise going to leave it alone internally. And if it turns out to be a turd, I have a known-good 2.0 waiting in the wings.

Onward and upward!
_________________
JJ
Tulsa, OK
'79 Westfalia / 2.0 + dual DRLA 40s / 16" steelies
'64 Mouse Gray Deluxe

[jmstu76]

I have a bunch of front main seals (flywheel) side and the Go-Westy seal install tool. I would gladly donate a seal. Get the rear main and we will seal this puppy up.
_________________
James

'76 Deluxe Sage Green Westy
2258 cc GD case 78mm CW crank, 2.0 H-beam rods 5,325” 22mm pin, JE forged pistons with 15cc dish, JE rings, type 11 clearanced oil pump, CB Eagle 2205 Type-2 “Torque Special” hydraulic cam with matched lifters fed by CB Dual Weber 40 IDF MX with 6” foam air filters, currently 55 idle, 130 main, 200 air correction, 32 mm venturis. 27in General Grabber AT2 All Terrains, Berg Shifter, stock '76 exhaust HPC Ceramic Coated. 11/18/2020

[Volswagon]

Bet that carb iced like a bitch.
Got my '75 standard with a fresh coat of wrapper paint.
Owner had passed, nephew sold it to a mechanic.
_________________
I know the pieces fit, cos I watched them fall away.
Wanna hear God laugh? Just talk about your plans.

'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=

[Abscate]

That 1800 is a sweet combination of piston throw and displacement, I consider it the sweet spot for Bay bus motors.

Now to find that 1974 air pump and manifold…..

I felt compelled to wash my IPad after viewing, though
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🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🇺🇸 🍊 🍊 🍊

[orwell84]

Bus is in good hands. From the purchase, to the pickup, cleanup and 20 minute engine drop, obviously not your first rodeo.

[vwmaniaman]

I also have a 1975 Westfalia that I bought in New Mexico that has that Webber carb on it. I rebuilt mine and it had a bad clutch when i bought it. ame color orange with original paint and only has a rusted battery tray and some pin holes in that right rear wheel well but mine has the rust at the winshield seal. It runs really good even with that carb and a SVDA distributor With the vacuum port opened up a little on that carb. Mine was Z-barted in Maine which is where it was sold new to a girl reporter for the paper in Santa Fe. It just turned its first 100K.
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Working on a VW is like fun with a friend!
65 Beetle
75 Westy "Pumpkin Van"
86 Westy "Brown Betty"
87 Cabrio

[Volswagon]

When I bought her, a neighbor had two sitting in his yard.
One was a Hawai'i Five-0 edition with the original palm tree decals.

Got me to wondering if mine has them on the factory orange coat
that was freshly painted when I found her under a shed.

I need to update muh project thread. That ACDelco heated base gasket
for the carb has been a good solution. I'm not seeing it in a search
and need to dig up the part no. Usta know it off the top of my head.

_________________
I know the pieces fit, cos I watched them fall away.
Wanna hear God laugh? Just talk about your plans.

'75 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=697183&highlight=