ShopTalk Forums | Aircooled VW Tech & Restoration Help

It is snowing a little here but I'm getting so sick of winter that I went out and started working on the Westy. Yesterday I went out and shoveled the 3 feet of snow away from the back of it and started taking out the passenger's side battery tray or what was left of it. I said heck with it and decided to stop. Well today I figured I'll take the corners off along with the trays and the panel below the engine lid since I'm going to be replacing all of it anyways. Here are some pics. I'll take some better ones once it gets above freezing and I start putting the new stuff on.














When I pulled the piece below the engine lid off it was half full of mouse nests and acorns and rust. I'll deff have some rebuilding to do before the new stuff goes on.

The last 2 pics are after I cleaned everything out and sprayed it with some white Krylon paint I had laying around. I figured It would go well with the snow moteef that I have going on around here. I hope it leaves real soon. More to come.

Ok I got my Bus Depot delivery and took some pics when I got home. Here they are.

What I came home to. =D>


Muffler strap


Clutch cable and tail pipe install kit


Rubber brake lines


Pop top canvas.I couldn't believe that big thing fit in that little box.


shifter coupling kit


steering column coupler


Muffler and cat converter.I forgot the muffler install kit. #-o


Rear corners


Blower hoses


Brake line kit.Replaces every metal line on your bus


Tailpipe


side/rear and pop top seals. I couldn't figure out what the heck the pop top seals where at first. I thought I got the wrong seals



Fuel tank rubber elbow,windshield wiper nut cap(missing one),push rod tube seals,brake line grommets


Battery trays and panel below the engine hatch


Well that's it for now. I have a few more things being drop shipped to me so I'll add those as I get them.

More to come.

Well I had my son out playing in the yard yesterday so I figured I'd paint my Muffler and Cat while he was having fun.

Here they are painted:





The Cat is still wet in the pic. Once it dries It'll look like the muffler. They need another coat but it started to rain so I put them in the bus till a nicer day.

This is what I'm using. I hope it'll hold up ok. It should it is for grills and woodstoves.



More to come

I did this today so this topic is now up to date.

Well I thought I'd start welding in my battery trays and rear corners today but that didn't happen. I dug into driver's side pillar beside the engine hatch and found alot more rust the I expected thanks to the mice that built nests in there. I had to stop for the day till I can rip the blue bus's rear apart and see if I can salvage some metal from it to weld into the Westy. Here are some pics.

Rear pillar mostly cut out.


Another shot of the pillar.


I didn't miss the grinder I tell ya what. I burnt my arms and had a red hot piece of metal fly in my right ear and burn my ear drum. Gotta love that. It'll be worth it in the end I hope.

Here are pics fo the trays.



Right trays tag.


left trays tag


Note the detail in the right tray


Not as detailed on the left side


Passenger's side does have the battery hold down but the driver's side doesn't. I'd be nice if we could both in Genuine VW parts. The VW one is really nice.

I've been debating what to do with the rear of the Westy and I have devised a plan.

I'm going to get the bumper off the blue bus tomorrow and cut the back open and see how it is. If it is in alot better shape then what I have I plan to cut the ends of the rear frame rails along with the pillars on both sides of the hatch and drop the whole rear section then weld it onto the Westy. The inner apron on the Westy is really bad along the bottom. Over half of it is rusted off so I'd have to replace it anyways. This will make it alot easier for me in the long run. I really wish the later buses had the removable apron like the early ones did that would make my job alot easier. I'll post some pics tomorrow of what I do.

I did a little work on the blue bus and started painting my top on the Westy. It looks pretty good for flat paint. It isn't going to win any trophies but it will be nice enough for me. Here are a few pics.
Before pic:


After


Here's a before pic:


After:


Here's a shot of the blue bus. I might get it done tomorrow after I go and get a new couch.

I cut the apron and rear frame sections off the blue bus the other night. I have some more metal to replace on it then I thought but it isn't to bad so it'll be going on the Westy. I can't wait to pull the motor out of the blue bus. I shouldn't even need to jack it up now. Here are a few pics.


Pic of the apron cut off the blue bus:


Pic of the engine with the Apron off:


Another engine pic.


More to come.

Did you use a torch on the restoration bus.

MNAirHead wrote:Did you use a torch on the restoration bus.

Do you mean the Westy? No I used a grinder to cut out the bad metal. The blue bus I used a sawsall to cut the back section off.

Looked in the pix as if the steel had distorted.