1970 VW Bus - Westfalia Resto

Damn. Loving following along here - where the hell where you when I was "restoring" my bus under a fig tree for two months in Ibiza? Jeez, coulda used someone who had a clue what they were doing...
 
Pretty rad work so far, my man. I'm inspired. Maybe I'm finally pushed over the edge and I'll fulfill that dream of getting a Bus. It's funny how a rat rod Bug with a V8 is still enough to get me back into the fold, too.
 
You're a madman and I like it.
That's a fuckin' project right there!

When you get it finished we'll go touring in it and the GMC
 
Thanks for checking in fellas. Glad to have the crew aboard. Been hitting the bus 3-4 days a week trying to get as much done as possible before the heat rolls in.

Jim - No idea where I was but I can guarantee I had more free time. ;) Who ever said I know what I'm doing...

irk - You should totally get a bus. Prices are only going up.

Sonic you might have to be patient if we go touring I'll be in 3rd going 45 uphill with a tailwind ;D

Working on the passenger side rear corner lately which is one of the roughest spots on the bus. Should have some progress to report soon, I'm kind of saving up photos to post at once so it doesn't get too disorganized in here (yeah right)
 
You are certifiably mad to take on this project... I like that in a man ;D

Here's one we spotted in Utah..
 

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Or this one spotted on our last trip to the Great Ocean road in Australia
 

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teazer said:
You are certifiably mad to take on this project... I like that in a man ;D

Here's one we spotted in Utah..

This is true.

Those are awesome. Both late bays, which started in '72. Note the pressed bumpers, high marker lights, square intakes, and bigger taillights. Those also had the beefier type 4 pancake motor. I prefer the look of the early Bay (69-71) but the later models had a better camper interior courtesy of Westfalia.

That yellow one has an odd pop top on it, doesn't appear to be anything I've seen by the popular manufacturers (Westfalia, Riviera, Campmobile). I wonder if its a one off deal?
 
The latter one was just parked so I have no idea what the story was. I am sure mys son's has that roof too. of course I don't have a picture of it. He's been rebuilding it for a few years now.
 
I am starting to think that all Kombi's in OZ are that color scheme..........

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I'm in. Awrsome work buddy

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk
 
advCo said:
]I made some progress last week and over the weekend. I bought the Klok rear corners and rear wheel arch pie slices. They suck. I had to move the flanges on the rear wheel arch section inward to get it to fit properly, smooth out their crappy tuck shrinks, and properly shrink the flanges to fix the profile. Its not perfect yet but it'll work.

The rear corner is another story. They don't bend the flanges on either end, and the engine bay side needs two flanges to be spot welded into the seal channel for the decklid. I am going to see if I can get the flanges in there without totally messing up the profile. If not I will just throw this in the scrap pile and shell out the cash for the Gerson corner.

Not a great pic of it, but I bought the WW battery trays. Autocraft I believe. They fit great so far, seem to be really high quality pressings. Might need a little smoothing out around the outer corner. I was considering using panel adhesive to install the battery tray but haven't decided yet - anyone have an opinion on that?

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Need to make a repair piece for the rear pillar (D pillar? E pillar? :lol: ) so that'll be the first bit to get addressed before this can all go back together.

In other news, my long search for a rust free, straight decklid finally came to a close. Found this in the classifieds on Thursday last week, and got it yesterday for a great price. Its damn near perfect, almost a shame to cover up that OG Sierra Yellow.


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Side note, this thread has definitely turned into more of a resto than a "refresh," as is the usual style for my projects :?





What are the little clamp dudes you're using to hold the sheet metal up? I want some lol
 
cb360j said:
What are the little clamp dudes you're using to hold the sheet metal up? I want some lol

Harbor Freight Butt Welding Clamps. Other places sell them but they're dirt cheap at HF and work great.

https://www.harborfreight.com/butt-welding-clamps-8-pc-60545.html
 
That is dope. I guess the idea is to tack everything in, then slide the clamp piece out? Just ordered them.
 
cb360j said:
That is dope. I guess the idea is to tack everything in, then slide the clamp piece out? Just ordered them.

How do you slide them out after it's tacked together? Son't you have to slide them out as you go along?
 
There is a piece of 1/4"x1/4"x1/2" square steel behind that locks into the piece that the wing nut threads onto. Basically when you loosen up the wing nut, the square stock falls out on the opposite side of the panel and you pull the rest of the clamp out from the outside.

They are nice because it helps maintain the ~1/16" gap you should have between panels when butt welding to account for heat expansion.

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