Itinerant Air-Cooled

Had my eye on this one for some time sitting in a local salvage yard. Walked by it as I'd visit to pick parts off of one of his other 3 mostly roached out busses. I think Robbie even has a headlight on/off knob from one of those busses from his country trip a few years back. Junkyard guy says "Don't take anything off that white one....some guy said he was gonna buy it. ya know you oughtta buy that thing". Which I eventually did last week. A '68 now in its Golden Anniversary year. Speaking of anniversaries.... I didn't know what the prescribed gift was for a husband to get his wife for #34, so I made one up. "Here ya go honey, happy anniversary!" Hope to have her up and running for our first club show Father's day weekend. I might also add that this scale of project for me, a relative newbie to VW mechanicsmanship would not have even been considered without this community, encouragement and friendship of the likes of Colin, Robbie and others.

Nice work. Looks pretty complete. How's the interior?

Rear vinyl is all good albeit dirty. Zbed mechanism works, driver's side paneling and headliner is pretty crusty but all there to use as patterns. Tent is history. Front seats are shot so new covers needed. Missing one wiper arm. Scrubbed on it today and got all the lichens off. Will do a 3step paint treatment and bet it will come back nicely. Leaving the patina and crusty wheels.

Tom,

I’ve been really enjoying your photos posted on Instagram and the like. Looks like someone has already fired ‘69 and later wiper arms, which hold their shape for a few decades longer..

Congrats, again! Now post the before and after lichen and wax picture!

Robbie

Congratulations on your new family member!

Much of this bus was covered in beautiful lichens and moss or various colors and shapes....which in and of itself is nice but not on my bus!
Soap, water and a soft scotchbrite pad then one application of rubbing compound .....not bad. Pics out of order but you get idea. More as we progress. Got the seats, bed and rear cabinet out Sunday. Will POR the floor (expected worse) after I get new tires mounted so I can get it dismounted from the trailer. Hoping for a test fire after parts semi rolls up here

busboytom wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:37 pm

Much of this bus was covered in beautiful lichens and moss or various colors and shapes....which in and of itself is nice but not on my bus!
Soap, water and a soft scotchbrite pad then one application of rubbing compound .....not bad. Pics out of order but you get idea. More as we progress. Got the seats, bed and rear cabinet out Sunday. Will POR the floor (expected worse) after I get new tires mounted so I can get it dismounted from the trailer. Hoping for a test fire after parts semi rolls up here

The VW Gods greet your labors with great gladness and good tidings, I warrant.
Colin

Ok, now that it rolls on new tires...let's get down to some serious stuff. Wheels are back off and stored and we're up on stands. Next is master cylinder, brake lines, hoses and everything that involves stopping is about to commence. Yup, living and learning.

looks pretty. love the white

zabo wrote: ↑

Tue Apr 03, 2018 7:26 pm

looks pretty. love the white

It is looking great! I looked at that bus a few years ago and it didn't inspire me as much as Tom. Boy, I'm glad this Bus worked out that way. ;)

Tom, did you get any pictures of the rear Westy cargo net setup? I've still never seen good original examples like that one.

Robbie

Ah, yes...inspired...or nuts. Today I removed the brake lines, hoses and master cylinder & cleaned up the rear backing plates in preparation for all new fresh stuff....but it's got to warm up first! 36* again here today and it's miserable lying on concrete grasping cold tools.

I did set aside all of the interior bits, seats, cabinets, sink/cooler, etc on pallets in the barn. Most will need some carpentry but the gold vinyl cushions all cleaned up beatifully. The cargo net is intact and will need a new length of bungee to return it to functionality.

Most new brake lines and hoses now installed but will need to do bench bleed of the master cylinder which I will need to research how to do... Waaay deeper into this stuff than ever would imagined I'd get.....it's just nuts and bolts, right?

I've never bench bled a VW master cylinder. I don't see the need. If you use a power bleeder, you can do it fine. You can also go old school and have someone pump the pedal and bleed the system that way.

Top tip- Adjust the brake shoes tight against the drums on all four corners before you start the bleeding. Turn the stars until you can't any longer. This prevents the pads from traveling out when you only want to push the air/fluid out of the wheel cylinders. Then re adjust them after you have the air out.

I just replaced the master on the Ghia and it seemed to work fine leaving all the fittings loose, pumping a few times, and then tightening things from the bottom up between pumps. I've never done the job before so can't definitively say this is a foolproof strategy.

So while I wait for parts (new pic 34 carb, fuel pump and proper blue brake hose) I've spent a few days redecorating. I obtained a bag of 500 sheets of urethane foam. Dead stock inventory from an expired packaging project at our warehouse, I'm told. I am confident it will makes for great sound control. Used 3M Spray 77 and I applied 3 layers of the 1/2" pads. Underneath I applied partial pieces of a dynamat like product. Got the driver's side wall and rear panel done and sliding door and passenger rear panel done too. Next going to attack the floor. Of course my wife is in on the project too.