My Westy Resto Blog

2009-11-03T15:07:00.000-08:00

Here I decided to pull the tank that was in the bus out seeings how it was shot and needed replaced.I have a good tank in my parts bus so it'll be going in here. My mice friends again left me some nice gifts to clean up.Man,I hate mice.

2009-11-03T14:59:00.000-08:00

This is what I used as sound deadener in my bus. I know some people will say that it is undercoating and will off gas when it gets hot..Blah,blah,blah.To be honest It has been hotter then heck in the bus since I put this stuff in there and once it fully dried it has never turned runny or off gassed at all. I think this will really help save the floor also from rusting out.

2009-11-03T14:50:00.000-08:00

Here you can see what started out as a few small rust holes behind the rear seat/bed turned into a major rust problem once I dug into it. I ended up welding some metal from another bus I had in to take care of the rust holes. This is a bad rust spot in Bays.All the crap flies up there and just rots it away.If you can check this spot I'd do it before you buy it.

2009-11-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Here is the dogleg all welded in. I also put the door back on to check the gaps and they were great so I'm really happy with it.I still have to fix the floor by the step and where it comes down off the wheel tub. I'm not sure what I'm going to do there yet but hopefully the coming spring it'll get done.

2009-11-03T14:32:00.000-08:00

Here is the dogleg test fitted into place. I did have to do some wrestling with it to get it just right but It did fit really well once it was in place. These are VW pieces not the bad aftermarket ones.

2009-11-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

I tried test fitting the dogleg and the bracket in the pics was in the way.I ended up having to cut it off then the dogleg went right on.

2009-11-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Here is some of the rust I had to take care of before the new dogleg went on. Not to bad considering how old this bus is.Also that is what was left of the old dogleg.It is probably soup cans by now.

2009-11-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

Here is the Driver's dogleg.As you can see in the pics it was pretty bad in the step area.I had a new one so I just cut this one off and welded on the new one.It is alot of work I tell ya.There are like 30 spot welds along the top of the dogleg where the wheel tub connects to it.

2009-11-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Here I did some more stripping and priming.Again I don't know why I wasted the time.I'll show you later why.As you can see the back of the bus was pretty rusty.I didn't know how bad it was till I opened it up later on. We'll get to that down the road.Now on to the next project.

2009-11-02T15:44:00.000-08:00

Here you can see I did some patching on the Passenger's dogleg.I do have a new one but I didn't feel this one needed replaced yet so I just fixed the hole with some fiberglass and putty and left it at that. When it gets to bad I'll put the new one on.I did some stripping and priming in the next 2 pics but I don't know why I wasted my time doing it. You'll see why later.

2009-11-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

This bus had no windows in it so I pulled the ones out of my other bus which is now my parts bus and put them into the Westy.I had to do some work to the Passenger rear window frame so it was the last one to go in.I used the old seals at the time cause I'm replacing them all anyways. The Driver's rear one went in like butter with the tool in the last pic. I borrowed it from work and have not been able to find one anywhere. If you ever find one and have a vehicle with the rubber window seals buy it.You won't be sorry.

2009-11-02T15:03:00.000-08:00

Here is the new nose fitted into place.It was a tight fit to get it on there.Alot of pulling and tugging went into that nose. Also you can see the Driver's air duct is fixed also. This was all done by the 10th of May 2007.

2009-11-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

Here you can see I painted the inner structure of the nose to just give it some protection from rust. Also you can see I fixed the air duct on the passenger's side. Alot of welding has gone into this bus.

2009-11-02T14:48:00.000-08:00

Here you can see I cut off the nose of the bus so I could replace it with a new one. The entire lower window lip was rotted out and someone decided to push it out of a barn were it was when I picked it up with a front end loader so it dented up the front also. I could have fixed it all but I had brand new nose skin that is why I did this. I kinda wish I didn't now but You live and learn I guess.As you can see in the 2 lower pics mice love to build nests in the air ducts.I had to fix those also.That is the reason the guy got rid of this bus in the first place. It was a complete bus before it got stripped down.

2009-11-02T14:28:00.000-08:00

Well here is the shell of the Westy loaded up on the trailer ready for the long haul from New York back home back in May of '07.As you can see in the pics. it has no doors or anything just the fiberglass top and the top bunk is all.This is my friend VDubTech whom I bought the bus from. If you are in search of bus parts give him a PM over on The Samba and he may be able to help ya out.He has a ton of them.

2009-11-02T13:40:00.000-08:00

Well my VW bus obsession started in about 2005.I was looking at sites for Pontiac GTOs since I was thinking about starting up the resto of my '69 GTO again and somehow stumbled onto a site called TheSamba. I started looking at the site and wandered into the Bay Window bus forum.One day of reading I was hooked.I just couldn't stay away from it. I ended up buying a '78 Champagne Edition bus out of the classifieds there.I actually ran into the nephew of the original owner on there also. Pretty crazy. I then had a chance to buy a gutted Westy shell and I figured heck ya! why not my 1st bus was in pretty bad shape and needed quite a bit of metal work.So I bought the shell and drug it home in May of '07 and have been working on it ever since.I'm going to post all the stuff I have done since the beginning till now. So set back and get ready for the adventure of a lifetime as I resto this old hulk of a VW bus to a useable camper that I plan to take my son camping in once I get it roadworthy again.It has been alot of work so far but Hopefully it will all be worth it in the end.