61 SO23 westfalia

[Joelwantsasplit]

That interior is porno

[woval56]

today i bought a grease gun intending to give the bus a good greasing up tonite,
somewhere along the line i got distracted and spent the evening putting in the carpet and curtains

first job was to straighten the westfalia aluminium rods


classic neat simple bit of german thinking






also been busy slowly ticking off the list, wheel bearings, axle seals,brakes etc,
wiper arm arrived so finished off installing them, How ingenous is the safari wiper pivot thing, so well made, gotta love a volkswagen

does anyone know how much play in yr king/link pins u can get away with on a sa inspection on the off chance
i'm hoping to get em passed without rebuilding as theres a red 9 front itching to get under her.
theres also a knock in the steering when u first turn the wheel and the gearbox nosecone leaks a bit,

but meanwhile i get on with the important tasks
finally sorting the interior then spending a good hour sitting, shut in the back of the bus, thinking and dreaming a little bit.....mmmm surf trip in the bus soon

[kombi1976]

If you're in NSW make sure you can get that Red 9 front end engineered.
Otherwise your insurance won't be worth the paper it's written on.

[dawerks]

Very nice!! If you don't mind repro's, they make repro Emka (sp) cups (in correct colours).

And breadbox cover as well. Theres' an original for sale on the samba but its' bucks.

[woval56]

I'm in south oz, i am hoping to get the red 9 stuff engineered if poss. I have to build the bus standard for inspection because it's an import. Big joke really, to make it safe makes it illegal. Even took the seatbelts out (just for inspection) otherwise it would need engineers report on the belts

Dawerks- saw a breadbox cover on the samba $1500!!!!

Lucky the bus came with one


Now do I put it in, it's gonna b the family camper with two boys 6&8 yrs, i can just c one of em standing on it to look out the sub hatch!

Accessories for this model r crazy prices.
Going on the samba prices. To get all the OG ones the bus came with will set u back $7k

[woval56]

been busy last few months working on 4 cars, little bit on each each day


westfalia fitted an auxiliary system for the clamshells, waterpump and heater, just discovered it though i've had the bus for over a year

clamshells working


expensive cups-



cleaned out and leak tested the water tank- all good


gave her a wash, safaris leak A LOT


found down the front panel, should go in split bus memorabilia

[woval56]

Tick tick ticking off the list, fuel lines, gearbox leak was loose side plate,

The ubiquitous ignition switch cut into the dash took a trip to the bin- ignition now back where it should be. ,
in the process rewired the front end.
fuck me I must have pulled out a good 2mtrs of redundant cable from all the dodgy additions over the years.

All good now. Fuse box how it came from factory , and everything works tickity boo.

Taking the plunge and booking it in for an inspection for hopefully nxt wk.

Gonna give it a test run up the street on the weekend

[Ged]

Is that why it was running like shit?

Lucky you found them or it would have been a real pain in the arse...

Loving the anodised drink wear

[woval56]

Great day, bus passed the inspection first time

After listening to horror stories about how bad the guys at the inspection place are, I get a legend of a guy testing the bus., lets just say he appreciated the splitty

And to top it off the guy from vehicle standards fast tracked the LHD approval (20 mins) instead of 3 weeks because I mentioned I wanted to go camping in it at the weekend. Result

Only downer was the jobsworth at the rego place who wanted me to weigh the bus for rego!!wtf

Oh and the bus cruised the 120km round trip to regency park no worries, not bad for first ever run further than my street.

The beer is flowing
Cheers
Andy

[morts]

Well done Andy...

[Shaven]

stunning...
beautiful...
all Class...
congrats on the inspection

[woval56]

Did the top mounts for the seat belts at the weekend and successfully managed not to drop the plate down the b pillar
and slept in the bus for the first time,wasnt very scenic though it was outside a pub down the bay, must have been a good nite.





On a random side note, found these, the yellow ones complete.

[woval56]

The time has come




Out with the old-



In with the new


Cleaning cleaning cleaning, wish I had one of those mini sand blasters, now all the running gear is out it was time to finish the chassis painting, the Kbs coating is a 3 part system, it's all in the prep, I nearly said that'll do many times. Worth the hassle in the end as the end result looks good and as i live near the beach i think it's essential. Thank fuck for the hoist, last time I spent 4days lying on the concrete floor.


All clean


And painted



The engine bay came up a beaut in og sealing wax red, shame the vans not still this colour.



Red 9 rear setup,


First job is remove torsion bars, u reuse one bush on the side plate



It takes a bit of fettling to get it to fit, I had to reshape a top shock bracket to line up all the torsion plate bolts.
Next is the rear cross member



Then the front gear box cradle, I had to grind a few mm off of the frame horns to get it to fit, touch up time later, every bolt is left loose to get it all lined up nice


It sits quite nice at the same height as the original gearbox cradle


Next it was on to the wishbone set up, instructions say remove the hub first so the drive shaft can slide in later, I couldn't get the hub off on my own so I thought I'd install it anyway and cross the driveshaft bridge later.


Handy gas lift chair when yr working solo


And done


Except this bolt, the gearbox cradle is in its way, I think I might b able to lower the rear crossmember a fraction to install it, but will have to wait for a helper

[woval56]

On to the front

Didn't get far, just the side plates, and a mock up of the brake, just because.


Got the steering wheel off after a lot of swearing a homemade puller and heat., for the red 9 on splits u replace the column

On to the lights
I decide to go quids in and get LED's front n back
Thanks to in2vws for the heads up on the rears

Got these for the front


Was a gamble on fitting, but to my surprise they slotted straight in, even matched the retaining ring
Result






Pulled out the original petrol heater for a clean up, unfortunately with twin carbs I don't think it will fit in again

[NorCalRiviera]

In my best Keanu Reeves...woah! O_o

Pardon me while I pick my jaw up off the desk and clean up the drool (and other fluids). Insane bus porn, this is!