69 VW Bus restoration - lots of pics

[MarriedBlonde]

Apologies to those that couldn't give a crap but...

I appreciate this is not a Mercedes but on another thread a couple of members showed an interest and wanted pics of my 1969 VW Bus.

I thought I would post up what I have been up to with it. I bought the bus from Cali in sept time in 2011 and it arrived in Jan 2012.

I bought it thinking I would keep it rat look but with a new drive train, engine, suspension, brakes and interior etc.

About to leave the states

Arriving with me - being delivered

Went off to be MOT's and I thought I might as well get her lowered:

Startng work on her
Stripped

New interior going in

Bit of bling...

New bumpers from no more rusty bits

General pics

New shoes

before fitting

After fitting

 

[MarriedBlonde]

Kitchen in (my curtains match the cushions BTW - I have discovered my femine side for interior design since getting the van)

Buddy seat with potti in, anyone notice the error in this pic... No not the fact I am regretting for not thinking about the cards behind the seat bulk heads... They will come...

Got the carpets in.

Fitted the standard bay aircon

curtains in

Fridge secured

New long block, went for a 1914CC

Bit of tin ware, dizzy and inlet manifolds fitted

Front exhaust pipes fitted

Carbs, alternator stand and lower pulley fitted

J-tubes

Some pretty bits fitted

 

[MarriedBlonde]

Engine almost built

 

[MarriedBlonde]

Cut a long story short I have the engine, remote cooler, remote oil filter etc etc fitted by a local specialist.

It was running sweat for about 750 miles and then seized.

At some point during 2012 I decided that I didn't want a rat bus but a nice shiny fully restored one. So I booked it in with a company, they had quite a long wait.

So for most of 2013 I was fighting with the engine builder to fixed my seized engine. I finally got it back after 10 months only to be called by the body shop to say they were ready to take my bus in. So I didn't get a chance to refit the engine as I had to strip my bus down.

Couple of pics of it looking very sorry for itself stripped waiting to be collected:

 

[MarriedBlonde]

When it arrived at the body shop and they started to strip it they discovered that the accident I knew it had been involved in was quite significant. The van was covered in bondo front to b pillars. The a pillars had been cut and replaced the passenger side b pillar had been cut and repaired badly.

 

[MarriedBlonde]

 

[MarriedBlonde]

I was given a call Christmas eve asking me to come and visit the body shop to discuss options as it was now not quite such a straight forward bare metal respray.

Not quite what I needed so close to Christmas especially as I had to fork out for a tooth implant the week before.

So yesterday I drove the 370 mile round trip to go and get the bad news.

turns out the my bus has had a serious smash at the front that has damaged everything upto the b pillar, the cab floor is bent.

So another couple of weeks worth of body work is required to get her straight and perfect :-(

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Brilliant thread

Wouldnt somthing like that be relatively straightforward (compared to most vehicles) to convert to RHD?

 

[trapperjohn]

Now that is a labour of love and now a smash Good Luck with the rest. Would you like to take that to a GTG sometime I will travel to see that

 

[tonyc280]

Superb thread and a total labour of love. I have seen more rust on a ten year old merc than on your VW. T.

 

[George Douglas]

Brilliant thread and pics , all the best with the rest of the project

 

[stumpy1]

We were going to buy a newly restored T2 camper last year but in the end plumped for a new Cali. After seeing this I'm glad we did but I admire your commitment.

 

[mat8n]

I hope with all that effort you're putting in you're going to get rid of the american spec reversing lights!
Error in the pic? is the buddy seat covered the wrong way?
Westy windows without the roof, very nice. Are they '66 wheels or 356 wheels? slightly wider?
Very nice early bay

 

[bigmacplease]

In for more pics!

 

[Bryan Allman]

Excellent write up. Looking forward to seeing the finished result at some point

 

[itaintemeyouno]

I only found out a few years ago that VW still make these new.

Fair play to OP, lots of blood, sweat, tears, not to say cold hard cash has gone into that!

 

[PhilT]

Love build threads like these, you should put it on air suspension as they look so good on the floor when parked haha. You will be surprised how well the new air suspension set ups are and how good they handle. Here is my old car on air suspension.

 

[mat8n]

circa, 1993! how things have changed! 300 quids worth of beat up vw bus!

 

[gaz_l]

I shudder to think how much money's gone into that resto! But look forward to seeing the end result

Just out of interest, why did you buy one from Oregon? Somewhere dry like Arizona I can understand, but Oregon's just as cold and damp as the UK!

Cheers,

Gaz

 

[John Jones Jr]

Excellent project OP.