1968 Campervan conversion

[T2-Nate]

Truly one of the greatest bus stories ever told.
You sure did a nice job restoring your family heritage!
Please, please keep the pics coming!

 

[joaonar]

Phew

:lol:

T2-Nate: Thank you so very much.
I also thought the same ... and all these photographs that I showed also demonstrate this. I knew nothing about restoring cars at the time and so I always thought that what was done was correct.
But what I learned through various restoration online forums and through restoration books, helped me see that was not ideal.
Additionally, over time, some areas arranged by my father in law began to show what had actually been done.
These "restoration" was made in the summer because he was going to move to the north of Portugal. So, it had to be "take it or leave it"....
He will never know what is being done right now. He will always think that what he did was well done ... and frankly, as he did it with the greatest good will, not knowing will not hurt him.
8)

 

[joaonar]

As I wrote in a previous post, in recent years this truck has become, again, a freight van when necessary more than a peoples carrier. But due to corrosion problems that I have shown and for having petrol engine instead of something more economical as an diesel engine, in 2003 was set aside by a Diesel Ford Transit.
This Ford van, faster and with a more economical engine began to do what VW had been doing so far.
This was trully the main reason for me to park the van vw to restore it.

Once there was a new diesel van, which could be used to carry stuff or just people from one place to another, the VW bus could then return to being a campervan, this time with a better interior with better materials and finishes, and mainly, attached to the her permanently.
So, while she was in my father-in-law hands and inside the paintshop, I bought the fridge and prepare to build the new interior. But one of the most important parts of the van was making me think seriously of making about doing a significant change: the wooden poptop.
This was not an easy decison for me... afterall the old but still fully functional wooden poptop was already there and the bus was already painted and prepared for the completely new interior... So, what should I do??

Well, after my first small trip with her to meet face-to-face some members of a Portuguese VW forum, I decided to change the wooden poptop for a original Westfalia poptop. The only issue important, was to maintain the 2 beds on top, so it had to be a latebay poptop.
So, here it is, directly from a junkyard:

with some issues to get fixed:

and when I started the restoration process:

 

[joaonar]

and some more sanding....

and some parts I would need to fix:

 

[joaonar]

but assembling these kind of poptop's into a VW bus is easier said than done. Besides, there were some metal parts needed missing... and I already new that.

Here are some pictures from Greg Pots Westfakia "Bob The Tomato"

But, I wasn't so sure about this method :roll:

 

[joaonar]

so, while I was braking apart low cost sanders due to huge amount of paint and fiberglass dust....

the first one,

and the second,

and one more....

a member from a portuguese online forum, send me a phone number. I called and a few days later, I had my mounting problem solved:

completely ruined...

a second poptop... :roll:

some usefull interior parts

and a ruined 2000 cc's type IV engine:

all I needed was here:

 

[joaonar]

here are some pictures of the most important area....

 

[joaonar]

The sheet metal broke of literally in our hands.
She was so rotten and rusty that I honestly did not care about dismantle it :roll: .

 

[joaonar]

... therefore, we put hands to work:

 

[joaonar]

and some more:

and with my father's help... working in a VW bus, almost 40 years later 8)

 

[joaonar]

let's start cuting :roll:

some protection....

welding spots... a there was a lot of work still to be done....

 

[joaonar]

she was almost completely dismantled and cuted...

 

[joaonar]

... and recycling used drills 8) .....

... to be used in the removal of welding spots.

 

[joaonar]

not an easy task for a novice

 

[joaonar]

and my first big scare of the day. Fortunately, the disc only cuted the glove and did not reached my hand :roll:

And with a new and rigid disc im my grinder the task become more easier.

Done!

and the final cuts....

and to finish this I had to asked for a professional help

 

[joaonar]

 

[joaonar]

meanwhile a pair of used seats. A lot more confortable for long trips:

 

[joaonar]

and with a great help from a friend (Vladimir) the job was finally done:

 

[joaonar]

and the seat rails accepted the new seats and so we cuted them off:

and the end result of this work around this VW bus :|

And ready to go to Vlad's bodyshop 8)

 

[gninnam]

So many pictures - totally ace 8)

When did this all take place??