'68 Deluxe

[Resto-raider]

A couple of days ago I ordered my new 1641 engine. It could be ready in 2 weeks, but we receive our 'vacation-money' from our employer at the end of May. So the engine will be picked up May 28th. I then have a week to get it all working and officially imported and registered. After this week I have 10 days off from work, so it would be great if I could take the bus for a nice ride towards southern France, eventhoug I have nothing planned out yet.

The other week I managed to sand and paint the engine bay. I can now put the firewall back in which has been resprayed as well. Not yet completely happy with the engine bay respray. I figured I didn't have to paint the spare wheel wel and the sides, but the colour difference is too big which means I have to paint these parts as well.

Primer

Painted

Primer

Painted

Complete view

 

[Airtime]

Lekker bezig Rick! 8)

 

[Resto-raider]

Dank je Bob

Ga je toevallig zondag naar het MaiKäfer treffen in Hannover?

Or anyone else going to the MaiKäfer meeting in Hannover Germany? I hear it is the biggest aircooled meeting in Germany, so I'm gonna be there for the first time.

 

[Airtime]

I'm afraid not. I think I'd better spend my time on my bus. Still have too much to do. :msn4:

 

[gninnam]

Doing a great job in the engine bay 8)

Was the paint code supposed to be a match?

 

[Resto-raider]

The paintcode does match, but the paint in the engine bay is discoloured pretty badly. It has darkened and flattened.
It matches the paint in the fuel tank area spot on. In this area the paint is as good as new and still shiny.
So the problem is not the paint. I simply have to paint all the other bits as well.

Tonight I fitted the firewall that was resprayed some time ago. Also spend half an hour polishing the little screws that hold the firewall :roll:

 

[gninnam]

Also spend half an hour polishing the little screws that hold the firewall :roll:

:50:

 

[Resto-raider]

Didn't get much done the last few days. Was waiting for parts and searching for motivation and inspiration.
Lots of parts are coming in next week, but the part I really was waiting for was my new metal dash.
They never built in these painted metal dashboards in US buses, so this is a European dash. I really like them better than the upholstered ones.

Also got to see my new engine yesterday. It is almost ready to fire up, but anyway...I have to wait until may 28 because that's when payday is. Can't wait!
Now I have to get the new dash, and more important the electrics, sorted.

Some pics of the new and old dash:

Before:

Dash out after some fiddling:

Spaghetti needs sorting:

Pretty clean everywhere:

Old dash out:

New dash ready to be build up.

Hopefully I'll be able to get some more done tomorrow on the dash and the electrics

 

[Resto-raider]

Finally...!!!
The new engine is back home. It took some blood, sweat and tears and I had all the bad luck in the world with parts that were wrong, crooked or broken.
Now it is sitting in my garage waiting for me and my brother in law to get it into the bus this weekend.

Also bought this Empi license plate cover at a meeting the other day. I have multiple matching pairs of California license plates so figured I could use a pair on the bus.

 

[CHILDSEY]

Looking good.
It will be worth all the hard work.
Paul.

 

[Resto-raider]

The engine was built into the bus yesterday. Unfortunately it wouldn't start because the starter engine broke down.
This morning I picked-up another used one and after some fidling with the wiring it started right up.

Me happy!!

Engine in its natural habitat.

Since the starter engine was busted we tried to push-start it. Wihtout any luck, because afterwards it turned out that I had some cables wired up wrong. My brother in law is pushing the bus to its starting position for take-off :lol:

Now it is down to some little details to get it ready for a Dutch license and MOT.

 

[Resto-raider]

Yeah... I finally got MOT on my bus and now waiting for the license papers to be sent to me. Then I have to get some plates made and can finally drive my bus after all this hard work.
There is one problem left. The battery doesn't charge. My guess is that the voltage regulator is not hooked up correctly. There wasn't one in the bus when I bought it and there are no indications on the repro unit. So I hooked it up as I figured it had to be done. Probably did it wrong.

Now I am going to spend some attention on the interior of the bus. The rear seats/benches are both in great shape so not doing anything about that. I am thinking about buying new panels all round from Newton-comm, but they are kinda pricy.
In the meantime I have bought new front seat upholstery and seat pads from VW-heritage. They will probably take 2 more weeks to arrive at my place.
Now I can finally replace those worn dark blue covers that did not come originally in this bus. I am replacing them with off-white basketweave ones.

 

[OLIVE-BAY]

8) congrats on the MOT always a good feeling, Engine looks sweet too 8)

 

[Resto-raider]

Some pictures from last week. Taken at 10:30 pm so it's already getting dark.

Cali-plates with Empi frame. Not road legal, but nice for meetings.

The first stickers at the back. Check the one on the right

I replaced the instrument panel lights with LED's that I had lying around from an old project. It has a nice bright blue shine, but not sure if I will leave it like this.

Also time for another upgrade. I ordered new front bucket seat covers from TMI in original style basketweave with smooth sides. The colour is off-white (05). I am really happy with what showed up in a big box from UPS yesterday.
The covers look pretty much like the original ones.

Couldn't wait to start, so When I got back home last night at 9.30 pm I started tearing off the old covers and managed to replace one cover of the passenger seat with the open back.

Before. Torn and the wrong colour for my Savannah Beige bus.

The back. Loosened all the metal tabs to take off the old cover.

Take the metal strips out of the edges of the old cover, to reuse with the new cover.

Old cover is off

The felt that was underneath was totally shot so I removed it.

New pieces of felt.

To keep the new felt in place I taped them around the edges with some cheap kind of Duct tape. This will make it easier to slide the new cover over it and keeps everything where it should be. I used the tape on the top and also on the side.

New cover is on, but the lower part has not been strapped to the back yet. This is a hard job to do. I had to stand with my full weight on the back while the seat was lying on the floor face down, to compress the springs. Then with some moderate force I managed to hook the lower section into the back.

The end result of the first cover. I believe I started with the easiest one, beacuse of the open back, but it still cost me 1,5 hour to get here. The next one will hopefully go a lot quicker.

I will continue tonight replacing the rest of the seat and perhaps start the same procedure on the drivers side.

 

[Resto-raider]

A couple updates in a row:

Here's another update on the bus!
This summer my first child was born, a daughter. She was born 11 weeks too early and I spend a lot of time in the hospital. Thank God she is in good health and at home now.
Unfortunately there was hardly any time to work on the bus this summer, but now I have picked it up again. This winter I am planning on redoing the entire interior.

Last week a big package arrived from the UK containing my new panels in biscuit brown. I want the panels to be brown and the upholstery off-white so the colour combination is close to the original trim.

The window rubbers are very dry and when it rains hard some water comes in, so I can't install the panels yet. Of course I wanted to do some test fitting.

The old panel:

Difference between old and new:

New panel in place:

Today the sun was shining and it was relatively warm so I decided to gut the rear interior.

This is what the bus looked when I hadn't bough her yet and she was still in California.

This is what she looked like this afternoon after the gutting:

Then I started cleaning and sanding the cargo-floor:

This is the endresult for today. A thin layer of primer, waiting for another layer.

Also started isolating the interior against the cold and noise. Bitumen pads:

Plans for this winter are to paint the interior and prepare for a new headliner and while where at it new windowrubbers all way round. Then I can install the panels and the interior will be almost brand-new and we can drive it all around Europe!

Update 2
Last saturday I continued the insulation proces in the bus. This time I insulated the enginebay. The original insulation was gone, I have replaced it with a special foam that is desgined for engine bays. It doesn't burn and it has a plastic foil layer to prevent it soaking in oil etc.
I've cut it in two pieces, installed it and it already makes a big difference.

The foam panel.

First piece in the bus.

Then I sanded and primered the rear cargo floor again and sprayed it in Savannah Beige with a custom made aerosol. Normally pictures make it look better than reality, but in this case reality is better than the pictures.

Anyway, still lots of work to do on the inside. Here some more pics:

Yesterday I started on installing the bitumen mats on the inside of the panels to sound-proofen the inside of the bus. Pictures are still on my camera and will follow soon.

 

[Remon T2a]

Look at that, another great savannabeige T2a from the netherlands.

Bus is looking great.

What kind of paint do you use for the inside?
My bus is at the welder and when it is coming back I have to do the inside also.

PS already checkt http://www.vct2.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;?

 

[Resto-raider]

Thanks Remon.

The paint I use is a custom spray can with 2K paint made to order based on the original colour number.
I order them here as they are the cheapest: http://www.verf24.nl" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Order today, receive it in the mail tomorrow!

I have checked VCT2 but I am not a member yet. I will be attending the Kieft and Klok Hot chocolate party. Maybe see you there.

 

[Remon T2a]

Oh Choclat-Party, don't know but maybe.

You wanna park you're bus besides you're avatar there....;-).

 

[Resto-raider]

Cough, cough. It's a bit dusty in this topic, but since the season is almost getting started I thought I would post an update.

A few weeks back I replaced the generator for an alternator. We had to take the carb off and found that it was cluttered with a black sludge that came from the tank. Therefore I have replaced the cheap plastic filter with a Filter King. Great piece of kit.
Spot it in the picture:

After cleaning the carb, and rejetting it, the engine now runs fine. At last!!

Recently I started on the roof. It was rusty and holes were drilled for a roofrack. Welded the holes and started prepping the roof for a new coat of Cloud White. I need sunshine for that.

Now it is time for the interior. Started with the insulation of the roof:

Allthough I am working outside and it is rainy I cut the rear window out to start on the vinyl liner around the window. The liner was glued and a new panel has been test fitted:

The new colour combination:

Next up is the other side, install the rear part of the headliner and replace the windows with new rubbers.

 

[Resto-raider]

It's been a while since I updated my thread, but a lot has been done.
The headliner is in and all the windowrubbers have been replaced. Also all the new panels have been installed. Now I am putting in the seat stand rubber mats.
The interior is coming together nicely now.

Some pictures;

The ultimate summer accesory, a little fan.

Seat stand was all dirty before

Cleaned up as good as possible

Rubber mats in place

Wrapped around the back as well

With the seat back on top

So far I am well chuffed with the result. I need to do the driver side mats and then I need to install a nice cargo floor to comlete the interior work.