Crossover Westy

[phil_n]

My first experience with camper vans was living in this bad boy for just shy of a year. That was about ten years ago when my only worries were if I had enough money to go to the pub.



I've always been into old VW's, mainly water cooled though. Enter the now wife and my first major joint purchase - Hank. This was an absolute belter of a bus we had for about four years and is sorely missed. It was the usual case of a house move and a young kid added up to moving him on.



Fast forward a couple of years, a beetle, a T25 and a Subaru powered Westy. I still felt the need for a bus I could keep long term and build upon.

I started my search meeting a Brazillian guy who was importing split Kombi's. The state of these was unbelievable, I suppose it's to be expected that in a developing country they would carry whatever rudimentary repairs were required to just keep something going. I soon decided we would be better with a bay.

I'll get to the point leading to where we are today. I headed up to Restore N More to look at a bus requiring a fair bit of work, but with the mindset it could be exactly how I wanted it. It was timescale more than cost that that lead me to the bus I ended up with. Steve happened to mention he had a bus having some MOT prep carried out, so I headed over to have a look at that. As soon as I saw it I was fairly confident I wanted it. It's exactly the colours the Mrs has always wanted, the only snag being it's a micro bus.

Before I had it delivered I arranged for their mechanic to lower it. Nothing drastic, just a sensible drop.



Not the best photo's so far, but I've had a busy weekend with other stuff. I did manage to give it a quick wash.





All tucked up, I've just submitted plans to build a double garage so hopefully I'll have some more room around it soon.



I picked up a Westy Campmobile interior for it a few weeks ago (just for reference you can fit the whole thing in / on an old 3 series touring. I've the scratches on the roof to prove it). I'm debating about putting this in though, the current interior is awesome and I think I may just get away with some rock n roll hinges. My old man is keen for me to make up my mind though as it's sat in his garage.

 

[bertiethebus]

Having seen/smelled (I know creepy eh! :lol: ) the interior of this bus I can honestly say it's perfect how it is!
If you do go down the Z-bed hinges route..... Let me know what you are doing with the Westy interior as I need to sort mine :mrgreen:

 

[phil_n]

I think The Mrs is set on the Westy interior. I'm not going to fit the cool box / sink though as I've a 3 way fridge I'll probably mount in this area.

I've not had much chance to get anything done on the bus so far as I've had loads on with work. I've ordered a few odd bits it needed, window winder, marker light etc.

I've removed the fuel cap and grill so I can get the paint matched at Autopaint for a couple of touch ups.

I also sent the V55/5 off today, so hopefully we should be on the road legally soon. I did a bit of googling on the previous keepers. It appears a couple in their early 70's had it who ran a vineyard in Pasco, Washington. It was registered to a P.O. Box, but i've found their address so may even do a bit more investigation.

 

[bertiethebus]

Cool to find out the history....
I don't wanna dig into my busses past after the love letters from a school girl to her teacher were in it :lol: check out my thread :shock:
If you wanna sell any of the Westy bits, let me know

 

[phil_n]

I had a spare hour this morning and as it was a sunny day I thought I would take the bus out for a little drive on my 'private road'.

First impressions are it's running incredibly rich and the gear linkage bushes need a coat of looking at. I think it should be a simple Sunday afternoon job for the old man and me.
It's also knocking the bump stops over pretty much any bump, but to be fair it is still on standard shocks. I'll change these and see if that improves things before I start modifying the bump stops.

A couple of photo's after its maiden voyage:







I picked up my colour matched paint too. I need to paint the wheels, but not 100% set on the colour yet. So far matching the top half of the bus is winning.



As for the interior, I'm starting to really love the microbus setup and may just plump for a set of Z hinges on these along with a removable unit along the front bulkhead. I think this will give us more space for day trips and the like. If anyone has a similar setup I would love to see some photo's.



I also sent the V55/5 off last Wednesday so hopefully I should be hearing something back soon.

 

[phil_n]

I received my reg docs this week. Two weeks exactly,which I thought was fairly quick considering there was Easter in the middle.

I was under the impression you got a reg assigned to your locality, but It appears that's not the case anymore. We've been assigned YOD676K.

The revs have always died on the bus when you try to pull away. I wasn't sure if this was fuelling or ignition. I downloaded the base settings for the carb then realised mines a Weber not a Solex so knocked that on the head. I then popped the 'Accuspark' electronic ignition in, which for the price is a bargain. This made a massive difference and my misfire has now disappeared. . . . So I went for a drive.

 

[bertiethebus]

Ha ha my reg came back last week and..... YOD664K :lol:

 

[phil_n]

I've sold the microbus seats so took them out today. I was pleasantly surprised by how solid the floor is.








I also added a sticker as a nod to the bus's heritage.

 

[phil_n]

Today saw me tackle my demons head on!




I've been working on a contract recently which has left me with pretty much zero free time. I managed to finish of the last of the work this afternoon, so while the sun was shining got my bus up in the air.









Replied to my Dad's text









As it happened out of those 'four bolts' mine only had two or three.









We then proceeded to strip the rest of the tin off it to get at the heads, which is where I assume the problem lies as the barrels and pistons look great. I'll fit new rings and new gaskets throughout whilst its all out.









Is there anywhere recommended for the gasket set or rings?

 

[phil_n]

I've not had a massive amount of progress on this. I've cleaned all the rear end up and stone chipped inside the arches.

After getting a couple of valves we've got the heads at a point where they're ready to go back on. However I bought a full gasket set and decided to split the block as it was a bit oily.



And for reference the block fits in the back of my dads MX5

 

[bertiethebus]

Worth doing the full month when your that far stripped already :lol:

 

[phil_n]

I sold the microbus about 18 months ago and had a bit of a break from old buses, instead running a T6 Kombi. This was great, but ultimately needed another bus.

I was set on either a Westy or Dormobile poptop. Pretty much as soon as I started looking this fell into my lap relatively local and at a great price. It needs a little bit of bodywork and the interior is tatty, but it's really genuine and doesn't appear to of had any welding yet.



It should be getting lowered next week and I've a set of polished Fuch reps to go on it.

 

[blink]

Keen to see more looks like an awesome van from the photo

 

[phil_n]

Yesterday we got the van lowered. It's just on an adjuster up front and adjustable spring plates on the rear. I've had vans lowered similarly before, but this drives so nice in comparison.
It's still on stock size tyres, when I stick the lower profiles on the front the ride height should sort itself out.