Silas71
Member
Hello all !
My name is Sebastien, and you'll find here below a sumary of the last 2 years life of my bay.
This bus was bought for 300€ in 2003 by my Aunt to a office colleague.
As he did not use it, he decided to give it to me, as I had sold my '65 panel, and was looking for a westy to have holidays with my little family !
This is a Westfalia '71 early bay, you can see here how it was when I got it :
He was stock, and the project was to give him a new stance, with detailed Fuchs wheels, 5x130 pattern, lowering the front and rear axles, and replacing the westy roof by a deluxe metal sunroof.
First stage : lowering the front beam, by welding an adjusting kit :
Here is a pic before :
Measuring :
Next, disassembly of hand brake cables, gearbox command, speedometer cable, clutch cable was hard to unscrew, but I got it after a 10min battle ! And disassembly of the steering bar and brakes mastervac ( this '71 have it as an option ).
After installing wood shims, it looked like :
After unscrewing the 8 bolts, hurraaaaay :
Here it is on floor, a good wash will be necessary !
And a pic of the bay without its front beam :
Next steps :
1st, cutting the steering pivot and stop pieces
2nd, drilling holes to unlock th inside ring, and opening the beam to allow the setting :
Positionning of the adjusting kit from Vintage Autohaus :
Cutting of the spindles stops :
And welding by my wonderfull old neighbour, 90 years and a perfect welder !
Reassembly of the front beam, installation of new shocks absorbers :
Here is the result :
New measurement :
11cm lost, I was happy, the bus stance begin to change !
Next operation was to finish the lowering, by mounting boomerangs at the rear & installing new brakes parts
But mounting the wheel with this kind of kit is not very easy, the only way is to deflate the tyre ! :shock:
First job, replacing the brakes parts.
removing the hub :
changing with care th tube way :
here is its new way :
and a global view with the new hole for the handbrake cables :
result :
new stance :
Cool !
a last one :
and one with my son Max, he likes having mechanical sessions with me
Installation of new inox mirrors from US
very very good stuff, happy :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Next step, was to uninstall the westy roof, and gebin the inbstallation of the deluxe metal roof I found in Switzerland
1st, uninstalling the roof hammock :
And keeping the parts safely, all modifications must reversibles.
Next, unscrewing the Westfalia roof hooks :
And installation of the roof command cables, here is the right side one :
and front left side one :
uninstalling of the wooden furniture :
and same safe storage
uninstalling the roof wooden panels must be done with care, not to damage them :
and here is the rear part of the inside roof, its like when the bus was manufacture in Germany !, love it ! :bounce:
now front side, unwiring the roof light :
Carrefully uninstall the isolating panels, to allow me cutting new ones using these ones dimensions before the deluxe roof headliner.
here is the complete roof without its westy panels :
here are the places where I'll have to make the water drains :
Right front one :
right middle one :
and last one will have to be drilled just behind the motor fresh air ear ... sure it will be difficult !
The command system was here fully installed, with its specific handle :
Functionning is perfect, great !
And here are the plastic covers installed, afer 40 years, a good cleaning, and they'll be ok :
This last spring, I installed dropped Vintage Autohaus spindles with 2 friends :
:mrgreen:
New brake discs will be better than old ones :?
Here are the VA dropped spindles :
And here mounted :
It's me tightening the suspensions balls
And efter having beers, we begin the rear adjustable suspension blades, the boomerang were not a good solution, deflating the tyre for each wheel change was not good :
And here si one FrenchSlammer blade mounted, very good stuff, easy to install, and very quickly !
braking drum is back :
We finished by a brake circuit purge,and my frieng Guiom freshly converted to VW was came to help and learn how to upgrade a VW, and my son seems to be satisfied of the result :mrgreen:
Last operations before having nice hollidays in Corsica :
Uninstallation and cleaning of the brake calipers & installation of new joints :
Coupled with the new discs :
And next step was to replace the brakes master-cylinder, the 4 brakes flexible hoses and a new purge, the braking system was ready to have miles and miles !
Next a little welding job to fill the bloody holes left by the wheel support !
After a painting, it was better, not bad to wait a new body paint
A little candy white painting on the bumpers, not like new ones, but it gave a new brightness to them :
Next my wife cleaned all the furnitures, the dashboard, all was cleaned to prepare the leaving to Corsica :mrgreen:
We bought at Just Kampers UK an Outwell awning, wonderful, a lot of place inside, easy to install ( half an hour ), good stuff :
So Happy our children :
( the awning floor was not mounted on these pics )
And we reinstall the wooden headline, to be isolated from the outside heat, and it was prettier !
We got the technical control validation the next day, great !
And 2 weeks ago, my friend Pat send me a very nice pallet by truck :
He lend me his real FUCHS, Niiiice ! To thank him, I'll detail the wheels, black & polished.
Here at the Tyres dealer to have new ones, 175/55/45 & 205/65/15 :
I received last week my new FACOM 46 key to unlock the rear hubs :
It's not a figuration one
So, uninstallation of the 2 rear drums & hubs :
And 2 front discs & hubs :
The bus is now a flying one :
It will stay like that 2 weeks, during the Vintage Autohaus machining job to drill at 5x130 Porsche pattern, I'll bring it back from Valence swap meet on Feb 12th
It will give me time to replace the suspension balls, and set the front beam.
I'm impatient :mrgreen:
My name is Sebastien, and you'll find here below a sumary of the last 2 years life of my bay.
This bus was bought for 300€ in 2003 by my Aunt to a office colleague.
As he did not use it, he decided to give it to me, as I had sold my '65 panel, and was looking for a westy to have holidays with my little family !
This is a Westfalia '71 early bay, you can see here how it was when I got it :
He was stock, and the project was to give him a new stance, with detailed Fuchs wheels, 5x130 pattern, lowering the front and rear axles, and replacing the westy roof by a deluxe metal sunroof.
First stage : lowering the front beam, by welding an adjusting kit :
Here is a pic before :
Measuring :
Next, disassembly of hand brake cables, gearbox command, speedometer cable, clutch cable was hard to unscrew, but I got it after a 10min battle ! And disassembly of the steering bar and brakes mastervac ( this '71 have it as an option ).
After installing wood shims, it looked like :
After unscrewing the 8 bolts, hurraaaaay :
Here it is on floor, a good wash will be necessary !
And a pic of the bay without its front beam :
Next steps :
1st, cutting the steering pivot and stop pieces
2nd, drilling holes to unlock th inside ring, and opening the beam to allow the setting :
Positionning of the adjusting kit from Vintage Autohaus :
Cutting of the spindles stops :
And welding by my wonderfull old neighbour, 90 years and a perfect welder !
Reassembly of the front beam, installation of new shocks absorbers :
Here is the result :
New measurement :
11cm lost, I was happy, the bus stance begin to change !
Next operation was to finish the lowering, by mounting boomerangs at the rear & installing new brakes parts
But mounting the wheel with this kind of kit is not very easy, the only way is to deflate the tyre !
:shock: First job, replacing the brakes parts.
removing the hub :
changing with care th tube way :
here is its new way :
and a global view with the new hole for the handbrake cables :
result :
new stance :
Cool !
a last one :
and one with my son Max, he likes having mechanical sessions with me
Installation of new inox mirrors from US
very very good stuff, happy :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
Next step, was to uninstall the westy roof, and gebin the inbstallation of the deluxe metal roof I found in Switzerland
1st, uninstalling the roof hammock :
And keeping the parts safely, all modifications must reversibles.
Next, unscrewing the Westfalia roof hooks :
And installation of the roof command cables, here is the right side one :
and front left side one :
uninstalling of the wooden furniture :
and same safe storage
uninstalling the roof wooden panels must be done with care, not to damage them :
and here is the rear part of the inside roof, its like when the bus was manufacture in Germany !, love it ! :bounce:
now front side, unwiring the roof light :
Carrefully uninstall the isolating panels, to allow me cutting new ones using these ones dimensions before the deluxe roof headliner.
here is the complete roof without its westy panels :
here are the places where I'll have to make the water drains :
Right front one :
right middle one :
and last one will have to be drilled just behind the motor fresh air ear ... sure it will be difficult !
The command system was here fully installed, with its specific handle :
Functionning is perfect, great !
And here are the plastic covers installed, afer 40 years, a good cleaning, and they'll be ok :
This last spring, I installed dropped Vintage Autohaus spindles with 2 friends :
:mrgreen:
New brake discs will be better than old ones :?
Here are the VA dropped spindles :
And here mounted :
It's me tightening the suspensions balls
And efter having beers, we begin the rear adjustable suspension blades, the boomerang were not a good solution, deflating the tyre for each wheel change was not good :
And here si one FrenchSlammer blade mounted, very good stuff, easy to install, and very quickly !
braking drum is back :
We finished by a brake circuit purge,and my frieng Guiom freshly converted to VW was came to help and learn how to upgrade a VW, and my son seems to be satisfied of the result :mrgreen:
Last operations before having nice hollidays in Corsica :
Uninstallation and cleaning of the brake calipers & installation of new joints :
Coupled with the new discs :
And next step was to replace the brakes master-cylinder, the 4 brakes flexible hoses and a new purge, the braking system was ready to have miles and miles !
Next a little welding job to fill the bloody holes left by the wheel support !
After a painting, it was better, not bad to wait a new body paint
A little candy white painting on the bumpers, not like new ones, but it gave a new brightness to them
:
Next my wife cleaned all the furnitures, the dashboard, all was cleaned to prepare the leaving to Corsica :mrgreen:
We bought at Just Kampers UK an Outwell awning, wonderful, a lot of place inside, easy to install ( half an hour ), good stuff :
So Happy our children :
( the awning floor was not mounted on these pics )
And we reinstall the wooden headline, to be isolated from the outside heat, and it was prettier !
We got the technical control validation the next day, great !
And 2 weeks ago, my friend Pat send me a very nice pallet by truck :
He lend me his real FUCHS, Niiiice ! To thank him, I'll detail the wheels, black & polished.
Here at the Tyres dealer to have new ones, 175/55/45 & 205/65/15 :
I received last week my new FACOM 46 key to unlock the rear hubs :
It's not a figuration one
So, uninstallation of the 2 rear drums & hubs :
And 2 front discs & hubs :
The bus is now a flying one :
It will stay like that 2 weeks, during the Vintage Autohaus machining job to drill at 5x130 Porsche pattern, I'll bring it back from Valence swap meet on Feb 12th
It will give me time to replace the suspension balls, and set the front beam.
I'm impatient :mrgreen:
