Our white westy...

[snow_pikey]

:lol: HaHaHAHA :lol:

Ejecting tapes to scrape the window!! blast from the past!! I used to do that in my beetle when I first learnt to drive and I'd forgot all about it, thats great! I will be smiling all day about tape scraping.

I'd keep the heater though and stick the battery under the rear facing seat.... but then I've always dreamed of a proper heater :mrgreen:

 

[Barkafer]

Awesome Bus 8) Keep them posts n pics comin

 

[surfbus]

Nice! I love white westy's on teledials..

 

[squarebob]

Thanks for the comments guys, here's an update:

I ordered some air shocks, MA803 for the front and MA824 for the back, which seemed closest to the lengths I needed.



The MA803's have a 7/16-20 thread and the MA824's use a tapered press-together fitting for the standard (1/8"?) air line. To fit the 1/4" air line to them, I threaded the OD of the tapered fitting of the MA824's to 7/16-20 so to match the MA803's and I made some adapters by drilling out four brass NPT plugs, tapped them with a 7/16-20 tap, and added the Press-To-Connect DOT fittings.







To control the pressure I added a paddle type dual air valve and gauge under the dash. Left paddle and red needle is for the front shocks, and right paddle and black needle is for the rear.



I still need to install an on-board air source, but connected to my compressor they work well. The bus starts to lift at about 80psi and at 120psi or so I get about 4 cm of lift which should hopefully keep my mustache bar from scraping and my front tires from scrubbing!

 

[Foz]

Great work fella! Nice bit of engineering.
Be interested to see some pics of the bus height with these installed....maximum and minimum height.

 

[mychatype3]

Looking good, show us some photo's of the complete bus up and down 8)

I'm working on a 4 corner air-shock also ordered a airtank and a 8-valve set-up.

Whats your front setup? narrowed beam (how much) adjuster, dropped spindles? whats the size of the teledials (6 or 7 x 15)?
Are you using 4 valves or 8?

Greetings from Holland Mycha

 

[squarebob]

Thanks Foz, Mycha, I'll try to get some pics of the stance when I can but I'm into some body work now so the Westy is a long way from showing off with a "whole thing" pic. Your buses are awesome, I've been watching your thread Mycha for a while, and I'm interested to see your upcoming air ride setup Foz.

As for the front Mycha, it's a wagenswest 4" narrowed adjustable beam with wagenswest 944 hybrid drop spindles. Wheels are all 16 x 7 with 195/50R16's up front and 205/55R16's in the back. As for the valves, those paddle valves under the dash (pic above) are the manual type. The air lines run to them so no electric switches/solenoids. They're spring-loaded to centre, and pushing up directs air to the shocks (front or rear pair) and pushing down dumps air from the shocks. -so I guess it works like a 4 valve system - no separate left/right control.

BTW Happy New Year!

 

[blacktruck]

bet it's a hoot to fool with,how is the difference in ride compared to a normal shock?
seems like a great doodad for those who don't haul weight regularly.

 

[squarebob]

It will be a while before I can report on the ride quality, lots of other work needed on the bus before I can road test!

 

[mychatype3]

Thanks Foz, Mycha, I'll try to get some pics of the stance when I can but I'm into some body work now so the Westy is a long way from showing off with a "whole thing" pic. Your buses are awesome, I've been watching your thread Mycha for a while, and I'm interested to see your upcoming air ride setup Foz.

As for the front Mycha, it's a wagenswest 4" narrowed adjustable beam with wagenswest 944 hybrid drop spindles. Wheels are all 16 x 7 with 195/50R16's up front and 205/55R16's in the back. As for the valves, those paddle valves under the dash (pic above) are the manual type. The air lines run to them so no electric switches/solenoids. They're spring-loaded to centre, and pushing up directs air to the shocks (front or rear pair) and pushing down dumps air from the shocks. -so I guess it works like a 4 valve system - no separate left/right control.

BTW Happy New Year!

Thanks, for you and the family also a happy new year.
Cool that you running 16ers, thought they were 15, they looking good.
Always liked the 70ies look of the tele's

Why did you go for ma803 on front? ma 824 has more lift and with dropped spindels you have enough distance (eye to eye) to use? Paddle valve looks good, hope you don't have air transport when cornering!

Keep up the good work.

Greetings from holland, mycha

Ps: another question: no clearance problems on the arms with the 4"inch beam and air-shocks?

 

[squarebob]

Mycha, it’s been a year already (slowest project ever) since I figured out the lengths I needed using this chart:



I don’t remember anymore what my compressed length needed to be for the front, but I must have thought the MA824’s compressed length (12.75 inches) was too long with my setup and may bottom out. The MA803’s fit okay, and do not foul the arms, but I wasn’t keen on having to twist/force them out of their natural position to install. (for other readers, the upper and lower lugs of the MA803’s are misaligned by 30 degrees or so)

I have been thinking about the air transfer while cornering also. I noticed just yesterday while raising one side of the bus with the jack that it was much easier than before! More valves may be required here, although I have been trying to find a good name for the bus and “tippy” might be a good one.

 

[squarebob]

As requested here are some pics of DOWN and UP with the air shocks but I couldn't fit the whole bus in the shot with my camera in the garage.
Front at 10psi:

And at 120psi:

Back at 10psi:

And at 120psi:


...can't see the difference? -Look closer, it's only about 4cm! The adjusters are set mid-way front and back, so the bus can sit higher or lower, but I think this will be my ride hight. ...well maybe down a little more :msn4:
(The air shocks will lift approx. 4cm from wherever I set it).

 

[mychatype3]

THANKS, looking good, 4 cm is just good enough for some extra clearance 8)

Greetings from Holland, mycha

 

[squarebob]

Some new additions...

I needed a Porsche pattern spare that would fit right in the stock location. Since I couldn't find a lot of good info, here's what I did if someone wants to do the same. I bought a Porsche 944 spare from a guy in the local vw club, removed the collapsible tire and special valve stem. The rim is 5 1/2Jx15 (ET42) and has a standard size valve stem hole. I fitted the wheel with a 185 65R15 tire so it could be used front or rear. (Diameter is slightly larger than my fronts and smaller than my rear tires.)





I also picked up a Westfalia stool and the accessory tent (but no poles ) in the local classifieds.

 

[creationblue]

Nice Bus 8)