Another VW Bus thread

Sneaks

Active member
:D

I’d recommend 6V golf cart batteries or a true deep cycle 12v over a ‘Marine Deep Cycle’. ‘Deep cycles / starting batteries’ do neither job as well. Golf cart batteries keep giving and giving well beyond what a Marine battery will.

Agreed. If you have the weight and space, its not possible to beat the value of 2x Deka (duracell) GC2 flooded batteries. Available at Sams club and other stores. They will provide many times the service of "dual purpose" or "marine" batteries.

Cool Bay btw. Always good to see another one still rolling.

I looked at the wrong Deka batteries at first, 116lb each and I was !!!!!!!!. Realized I was being DUH and looking at solar storage batteries, not GCs :D. Found the ones you are talking about, 63lb each, that's not bad. I have the space, the Bus, in all its ungainly, underpowered goofiness has a pretty robust chassis, rated just shy of a ton (1918lb) load capacity, I won't be coming close to that. Even the loaded Westfalia "deluxe" models like the Berlin have 3/4 ton left and their interiors are heavy. I had planned out the under bed storage space with the idea of possibly putting batter(ies) under there, though at L=10.50, W=7.13, H=10.88, I'll have to measure to double check but I think I could fit two in the OEM house battery spot on the passenger side of the engine bay. Thanks for the suggestion, will look into doing this.

This thread/build is great!
I Notice, not a bunch of cookie cutter bolt on stuff and call it an overlanding lunar lander.
Good job...

Thank you, appreciate the comment :). I have lots of respect for anyone who starts cutting up and modifying a rig they are still making payments on, I could not do it :). This works for me, my investment so far is peanuts, I'm having fun, and there's something to be said about not having to work around modern technology, these things are pretty damn basic - manual steering, manual windows, manual door locks, manual transmission, manual HVAC (if you can even call it that lol), though I did replace the compressed air windshield washer system with a pump. Even the EFI is pretty rudimentary, though it is nice to have hydraulic lifters instead of the earlier solids and vacuum-assisted brakes. I thought long and hard about upgrading to an electronic ignition like Compufire, then decided to stick with the points. Regular adjustments forces me to check other things like fan belt, fuel lines, frayed wires, etc., stuff that I admit I don't always be so diligent with my DD as new vehicles are much more reliable than this old stuff. I have a second distributor already set up with proper gap, dwell, timing, clamp locked into place, and ready to drop in, plus a couple sets of points and condensers, all of it takes up less space than a large cup of coffee. Simple V-belt, clutch & accel cables, spare CV and boot, wheel cylinder, fuel pump (same as '86-up Ford Fox\Panther\F-series EFI), tire plug kit, tube of grease, a couple quarts of oil, and my spare parts box is complete :). Basic metric tool kit and I'm good to go. Granted, if this was a Taco, I probably wouldn't need a spare parts kit :). I work in technology as my day job, this is pretty analog.

Sounds like an interesting build. Cannot see the pics to make sense of all the text though?

Hmmm, I have them uploaded here instead of hot linked someplace else. You can't see any of them?
 

Darkrider

Adventurer
I can see them now, I think it may have been the wonky internet signal i was getting when i first opened the thread.
 

wquek

New member
Paint looks good! I have a 1970 westy as well and I am able to fit a group 27 battery on the driver side location. There really isn’t that much room in there.


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Sneaks

Active member
Paint looks good! I have a 1970 westy as well and I am able to fit a group 27 battery on the driver side location. There really isn’t that much room in there.


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Thanks! I've been tossing back and forth eliminating the spare well to give more vertical room back there. Seeing your pic reminds me I need to put a Blazecut on my Santa wish list. Nice to hear from other VW people. We're expecting winter to start in earnest tomorrow, snow is on the way:( Tucked the bus off to the side for the season.

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wquek

New member
We tucked our bus away as well. I think this is going to be the last season we use it for camping as we are going to build up a Sprinter. Living up in Canada, we don’t get to use our bus as much as we want with the cold weather. Which is too bad because it’s such a fun vehicle to drive and we always get people coming up to us wanting to chat or wave to us everywhere we go.

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Sneaks

Active member
We tucked our bus away as well. I think this is going to be the last season we use it for camping as we are going to build up a Sprinter. Living up in Canada, we don’t get to use our bus as much as we want with the cold weather. Which is too bad because it’s such a fun vehicle to drive and we always get people coming up to us wanting to chat or wave to us everywhere we go.

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nice looking early Westy. Like the rack in the back, early bays are so nice looking, especially in red/white, just suits it.
 

Sneaks

Active member
Weather is starting to clear up, though COVID is putting a bit of a damper on the spring. I did get my ham Tech license finally (only been wanted to do it for over 40 years, I’m a bit of a procrastinator), have radio to go in it for when hit the wilderness. I volunteer as an EMT so currently my time is limited for working on the bus between shifts and Mother Nature being bipolar. I did get a little done today, some low wattage perimeter lighting for at a campsite. I’m still planning on a couple higher wattage floods for the corners to help navigating after dark but for once parked, think these will work nicely. The price was right and think they are inconspicuous enough to not take too much away from the overall vibe.
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Sneaks

Active member
Yesterday snow, today almost 55F, Mother Nature needs to change her meds :). I took advantage of the nice weather since I had the middle of the day off and got some work done.

Mounted inverter, some outlets from house battery, switches for interior lighting, and switch/outlet for shore power. Mounted auxiliary fuse panel on the backside of that panel and ran feed back to engine bay. Waiting for a new multimeter/dwell tach so I can dive into getting the house wired up in earnest.

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Installed sink (modified chaffing dish) and sprayer.

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cut indoors for side storage with magnetic latches.

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and wrapped up the day with carpeting the front.

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Sneaks

Active member
Pedestals carpeted, 2m radio installed. Ran out of time, still need to do CB :(

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Repurposed laptop table

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Finally got grommets so could finish running wire front and perimeter lights.

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supposed to snow tomorrow, wanted to finish house battery install but guess NOPE!
 

Sneaks

Active member
Not much done today, too many calls. Got one kick panel restored and some more curtains sewed up. Do not fear the sewing machine, it’s a tool and even has an accelerator :).

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Sneaks

Active member
Welp, the "refresh" I did on the kick panels elicited a "what the hell, those are ugly as sin and don't match anything. Are you seriously going to put that in there?" from the better half. Oops. I guess she isn't into OG
Very Happy
. So, today had a break between meetings and cut up the leftover carpet I have to fit the factory panels. The fiberboard is surprisingly in good shape, just ugly. Waiting for a can of 3m 90 and some binding for the edges to show up so can finish them up. Yes, the passenger side one is modified to fit around a few accessories.

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Sneaks

Active member
Got some more things kicked out today. Sink pump installed, like that at this location the sprayer reaches out the window.

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CB installed, same vintage as the bus:)

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battery isolator installed, but not impressed with the fuse blocks, going source others.
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made a light out of some trash and 25 cent LED

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floor lighting

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installed an actual windshield washer pump instead of the abomination factory idea.

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Sneaks

Active member
Took advantage of the nice epweather to finish up this phase of the interior so I can move on back to mechanicals now that the ground is dry and solid. Hit the counter with poly. It’s old barn board taken from 19th building we tore down in the back yard a few years ago because of insurance reasons. Soaked up the first 4 coats hard before it finally took a gloss, love the color. Hit the new wood too.
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finished hanging/sorting curtains. Privacy ones remove and store under passenger seat. I love my little table:)

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Put stock seats back in, the others were super comfy but I struggled to reach the pedals (I’m 5’ 2”), plus the factory seats just feel “right.” Mounted cup holders while in there.

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Sneaks

Active member
Rebuilt calipers (god, I hate brake work), replaced hard and soft lines.

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used my base ham power supply to test house circuit since haven’t gotten the battery yet. Pleased.

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Sneaks

Active member
Made a stupid cheap backup camera system out of a $3.99 telescoping cell mount, extra router, old iPhone 5se, an even older 4s, dual USB port to keep the camera phone charged. Going over WiFi, good quality feed with no noticeable lag.

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Rewarded myself - after I replaced muffler and finished up isolator wiring - with a tall iced coffee and watched The Bus Movie in the back:)

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