Not Cal Look ACVW Content :)

[Zach Gomulka]

Thanks guys! I guess it was therapeutic. Definitely satisfying hearing the metal "pop" and having a look outside to see a straighter panel.

Last year a deer hit the side of my Tundra down low in the doors. I think I might give this method a try and pop those dents out. I can't think of a better use for a football

[Brian Rogers]

Could you thug the seats from the other doner bus? Two pairs of seats could piece together one good pair.

[volkskris]

So what is the trick with the football?

[Zach Gomulka]

Could you thug the seats from the other doner bus? Two pairs of seats could piece together one good pair.

The donor bus is a bench seat, so the drivers portion would work but the passenger would not. It's not a huge deal, I'll just fix/weld the springs like I used to do back when I did upholstery for a living. I'm only bitching because I don't have a welder in my new shop yet

So what is the trick with the football?

Buy football (american style works best)
Deflate football
Place football between the dented outer panel and the inner bracing with the valve/inlet easy to access
Inflate football until the metal is back where you want it or the football explodes

Check this out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQVre6S5J60

[volkskris]

Wow that's cool 

[Brian Rogers]

Gonna remember that trick.

[Zach Gomulka]

So I just did a 3700 mile/10 day road trip back to AZ to retrieve some random junk I left there when I moved up to Washington. I took the scenic route, also saw some friends and family, and did some National Parking (froze my ass off camping in Arches). At the last minute I threw the front seat frames from the Westy in my truck to have my buddy in AZ weld up the busted springs (ridiculous, I know, but I had the space).
I'm a pansy and it's been either too damn cold or too damn wet outside to mess with the spring plates (Westy doesn't fit in the garage), so I need to make a little progress indoors.

You know those high density foam pads that go on the front backrest frames under the upholstery? I only have one and it's pretty wasted. Does anyone make these or have a used pair they wouldn't mind selling?


Exploded view.

[Zach Gomulka]

While in AZ I also picked up an extra bus 15" wheel I found about 18 months ago. It's a little dinged up, but as they say, good enough for the spare. I just knocked out the rivets, cleaned it up, and dropped it off at Les Schwab for powdercoat. When I got back I used my $70 from General Tire to order up a 205/75, the biggest that I *think* will fit in the spare tire well.

[Brian Rogers]

Any progress or are you snowed in?

[Zach Gomulka]

Any progress or are you snowed in?

Zero progress. There's never enough snow here for an excuse. Work, holidays, blah blah. My spare wheel is probably ready to be picked up, I should do that.

My garage is a disaster area. Nearly impossible to work in. So I've decided that needs to change. My goal is to get the 69 deluxe sorted out a little and sold (as a project). Then I'll have a little breathing room to work on the Westy. It will also be sold on when it is ready, then I can focus on making my little shop an efficient working space I never want to leave.

[Brian Rogers]

I could post a pic of my (ahem) working space. But the mods would pull it and I'd be banned from posting ever again. Wifey and I are hoarders. Me car stuff tool boxes, press. Air comp, lathe and drill press and a '67 vert in pieces. She's crammed a double wide commercial freezer, single fridge, open display case and a dough roller. All in a double car garage. Oh yeah lawn tools , shovels rakes and implements of destruction. 

[richie]

You know those high density foam pads that go on the front backrest frames under the upholstery? I only have one and it's pretty wasted. Does anyone make these or have a used pair they wouldn't mind selling?


Exploded view.

We have exactly same problem, seats from Jo's 71 westy are mid resto and we need a pair of these, so far no joy finding any   Hope you have some luck, we are finding anything from west coast have the same failure, heat must kill them

cheers Richie

[Zach Gomulka]

I could post a pic of my (ahem) working space. But the mods would pull it and I'd be banned from posting ever again. Wifey and I are hoarders. Me car stuff tool boxes, press. Air comp, lathe and drill press and a '67 vert in pieces. She's crammed a double wide commercial freezer, single fridge, open display case and a dough roller. All in a double car garage. Oh yeah lawn tools , shovels rakes and implements of destruction. 

Sounds familiar! I've worked in clean/organized shops before and I loved it. So efficient, such a joy to be in. So my garage is going to be my goal this year. I want to do a similar layout/look as the 12 Gauge Garage. If you haven't seen it, look it up. It's incredible.

[Zach Gomulka]

You know those high density foam pads that go on the front backrest frames under the upholstery? I only have one and it's pretty wasted. Does anyone make these or have a used pair they wouldn't mind selling?


Exploded view.

We have exactly same problem, seats from Jo's 71 westy are mid resto and we need a pair of these, so far no joy finding any   Hope you have some luck, we are finding anything from west coast have the same failure, heat must kill them

cheers Richie

I haven't been able to find a single thing. I'm going to do what I would have when I was a trimmer- glue on some super high density foam and carve it to shape.

[richie]

I think we will have to make something as well 

[Brian Rogers]

Saw that on Garage Journal. 12 had lots of time and little money invested. Tho that is an extremely nice set up, I don't see myself going to that extreme. The Journal is a nice place for ideas. Need to retire and build my playroom. Wife's stuff needs going or I need to build a separate building for a shop.

[Brian Rogers]

Hope your dry, my friend.

[Stevemariott]

I saw that bus around Eugene more than once - I lived there for 12 years.

Still have those ugly positive offset wheels?

Ron

[Zach Gomulka]

The ugly wheels were the first thing to go. Traded them for a 1940 Schwinn DX frame.

The last two days were dry and gorgeous. Good thing because they were my days off I got the spare wheel painted up, taking it to get mounted after work.

[Brian Rogers]

Any progress? Nice and sunny here in Utah. Working the catering with our tin top.

[Zach Gomulka]

Any progress? Nice and sunny here in Utah. Working the catering with our tin top.

The rain is just starting to clear here in Seattle

Over a month ago I bolted on some bare 14" steel wheels to get it under my garage door so I could begin to readjust the rear suspension to level it out, reduce CV angle, and allow the suspension to droop (spring plates were nearly resting on the bottom stop at ride height).

A good friend of mine who works for Go Westy hooked me up with a pair of 20.5" Vanagon axles that should work perfectly with the new suspension height. I cleaned them up and installed the new EMPI high angle CV's.

Then I took apart the passenger side and ordered new spring plate bushings from my local VW shop that took nearly 4 weeks to arrive Re-set the torsion bars, 5 up and 5 down.

The 14x1.5mm hardware holding the trailing arm, the lift plate, and the hub together was a total mess, a lot of trips to Fastenal finally got that sorted out.

I'm having a friend (a Belgian who used to frequent this site actually ) make me up some 3" shock extensions to install my new KYB Gas-A-Just's. The Bilstein's previously installed were showing severe signs of over extension.

Next I will be replacing and re-routing the brake hard line, and I need to replace the parking brake cable.

And do it all over again on the other side (between school and a full time job).

Progress is slow, but it's progress.

[Brian Rogers]

Well a few quick trips and we find the need to rebuild driver and shotgun seats. Seems P/O just thru new covers on and the springs are shall we say challenged. I'm open to suggestions as to what to do.