LEAKOIL Forum

Sean, you took a bus that was headed to the crusher and made it your own. You deserve a great big pat on the back for that.

Hey, I love nitpicking. It's often how I learn what's right and wrong. You can't read everythig on the samba! Good or bad, please keep the comments coming!

I like the stock look and feel of these buses and although this is not a stock restoration, I'm not doing anything that is too far off base that a purist can't fix down the road. If I had a stock part or stock piece and didn't use it, I at least saved it for the next generation.

I went out to Bill's at lunch today and he was almost done with my rear seats. As most of you know, Bill is a craftsman. If you're a newer member and have not seen Bill's work up close you'll have to see how nice he made both the rear and front bench seats in this bus. I'll post up the pics after I pick them up and get everything back in.

When I got home from work I was lamenting the fact that I didn't do as good a job on some of the panel replacements that I installed over the winter. Something about working in a cold garage in January that makes stuff turn out less than ideal. Also I hated the floor tiles I put in. I saw Josh's '71 westy interior that he upgraded in his red bus and his floor and wall panels came out real nice. I swung by Cleveland Lumber before they closed and talked to Vince and Co. and they got me a nice piece of 1/4" birch 4' X 8' panelling so I could fix a couple of things. Vince can get the 1/8" 5' X 5', but you have to wait a day. Since I was looking to do the long wall, I decided to use the 1/4" 4' X 8' birch sheet so I wouldn't have to cut it into two pieces.

Well I thought I could get the new floor in as well. but it's starting to get dark earlier now. At least I got them out of the box. I finished the far wall panel and the cargo door panel. I got them stained up and I'm ok with the color. I used the flat head slot screws which look pretty cool. I think this is an improvement over my first attempt. Sorry the second picture is blurry. I'll get a better one tomorrow.

Many thanks to Bill Webner who, once again, came through big time! Thanks again Bill!

I told Dawn we would take a ride out to Bill's in the early afternoon to pick up the seats. Bill had everything ready. Perfect job as always. Bill even got me the seat bottoms I was missing! They came out great. Dawn picked out the material last year at Schindler's in Cleveland. http://www.schindlersfabrics.com/

Not that I would have been able to find it, but Fergus rejeted the original yellow/black plaid as "looks too much like the Steelers Dad". One more thing the next owner will have to change back.

Here are the seats at Bill's...


Got the new floor installed and finished. Better than that ugly tile...


Interior starting to come together...


I guess my wife was going with the earthy look...





I put this old VW plate frame on, but it may be too California for me...


Still have to do the shell lights. Finish the table and get those ceiling cab panels in. They are tough.

Still have some more minor mechanical issues to work thorugh, but all in all, she's roadworthy

More later.

Looks great Sean and Dawn.

Standing Ovation to you Sean.... And to Mrs. Sean for her putting up with your working all hours..........

Oh MAN! Those seat covers ROCK! My hat is off to Dawn for her excellent taste!

hosedrag_r wrote:Standing Ovation to you Sean.... And to Mrs. Sean for her putting up with your working all hours..........

She did get a sweet kitchen out of the deal.

toolbox wrote: She did get a sweet kitchen out of the deal.

Since I'm not finsihed I'll keep this thing going just a bit longer while we iron out the kinks.

One thing I've noticed is occasionally when I go to start the bus I get the sound of a contact then nothing. Not all the time just once in a while. I reset the key back and try it again and it fires up. The starter in this thing looks like it's 100 years old. It even has a screw on terminal for the solenoid.

It starts fine otherwise, but since I've got most other stuff right, I may as well get this thing right. About the only thing I didn't take out of the bus was the tranny. So I climbed underneath to take a peak at the ground strap to the tranny. Yikes! Looks pretty crusty to me. Anyone have a simialr experience? I talked to Dale at Dale's VW and Bill W. about using an extra ground strap from the negative battery terminal to the engine. It seems a lot of early buses have that. Here's a picture of my ground strap. I guess i'll try to clean it first, then swap the starter if the probelm doesn't go away. The one thing I seem to have plenty of are six volt starters.

Would NAPA or the other local stores carry a strap like this? It may be better to just replace it after 50 years.

Yes, I have had that problem, and still do at times. It's pretty common on "Six Volts". Grounding is extremely imporant. Also make sure all your terminals are clean. They probably are since you put in a new wiring harness.

Otherwise, could be a weak starter solenoid. Probably should invest in a rebuilt start and solenoid just for insurance.

Keith wrote: The old 6V Ford solenoid trick, explained in rich detail with a Peter Aschwanden graphic in the John Miur "Idiot Book", will help, too.

Ditch the Ford solenoid, it takes almost as much current to trigger as the stock unit. Use a Ghia 6V horn relay or find a 40A 6V foglight relay.