With my little family growing from 3 to 4 with the arrival of a kiddo #2 in September. I had been dreaming about a finding a late bay camper. I even started collecting parts in anticipation of owning one .
This 77 yellow Westy came up for sale on Leakoil’s facebook group and I was able to buy it.
The bus is in a great stock driver condition but could use some TLC. Thanks to Brandon Antz for bringing his yellow 77’ out so we could twin our way home.
Stay tuned for updates as I work on turning this bus into a family friendly Pumpkin.
My first items to do are to reseal the fresh air system. Then do the drafty louvered windows. Even in the closed position, air is rushing in so I ordered a few little bits to freshen up the fresh air flaps. Can someone tell me what kind of material is actually used on the flaps themselves to seal to the bus body? Squishy rubberized foam? Or a closed cell foam?
The jalousie window seal to the body is rubber. There is another inner seal that slips over the frame on the inside, but it seems to mostly be decorative. It is rubber/ plastic too. Have it but never figured out how to put it on.
This guy is in the Netherlands. Have ordered many things from him. Takes a bit longer to get here, but not too bad. Has really nice quality things and some you can't get anywhere else.
1967 Beetle "Little Tud"
1968 Black Double Cab "The Black Pearl"
1970 Lotus White Single Cab "Big Tud"
1976 Sage Green Westfalia "Sweet Pickle"
Hi friends,
A few quick updates and 1 ignition question. I want to a install a Pertronix ignitor into the Bosch SVDA distributor. Then I remembered I have a nice new Pertronix brand SVDA with the nice ignitor system installed.
Are all SVDAs the same? Any harm in installing this Pertronix brand one?
I’ve been struggling to find info on any differences
Otherwise, not much progress.
Mostly cleaning and wiping down the interior.
Installed new front seat belts.
LED headlights from gowesty. Really impressed from my late night drive last week. Found some child labor to help with install.
I'm rolling with the pertronix ignitor 2 branded svda. They're a Chinese distributor, but a better quality one I think. My only issue so far was a really crappy rotor that was a loose fit and worked it's way up high enough to come off the cog that keeps it locked on the shaft. That caused me to stall out on the way to KI last year, but was a quick diag and roadside fix. I've since replaced it with a Bosch rotor and it has a much tighter fit. I was lucky to get an Air-cooled.net reworked svda years ago that I'm running on my beetle. I think you just need to make sure that your coil matches your version of pertronix (ignitor 1/2/3) for the proper ohm rating.
FWIW, I've had Pertronix on two cars, they failed, and I switched them back to points. If you use it, carry a spare distributor with you.
Good Luck!
Edit: If you use it, check the advance curve right away. One Pertronix distributor I got started advance at 2500, all in by 3500, total advance 30* (crank). Translation- the engine ran like shit because it was at 0* from idle to 2500rpm. I had to pull the breaker plate, sleeve the advance stop pin to limit the advance to about 10* (dist) and put a lighter spring in it. (yes, IIRC it only used one spring) I think I had 8 hours in fu@%ing with it and this was before I had a distributor machine. Then it died a year later. Points rarely leave me stranded....
Last edited by Dual Port on Wed Mar 26, 2025 6:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I agree, Pertronix is 2nd rate... I run a vanagon electronic distributor with a jetta pickup,(common & more available) a fox ignition harness & a vw ignition module in my camper, I've never touched it since I installed it 20+ years ago...
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