Chug Chug the 1977 Westfalia Helsinki

My M8 Neil didn't show Saturday, cos he went on the pish, I left him alone Sunday cos it was his birthday but today he had a crap excusse. Never mind I'll sort out the 924S & pick him up in the morning.
I stripped down & cleaned up my heater blower last night & its come up quite nice.


Loads of overspray & crud on it.



Soakedall the bolts & brackets in vinegar to remove the corosion.


Soaked the

 

Bought some proper welding wire instead of that fulx cored rubbish & bought a regulator & gas bottle from Halfords. Gas didn't last long so I took it back to Halfords, they told me it only lasts 4 2 mins continious welding so fair play they give me my money back.
I also picked up some more panels, the last 2 hopefully.
I managed to scrounge a regulator & a big bottle of Argon gas so now I can weld to my hearts content. (actually its my M8 Neil who is doing the welding)






They are only tacked on at the moment but will be fully welded, ground back & tidied up
Does anyone know why the panel under the wheel arch has a strange cut out in it. Also has someone got some close up pics of what it should look like around the jacking point where it joins the sill?

 

All my furniture is all over the place & the moment but it will be cleaned up & re-fitted once the welding, preping painting etc iare completed.

 

Lots done today:-
Finished welding this on,dressed it & primered it:-



Started digging away at the sill:-


Found more holes:-



Cut off outer sill cos I am woried about what is underneath & I want it to look straighter than it is:-

 

So will this bit looking at the engine bay from the rear wheel arch:-

All of the main Chasis rail & top hat sections are fine though:-

The sill I bought from GSF is a crap fit so its going back, I ordered an outer sill, an inner sill & a middle sill from Custom & Comercial today, Liam & Justin there are great & everything I have ordered from them has been top notch quality. Give them a call on 01372 452622 tell them Chrisradioman sent you.


All my furniture is all over the place & te moment but it will be cleaned up & re-fitted one the welding, preping painting etc is completed.

 

Had these today off Custom & Comercial look like they'll fit better than the last lot I had from GSF.

 

Latest update Auto glass have been ou & fitted a new heated screen to my camper & my deluxe window rubber. the bad news is they forgot the chrome trim & the tool they had to fit it wasn't very good. The good news is they are coming back on Friday to take it out again & fit again properly.





Only down side is, this is brand new genuine VW screen but the silver tape around the edge isn't very neat & I can't alter it as it's sandwiched between the laminates.

 

Autoglass are tossers they fitted my screen last week (I've only waited 3 weeks) & forgot to fit the chrome strip, then they said they would come back Friday to do it. Gues what they didn't, I rang up yesterday & they prommised to phone me back, they didn't. Now I'm so wound up I'm phoning them now. I can do it myself but they are being paid so why should I?

I claimed for a new screen on my insurance & paid £60.00 excess by check, trouble is its now cleared otherwise I would stop it & get someone else instead, I won't ever use them again as its coming up to a month from when I first phoned them. Imagine if the bus was my daily driver, I'd be stuffed.

 

After ringing 4 times & not getting any sence, they are now coming tommorrow aparantly. We'll see if they aren't there is going to be a lot of trouble.
On a more positive note I got someone to re-laminate all of my units & side panels pictures to follow later in the week. I'm out in the cold tommorrow going to get that under sliding door sorted, the inner sill, the strengthener & the outer sill. So hopefully a big update tommorrow.

 

May not lok like much but I spent most of the day on the bus today.
Put on my new thermal trousers & vest, 2 t-shirts a jumper, tracksuit bottoms, jeans a coat & a wooly hat & got on with it. The front wheel arch hada nasty patch on it so i poked around & found that the hole came out in the driver foot well, now I cleaned this up last week but as a reminder here it isfrom under neath & above:-


& here is the new patch fitted my batties were low so not much exiting to show you:-


I had ordered the wrong side inner sill so thats held me up a bit but the guys from Custom & Comercal are sending me the right one tomorrow so hopefully I can get all the driverside finished for the weekend.:

 

Right today's update. I finished the front wheel arch under the drivers floor & primed it here it is fom underneath:-

Didn't like the way it looked around the jacking point looked so I made a little infill:-





As all the welding is now finished under the driverside wheel arch I thought I'd celebrate by painting it all with stoneguard, this will stop any flying stones chiping the paint & allowing it to rust again. This stuff is overpaintable so when I get chance I will paint it L93H to match the body work.

 

More pictures


Next I started on the back arch same side. This isn't to bad There were a few plates that were done well but had scruffy welding,so I tidyed them up. I cut out a piece of thin metal & cut a patch to fit I then welded this beween the wheel arch & engie bay.

 

Some one had welded a patch on the rear wheel arch pervously but had used pigeon Marmitee istead of steel so I ground it back & welded up the lowspots now it looks better:-

I also tuned this:-

Into this:-

Also pictured is the otherside which I'll tackle over the weekend & it aso highlights the rear wheel arch section which was transplanted on before, I think I'll clean up the surface, prime this & then paint it Taiga green while I pant the floor after Christmas:-

 

More pics of the driver side rear wheel arch after priming:



& from the engine bay, I havn't started on ths yet:=


This is a view of the battery tray which is the only panel I have done in the engine bay:-

 

Custom & Comercial came through today too & sent me the inner sill yipee!
So I have tacked in place the inner sill & middle section sill:-



My plan is by Christmas day to finish off all of the driver side, I can then put he wheels back on & turn the bus around. Then by the new year have all the welding done ready for painting & fitting of my new Laurie Pettitt engine.

 

I didn't bother with the welder today as I haven't had chance to secure my Argon botle to the wall yet & it wold be very inconvienient getting killed over Christmas.
Anyway I decided to paint on brushable seam sealer over the welds to stop any water getting into them & causing future problems. I know it spoils the look of my wheel arches but so will rust.
Its awfull stuff to apply but it does the job.
Pictured is the rear wheel arch areas on the driver side:-

 

Pictured here is the front driver wheel arch area's:-

 

Pictured here is the driver side (under sliding door as mine used to be LHD) inner sill it is tack welded in the correct place & has the middle sill strengthener welded in. I need to do a bit of work to the chasis rails where they join & get the outersill on, it can all then be fully welded:-

 

This is why I need a new beam:-





This is a little teaser of what the state of the passnger side is like which I will start when I finish the driver side:-

 

I decided to re-paint the under side in white stone guard instead of dark grey as it will be easier to over-paint in the top coat. Heres the start of it:-