1977 Westy - Colonel Mustard

The Parts Buses - Summer 2010:

Not long after getting my bus, I picked up a bus for parts. Mainly got this earlier bus for the sliding door which is in better condition than mine. Also used the headlights, one taillight, and the front mat from it as shown in previous posts.

"Peachy the parts bus":







Awesome window paintings lol:

















An old pic of "The Colonel" and "Peachy":



A while later I picked up a second parts bus, "The Green Monster", mainly cause it had the same fabric as mine and who knows when that could come in handy. Took a few pieces from it, some screws and bolts, some hoses, and starting motor so far:



















Next: Photos of Colonel Mustard....

 

Photos of "The Colonel" - Summer 2010:

Here are some pics of the bus at the end of May 2010. Before the wheels and top got painted:























A few "retro" edits:





More pics, showing the window decals the gf made :











Some pics after the top and wheels got paint:























Testing out some mounting options for a canopy I have for use when camping:











Last pics before I stored it in Fall 2010:







Next: Camping & VW Meets....

 

Your parts busses are better than some people are doing up on here, must be great to be able to pick up cheap vans in canada and the u.s, we seem to have a stupid price system over here they just get more expensive!.I think chrisradioman is gonna have to get a wiggle on, we have a rival

 

Both of the parts buses are more far gone than the photos would have you believe. The amount of rust that lies beneath is crazy, not a lot holding them together. I have gotten a ton of stuff from the green bus though and having the extra interior stuff is certainly worth it. There aren't a lot of buses around here in Newfoundland, I just got lucky with these two.

 

Camping / Meets / Cruises in the Colonel - Summer 2010:

The beginning of June I finally had the bus on the road and took it for its first trip, spent a day with the gf canoeing:













First, some pics of The Colonel on the first VW cruise of the summer.

















The biggest trip I did was driving to Gros Morne National Park. Took my girlfriend and my brother and his gf who were visiting from Alberta. Had the bus filled with camping gear besides the four of us, but I was impressed with how the bus handled it. The winds in some areas were a chore to deal with, and there was some second (and first gear) creeping up hills on the shoulder with the hazards on lol, but thats to be expected.

First, here is a pic of the odometer leaving St. Johns, and one when we got home. 1085 miles on the trip (1746 kms) over the 5 day trip.





Heres the bus at the campsite. We stayed at the KOA at Spirity Pond, really nice camp grounds.



Heading out for a drive around the mountains:





At one of the stops to check out some waterfalls:





Drove down into Rocky Harbour I believe, to see the marine center:





Back at the campsite at night, rocking some lights:



Stopped at an abondoned amusement park. Took a pic and also checked out the old Go Kart track they had lol.





Checked out the Insectarium while we were in the area, this is just across from it.





Here is the Bus at The Dub Show 2010, a VW car gathering that a friend and I organize:









The next camping trip me and the gf went on.

Leaving St. John's:



At the campsite in Square Pond, the tent comes in handy for storage so the bus isnt crowded:











After a few nights there, we left and drove down to Marystown:

On the way:





Heading down to St. Bernards:





Then we left Marystown and drove back up to Swift Current to stay at Kilmory Resort.

At the campsite there:





I hit a few bugs:



As mentioned before, I hit a little snag at this point in the trip.

Stuck at Irving:



Rescue truck:



So we decided to make use of our VW Camper trailer lol:





And that was the last time the bus was running before I had to leave the province for school.

Next: Storage...

 

Storage:

For storage, I picked up two portable shelters from Canadian Tire:



Started by clearing some trees:



Spread some stone and leveled it:





Then started building a floor:





We did 24" on center so we doubled up the plywood under where the vehicles would sit for added strength:



Then we set up the sheds:



We put them end to end to make one large unit. We sandwhiched the ends of both together with some 2x4 to try to keep out the water:



And also secured the fabric all around the edge:



The posts are bolted down to the floor.

Put my brothers bike in the back:



Then the GTI:



As the bus wasn't running due to the bad starter bushing that I didn't have time to address, I had to tow it to the storage space:





Put down some 2x6's just to help with spreading the weight of the heavy bus over the floor:



Had to lift up the front panel to fit it in it:





Both of them tucked away for the winter:



My brother put up some ropes to help support the shelter during hurricane Igor that hit us pretty hard:



The rear panel, which had a door, was the only part exposed to the wind directly and it got a little ripped, so he just swapped it out with one of the other panels we hadn't used:



Survived the storm:

 

Christmas 2010:

Holding up ok in it's shelter:





After the few storms and heavy winds we had, both of the door panels with zippers ripped up pretty bad so now I just have a closed off end on the front and back.



The back takes most of the wind and was starting to tear up so I decided to secure it to the floor.

Ripping around the grommets:



Secured:



Next, I laid my europlate on it just to get some idea of what it will look like:



Finally got to put the starter bushing in:



IT RUNS!!



Took some pics at the house over Christmas:















Managed to get a few pics of it in snow before I left:





And looking forward to the summer, Christmas presents from the gf:





And then put it away again while I was in school from Jan-April 2011.

And my old thread on here got me a message from a member about putting the bus in the members rides section of Volksworld Camper and Bus, I think his name is Toby?

 

Spring 2011

When I got back home to the Colonel in the Spring I wanted to do a little refresh to the bus to get it ready for the summer.

Me and my brother removed the engine, took about 2.5 hours. Not bad for our first time.

The Colonels heart:



Starting to remove stuff:





Keeping everything organized:



Dropping the engine:





Ta da!



Empty bay:





Stated stripping down the engine for cleaning:





Front tins off:



Intake runners, fuel injectors, alt and other bits off:



When you drop a spark plug, it is really hard to get back out with the tins in the way. Found this one someone left in it lol.



Side tin off:



Fan off, fan shroud next:



Off, along with engine harness:



Intake off:



Pile o' parts. Everything on the right will be cleaned, stripped and painted.



Started some cleaning, notice all the crud on the end of the transmission in the first pic is gone.



Separated the transmission:



Started cleaning it:

 

Love this bus it's awesome.
Those parts buses are better than most UK buses, you should ship them over here I'll buy them off you to save them from the scrap yard.

 

Thanks, I have spent a lot of time checking out your thread. The bus and trailer are amazing, as are your adventures.

The pictures dont really show the real rust issues both the parts buses have. Not a lot holding them together.

 

Not sure if I should keep posting pics on this page or wait to see if we get to page 3 lol. Starting to get a little crazy here.

 

Well I guess I will post some more pictures here... O0

At that point I had all the engine parts taken off so I started cleaning them. They were very bad so I soaked them in degreaser and brushed them clean before I stripped them for paint.

Some pictures of the painting:





My improvised paint booth:



Dirty:



Clean:



Painted:




Before:



After some time with the wire wheel:



In the paint booth lol:



Painted:



About 15 or so different parts cleaned, stripped, and painted:



More of the same:





















About 25 parts now cleaned, stripped and painted:







Finally finished the last two pieces of the engine:

 

Im so far behind on this thread, havent been on this site in a long time. Guess I better get it all updated.

This is all pretty old work.

New engine seals:



Started at the engine seals, before shot:



Removed rocker assemblies, push rods, and push rod tubes:





Nice new seals:



Oil cooler seals:





Oil pump seal, also did the internal o-ring:





Oil filler neck seal was replaced:





Also did the oil breather seal, valve cover seals, oil filler neck seal, & dipstick boot.

Engine with its new seals:



Painted parts:





New temp sensor:



Took a grove out of the head so the new temp sender sits properly, and made a clip to hold the wire in place:



Starting to piece it back together, waiting on a few things before I can finish:





Did a little with the wiring on the interior. Lots of junk coming out lol:



Put a secondary fuse panel in for the auxiliary battery, and tidied up some other wiring:



Took out this old clock and put in an ashtray from the green monster, going to clean it up and dye/paint it if necessary:





Pulled the fuel tank and cleaned out all the crud that was in there, also cleaned up the engine bay a little.







Wired my 3 way cig lighter adapter into the aux fuse panel and mounted it over on the driver side. Will be used for GPS, charging cell phone, etc.





GPS cord:



Second heater/fan wired into the panel, the heaters aren't any good but the fans will be used to spread heat from a propane heater. I will be making a little stand for that later:



Both heater/fans, 3-way cig adapter, stereo, interior lights all hooked up to the aux battery for use when camping:



Replaced the turn signal/headlight switches with the ones out of the parts bus as my signals werent working. Hopefully these are better:





Most of the wiring done, still a few things to do:



And to help keep the aux battery running all those things when camping:



New intake tube boots and alligator dipstick boot:



Time to start putting the engine back together.

Mustache bar mounts:



Some tin and fan shroud, intake and oil breather:



More tins:





Laying out the harness:



Fan on:



New intake gaskets:



Intake tubes with new boots:



More stuff:



And a before shot compared to where I was at the end of the day:

 

Just come across this thread. Really interesting and a great job. Wish I had the land in the back garden to build a double car port. Might be able to stretch to one for a motorbike ;D

 

Sorry I also meant to congratulate you on the pics. Without the need for words they explain what a VW camper is about.

 

Thanks, perhaps some of these pics will help some other Bay Window owner.

Old battery tray out:



New one welded in, needs some seam sealer around the edge:



Sanded and cleaned the engine bay, did some masking and got some primer on it:





Certainly not going to be perfect will be a better looking home for the engine until the whole bus can get done at some point in the future. Using Cat primer and paint as it is available lol, wont be a perfect match but good enough for the summer:



Picked up some new hose for the water tank and pump:



Insulated the interior:











Then did a little more work putting together the engine. Put on the alternator and bracket, fuel injectors, coil, fan cage and scale, block off plates for the tins, wires, routed the wiring harness, alt belt, and misc. grommets:



Seam sealed the battery tray and a few other spots:



The CAT yellow was a little too dull so I went with School Bus Yellow, pretty much a perfect match:



Before:



After:









Rubberized undercoating for the bottom of the battery trays:



Replaced the tubes for the water tank and pump:





New wiring for the water pump and fridge:



Also replaced all the old leaky and over-glued sink plumbing:



Finally fixed the prop for the bench seat:

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Starting to put the interior back in:





Back to normal:





Doors and front mostly back together:





Started at the fuel lines, replaced some under the bus, removed the T fitting that went to the gas heater. Also did the seals and lines to the fuel injectors:



Old:



Wrong clamps:



Old lines:



New:



Will have all new fuel lines and proper clamps. Also will do the new vacuum lines tomorrow:



Little more work done to the engine:

 

wow your engine looks fantastic, very nicely done

 

Thanks, it doesnt look quite as nice anymore, think I might get the tins powder coated next time so they hold up better.