Major the Westies rebuild project

it does look better in daylight and when everything is cleaner (its all covered in dust). I may have to have some more satin black touches here and there to improve the look.

We'll see further down the line

 

which summer! To be honest it may well be summer 2020, although progress is good, Ive still got the cupboards to sort followed by the engine and gearbox to refurb and work keeps getting in the way.

Luckily Gusbus is running spot on and needs very little work doing, just a service, spring clean and some little paint chips and a touch of surface rust on the chassis & that's it aside of camping

 

its funny you should say black mirrors..I have a pair of Brazi bay ones to go on, I have a black sliding door handle spare 9somewhere) just need cab door handles!

I am toying with a side step, instead of the usual alloy one, I can get some thin walled elliptical steel tub, get some end mounts made and powder coat it to suit

 

little bits done this past couple of weeks, varnishing little roof trim pieces but the biggest tick in the box was finishing painting the interior, the floor is finished.


compared to this


the start on retrimming has been made, the NLAVW trim is all fitted and looks good.



Im impressed with the quality of it all, nicely made and fit first time, the only thing I had to do was drill the panels to match existing screw holes, no biggie.

Next up is
sort the wooden flooring and new carpet
block a couple of drain hose holes
refit the left hand rear vent window and large glass piece
sort the cab roof headliner, rub it down and varnish it
fit the small wooden roof trim sections and drill for lights
refit rear seatbelts
add sound deadening to the bed floor

then onto the units

 

Our van is merino yellow inside, slightly lighter help a on the outside now. Toying with taking it back to original now. Looks good Mark

 

Cheers Malc

 

Had a few days off work so in between camping and sorting the garden, Ive been sorting out the overhead locker and revarnishing the wood / replacing the rubber trim. Its turned out okay!

before




after



the laminate wasn't cracked or coming unstuck so it had a good polish then a rub down with bee's wax, the locker is back in situ and looks good


before the locker was reattached, I wired in a new LED light

 

Thanks Pete!

Skyelectrix is a good reference source for me, some good hints and tips on the cabinet lamination plus, over on the samba, there sre three or four very well documented projects that give good advice.

 

Here you go, this is the full list, I’ve been checking out the 1977 listed ones,

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=537187

I’m about to start the cab ceiling panel, should be fun. Time sure is precious as work gets in the way, but it pays the bills!

 

Update time

Got quite a few things done.

Replacement top 4mm thick plywood floor cut to shape and fitted okay.


The plywood cab headliner panel was split in three places but good enough to use as a template for a new one, which lined up and fit okay


The 100mm wide wooden trim pieces had the old white plastic covering removed, sanded down and varnished. They are refitted & look good



The old lighting had bits of melted plastic, cracked lenses, they looked past their best. These have been replaced with led lights which match one another, same as what I put in down near the overhead locker.

 

I’ve been reading up on the rear quarter light seals, frames etc as ours was all rusted up and the frame not worth repairing so we put a new frame on and despite that, I wasn’t happy with it.

The consensus decided we ought to get a sliding window, so we ordered one from Just Kampers



I must say that this window and seal fit really well with little hassles (plenty of lube was used ) and it looks good.

 

Back onto refurbishing the cabinets, next up the wardrobe, mostly the laminate is peeling which I can sort, the wood itself can be rubbed down and varnished and new rubber trim fitted.









This will keep me occupied for a couple of weeks