1977 Westy - Colonel Mustard

Here are some random pics from the summer:













Running great:



The Colonel and the 81 Vanagon I purchased for parts:



The Colonel and the other parts buses: Peachy, The Green Monster, and Old Bluey:

 

Hanging with some other generations:





Enjoying the weather with a cruise in the bus out to Topsail Beach:




The Colonel and some of the other family rides:





Couple of other VWs on the Dub Run:



My little brother got married this summer, wanted some pics with the Colonel. Of course nothing is ever that easy, fixing things in a tux:

 

Gotta share the joy that is driving the bus. Teaching my little bus-obsessed cousin how to drive a standard:



My older brother and his wife came home for the wedding, so they took turns driving:





My buddy driving us home from camping:



First camping trip with the family:

 

Nice bus!!
Nice pics!!

 

Some nice sweet pics

 

Thanks guys, more summer updates:

My buddy and I took the bus 430km to Salmon Festival for some camping and music.

Sorting the camping gear before hitting the road:



All packed and ready to roll:





Our spot for the first night, just outside of the town where the festival was:



At the campsite the next day, set up for a weekend of partying:





Did some decorating:



Bacon...:



Drinks:



The aftermath of a good weekend, about to head home:

 

Hit up a few car shows over the summer and got lots of interest in the bus, always had a blast showing it off and meeting new people.

Nick Coates Memorial Show:



Small car show at my home community:







Another local show:





Moved next to another VW before the show ended:

 

Yeah, that interior is a new one on me too!?
Looks excellent like!!!

 

The interior is a custom job by the PO. The kitchen unit and the cabinets to the left side are custom. The rest of the interior is stock, upper cabinet, closet, bench, etc. The interior is being changed out though, pics on that to follow.

 

At my big VW show, The Dub Show:







Loaded with food donations collected at the show:



My favorite VW moment of the summer was visiting the kids and families at Ronald McDonald House. We raise money for them at the Dub Show and wanted to drop by with some aircooled VWs for the kids.

The VWs meeting to cruise to the house:



Meeting the familes at the house:







Did up some prize packs to hand out to the kids, they really enjoyed seeing the vehicles, even more than I imagined.

Giving a tour of the bus to one of the kids:



The summer was a blast but gotta take the parts bunny out and put the Colonel back inside for the winter. Hopefully some little projects will get done over Christmas:

 

Just found this thread - very impressed.

How did you remove the paint from the bumpers and wheels?

Thanks

 

Thanks

I used a grinder and wire brush to get them down to bare metal. Sanding works too but I find the wire wheel and bare metal easier. Im no paint expert though.

Like so:

 

Thanks for that. Did you use spray on paint for both the wheels and the bumpers?

 

Yes sir, just some simple spray cans, nothing fancy. Not perfect but definitely an improvement. I have a lot of metal work to do on the bus, and then a full paint job. Just did what I could to make it look good in the meantime.

 

Here is the little bit of work I did over the summer, like I said, this year was all about driving it.

I upgraded the battery isolator:



This happened to my exhaust:



Got a new muffler installed. Hoping to eventually go back to stock, but working with the POs stuff for now:



The day before a car show I got a flat tire on one of my Federal Ecovan tires. Had to take the spare off the front, it gets kinda gross under there:



Had to quickly slap some paint on it so it didnt stick out at the show:







Was having charging issues that I couldnt quite figure out. Brought my alternator to get checked out. They popped off the back cover and found a loose connection where the main wire attaches to the post. Replaced the whole wire and its good to go:

 

As part of finishing the camping section of the bus, and finishing the interior, I will be going through the electrical, plumbing, and propane systems for the kitchen. My bus has an extra tank installed. Ive never had these filled before. Figured I would downsize to one tank which is plenty for what I need.

Out:



Turns out there was no regulator on the tank, so I added a new one:



Test mounting tank for new line placement:



Have bought all new propane lines, including a hard line to run under the bus and fittings. Will continue that project over Christmas.

Small little upgrade, replaced the city water hook up as mine had a broken cover:



Id been looking for a vanagon to get a kitchen out of, picked up this 81:



For this:





Brought it home:

 

Started the tear down:









The plan is to put this kitchen unit in to replace mine. Get the stove, fridge, sink, water tank, pump, etc all working as it should be.

Test fitting:



Cutting time, the unit is a bit longer than my unit:



Yes thats better:



More cutting:



Getting there:



Starting to look like something:

 

The PO has custom built the kitchen unit in my bus, adding a different fridge, sink and stove, and some custom cabinets. The rest of the interior is stock thankfully. I could go back to stock, as I have the parts, but my idea with this bus is to keep it looking fairly stock but make upgrades to make it more usable. Like I have done with cupholders, seatbelts, radio, speakers, etc. I don't mind some modification if it makes using the bus better, cause I drive the hell out of it. I figured going with a Vanagon kitchen isnt stock, but at least its Westy.

Stock interior:



Previous owners custom kitchen:



Current progress:



My wood paneling is mismatched now from the original, to the POs work, to the Vanagon unit. Planning to redo all the panels to achieve this look:



Still a lot of work to get to that point. Need to do the wiring, plumbing, and propane lines. Have to mount the unit in securely. The fridge needs some modification both to fit the current vent position and to make it function better. All the wood paneling needs to be re done and the edge trim needs to be switched to black. Table mounting needs to be modified as this unit isn't as wide as what I had. Few other small things but looking forward to getting it all done and finally using all the gear when camping.