The interior is almost finished now, just some small details left to do. Here is how it looks so far… it so nice with heater on the winter, it was -9 celsius and inside was set to 26+celsius đ
#vwt3overland
The wiring was a mess (for all equipment) so a new control panel with automatic fuses was installed togheter with new wiring. The 230v wiring (camping power) was also updated with automatic ground fuse and two new sockets with combined USB outlets.
The old interior lightbar was only 230v, but it was a great design so you can flip/turn the light angle. So I took it apart and converted it to 12v with LEDs. An extra LED light with two touch dim/settings was mounted up in the front of the sealing/roof also.
Under the rock n roll sofa I made space for 200amp of batteries (dual 100amp). These I connected to the car/start battery thru a relay, so the car alternator will charge all batteryâs. These batteries are connected thru Bluetooth to my cellphone so I can see how much power is left and how much is charging. The solar panel (portable 120w) have a quick connection to these batteryâs. Also the 5kw diesel heater is installed under the sofa. It takes air from outside and diesel from the main tank, and the exhaust is routed thru a silencer and out. It runs on diesel and 12v so it can be used anywhere for a very longtime, no need for 230v power. It has a digital display, and a thermostat so it will keep the inside toasty warm on winter. It can be started thru GSM net with my phone. I routed the heater outlets to the main floor and one to the back/bed. It works great and produce a lot of warm dry heat!
The walls, doors and roof was already insulated with 50mm cellplastic, thats very good! But I had some extra aluminium/bubblefoile rolls that I put inside some of the doors and walls for some extra insulation and vapor barier.
#vwt3overland
New speedometer and cable have been fitted, the needle on the old one was stuck! Added LED light diods to the rear engine bay, you cant have to much light when wrenching in that tight dark engine compartment, specially after the road. New modern wipers installed, and a new ventilation cover for the slidingdoor, painted in black. The old washerpump was junk so a new was added. Rear view / back up camera is now all done and is a great thing to have on a bus! More updates coming! It’s now ready for safetyinspection / MoT. Hope it goes well…
New rear taillights on the Highroof Bay bus. Housings are new aftermarket, lenses are clearcoated original VW from SWF. Some pics…
#highroofbayproject
Piece by piece it’s coming together! I Have been fixing with the bumpers and wheels lately. It have all been sandblasted, welded, epoxyed, sanded, primered and painted in same white as the roof. Really starts to come together now, some light in the tunnel. But still lots left to do, here is some new pics…
#highroofbayproject
Lots of work have been done lately on the VW Baywindow Highroof! Whole roof have been finished in California White color. All doors and lids have been painted on the insides and then fitted back on the body. All panels are now sanded in 800grit and ready for toppaint in VW L20a Marino Yellow!
#highroofbayproject
Slow with updates? Thats because I have been busy doing bodywork on the Highroof bus. A very boring, dusty and time consuming work. But now its in surffacer/filler/primer and ready for more sanding again, and hopefully thats it before paint. Paint for roof (white) and body (VW L20a Marino yellow) is bought. Still have all the doors and lids to do also! Got some new parts too, new lids for electric 240v hook up and fresh watertank filler with lock. A Vitrifrigio C60 fridge in stainless will chill the drinks and food nicely, its 60 liters and 10,5 liter is freezer. Danfoss compressor of course!
Test fitted the Fiamma Turbo Vent 28×28 on the bus, better before than after paint! It has a built in fan on 12v that can blow out or in fresh air. Will be nice on warm summer days and night I think.
After a weekend of work on the bus roof its now in primer! Finally. It needed a ton of work, was alot of gelcoat cracks that needed to be sorted. And the left rear corner of the roof had been hit earlier in the bus life and needed to be fixed up nicer. Will test fit a new Fiamma rooflight/ventilation and then I can continue with the bodywork on rest of the bus. Looking forward to paint! But still a long way and lots of hours left…
Here is some news on the build. Got the fuel tank installed today. With new fuelfiller neck, feeder hose, sender unit, tap and filter. Also replaced all rubber hose connections for the tank ventilation. Next time I will start bodywork on the huge roof…lots of fun…
The engine bay is now ready for the fueltank and later on the 1800cc+ type 4 engine (need to be rebuilt first) to be installed. Today the whole front cab of the bus got sanded down (mostly by hand), front doors removed, masked, seamsealed, prepared for primer and then topcoat in Off White color in 2 layers. Most of this wont be showing when all sounddeadning materials and carpets are in place later but good to have a clean surface for glue and its also nice to know its clean and protected under the carpets.
Next up is; top section of dashboard needs to be removed to paint it in semi-gloss Deepblack (easier to do when windscreen is already out). After this I can start with the outside body of the bus and make it ready for paint. Here is some new pics…
Yeah! The bus is now rolling on its own wheels again, after been standing like a empty shell in the air for 7 months. Still need to route new brakelines and brakehoses, and bleed the whole system. Must also restore the factory installed Eberspracher BA6 heater that are going to be installed under the center floor. But now its time to start with paint and body. The engine compartment and front cab need to get painted in VW L20A Marino yellow first, then I can start working on the outside. Lots of work still left to do, but much have been done on places you normally dont see…
Have been working on the transmission and driveshafts lately. Had a pile of new parts from Just Kampers waiting for it. The tranny was in very good shape and have been restored by VW (exchange parts) in the 1980s. But it still needed alot of work to look good again. Highpressure washed the case 3 times, to remove dirt and old oil. Drained the oil and it still looked nice (good sign)! Then 3 coats of paintremover was added so the black paint could be peeled off the case. Degreased it one more time, wirebrushed and sanded it making it ready for paint. A coat of primer for aluminium/etch was layed down and then 3 coats of 2K silvermetallic paint on top.
A new mainshaft oil seal was added, and both driveflange/shaft seals too. The nosecone got a new reamed bronze bushing and oilseal for the shiftleveler. Also the small plastic balljoint in the end of the shiftlever (the one that pushes gears) was replaced to a new made of steel, and will last a life time instead of a brittle plastic part that was before. The shiftrod feels very accurate and precise now, no more sloppy gearshifter! This is also a popular upgrade on VW race transmissions. Driveshafts and hubs was sandblasted and painted. New groundcable to chassi. New clutchwire. New gaskets, rubberboots and CV joints installed. New startermotor + bushing mounted too. New trans mounts upper and lower. And then the transmission was filled up with new fresh mineral API-5 grade transmission oil that VW recommended on these 002 cases. This oil is extra good to the special metalparts like syncro rings etc. Not aggressive like other grades can be to these old transmissions. Â Here is the pics…
Started to get the other side done, blasted, painted and new bearings and seals. Waiting on some new parts from JustKampers and hopefully I can put the bus back on its own wheels this weekend for first time in 6 months. Also fixed the rusted and dented up front floor cover, blasted and painted ready to be installed when all wires and brakes are fixed.
Have now started with the rear end of the bus, hope to soon have it rolling on wheels again, after 6 months in the air. Dismantled the rear IRS trailingarms, removed all old bearings and seals, cleaned it up and sandblasted everything. Then all parts was coated in zinc primer and the Deep black satin finish paint. All new wheelsbearings and seals pressed in, new bushings everywhere and also nuts/bolts. All new brakeparts and brakedrums too. One step closer…
Have finally got some stuff done on my own project, Baywindow Highroof 1975. The frontend is all done, just need to mount the new brakelines etc. The sandblasted and painted beam have all new needlebearings, new centerpin/arm bushings, new grease zerks, torsionarms have new balljoints, new swaybar bushings, new shocks, new steeringdampner, new tie rods and draglink, steeringbox is adjusted (no more play) got new oil too and a new rubber/steeringplate. Wheels bearings are new and packed with fresh grease, new brakediscs, new speedocable and brakecalipers have been blasted, and have all new seals and pistons, brakepads etc. New masterbrakecylinder and new brakebooster is in place too. Basicly every nut and bolt are new on this car!
Here is some new pics…
Some more progress made on the Highroof bus. More parts have been sandblasted and painted during the week. The chassi is finally painted too, after months of hard work. 2k polyurethane paint with elastic attribute. Good if you dont want to have stonechips in the paint later on. Cant wait to start bolting on all the new parts on the shiney chassi, no more dirty work! Also got a NOS 1960-70s roofrack that will get modified to fit on the highroof, perfect for the future solarpanels etc. Got a spare BA6 Eberspacher burner too, will be good to take parts from when I start the restoration of the original one. Here is the pics…
Sandblasted and painted silver metallic. RAL9006.
BEFORE.
DURING. Straightned out and sandblasted baremetal
AFTER. Painted, also made a custom mesh in stainless for it but forgot to take photo.
Marinoyellow VW L20A period correct.
Have sandblasted alot of parts in the new cabinet, so nice to have. No need for waiting on the mediablasting company any more. Just put it in the box and go! Got a box full of new parts from Justkampers.com yesterday too. Brakeservo, starter, all brakepipes, front beam seals, 4 torsionarms with new pressed in balljoints, transmission gaskets and seals etc. Also scored a NOS Eberspächer combustion/airpump for the BA6 heater. Found a supplier in the UK of new BERU glowplugs for BA6, the GZE201 plug replaces the old (original) BZE22. Have anyone tried the new GZE201? Let me know how it worked: info@maindrive.org
Have scraped and cleaned all of the chassi during the last 2 weeks. Hope to push on further with the chassi this week and weekend and get it primered, seam sealed, undercoated and painted in body color. After that the chassi is ready to get all the new parts bolted on! More coming soon…
Got loads of brand new parts from Justkampers today. Wow what a quick delivery! Basicly a new bus chassi in parts. Removed front beam, torsionarms and brakes. I think every nut and bolt had to be cut, they were froozen stuck! But it dosen’t matter everything going to be replaced with new parts anyway. Need to remove all chassi parts for sandblasting and painting!
  
Yeah the winter season is definitely here. It’s -10 celsius (14 Farenheit) outside here in Sweden. But days like that are perfect for ordering new VW parts with a cup of coffee in the other hand. Im making a loong list of new parts for the Baywindow Highroof project and also new window rubbers etc for the VW T3 transporter. After 10 years of building VW’s I finally found a serviceminded VW part store that have great quality on their stuff too!
Im now buying all my new parts from JUSTKAMPERS instead. They are based in the UK but ships worldwide, cheap shipping prices and have the best service you will ever find from a VW shop. I can really recommend these guys, take a look at their website here!
I also got some stuff done on the Highroof, removed all brakes, masterbrakecylinder, booster, steeringrods etc front beam soon ready to get dropped down and put on the table for some restoration (new needle bearings, balljoints, bumpstops, kingpin bushings etc). Hope to get started on the metalwork on Benny’s T3 soon also…
The engine bay was blasted out during the week and tonight it was time to paint it all in 2K epoxy primer/sealer for rust protection. Looks clean already!
