So with all this talk about westys lately, I thought I would post some pics of my 73 that I have gotten back on the road for the first time in over 2.5 years. This was my families vacation vehicle when I was a kid, then it sat for about 5-6 years, then it became my frist car and I made it live again and drove it for a good 6-7 years, then it sat for the last 2.5 years or so while I worked on the 914, and now it lives again to help me move into a new house, and act as a support cargo van!

poor thing had been under a hackberry for about 1.5years...nasty stuff...here it is up on my ramps for some brake work...

another shot on the ramps...you can see my other woman in the garage where it is warm and dry...

somebody needs to photoshop this pic...looks like the van is taking off...

vw sickness? or just too many projects?

My sister has a Westfalia. Use a spray bottle with straight bleach on the pop top. That mildew will disappear and the top will look like new again.

Wish I had one of those.

Uhh...hello...yeah, my top just blew off my van...

actually a pretty funny story involving a long trip in the van and a very windy day while crossing oklahoma...fixing the top is another "long term" project...

and finally, new windshield, new brakes, a good wash, tune up on the raging 1.7L of fury, (you think a 914 is underpowered with a 1.7, try adding 2000lbs and a couple of 6ft sails),

and she is ready for duty...

Looks a little familiar.....

Except, maybe, from this angle.

sweet Mark!

details...?

its bad now that I have started to mess with it again, I want to start moding it now

Tony

73 Bus, Porsche 2.4 motor & trans. The Cap'n built in back in the 80's & can't remember whether it's to "E" or "S" specs. I bought it a couple of years ago for my Karaoke business, and can't seem to talk my business partner out of it so I can drive it. Hauls a$$! It originally had an orange & white body, but it was rusting away (sound famailiar?), so The Cap'n & I "re-bodied" it a few months ago. It has a dropped front end on it (under it?) now & handles much better. Upgraded the brakes a touch and reworked the shift linkage so it shifts tighter. I really love the thing.
Gets lousy gas mileage, but I've been told it really doesn't matter what size motor you get, they all get bad mileage. This one just moves around a bit quicker than most.

I too love ole vans....course some of the old ones take forever to finish.... Work in progress. This ones in my cousins barn

Nice!

very nice split...I really like looking at those, but I don't think I would ever want one, guess I just spent too many hours with my bay.

Mark, what kind of brake mods did you do? I am thinking about various power upgrades (been thinking more along the lines of a v8 swap) but gotta have some binders to slow this puppy down. It stops good with fresh brakes now, but not good enough for tripple the HP.

Also, whos beam did you go with to lower the front? or did you do your own? I would like to drop mine about 3-4 inches all around, and may try and put some bags on the rear (seen a few ideas that I might steal in this area)...

See, here we go, can't leave anything alone...have you seen that orange bay window that has the 930 motor in it? I think they are based in canada, but I have seen some videos of that thing doing ~5 sec 0-60

Tony

Tony, The Bus body came with the drop front end on it already when I bought it. It's done properly, not a hack job. You could call John (Cap'n Krusty at 805 925-1993) and ask him what he'd get, and what brake upgrades he did. I just unbolted from one Bus and bolted them to the other.

I've seen a few really nice conversions, most of them to split windows. They're very cool. I'd consider doing more to this one, but my business partner drives it most of the time, and he's a real slob. I grab it every once in a while, and the first thing I have to do is clean it all out & give it a bath. That's just to make it liveable.

Mark,

Thanks for the info, this bus is going to need a whole suspension refresh soon, so I figure now would be the time to drop etc. Also, since it was my first car there is alot of DAPO stuff I need to fix up...gotta hate it when the DAPO was you

oh well, at least I can fix my own mistakes now instead of passing them on to others

Tony