Changing of the guard

So it was a bittersweet day. I traded away the life of one VW for the life of another. I sent my 1969 Westfalia to it’s certain death, in order to save a 1972 transporter. Brownie, the 1972 VW is in much better condition than the westy and appears to have a fairly complete engine, which is way more than could be said for the 1969.

Here she is:

 

Front Axle Work 4

So with everything out and disassembled I set about refurbing and getting new parts. I bought some rubberized undercoating and painted the wheel weels. What I should have done was painted them with a rust inhibitor first.

I then cleaned, bench ground, and then painted my torsion arms and steering knuckles with black caliper paint.

I ended up not doing anything with my tie rods, even though I ordered new ones. I’ll save that for another time. So on to the reassembly.

First thing I did after all the painting, etc. was lubricate my front axle with a multi-purpose (non-lithium) grease at the five points as shown in Bentley.

 

Front Brakes

After I removed my old brake calipers and front discs I knew I would need all new components.

 

Removing Ball joints

I of course used my Bentley manual, thesamaba.com and type2.com for assistance. Here is a compilation of a couple posts with some details on the job (I’m sorry no credit is given – if you are the author please let me know). My comments are in italics. Pictures are after the details.

 

Front Axle Work 3

With the dust cover pried off using a claw hammer, I was able to remove the nut from the end of the spindle and then remove the hub.

I then removed the hub, bearings, and brake splashield.

I also took a little time to clean up my gas cap on the bench grinder.

I was then ready to move on to removing ball joints.

 

Poptop Restoration

First I removed the luggage rack and worked on that, since I didn’t really have anything else I could do, and I could bring it home.

The bars had already fallen off, but I used the Bentley and Westy manual to find the locations of the rest of the screw I needed to remove. Put them all in a baggie and labeled it. Will try and replace all hardware with stainless when I can.

 

9/17-9/18 continued front axle work, misc

9/17/07

Removed the dust cover (was stuck and I had to seek help on earlybay.com) using a claw hammer. Then removed disc, hub and bearings. Put them in baggies and labeled. After I got the rotors and hubs off. I removed (6) 11mm bolts for the brake splashshield.

 

9/6-9/10 – Front axle work begins

I jacked up the front end and placed it on jack stands. Then I removed both front wheels. I then removed both brake calipers using the Bentley manual.

Looks like I’ll probably need new ball joints and shocks, so I’ll add those to the list.

I wire brushed and degreased as much of the front end as I felt comfortable doing.

I had to go and buy a 6mm hex driver for my wrench so I could get the rotors off. They were also in very bad shape – add to the list.

So I guess I’ll get started by re-doing the front end. As good a place as any to start I guess.

 

9/3/07

Begun work on dissassembling engine. Took out air bath cleaner, removed 2 pieces of rear engine tin, and drained oil – which looked pretty good.

I also sanded down the rear corners and found that they were mostly filler as well. Will probably replace both of those.

After prying open the stuck erar hatch I also realized the extent of rust damage and was a little troubled.

Shot of engine

 

Exploration and determination

9/1/07

The kids and I pulled the ‘71 into the warehouse at my office and began the poking and prodding to determine the extent of restoration needed.

I removed the engine lid, rear engine valence and the rear lights.

I then took off the front wheels to inspect the brakes and wheel arches. Looks like arches will need some welding and the brakes will need to be totally re-done.

I also found that most of the front nose is actually filler, so I will probably be replacing that eventually

.

The chasis was a little rusty, but solid.

There’s also plenty of smaller areas that will have to be patched.

Going to be lots of work!