The previous day we arrived at an RV park with a poor running engine and a ty-rap repaired distributor points. Not to be be beaten there was at least civilisation in Seligman, Roadkill Cafe and one of those garages with an outside 4 post lift. Must be dry here a lot – but snce we’re on the edge of the desert this is no surprise. This is the view,

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The local garage eventually opened but they only had ‘domestic’ parts, we looked out back in their storeroom (a real treasure trove), went through some parts books but no luck – ‘gonna be expensive that’. During breakfast we remembered hearing a VW driving past earlier, and asking around we left a message for the owners girlfriend who worked in the diner across the road – she was due to start work at 10 and was always dropped off by the VW guy. As luck would have it he had a spare of the exact part we needed, a used spare but none the less working. In 2 minutes we were up and running again. So thank you ‘VW guy’ and your single cab utility VW;

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Behind schedule we cut out the trip to the meeor craters but kept our promise to go see the Grand Canyon. Its a fair climb to the top, the Bus was definitely down on power but we held our nerve and kept to a steady 50 mph on the flat but could only manage 2nd gear and 20mph at the steep points. I dont think the American behind us appreciated the gentle pace – not in their big V8′s anyway. Once through the park entrance there was a confusing choice of viewing points, but trust us when we say the first time you see the Grand Canyon in person it will take your breath away. Here we arrive and have our picture taken

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There were so many observation points and scenic routes along the southern edge of the natural beauty. Along E Rim Drive, each viewing area bustling with people and vehicles, not one VW Camper though – although I bet 20 years ago there were nothing but Westfalias driving through the area. Wonderful scenery;

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The run down the mountain was a lot easier and faster too – we managed 60mph at one point. Wow. Stopping off at an Indian Trading Post we bought some very useful Blankets (it was actually cold up here in April, and a Dream Catcher that soon went on the rear view mirror. The run down to Flagstaff was a lot easier than climbing uphill all the time. It was here that we discovered Kampgrounds of America (KOA) and how well maintained and to a good standard they are, hot showers, and good washrooms, we enjoyed a good meal and conversation with our neighbours.

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Ok so this is the plan, search the internet for something on the West coast and then fly in and drive home – what could possibly go wrong? We had a budget for a Camper and this meant a Bay window, and it should obviously be running driving and have some camping interior. Eventually we settled on a 1971 Bay from a well known dealer in Lake Havasu – the spring break getaway with its own London Bridge we kid you not. So we packed some tools, light enough to carry on a plane, and google confirmed there was a WalMart in Havasu (see the plan), and off we went. The hire car was useful to get us to Hoover Dam (wow)

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Collecting our vehicle from the dealer in Havasu went smoothly, he showed us round, talked about funky green panels, and we set off. Drove past a Dans Auto Salvage on the wy out of Havasu – complete with a splitscreen on the roof, then stopped at Walmart to buy all our supplies for the trip, camping equipment etc. On the equipment shipping list was stove and fuel, plates, cutlery, 12v fridge, wheel brace and bedding. Oh and food and beer. Our first lunch stop;

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We started Route 66 at Kingman AZ, stopping at the famous Hackberry general Store. This is almost a museum of collectibles – fantastic place, take a look at the range of pictures, a classic 60′s Vette, old gas pumps, pepsi fridges, we could spend all day here looking around.

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Time to give the Bus another look over – we’re very happy with the purchase, no signs of rust, or previous bodges – these dry states in the West of the US seem to preserve their vehicles well. Here we have some gatuitous shots of the new purchase against the backdrop of Hackberry General Stores

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Not far out of Hackberry the engine cut out and we coasted to a complete stop. Stepping out of the Bus we heard… nothing, absolutely nothing. No cicada, no traffic, no interstate hum, no aeroplanes, nothing but dead silence. Oh and the cell phone had no signal. Hmm, this could get interesting as we had passed no traffic in the last 30 minutes – we were alone. At least we had water and an owner who knew a thing or 2 about old VW’s.

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Problem diagnosed as a broken set of points in the 009 distributor, which should be a very easy fix as everyone carries a spare set of points around don’t they – well not us having just collected the Westy. With some careful use of tyraps we were up and running again, enough to get us to the next town – Seligman where we found an RV park. We were a little small compared to other vehicles there but we had hookup, toilets and a nearby garage for consultation in the morning. So we made good and lit the stove and cooked up a fantastic meal helped along with some red wine. Perfect camping for a VW Camper vacation. The last picture shows our newly purchased Fanchers screen blinds – perfect blackout;

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Next blog is day 2..

Bought through ebay and from a well known dealer in Lake Havasu our 71 Westy looks great, new canvas on the pop top, correct interior and the description says the engine nd brakes work well. Could do with some attention to the nose it said but the lack of detailed pictures in that area did not put us off our dream which was to fly to Vegas and drive the Bus all the way to North Carolina along parts of Route 66. This is the series of pictures we bought the bus against, first off the pop top in all its yellow splendour, ladder on rear hatch, correct wheels, bumper present;

Front and side profile shots show the import badges under the front door, nose mounted spare wheel – a popular modification to these buses to allow more sleeping area in the back, front over-riders to correct early shape bumpers, lower mounted indicator lights hint at why these Buses are sometimes called lowlight Campers;

Drivers side picture shows correct wheelarches, electrical hookup, door gaps appear ok, roof fits correctly, side mirror present, and no suspicious looking repaint going on down low along the rocker panel, so far so good.

Engine is present and sporting a correct air filter, and the blue hose is hinting that the brake booster is fitted – confirming this 71 model is perhaps the most desirable of all – early features and later brakes. Looks like a new carburettor in there;

Up front there is seating for two people and these covers look replaced with correct basket weave patterns too, all good signs, dash is clearly later than split with its padding and veltilation – more modern. Black steering wheel, some sort of under dash tray, and speakers in the door panels, but all of this is cosmentic addtions, looks tidy enough and not too modified.

In this picture we see the buddy seat behind the driver, so far so good, but the often missing icebox is not present (we later negotiated its return for the sake of ocmpleteness. This buddy seat is the slightly later version with a higher back pad – earlier ones had a shelf with cubby hole feature. The flooring looks to be the right westy material, wooden headliner, electrical outlets present, all ok;

This is one of the most common views of a westy – the view into the the seating and sleeping area. The table folds downa dn the bed pulls up into a double bed – called a rock and roll bed – odd name and nothing to do with what goes on there, correct colours and materials throughout on this picture, all present and correct;

Finally this is with the rear hatch open and looking at the rear bed in its seating position, here we see where the spare wheel should be on the left side of the rear cushion and this is why moving the wheel out of the cabin area is a popular modification, larger sleeping area. In this picture we see some of the rare Westy parts are here, dual coat hooks, grab handle, interior light and the overhead cupboard are still present;

Overall this looks to be a mostly complete baywindow in straight condition. The inter#ior althought no tmint retains its furniture and mustard coloured vinyl. The pop top is present and has a new canvas – we were sold, this looks like a fly in – drive home deal. And this is precisely what happened. Blogged here at busandcamper.

This is the link to the for sale page VW Camper for sale.

Once the engine was running it was time to finish off the wiring round the back to be UK legal – this meant going through the conversion to separate indicators and their housings. Sourcing good quality rear european housings – the Hella variety is getting progressively more difficult. Fortunately the rear lenses are being remade in Hella and are really good quality. Running the 2 extra wires from left to right is the majority of the conversion, the other part is to put the brake wire on one of the side light wires to the back of the bus. All detailed here; VW Camper Repair – converting rear lights. This is work in progress;

Whilst at the rear of the Bus, for MOT we made sure the rear number plate light was working, check the grounds, replaced the voltage regulator, made sure the choke and cut off solenoid were working ok, and finally for peace of mind fitted a new battery, strap and acid mat. We fitted heater tubes, hooked up the arms on the German heater boxes and made ready for getting the heaters to work. The fun part was pushing the vacuum hose virtually the full length of the heater tube to extract what seems to have been a storeroom for nut shells. While at the rear of Lenoir we made sure the handbrakes and rear brakes were all adjusted up, not quite on the handbrake so off with the rear drum – we use a 3/4 inch drive breaker bar for the 46mm nut and a little propane torch on the nut to free it off. Here we see the previous owners refusal to buy a new handbrake cable – why not repair it with a coat hanger instead. Oh dear.

Needless to say we replaced both handbrake cables both sides, cleaned the drums and assemblies, lubed the adjusters made sure the shoes and cylinders were recent and re-assembled with a little copper slip and a large new cotter pin. The finishing touch at the rear was to fit correct US spec slash cut Bumper and over-riders. Getting hold of rear bumpers is getting more difficult, and here for Lenoir we had to use a new left rear over-rider to complete the bumper. The original German bumpers are very strong and not easily dented or abused – only professional grade presses can straighten the dents in this bumper. US spec refers to the presence of over-riders and the towel rails on the bumper. Slash cut describes the angle at the end of the bumper and is correct for 58 or so through to 66 or so VW Campervans. This is the finished Bus at the rear;

Moving to the front of the bus we had several challenges here. First up is to get the heaters working, nothing worse then trying to drive a bus in the cold and having nothing to defog the front window. The trick with the heater knob is to unscrew the knurled knob without having to take the pin out. Out with the old cable hoping none of the tubes were crushed or blocked for the cable to extract. New cable goes in and the temptation is to push but the slightest kink on the solid cable will compromise its performance. We now have working heaters – WOW. Anyone who has a splittie will almost certainly realise how much work goes into getting hot air to the front of a Bus. Here we have the parts in pieces ready to go back together;

Next up was the mess of wiring, re-terminating the headlight connectors with proper insulated crimps and heatshrink was easy compared to chasing the wiring through behind the dash. A replacement Bus speedo was sourced, as were nearly all the right switches on the dash and finally a correct Split ignition and key were all sourced as the original parts were incorrect, damaged or plain junk. A replacement indicator that latches and clamps to the column are getting more difficult to find too. For this era of Splitscreen there is a seemingly complex hazard warning light arrangement. The MOT manual states that the hazard lights should work without the key in the ignition. Also that there should be a dash warning light to show the hazard lights are in operation. The MOT manual then says the indicators should operate with a the driver’s ‘tell tale’ warning device – this is the light in the speedo. Suffice to say getting this combination to work 100% took patience and attention – either the speedo tell tale light would glow with no ignition key or plain not work with ignition on. We tried 2 pin, 3 pin and 4 pin relays, even 3 types of 4 pin relay – all displayed one issue or other. Finally we solved the ‘tell tale light in the speedo glowing’ issue by changing the relay to a 4 pin and then swapping out the power to the speedo tell-tale bulb for a grounded connection. Voila. Although not 100% following the VW wiring diagram we have a 100% correct for the MOT setup.

Also up front the wipers needed drastic attention. The spindles were badly corroded and the motor ran just about all the time. A complete overhaul of the motor was performed where we replaced the spindles and the 6v motor changed out to 12V. With new spindles the tall body wiper arms worked better and had smoother action. Finally up front we made sure the gas gauge with its new sender out back worked well. All is good with the tell tales or idiot lights on the speedo, the new 12v horn worked, the lights all worked once we put the dimmer switch back on the replacement floor. This is the finished dash – new church key and holder, new ABS kick panels, new rubber mat, washer bottle – everything works;

Seatbelts – the minimum for the MOT for this ear or year vehicle is at least a set of lap belts and whilst there are methods for fitting 3 point this involves cutting a hole in the b pillar down low and then feeding the nut plate up the pillar round the latch to the top anchor area. This would be the next best thing to. This is the finished front cab area.

This is the front view, all finished off with a correct US spec front lash cut bumper;

Here we restored a pop out window. Removing and replacing op outs can be daunting, plenty of WD40 soaked over time helps. Then for installation we do ours with two people – one to push the frame into the corner and the second to get those fiddly little screws in. Tip is to clean the little screw threads before so the new screws go in nice and easy. Final tip is to use a thin plastic card to slide under the seals to get them to seat right.

Finally we had everything working for the MOT, which it passed first time, 2 advisories – steering tie rods and front dampers. This was the day before MOT;

Armed with an MOT, a cover note from RH Insurance, a complete V55 and our customs form C&E 386 we registered Lenoir in the UK. 5 days later we get the permission to print number plates form – Lenoir is now FAV269C. Job done, listed for sale on theSamba and SSVC.

And sold in 3 days, off to be converted to a real nice touring Camper – fantastic;

So out with the engine – this is fairly easy in a Splittie;

1. Rear Bumper, splash pans and then rear valence off
2. Disconnect generator, carburettor, coil and oil pressure wires and stow
3. Disconnect throttle cable, fuel line and push through the rear most tin
4. Take off carb top piece, rubber snorkel and breather tube to air filter
5. Heater cables detach from heater boxes
6. Support the engine now on a jack
7. Top 2 bolts are the most tricky due to access
8. Bottom 2 nuts are easy and the engine could come back now off the gearbox

Engine dismantling, its analysis and re-assembly is best left to the manuals and the best book we found was ‘How to Rebuild Your Volkswagen Air-cooled Engine’ by Tom Wilson;

We use Curil K2 on the joint surfaces for its resistance to temperature and non hardening sealing properties – well known in air cooled forums and builders;

So, with our H5 cased engine apart, cleaned and inspected what did we find? Immediately obvious were the lifters and camshaft were showing wear beyond service so these were replaced. The saddles on the case were not hammered and passed the finger nail test. Here we see Curil on the sealing surfaces, white grease on the new lifters, cam bearings and main bearing half;

Making sure the new 3 rivet early camshaft was correctly aligned to the crank gear;

The cases together, just visible are the lifter clips holding them in place while we mated the 2 halves, this pic was taken after we’d torqued the 2 sides together with more Curil under the main nuts, re-shimmed the flywheel, new red Elring flywheel seal, bugpack cam plug;

Front pulley tin and pulley on, flywheel also in place, 200mm and within service spec, 009 in place from early on, oil pump was within spec, so we flattened the cover and re-sealed with Curil, now we’re ready for the pistons and cylinders, which although used were relatively fresh and well within tolerance with excellent ring gaps;

Cylinder heads had their valves reground and cleaned up, threads cleaned, and rocker arms apart for cleaning. Here we have the cylinder heads installed, new pushrod tubes and soft rubber seals, dont forget those deflector plates. Torque heads to 25lb/ft;

Getting ready with the cooling tin, generator, new fuel pump, inlet manifold correct, and a cleaned re-gasketed 30 PICT 3. Not far off finished to go in the Van;

Before the engine goes back in we pulled the petrol tank, flushed it out, sprayed in rust converter and then installed a new level sensor and on the underside a new gauze screen and return pipe and finally a new cork gasket and rubber neck seal on the filler neck;

Engine bay ready to take the engine, cleaned up bell housing, new fuel line and filter, new rubber gearbox boots the nice German ones, stater bush checked and lubed, release bearing needs fitting, new rubber seal, grommets for the wiring, petrol tank securely fastened with padding;

Next up will be the fitted engine..New exhaust, heater tubes all hooked up, preheat, new plug wires, snorkel for the air filter, correct tin and seals;

And here it is running, fired up pretty much first time and without any adjustment to timing. We run it up to temperature and then let it cool before checking it over for leaks etc especially around the exhaust and inlet manifold. A stethoscope will help here to track down the hissing sounds on the intake – but as we used all new crush gaskets the chances of this a re low. All is well.

Job done well, did not break the bank and should last a good long time without leaking.

This is right side pair – original and slightly tired on the left and brand new on the right – Wolfsburgwest manufacture / sourced.

First up is the use of chrome latch handles, as used by deluxe and standard buses, . You’ll probably have a matching chrome latch plate in the Bus if its deluxe or standard, kombi and commercial had black handles and plates. Original on the left – New on the right;

Here is an interesting detail to the locking or engaging tip, the new tip looks like a Beetle lock rather than the original looking tip without a nub, it is worth noting replacement handles are available too – although these appear to be the same casting as Beetles as well (same manufacturer?). Original on the left – New on the right;

And this is a close up of the tip and the angle of the engaging section, would the new item on the right be more difficult to engage initially and would it force the window to shut much tighter than the original given the height of the tip? Original on the left – New on the right;

The rivets look secure and machine applied, so this should be a strong point of the window, all too often the handle breaks off meaning these rivets will need doing drilling out and re-applying, and in case it was not obvious Original on the left – New on the right;

Looking at the top metal frame there are slight differences, this may affect how the top part of the frame sits against the vertical seal – may be lead to a whistle noise? Original on the left – New on the right;

Finally the bottom of the channel was the same, Original on the left – New on the right;

This is one reason to fit the new repro vents, this small triangle is quite visible on the eye line of the Bus and when corroded like this can detract from the overall look. obvious which is which;

Wolfsburgwest part number 211898606A.

First up is the right rear, perhaps the most common rusted out part of any campervan due to the battery being located in this corner. A quick exploration with a sanding disk shows a fairly ragged bottom. The same with the battery tray itself – not a lot left to save;

There are several versions of tray – commercial flatbed styles, Bus earlier battery strap style and Bus later battery strap style – this is the more common Gerson funky green panel KF1331 Battery tray. here we see the panel in place and the rear corner cut ready to accept KF1295 8 inch high that comes in just below the tail light opening.

Once the tray is in place, the rear corner can be offered up and tacked in place, this is the skill part to make the butt joint on that complex curve takes a lot of correct measurements;

And pretty soon the weld is continuous and the tray is attached too. Here we see the weld cleaned up to make good the panel again.

A shot of the inside welding, not too much heat or distortion evident here. We also see the battery clamping method that will require a strap to go over the top of the battery holding it with a clasp one side and a threaded stud the other;


With enough careful clean up once the area is primered you can see how well the repair blends to the original part. A very light skim of filler and the repair is virtually invisible. Top quality workmanship;

Next up is the left rear corner. At this point we realise this side had some sort of trauma before in its life, the supporting triangle shaped bracing panel is bent and distorted, signs of impact we guess. How much material could be saved in the corner?

Fortunately we had an original rear corner salvaged from a scrapped bus that was good in that area. So from a crazy rusty and bent area to something that starts to look correct again;

That was not the end of the repair – Lenoir also needed the channel that holds the decklid seal all the way up the left side, Randy our welding guru made this repair piece seen here tacked in place;

And a lower picture showing the full extent of the repair piece, complex curves, returns and folds to link the salvage part to the original rear corner;

And a similar custom repair panel for the lower corner – a lot of English wheel in this one, and this would complete the repair to the rear end of this Bus;

This is actually about 5 minutes into the operation to remove the old rusted out inner and outer sill. Here we see the patchwork that’s left of the corrugated floor edge;

Lower picture to show the I beam ends that are ready to be welded to the new inner and more importantly the ends of the jack point ready to be welded too. All too often the jack point fills with mud and debris and will rust out. Replacing these are crucial if they are compromised at all. Our Jacks weren’t that bad;

A really common area to repair on a Splitscreen – this is the closing panel for the end of the sill, if this is missing or holed then expect the jacking point and the sill at that end to be rusted out. Ours was typical in this area. This is the finished repair using hand cut pieces, panels are available too, note this is a bench model wheelarch – walk thru arches are slightly different;

Klassic Fab Inner panel KF531 goes in and is welded from the other side, butt welds against the outside of the panel. Randy our welding guru has painted the inside of the panel black to help prevent the rust process happening over again too soon. Just visible at the end is the other side of the wheel arch repair;

Another funky green panel goes in, this is the LHD rocker outer KF492 – complete LHD cargo door rocker complete – its actually 2 pieces for strength – an inside support and the visible outside. Here Randy has plug welded the sill to the flange left by the inner sill;

The finished result in primer – the floor edge is made good where it joins the funky green metal and all the gaps and welds have been tidied up, this area of our VW camper is finished;

After the nose job, the floor needed some equally drastic attention. This is what we started with – the missing extremities are usual but what made this worse was the hole in and around the steering column – clearly a lot of water stood on this floor and activated the rust through process;

All that had to come out, and here we have the front floor removed, notice the bracing from the chassis rail to the front right A post – a remnant of the work to replace that a post. Here we see the underneath structure of a split screen bus – two large chassis box sections that connect to the front inner valence, a structure to hold the gear lever, pedals and brake system and finally a steel pipe that passes hot air from the back of the bus;

In goes a replacement dogleg, this narrow lip dogleg was cut from a salvage bus;

But without a floor or the previous a post to get a reference from Randy has to offer up the new floor and re-hang the door to get the gaps right;

All fits well with this wolfsburgwest repair panel, this is the fit around the new Gerson A-post;

Similar dogleg repair to the left side, this time Randy used just the forward section of the door step or dogleg, plus a small repair to the vertical part of the seat stand;

And the finished result, with the middle section welded near the gear lever socket, round the front, heater tube back in, pedals back in – about all thats left is the accelerator pedal;

This is what we started with – not a very pretty sight and there’s some more material to remove before we can start adding back good metal. The lower inner valence is removed, you can just see on the floor is the new Gerson funky green about to go in. The a-post is also removed and awaiting Gerson replacement;

Here the inner valence is offered up Klassic Fab KF37, there is a return flange that the inner kick panel connects to and then the frame horns butt up to the other side of this panel. All areas cleaned ready for welding. Here we also see Randy has removed the headlight bucket – there was obviously rust in the bucket seams which are only repaired with replacement. The thick looking wire coing up through the inner kick panel is the main wiring loom – be careful to not melt this or cut through it – replacement is time consuming. Also seen is the a-pillar repair KF14 offered up, with the door rehung to see how the gaps and structure looks around the door;

With the inner valence attached and a-post welded in, here we see how Randy handled the nose panel. A sacrificial nose panel was bought with good headlight bucket and here we see the left and right side have been cut ready to be welded in. Note how the nose is peppered with nail gun holes – clearly this bus had some trauma in it its life and the typical repair is with nail guns to ‘pull’ the dents out. Even more so when you cant get to the other side of the dent to use a hammer and dolly. This is going to be interesting;

So off with its nose to be plug welded and repaired. Here we also see the inside construction of a splitscreen camper – the inner kick panel has cut outs for headlight buckets and also links the left and right a-posts for strength. The section above the inner kick is the heater outlet vent coming from the floor. Also note the wiring looms. At the bottom of the original kick panel are several drain holes where condensation / windscreen leak water is meant to drain away through the inner valence and out the bottom. Nice water trap and probably why so many Buses are rusted out in this area;

Here we see the donor left and right headlight buckets tacked into place, the nose peak has been plugged and straightened and then tacked into place too. Quite some effort to get this far. Gersons KF44 is in place as the outer lower valence and then a Gerson KF49 lower 8 inch nose repair, some clamps, a Kleko to hold some seams together and this is starting to look like a real van again, note the flanges on the outside of the nose panel, this particular funky green panel normally comes up to just below the lights but this has been cut down a little to utilise more of the donor panels;

Without making a step in the panels it is necessary to butt the two pieces of metal together and then stitch with welds building up to Seam welding – basically continuous welds but only short distances at a time, this is a skill. So the sacrificial buckets are welded, ground down flat and then seam sealed with 2 part NASCAR spec epoxy to give it strength and water proofing. Here we see the lower KF44 and KF49 panels welded in place – almost finished;

And the finished repair – all welds ground flat, seam sealed and primered – looks like a proper Splitscreen bus by Volkswagen again;

Side profile shows where the panels join – to get this perfect will require a very slight skim of filler, and this is normal. This level of repair and reconstruction is time consuming and requires a level of skill and patience. Good work;

And finally up close and personal;