Hey Guys & Girls,
Here you will find the build of my latest project. I am sure there will be a lot of purists who won't like the modifications that will happen to my beloved bus but please keep checkin back to this thread and see step by step how this transformation will come to be. I purchased this '73 Westafalia around 2 years ago for a steal, it was one of those too good to pass up deals. The bus was in need of some tender loving care to be brought back from the dead! Since then she has sat in my front yard doing what Kombi's do best........ rusting in peace! Its now time to start this journey and build something I have been wanting to build for quite some time. Here is a pic from the day I got her
First step was to remove all the original Westafalia interior. I think its buses like this that give Kombi's a bad name, it was definately like a commune of hippes had been living in it! Removed was all cupboards, rock and roll bed, roof top bed, curtains and a book titled "Marijuana and the affects it has on you"!
Also in this attack I removed the ratty pop top canvas, cut off the metal partitions behind the seats and discarded all carpet.
Here are the seats that were fitted by the previous owner, they are not staying! I am fitting a bench seat to the front and new rock and roll bed from Kustom Kombi which will make the bus a 6 seater!
Would be better if you used PhotoBucket to embed your photos into one big post 😉
Looks good thus far though!
After many hours of scrubbing and high pressure washing all is revealed! The body is in not too bad a condition for its age with minimal rust
This weeks mods include removing the hideous louvre windows and replace them with new sliders. Then I trial fitted the rear wheels, they are genuine WORK Euroline SE, 20x9.5" (ET40) and run a 245/35/20 tyre. I have been told that 9.5s won't work but I was stubborn and did it anyway. It was perfect fit, once the suspension is slammed I think this will give the desired look.
More pics of the rear, here you will see the difference between the factory steel wheels and the new ones
And now the front, 20x8.5" (ET35), have not fitted the new 225/30/20 tyres yet but wheel looks good! Had to slightly adjust bolts to give smaller turning circle but thats an easy sacrifice
nice wheels, dumped it will look nice, where abouts did you pick them up for? (always on the hunt for work/rays/ssr/etc)
Volkswagen Drivers Club of Queensland - member 🙂
STIDUB - yep its still a work in progress
Vwdcq club car racing/ and crashing while my bug isn't finished.
The above are personal views, no more, no less
I went to buy some wheels from a friend of mine for my daily driven Audi A4 Avant and thats what he had, he used to own a tyre shop but due to bad business decisions by his business partner he had to shut up with a lot of debt. What was supposed to be just a set of wheels turned into 27 sets. I have sold most sets off now but kept a few for myself. I have the WORK Eurolines in 20s, AME Fin's in 18s, LIONHART's in 19s & a set of 24" Zumbo wheels left. These are all genuine wheels and a couple of them are wheels I have dreamed about for years.
Are the tyres commercial rated? Might find you'll run into insurance problems
65 Meyers Manx
68 Country Buggy (KO 367)
68 Country Buggy (KO 669)
68 Country Buggy (KO 789)
68 Country Buggy (KO 815)
68 Baja Bug
76 Baja Kombi Twincab
Hey, you live jut around the corner from me!! I drive past your Kombi everyday and have a squizz!!
I drive the old Turquoise HD Holden wagon. You might've seen me around....
Custom doesn't come in a Box
Those wheels on the bottom right (1st pic) would look tough on a custom bug
Follow the Photo Fun:
http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=95238
- '70 1500 Beetle (The Clean One)
- '76 1300 Beetle (The In-between One)
- '69 1500 Beetle (The Mean One)
BlackBug wrote:Hey, you live jut around the corner from me!! I drive past your Kombi everyday and have a squizz!!
I drive the old Turquoise HD Holden wagon. You might've seen me around....
Yeah seen you a few times! I have a few projects in the build but the Kombi is the only one kept at home. Your HD looks awesome. i will have my turbo HJ GTS up here soon, we will have to go for a cruise sometime. What VW do you have?
11CAB wrote:Are the tyres commercial rated? Might find you'll run into insurance problems
I have owned a few cars with wheels way too big, load ratings are able to be adjusted. I will chat with my engineer and see what he thinks will work. There are insurance companies like shannons that will insure anything but it comes with a price
Ollie wrote:Those wheels on the bottom right (1st pic) would look tough on a custom bug
They were genuine WORK 3 piece wheels aswell. I sold them and they are now on a $100K Ford Hotrod, surprisingly it suited it really well and cause they are 3 pice they were a quality built wheel
55HAG wrote:BlackBug wrote:Hey, you live jut around the corner from me!! I drive past your Kombi everyday and have a squizz!!
I drive the old Turquoise HD Holden wagon. You might've seen me around....
Yeah seen you a few times! I have a few projects in the build but the Kombi is the only one kept at home. Your HD looks awesome. i will have my turbo HJ GTS up here soon, we will have to go for a cruise sometime. What VW do you have?
I don't have a VW at the moment. Had a couple Beetles (58, and a 61) a few years ago, but keen as to get another VW. The Wagon is up for sale.
Custom doesn't come in a Box
Just thought I would give you all a sneak peak at one of my other projects. I know its not VW but it is pretty cool! As I work for an audio company and do a lot of events around the country we come up with the idea of building an SPL car that has the ability of playing music with a DJ. This little van has produced just over 164DB so far with 2 woofers. I will post up more pics as the paint is done over the next month.
More Pics
Too cool!!
I love the rims too. Hard to find those LeadSleds!
Custom doesn't come in a Box
Yeah Lead Sled's I think I have only ever seen 2 sets in real life, and these are one of them. I needed them for another reason but, they are billet and strong, this little suzuki weighs around 2 ton.
Ok guys here is an update, I have put together this mock up of an idea we are toying with. For the first build give it the semi rat look. The large gun looking thing in the back is actually a sub box with 9x12" subs and 9 x 6.5" speakers made to look like an anti aircraft gun, this will be motorised to come just higher then the roof line when the ragtop is rolled back.
