Current restorations: '74 SB Cabrio, '74 SB, '74 412, '71 KG Cabrio, '71 Bus, '71 KG Cabrio, '70->69 KG Cabrio, '69 KG Cabrio, '66 Bus, '65 Beetle Sedan '64 Notchback, '63 Notchback, '60 KG Cabrio, '60 KG Coupe, '59 Beetle Sedan, '54 Oval Beetle
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~ Custom Bay Window Bus ~ Price: SOLD revolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolksrevolks |
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| Here you see the insulation installed throughout the cabin of the bus. This excellent material is light weight, sound deadening, thermally protective and fireproof. |
| More of the insulation installed throughout the cabin of the bus. |
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This '71 Bay Window was in very good condition when I picked it up. Though it only had 35k on the odo, it had sat for over
10 years in an open field. There was extensive rust damage to the rear quarter and the trailing edge of the fender arch seen
here as well as severe rot to the lower windshield areas. All of the rust was cut out and new steel was welded in. Here the bus is primed and being wet sanded in preparation for the paint booth. |
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As the bus was in great shape to begin with, not much was needed back here, shy of the passenger side rear quarter. Unseen in this pic
is the battery tray which was also rotted out (big surprise). This panel was hand fabricated; being stamped with the appropriate
channels to strengthen it. Finally the whole area was painted with POR15, and undercoating for additional sound proofing. Also seen here is the new suspension which included reindexing the rear torsion bars, installing new CVs and boots as well as a complete brake job at all four corners. The rear torsion bar reindexing is surprisingly easy when compared to the type 1 which is much more cramped for space in this area. |
| Well, money may not grow on trees, but it sure looks like bus parts do...at least in our paint booth! Here you can see various body parts just after they were primed. These were all painted in an off-white color that matches the body from the beltline up to the roof. |
| Yeah. That's me. I do the paint booth duty here too. You can see the rear gate, sliding door and a few bumper parts also receiving the off-white paint in this pic. |
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A pic of the belt-line-to-roof section after painting. Normally you would want to do the bottom half first because it's easier to mask off the lower section and then paint the upper, however, I wanted to paint various parts of the cabin's interior in the same color as the roof. This ended up being easier as I masked-off the whole inside (all openings) and avoided over spray caused by painting the lower half prior to the interior being painted as well as having to mask-off the same sections twice. |
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After the lower half was finished painting. I rolled the bus back into the shop for interior work.... Here you see the custom headliner during initial fitting. This material is awesome looking up close and really matches the paint well! Those strings hanging down the right side are actually speaker wires which I pre-wired into the roof to feed speakers that will eventually be placed in the rear gate. |
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More werk on the headliner and interior panels. Is that a split-window bus I see in the back ground? Gee? How many windows are in that thing??? |
| More werk on the headliner and interior panels. |
| More werk on the headliner and interior panels. |
| Installation of the front bumper... |
| Me trying to see if I could balance my bus on my forehead... All those years of collegiate soccer paid off I guess. |
| It's starting to take shape! Almost looks ready for a spin around the block :) |
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The bus is almost finished now. Rubber seals are installed. Windows are installed. Doors are hung. Only the front
doors need finishing. If you look closely through the front passenger door window, you'll see a custom interior treatment to the mid-body jalousie windows. They have an interior seal installed around their perimeter. A very nice touch that avoids the unsightly window jam being exposed when they are not installed in a Westy with wood panels! |
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Looks finished, however the engine is not yet installed, but it is
ready to go in. A stout 1776cc was chosen for this bus. No more bumper stickers that read "Don't Laugh..PUSH!"
for this bus :) You may also notice in the top left corner of the picture another Bus. No! It's not one of those elusive flying buses. It's a '70 Bay Westy Weekender that is up on the lift getting a major mechanical overhaul including steering gear box (imagine that!), all suspension, tie rods, rear spring plate re-indexing and CVs & boots. After the owner saw what that work had done to the gray bus, they knew what had to be done to their Westy.. |
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In this picture, you can see the interior panels. These are custom made panels by reVOLKS. They are two-toned in complimentary colors to match the paint. They also have white piping that is hand sewn of the same awesome leather-like material. Not plastic piping like most use. The headliner is also custom and made from this same material. It's actually nicer to touch than the interior of the company Land Rover! |
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Here's the 1776cc engine being setup for it's first run. We do all initial engine testing "out of the box" :)) (the box is waiting right behind the engine!) |
| Here's the 1776cc engine actually running. Tough to see that it is actually running in the picture because the flash, stopped the Empi degree pulley. The engine almost appears to be hovering here under it's own power! |
| Here's the 1776cc engine just after we installed it into the Bus. A few wires to hook up and we'll be ready to take her out for spin! This engine purrs. It fired up first try on it's first time ever. One minor idle adjustment and it simply runs beautifully. |
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At long last! I get to take this baby out on the road for her test drive. Mile 0, 1 to go.... |
| Rollin' rollin' rollin' |
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A few tests of the various functions and signals before rolling down the road. Not one to temp fate, I left the rear bumper off, until after the first test drive, just in case... Fortunately, it is ready to go on the bus when I get back. The dual quiet packs look kinda' cool as they're not hidden under the rear bumper in this photo. |
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Well, there's little more gratifying than that first drive in your restored Bus! Backing into the shop, to drain the oil and do some very important work - install the stereo! Fortunately, I installed the speaker wires to rear speaker cabinets before the headliner went in, so other than the stereo head, there won't be much work to get this Bus rolling with tunez. |
| Here's "Dink" as the bus has come to be known as. It got this name from the Euro plate on front, which I got last year from another Vdub we purchased for parts. If you look closely, you'll see another bus reflecting in the nose paint-job. The Vdub emblems are all painted to match the roof color -off white. I actually shaved the exterior trim during body work, because I didn't want the extra chrome and this lead to the match-painting of most of the exterior trim. |
| A side view of Dink, showing the jalousie windows in the mid section. I did a slight customizion here, since this is not a Westy of any kind. I liked the louvered windows and added them to both sides and dropped the rear windows which originally had the small quarter windows in them. Now they are solid glass. |
| A rear shot, showing the color-matched rear bumper finally in place. It was the last thing to go on, just this morning in preparation for her "trials" down to Texas for some Holiday Cheer with some family and old college friends. Surprisingly, the dual quiet packs fit very nicely just under the bumper. Here you also see the rear emblem which is also painted to match the off-white roof color. |
| The driver's side in sunlight. The exterior gray and the interior grays are very complimentary. I wanted something what wasn't "Screaming" and gray has that subtle look I like in a Bus. The paint is all single stage enamel and I put it on thick. Later on in the spring when the temps stay in the 70's, I'm going to color-sand the body to get that glass-perfect finish out of it. For now, I just wanted to make my deadline (Christmas/01) and so she goes. It looks great for a daily driver. Don't you agree? :) |
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The front seats, covered in reVOLKS special leather-like fabric. I chose an off-white
piping which is hand-sewn of the same material. This matches the headliner and really looks great. The seat
inserts are matched to the interior panel's upper portions and doors. The carpeting is "salt-n-pepper", marine, cut-pile, which feels great and looks wonderful too. |
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A shot of the rear cargo area, just before I put the rear seat in. The rear panels are custom made and covered
with reVOLKS' wonderful leather-like fabric. The spare tire is matched-painted to the rolling wheels and I added the hub cap for the spare too. The 6x9 speakers in the rear are enough to push the sound through the Bus' cavernous interior. Up front, I have a smaller 6" set of Kenwood's mounted to the front kick panels. I'll add an amplifier later for my XM-ready stereo head mounted in dash and possibly some smaller tweeters to the windshield frames over the A-pillars. |
| The 1776cc has a single carburetor for it's "trials" which will begin today (Dec.24/01) when I will begin a long drive from Siloam Springs, AR to various points in Texas, then who knows? Wherever the will takes me ;). After her trials; the bus will go to a dual carb setup. You'll notice the air cleaner stand has already been cut off to accommodate the dual carb intake manifolds.... |
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A compliled image showing much of the interior. Sometime "down the road" I will be adding the jump seat that
goes right behind the driver's seat. I'm also toying with the idea of putting an internal bicycle rack to hold
my cross country bicycle. There's a ton of room under the seat and the rear cargo for my climbing gear already. |
Complete restoration to customer's specifications!
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[ Email ] gecko@reVOLKS.com
311 N.Broadway · Siloam Springs, Arkansas · 72761 ·