Ready for the Summer!

 

Now I am ready for a little bit of summer bus fun! I have the interior ready with my lantern, beach bag & tunes (even got a hidden Bluetooth speaker in my candle on the table). I started creating a side canopy too. I have the frame, and the material is stitched up, I just need to make the final pieces after I determine what size I want it to be.

Bus Brakes

The bus brakes were recently rebuilt, but they didn't work well. What would you expect from 55 year old manual drum brakes. I cut the front drums at the machine shop, and basically replaced all the shoes and rear drums. Thinking I had everything adjusted, I took the bus to the Hot Rods and Harleys show in Rahway exactly one year after I purchased the bus. I got there just fine, but lost the brakes on the way home, and ran through two red lights. The master cylinder was shot.

I purchased a new front disc brake conversion kit, and after the install I have awesome stopping power now (for a VW bus that is).

VW Bus Radio

 The radio was gone when I got the bus, and someone had opened up the dash a bit for a newer unit. I bought a radio delete plate, but could not install it correctly because the new hole was too big. I decided to flip the plate over and install it on the front, (it looks better than an ugly hole) and then create a new iPad dash holder from some scrap metal I had hanging around. This just hangs on to the dash vents, so you can remove it without any tools, and the iPad's magnet likes to cling to it nicely. I found a cool app for navigation and tunes, and now I have modern dash that isn't a permanent modification.

Vintage Weather Station

The bus came with this vintage Airguide thermometer and humidity gauge in the door panel, but I did not want to put it back there once I made new panels. I thought that I could make a gauge pod for it, and then add magnets to the back so that I could move it around. I found an old tin can, drilled some vent holes in it, JB welded the magnet to the back and painted it the interior pearl white. It currently lives above the passenger visor area, and works great.

VW Bus Curtains

I needed to make curtain rods for the bus, because there was no way I was paying the prices people were asking for original ones. I found a photo of one, and then used that to make a template/buck so that I could bend up some aluminum flat bars. Other than burning my hands a bit, I was pretty pleased. Remember kids, just because it isn't red anymore, doesn't' man it isn't still hot.

I also bought a new Singer sewing machine and re-learned how to sew. I hadn't touched one since 8th grade... and was like "what is a bobbin or a presser foot". It didn't take too long to make some curtains for the new rods, and some ties to hold them back.