Bus Front Seats

I special ordered the new foam and front seat covers from Sewfine a few moths ago, because they needed to source the Westy blue plaid material from Germany and then make the covers for the '67 buckets. I also asked for the side to be done in blue instead of the stock avocado-green.

The seats were stripped down and frames cleaned up, and I even needed to rebuild a spring on the driver's side. A quick coat of black paint and new burlap wrap under the new foam, and then I pulled the new covers on to the seats (my hands are still sore a week later).

Bus Rear Seats

The rear seats were already covered in the nice blue/green Westy plaid, but I needed to pull the old Formica panels off that were chipping and looks pretty crappy. The heat gun made the removal of the Formica a lot easier. I then sourced a Mohawk Sawyer Blonde vinyl floor material that I special ordered Home Depot to recover the seat bases, but first I needed to fill the hole from the electric box in the jump seat. I feel the floor matches pretty well. The wood on the back and bottom side got 3 coats of poly, and the hardware and badge got a cleanup and reinstalled as well.

Bus Flooring and Paneling

I decided that he floor was going to be a vinyl plank floor for comfort and easy cleanup. I also elected to replace all the wall paneling, because some of it was really beat up. After using the old pieces for templates, I cut all new wood and gave it 3 coats of satin poly to protect it. I didn't clean up the old screws, as I thought they added character too.

The doors were especially fun to make with their nice bend, which I was able to do with a hot, wet towel and some pressure, and then screwed it to the bus.

Sound Deadening & Insulation

 The new panels needed to be quiet and insulated, so I used some butyl-based foil matt and insulation to quiet everything. I can barely hear it running now from the inside!

Bus Nose

 I didn't realize how much of the bus nose was rusted until I started poking around, and so I cut off most of the lower nose and support area, and got to work.

I even welded up the holes from the old spare tire carrier that was removed a long time ago, but tried not to take away the dents, dings and small imperfections that the nose had which I feel give it such character.