My 1970 westy poptop

[quicksilver-ash]

New to the early bay forum

Thought it was time to start a build thread on my 1970 westy nightmare. I bought this bus about 3 month ago from eBay. went to view it and everything checked out fine, the test drive went faultless and it drove like a dream so I nodded him and set off home with a massive smile on my face but then that's when the dream turned into a mightmare!!!!

I was about 15 mile into my 75 mile trip home and the van just lost power very suddenly so I pulled in asap on the A1 and it started smoking, rushed round the back and luckily it wasn't a fire! On further inspection the engine was locked up and wouldn't turn over so I called the AA and they took 7 hours in total to fetch me home on a recovery truck

My bubble had been burst and I was then feeling very down about the new purchase so I just let it sit on the drive for a few days, once I'd got over the devistation I found time to remove the engine and see what the problem was.......it wasn't good there was a big hole in the case so a complete rebuild needed to be done.




The seller was very good and gave me £600 towards the rebuild cost which in theory I could of got a 2nd hand 1600 long block for that but I decided do it once and do it right so I had a 1776 built with an alternator conversion and electronic ignition .

(Excuse the carpet we just bought the house and had to build engine in lounge whilst my garage gets built)

Will add pics soon enough and add to the tale

 

[Welly]

Welcome to the forum, I'm also a newbie. Sorry to hear about your issues but you have a lovely looking bus there. Good luck with it .

Paul.

 

[Webbaldo]

Lovely bus mate!, think of it this way, if you've bought a lovely condition bus like that, a £1000-odd engine is a small investment to make it even better! Some of us will never have such a nice looking bus!

 

[abby]

Lovely bus! You will come up trumps in the end. We also bought a bus that had hidden issues - think a lot of people do, especially on their first few! All part of the fun though right? :lol: Time to make it your own!

Best of luck

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Thanks for the welcoming

Iv been doing work on the bus in the dark after work but luckily we just had LED street lights fitted so that has helped a lot


Once the engine was fitted I found out the starter motor was knackered so had to fit a new 1 along with the brass bush in the bell housing which wasn't the easiest job with the engine in place.

Finally got the engine running at the weekend to find out the new main oil seal was goosed so another engine out job. Re fitted a new seal last night so all being well il be back on the road this weekend

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Got the van back on the road last week so all is good at the moment, it's like a new van so on Friday 22/1/16 I fitted a throttle upgrade kit from Simon and I've gotta say this has made a vast improvement to the driving experience. The kit took about 20mims to fit from start to finish

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Had a spare hour after work today so managed to upgrade the front seat belts to retractable ones instead of the non retractable that was originally fitted also the new ones match the bus better than black so win win

 

[Shaggybus]

cool westy.
lets hope its onwards from now on.

 

[Bluesnailman]

Looks nice westy! I like that you've bought a 46 year old vehicle, new (old) house, building a garage and have built an engine in your living room all at the one time.....

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Looks nice westy! I like that you've bought a 46 year old vehicle, new (old) house, building a garage and have built an engine in your living room all at the one time.....

I don't tend to do things by half

Here's a little update

The garage is starting to take shape which is exciting, can't wait to be able to work on the bus in warmth for a change


On the plus side tho it's now nice and toasty in the bus with the new proper fitted just got to finish locating the ducting but apart from that it works well





So to give the propex a test, I took the Mrs out in the van on valentines day for a steak :lol:

 

[bertiethebus]

Cracking bit of romancing there buddy :lol:

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Cracking bit of romancing there buddy :lol:

Only the best for my bus :lol:

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Had the day off today so managed to wash the daily before it sells


And also got time to fit these deluxe interior handles on the cab door so now I don't have to wind the windows down each time I want to shut the door from the inside


And also fitted the new U.S style number plates to see how they look

 

[quicksilver-ash]

Managed to get a couple of jobs done at the weekend, I started by recovering the westy still in repro vinyl so now it matches the van



Then after trying to adjust my engine lid to stop it rattling I realised the seal was a previous owner bodge so....

Out with the old


And in with the new

 

[gninnam]

Nice van 8)
Shame about the engine but glad its all sorted now!