Jeeesus

1969 VW Van Dormobile

[pep-purr]

I’m approaching my first anniversary with this guy, and he has some really exciting things on his horizon. He’s a vintage 50 years old and about to get a make over! Next year will be my vintage year, too, and I have no intention of having plastic surgery. Buuuuut.... how about a roadtrip in a vintage van across the Prairies and through Ontario and Quebec? Seems a fitting way for this Canadian girl to celebrate, n’est pas?

We found someone who’ll be able to lead the restoration and let us play along as much as we want. Hopefully it starts in the fall, which means I’ll be driving him next summer! I’m really excited about this.

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Starting Point will be the Dormobile roof. Specifically, the open vent, and one of the windows. The vent, to me, looks like it needs complete replacement, all parts. How did it get this way, in the first place?? Did a bolt of lightening melt it??

The window just isn’t sealed. I’d like to think I can keep the glass, and just reseal it.

What to do? The company has all of these replacement parts. I’d want to put in one order, not a series of small orders, to save on shipping costs. So, I need to know exactly what I need. And perhaps I can source them closer to home. Within Canada would be ideal...duty free. I’ve printed off a parts brochure from Dormobile, and they have a “How To” page, where they invite requests for more “how do I?” This could be useful to me.

Another option is to replace the entire roof with one in good shape, bought off of kijiji or something.

[pep-purr]

Jesus has sat, waiting patiently with her new decorations, since we parked her in the spring. A busy summer, and a general sense of “where do we start? What needs to be done? What do we DO??” has led to leaving this be for a while. So now I’m going to start figuring all that out - starting with figuring out how to figure it out. I have the service manual - yay! I also have The Internet. There are videos of VW restorations all over the web, and I need to watch them; get ideas, see how it’s done.

What I know right now is that the van can be divided into smaller projects, and tackled section by section:

1. Exterior (body)

2. Dormobile roof

3. Wheels and tires

4. Glass and lights

5. Interior

6. Moving parts: engine, transmission, brakes, fuel, etc.

- I’d like a photo documentation of everything in and on the van; every surface area snapped, so I can look at it when I can’t look directly at the van.

- We need to start with the Dormobile roof. The open glass needs to be closed, and the van made weatherproof inside;

- Then we can work on the interior over the winter;

- Exterior and moving parts in the spring.

Where best to document this? Here? IG? I’d like input as we go. I don’t just want to journal.

A spreadsheet to keep track of everything will be helpful.

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April 6, 2018. This should help.

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April 5, 2018

We have a lot of work to do. A load of panels have been ordered, for the body. We know it runs well, but the gas pedal is loose. Backing it onto the parking pad was a combination of riding the clutch and brake while being pushed. I’d like to start working on the dashboard and the pedals. I’ve been looking online at other peoples’ dashboards in order to figure out what we need for this one. A bitchin’ sound system, of course…

[pep-purr]

April 3, 2018:

Jesus was delivered tonight. The engine runs, and we were able to reverse it off the trailer and back it onto the pad. Now that I’ve heard the engine and sat in the driver’s seat, it seems actually possible that we’ll get this bus back on the road!