Bruno the VW Bus Camper Resortation

Interior

NOTE: - Please see the "Restoration Pics" page for all the pics. Only selected pictures are listed here.

I was fortunate with the interior – it was all mostly in-tact and functional. But it needed cleaning. Once I decided to get the body restoration done, I removed the entire interior. This is quite a job, as there are a million pieces, and it all fits together like a jig-saw puzzle. And, since I wanted to keep it as original as possible, I tried to save everything. When I removed something, I put all the screws and pieces associated with it in a ziplock baggie and labeled it. Be aware – Use a permanent marker. Even then it will probably fade over time. So, maybe put a post-it note in there too. Pictures would be helpful too! I neglected to take many pictures along the way. I wish I had a) to be able to see the old versus new and b) to see how things were put together.

As these are removed, care it needed. The edge of the Formica is fragile and will flake off if scraped even a little. Everything was removed and stored in my basement, well away from any water. There was already water damage at the back edge of the closet were there was a leak in the hatch seal. The wood was partially rotted on the very bottom, and the Formica was pulling off. Most everything else was in great condition except for some imperfect from use and normal wear and tear. But to me – that is beautiful! It shows that Bruno got full and happy use over his lifespan! Here is the order things were removed, and I did to restore and clean.

Cabinets and Furniture

This is a simple removal, by just removing the knobs holding it in place on the back of the passenger seat. KEEP THIS HARDWARE! It is very hard to place this. I used Murphy’s Oil Soap on everything. Lots of scrubbing, there was bugs and crap behind the icebox and evidence of mice, yuk. I liberally used SoftScrum and Ajax with bleach on the interior of the icebox and the seal area. I didn’t think I would ever get the seal looking good, it was disgusting. But, time, effort and a rag on the end of a screwdriver, I scraped up all the gunk.

The sink drain had been replaced with new PVC years back. But I removed all the plumbing. I think that the trap and air vent through the roof is a bit overkill for something that just drains onto the ground. I have not yet re-plumbed everything yet, but I will be putting just flexible hose straight down. I have installed a short length of PVC pipe through the floor where the hole used to be. This a screw cap on the bottom. This way, I can pull up the flexible drain hose when I store it for the winter and put the screw cap on, helping keep critters out.

The sink pump was broken. It is impossible to find a direct replacement. I got a new one at GoWesty but had to drill new holes in the stainless steel to mount it.

The water tank was cleaned – it was in pretty too condition, except the drain plug was missing and the threads shot. I still haven’t figured out what to do about this yet. I don’t want to permanently plug it up with silicone, as there won’t be any way to drain it for the winter. This is needed here it the north, as the water would freeze and the tank would crack.

I also replace the drain hose in the icebox, from the tray, with new rubber hose from the hardware store. This is run down through the PVC pipe through the floor. I can pull this up in the winter too.

UPDATE June 2018: this is a late update. I have long since fixed the sink and water tank up. I replumbed the drain with new PVC and a length of flexible 2in hoose through the bottom, for ease. I also installed a new plug in the watertank. I epoxied in a female bass fitting and have a corresponding brass plug. Works like a breeze.

Sink and Icebox

There are four bolts holding this down to the floor. If you are fortunate, they aren’t too rusted. Keep these – but you may not reuse them depending on the rust and what you put down for flooring. I put 5/8in bamboo, and the bolts were no longer long enough. I got longer bolts with the same threads at the hardware store.

I didn’t have to replace any seat vinyl, but I will need to get a couple nicks repaired someday. My wife would like to replace it complete – maybe someday.

I rewired the outlet, adding a new outlet with a couple USB charging spots. This is still connected to the exterior power source. Someday I will add a battery and convertor there for off-line power. Maybe even a solar panel on the roof!

This went back pretty easy, except for the fact that I put some insulation in the wall which put some pressure on the wall panel, which meant that some extra effort was needed to get it in place before bolting it down – it was a two man job.

Jump Seat

This is was an easy removal – a few screws on the hinges and Wala! There is a piece of wood n the wall that it is screwed into, that is in turn screwed into a metal plate behind the wall board. No need to be precise when re-installing. Just use self-tapping screws and make new holes.

Unfortunately, the table leg floor screw setting was missing. These are next to impossible to find. I put a rubber stopper on the bottom for now. Update – you can get it here on thesamba

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1632318

I cleaned everything up with Ajax and Murphy’s, shined up the hinges with 0 steel wool. I didn’t use the original screws (here and many other places). They were gunky and corroded. I shinned up all the other metal with the steel wool. I also put a coat of urethane on the underneath for easy cleaning in the future.

There is a hold on the wall where the table clips in to keep it stationary during when stowed. This is screwed into a metal plate on the backside of the wallboard. If you are replacing the wallboard, keep this plate, and remember where it goes! I forgot to put this back on and had to rig new screws with wing clip spring fastener to keep it in place – like this.

Table

Again – this was in great shape except for some nicks and small tears in the vinyl. When removing, I kept all the screws and bolts, as above with baggies and labels. Some advice – take pictures! You might forget how it looks and needs a reference when putting it back in.

When out, everything was cleaned. A Vinyl cleaner and lots of elbow grease for the vinyl. Soap and steel wool for the metal. A scrub pad was needed on the surface of the Formic, and some Goofoff in places. I shinned up the metal plate with steel wool.

There were a few places where the floor was a bit rusty, and the screws just pulled up instead of screwing out. The floor was fixed by the body restoration, and I didn’t end up using those screws when installing it again. Thankfully the important bolt\screw downs were all in place and cleaned up nicely. This included – the two large bolt down point on the floor that use the square head holt to fit into the slotted hole on the floor. Just slide in and turn, then use a washer and bolt from inside the bottom of the seat storage. There are also a couple of other bolts much like the jump seat. I also had to get longer bolts.

There are four set screws that fasten the metal tabs that stick out the back. These are very important. Just cleaned up the threads and was good. You can see from the pictures, I put a thin felt layer under everything for padding and sound insulation. I got this at Lowes in a roll. It was pretty inexpensive. This added some thickness under everything, but not so much to get in the way. I thought that this would keep noise and rattles down and add some heat insulation, keeping engine heat out and interior heat in when needed. I did need to make sure there was a hole in the carpet to get these set screws back in.

Z-Fold Seat\Bed

Not much keeps this in. Just two screws on brackets on the sliding door jam and two knobs\screw down onto the rear hatch door jam. After that, just a bit of a finagling to slide it out. Two people help! Pivot! Pivot!
I cleaned the Formica and wood like the other furniture, with a lot more focus on with the Murphy’s on the interior wood. I also put a couple of coats of urethane there too.

At the back and bottom, there was some rot and damage from water. The hatch seal was bad. I wanted to keep as much of the original wood and Formica as possible. So, I cut out just the bad stuff, which included a few inches of the vertical plywood and some of the horizontal base. I used some of the bamboo from my flooring project. I use some metal plates to join them together. For the horizontal wood behind the Formica, I just removed the wood and left the Formica. I then put the bamboo in there, joined it with the metal plates and glued the Formica to the bamboo too. It looks cool, and just a little bit sticks out under the chipped away Formica.

This is the last piece out and the first piece in. So, get it done and get it complete. You have to take everything else out just to get this out again.

Closet

I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. And cleaned again. A lot of gunk in the little tiny nooks of the gain. Lots of vinyl cleaner and degreaser and Oxyclean. There are still some stains and discoloring, but workable for now. I might replace it someday...but for now, it's original and still good looking! I will probably get a few nicks and old cigarette burns repaired.

Vinyl Upholstery

The old Luanne wall boards had partially delaminated and were discolored. At first, I was going to try using the old pieces as templates and make new ones. But I decided that my carpentry skill and time were limited. Then I bought the pressed board ones at Bus Depot. Unfortunately, the only “mostly” fit. And I still had to either use them as a template or upholster them with vinyl. I did neither. I wanted wood, as much like original as I could.

Instead, I found a guy that makes replacement panels. There are a couple out there – I found Barry Stoute on thssamba.com. The panels look beautiful! They are not exactly the same finish and color as the originals but look great. I got the walls and ceiling panels. Originally the ceiling was a bit lighter than the wall, now they are all the same color. But no worries – they look great! And I didn’t have to make them, and they fit! There was an issue with the sliding door – seems my door was an inch taller than the template Barry had been using. But Barry tried to make it right, right away. He made a new panel and shipped it out. The only downside is that he ships via Greyhound, and I had to drive 45min to the closest station to pick them up. But this is a small downside. The panels were a bit pricy, but it would have cost me just as much to make them myself, with all the mistakes I was bound to make. Note – I did not put the ashtray back in.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=1309401
Barry Stoute 714.510.1111
Barrystoute@yahoo.com

Wall Panels

My headliners, as in all the campers of the time, where Luanne wood. They are held up by tension, as they are inserted into the metal slots around the left and right edges. Then they are either tucked under the white molding around the pop top opening, or with metal slide in joins between the pieces.

The headliner over the front seat was in poor shape. Because of the limb damage to the fiberglass top, there was some water leaking in through the bolts that keep to top on. There were also mouse colonies along the side rails, behind the metal plate\brackets that pop top bolts to. This all made for a Luanne headline that was barely keeping its molecules connected. The headliners in the back were in better shape but still had some wear and damage. So, I got them all from Barry Stoute – see above. They look beautiful and fit great. I made sure to put insulation behind all the panel when re-installing, mostly to help keep the noise down.

Headliners

All the furniture was removed and cleaned. The vinyl edging was wrinkled up and shrunken in many places. I used a heat gun to lightly heat things up and stretch them back out. Generally, just applying the heat would straighten out any wrinkles right away. I used Ajax cleanser and a Magic Eraser to get rid of most stains and marks. In most cases, I had to remove the edging and clean off the old glue and gunk before reapplying the vinyl. So, the order of events:

Gently remove vinyl edging
Apply heat gun to straighten it out – be careful not to heat it up too much or quickly. It will burn
Clean up vinyl
Clean glue and gunk off the wood and in channel
Test fit vinyl back onto furniture. Apply heat gun to stretch if needed. Try to stretch the edging along the entire length. This takes patience.
Let it cool
Fit and glue the edging back in. A little Elmer’s is good. I didn’t want to use anything stronger, in case I ever need to remove it again.
In some cases, the tab to fit it back into the channel in the wood was gone. Here, I applied a little extra glue and a brad to keep it in place.

I successfully re-used all the original edging. Even though some was in very used condition, with many scrapes and imperfections, I rather keep the original that add shiny new stuff that looked out of place.

Vinyl Edging

The original floor was shot. I think there was ½ inch plywood with vinyl…I think. I really don’t remember. It was remove with much prejudice. There was rust in the corners and pinholes everywhere. This was all address in the body restore.

After Bruno retuned from the body work, I put rolled felt under everything including on the floor. Then I had a carpentry friend help installed 5/8 in solid bamboo flooring from Lowes. It was pretty cheap, especially since I only need about 25 sq ft. We glued the slats together, but not down and then held down by all the bolt downs of the seats. And it looks awesome! The hardest part was the front edge by the sliding door. He cut this back at a 30 degree angle, and we did glue that down with liquid nails. I might put a transition strip there at some point.

The front rubber mats are in great shape! I might get some carpet at some point.

The coverings under the seats on the wheel well are not in great shape. I will probably replace these soon, as I found some at GoWesty. But, the original ones have a foam backing and were glued down, so the removal will be messy I’m sure.

Flooring

Cots

So - When I bought Bruno, the upper cot was missing, and there was no child's cot for the over the front seats. A few years ago – I was sifting through Craig’s List and saw an upper cot listed. It was only 35 miles away and $50! So I picked it up and installed it! The canvas could use replacing, but it adds character!

I purchased an aftermarket child’s cot for over the front seats. Unfortunately, the length of the support bars is about 1 millimeter off – so they don’t work. That is mostly for show, so I haven’t done anything about it.

What's Left...

There is still some stuff to do, including:
•   Front seats
•   Vinyl upholstery
•   Various handles and hooks
•   Curtains for sliding door and front seats…cut, but not installed. I just got new “glide” hardware for hanging.
•   Stereo maybe
•   Front door panels.

UPDATE - The curtains have been done for a couple of years now. Thanks MOM!!

Bruno's World

The Adventures of Bruno the VW Bus!

Interior