New project 'staight off the farm'

[Austin_Nova16]

I generally dont post much on here, but Im on here daily checking out all of the forums....Anyway I thought I would post some photos of my new project that I collected 2 weeks ago, having purchased about 4+ months ago.. Im constantly excited about working on it and getting it one the road! My current project mk2 cortina (2 years in the making so far) will have to wait its turn until this ones done..


I've always wanted one since the age of 10 when I first started buying Volksworld every month, but thought I would not be able to afford one looking at the prices they go for.

But after getting hooked looking through the classifieds on thesamba.com and finding one very cheap, I finally made a purchase.

So this is a 1960 11 window SO-23 split screen. It is a 'special order' Westfailia which are getting quite rare now. Its the earlier type with bullet front indicators and small window rear hatch. It also has a small sub-hatch in the roof.

The story of the bus is that a family in Texas bought it in 1960 and after using it for a number of years, their daughter started to use it to get to college and back each day - around 50miles each way. At around the end of the 60's while driving home, she fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into another car. She awoke in hospital bashed and bruised but was ok. The bus then sat on the farm ever since until earlier this year when it was bought by a VW enthusiast in Texas, who I bought it from.

Plans are to keep the outside as it is, but we will get in on a Jig and straighten out the front end before fitting a new front clip/floor/doglegs that I got sent over with the vehicle. I have already replaced the RH sill, inner sill, lower A and B pillars and RH rear sill and repaird damage to the rear RH corner. Other than these parts it is a amazing condition! Also need to get it sitting in the weeds!
I will be attempting to re-make all of the interior parts with the same materials as originally used as this is what makes the so-23 special.

A guy on the farm where my unit is has a jig and says its no bother to get ready for the replacement front end.

Engine wise, I bought a 2ltr aircooled engine, then a 2.0 subaru legacy came up for £150 so I got that, but now i'm thinking of TDI'ing it with a VW PD130 engine.. Just so I will use it more. I've also got a bug irs rear end, so I shall be using the box and arms from that (if I can find a porche box cheap enough!)

Hoping to get is done before the summer.


So heres some pics:
On the way back from Felixstowe

All the parts laid out

From the back.

[pie]

looks a good project fella

[ryansnova]

total respect for taking a job like that on mate good luck with the build !....

[Pistol Pete]

Awesome project.

My mates ex german post van looked like that, well minus the front end stoved in....

he finished quicker than its taken me to do mine

[SimonTW]

Looking forward to seeing how this turns out. Going to be a cracking build! What kind of costs were involved in getting it over from Texas?

[Dervy]

tdi is deffernetly an interesting choise of engine, will be looking forward to seeing this come together.

[honie5]

Haha this looks class shall look forward to seeing this finished fair play to ya lad!

[Connor]

Just leave it like that, seen alot worse campers on the road .
In all seriousness fairplay for taking it on, sure you'll do a fab resto on her

[Mike]

TDi engine will ruin that.

[Austin_Nova16]

Cost approx $1300 + £450 costs in the uk. I payed £69 import Tax ( which was 5% vat) - Bargain!

It shouldnt take too long to sort it out see as pritty much most of the outside bar the front end in in such good condition. Will stick a layer of Anchor wax over it to protect and the underside/inside will be made mint and painted - I've just bought a load of 2-part epoxy mastic which will be appied following sandblasting of those areas.

I know the purists would say a tdi ruins it! I did buy an air cooled to begin with .... it was my intention .... But i really want to use this vehicle and travel around europe/uk a fair bit with trips to the south west at least once a month.. so really I want an engine that will do 35+mpg, not less than 20, which it what you would get with an aircooled. Any mods I do to the vehicle to fit the tdi will be reversable.

Cheers all