Although I’m keen on keeping my VW bus pretty much ‘stock’, I never intended it to be a candidate for the VW Wolfsburg museum in Germany! This is bus to be used as our camper, so some things over time will be updated…
Although I love the original features of the bus, it’s not to say that some things have mechanically moved on a bit since it its planned production date October 11th, 1963, (which makes it a 1964 Model year) – VW-plate.com. Prime example being the new Fellows SpeedShop front disk kit that has been fitted to the front. The Wilwood 4 pot calipers and vented Porsche 944 discs should really help transform the driving experience, as well as improving the stopping/braking distance of the bus!
I applied the same thinking to the original steering system of the bus. Although the original VW split screen steering box on my bus is in pretty good working order, it has seen cleaner days! There is an obligatory small amount of play which I guess is to be expected for a bus from 1964! I guess you get used to the way a vehicle drives and handles, compensating for any little quirks and but no real bad wandering all over the road! A new system would remove the need for possible compensation, plus it would transform the ‘keep fit’ steering to be a lot light to use.
The guys at Resto Classics believed they could retro fit a powered steering rack system to the bus if they could source the right steering rack. So after they had done some research and measuring up, they came up with a cunning plan based around a Opel Astra 1992 powered steering rack, plus some T3/T25 bits and some one-off fabrication…
I managed to source an Opel Astra 1992 power steering rack from Germany and got it shipped over, so now over to Resto Classic for all the clever stuff to make it happen!
I might need to update my t-shirt design in the near future!
