Raffle Bus 35 Update - Monday Apr. 21, 2026

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Monday Apr. 20, 2026

Look what arrived in the mail! 👀

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Saturday Apr. 18, 2026 - Wolfsburg West is in the House!!

Special thanks to Russell, Brian and David C for taking the huge Wolfsburg West order and breaking it down and organizing all those hundreds of items into some semblance of workable order. Every thing is now bagged and labeled to help us find something when it’s time to install it. Took hours but it’s done.

Bill Ross stopped by and welded in the last hinge for a pop out window. Tricky welding but it looks good and will work great. We used a positioning jig the David P made for us. Worked perfectly!

David P came by and showed us where we still need seam sealer to be applied before we can paint. Will finish that next week.
Wayne worked some more on smoothing out a few rough places and adding some primer to some of the finishing touches. It’s really starting to look great.

Most fun part of the day. Greta made some incredible soup that had us all coming back for seconds and thirds. Thank you Greta and Russell!!!

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Apr. 15-17, 2026

Thursday: This morning Russell and I primed the inside of the front doors. Now ready for interior finish paint. Used up some old epoxy primer I've had for a while.

~ John

Wednesday: Here's some pics from today. Wayne and John working on body work. Wayne worked his fingers almost to the bone sanding primer after he sprayed it on! Note the Wolfsburg West banner above John's head. 😁

~ Russell

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Sunday, Apr. 12, 2026

This is ingenious. Leave the outer layer in place to act as reference for the inner on that’s cut away first. Then after the inner layer is perfectly aligned and welded in, cut away the outer layer and use the new inner layer as reference. Then weld in the outer layer perfectly in place.
Thats just brilliant. Thanks David.
Just letting everyone know the depth of the talent in this club!

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Friday, Apr. 10, 2026

Wayne did get a TON done this week on the body prep and I’ll be at Russell’s this morning sanding on the interior surfaces of the doors trying my best to get them ready for Wayne to paint. And Greg and Russell are working on the cabinets almost daily. So there’s a lot going on under the radar trying to get the bus ready for some real action when the new parts we ordered ( thanks, Mike, what a great job you’ve done for us ) arrive. I’m also trying to get out to Phil’s tomorrow to finish some minor electrical on next years bus so it’ll start and run reliably when the the time comes.
Looking forward to being really, really, really busy very soon…

One more thing. Next big task is running the new wiring harness after paint. And I don’t have a clue where and how it’s routed. And it must be done right. So I’m hoping someone has a ‘66 that I can crawl under and take photos of how the wiring all runs. Maybe Natalie’s ‘66?
It would be ideal if we had a bus that we could park at Russell’s to help us figure out how things are supposed to look while we’re working on the raffle bus but for a lot of reasons, we’ve given up on that idea……. But anyone who has a Splitty and can take detailed pictures of the dash, freash air intake duct, cargo door straps and hinges…. Just anything that may be helpful would be welcome.

Russell and Greg got a lot done working on the cabinets. They are now our official cabinet/flooring experts. Can’t wait till they’re done.
I worked on the inside of the doors that Wayne primed. Pretty rough. I was out at Phil’s today and he let me know the pluses of a primer / sealer. So that’s what I’ll use on the inside of these doors.

~ John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Thursday, Apr. 9, 2026

Over in Wayne's neck of the woods... Today's project on the raffle bus: Get rear hatch ready for paint.

~ Wayne Olsson

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Meanwhile, at Russells place... Looks good - on our side of town, Greg and I played some with the custom jump seat. Need some shorter screws and a latch, then its ready for stain. Hopefully, the artist in residence, Sue Manning is choosing the colors🤣🤣🤣😂

~ Russell Greene

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Wednesday, Apr. 8, 2026

And Wayne and Russell are back at this morning. Wayne was here really, really early.

Wayne got to Russell’s before the crack of dawn and was all set up when I arrived a little before 7. He worked really hard sanding, priming, sanding some more…. All morning long! But the bus is really looking good. Thank you. I Primed the side window frames. Had trouble with the paint so they’re out in my garage now waiting for some more TLC. Also spent some time locating exactly where the pop out window hinges must be welded to the bus window opening. Kinda tricky but I think it’s right. Hopefully David will be able to weld it in place next. And Greta even fed Russell and me lunch! It was a good day.

~ John Manning

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Saturday, Apr. 4, 2026

On Saturday we did LOTS of sanding. And sanding. And sanding.
Ed, Brian, Greg, David, Russell all spent the morning sanding the bus inside and out! Got a ton of work done and things are taking shape.
We also had a great lunch made by Greta. Everyone loved it. Thank you.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Friday, Apr. 3, 2026

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Wednesday, Apr. 1, 2026

3 cheers to Wayne who got up at the (butt) crack of dawn and was at my place sanding and prepping the bus for primer to be applied. He got it all done and by the time I crawled out of my cocoon, he was ready to “get er done.” I would like to say, I helped, but he was the driving force and got the inside and outside all primed and looking good. So, its all one pretty primer grey now. There’s work to be done this weekend to get it finely sanded for paint next week. Come one, come all if you want to make it smooth! Somehow, it looks more like a bus when it is all one color!!

~ Russell

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Saturday, Mar. 28, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished on Mar. 28, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Thursday, Mar. 26, 2026

We’ll be having another bus party Saturday. Lots more sanding to do. Less of the big area type sanding and more finer sanding with finer grits in more carefully defined areas. Hopefully much quieter and less dust!
Also have a reemergence of o spot right in front of the gas pedal that needs to be welded. The longer gash to the side has been done but this one appeared while cleaning up from underneath. We can’t weld this while the sanding is going on but maybe in the afternoon or Sunday? It’s a tricky spot, too.
I’ll be there before 7:00 getting ready but please just come whenever it’s good for you.
And thank you all again for the amazing support you give. This project is only possible because of you. 

A quick note on some of my homework this week.
Trying to renew as best I can the frames of the windows along both sides of the bus. These have the tiniest machine screws I’ve ever tried to rethread. They are M3.5-0.6 x 5mm. Really small. They hold the two ends of each window frame together. They had to be drilled out to seperate the frame ends so the glass could be removed. And that drilling was iffy at best so now I’m trying to fix the damage I did then. Sheesh!
Maybe these pictures will make it a little clearer.

~ John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Wednesday, Mar. 21, 2026

This week’s bus build work party was great. I want to offer a sincere Thank You to everyone who made it.
Russell, Greta, Clinton, Wayne (won the early bird award and arrived at 6:30!), Kitty, Greg, Laura, Sue Rice, and Ed all made it.
Wayne started in doing the heavy lifting. Heavy duty grinding, hammering and straightening the pretty bad spot on the passenger side right behind the cargo doors...

Check out John's blog post for the rest of of his journal for what was accomplished on Mar. 21, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Wednesday, Mar. 11, 2026

Another big shout out to David Pedrosa who came by today and spent 4-5 hours expertly welding and grinding the raffle bus floor. He got the welding of the floor done !!! We have just a very little grinding left to do, and then, we can apply a thin coat of bondo, seam sealer, and undercoating to finish the job. I have no photos because i misplaced my phone today.
Nevertheless, pic ir no pic- THANKS DAVID!

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Monday, Mar. 9, 2026

Great help by by Fred Cordts, a new bus club member, who came to help finish up the welding on the inside of the bus. He came with his cool welding helmet and other tools. It takes him about an hour to get to my place. For 4 hours he worked bent over, got alot tacked down, and taught me a few tricks along the way. Just near the end, the old damaged floor gave some resistance to being welded. A small hole developed. He did a small patch, but again just as he put the last tack, another small hole developed. More work is needed but Fred got alot done towards our goal. Thanks Fred!!!

~ John

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Saturday, Mar. 7, 2026

2026 Jamboree Splitty

Today Wayne, Brian, David Cissna, Greg B, and of course Russell all showed up to work on the raffle bus.
Earlier in the week I had gone to Space Age Paints and picked up supplies. One of the main items was some rust converter. Jan was super helpful and recommended a new product to try. So Brian and David volunteered (ish) to work under the bus brushing on the converter to all of the flash rust spots they could find. Turned out to be about every square inch of metal under there. They were really good sports about doing a good job on tough to reach areas that were almost impossible to deal with. But they stayed at it for hours and were able to get it completely done! Thanks guys. I think Brian may have tweaked his back some and I hope he recovers ok. Sorry, Brian.
Wayne worked on power sanding some of the interior areas that had been covered with fabric glued in place. The fabric is long gone but the glue left behind was rock hard and looked terrible. Wayne spent a few hours sanding all the glue down to bare metal and then prepping and finish sanding everything for a primer finish that looks incredible. Now ready for finish paint. Couldn’t believe the transformation. Way better than I was hoping for. He then started in on one of the bumpers, sanding and scraping and getting a head start on bring it back to life as well.
Greg B. was documenting all this with his photography skills. He takes amazing pictures. But he didn’t just photograph others working, he started in on a big area by the cargo doors that needed some serious scraping, chipping, and clearing out of old bondo before sanding. Got most of that done, too.
That left Russell and me working on a very tough job at the ceiling of the cab area. The old headliner was held in place with steel support strips spot welded in place. These strips must be removed because we will be putting Baltic Birch panels there instead. The trick is to grind down or drill out the spot welds to remove the strips. You can’t really drill out the welds like you would normally do on a flat surface because they are in a really difficult spot to access with a drill and the correct bit. Russell showed me how to grind down the welds and free up the strips. So we took turns showering each other and anyone else standing too close with sparks and hot metal bits for about two hours getting those out of there. Physically very hard holding a drill, a grinder or a hammer and chisel overhead to get this done but it was strangely satisfying at the same time. My arms and shoulders will be sore for days…..
Thanks guys for showing up and pitching in. This project absolutely relies on everyone of us pitching in and doing what we can wherever we can.
I can’t help but think Andy is somewhere smiling and getting a chuckle out of watching us having this much fun working on his project.🙃 👌 👍

Author: John Manning

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Mar. 2-5, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished March 2-5, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Sunday, Mar. 1, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished March 1, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

2026 Jamboree Splitty

Saturday Bill spent many hours making more repairs to the rust places in the main floor area, the front floor area and a particularly tricky spot under the bus at the very front. In the main floor area, he figured out a way to make a much smaller patch work instead of the larger one I had thought we needed. It still was a lot of work and took a long time.
There was a tear in the floor right next to the accelerator pedal mount that was very difficult to do. Basically welding upside down without the weld falling on you. But he somehow managed to get it done and it looks perfect!
The last area is at the very front of the driver side main frame where it meets the front nose piece. The rusted area was cut out and a whole new piece fashioned to fit just so and welded in. Not quite overhead but you can tell from the picture of Bill welding while laying on his back that it wasn’t much fun.
It took until about 2:30 to get this all done so it was a long day. Big thank you for getting this done!

Thank You, Aaron Skolnik!!

Big thank you to Aaron Skolnik for his donation to the club. A nice set of CarQuest 1/2” drive sockets and ratchet with breaker bar. A set of 3/8” metric deep impact sockets. And a 1/2” drive corded driver. We’ll be putting those to work right away. Thank you, Aaron, for doing this.

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Friday, Feb. 27, 2026

2026 Jamboree Splitty 

A quick update on what was done on the raffle bus so far this week. On Tuesday I filled the transaxle and both RGBs with gear oil. Not very difficult but just a slow tedious process. Supposed to take 3.5-4 qts and I managed to get 3 qts in so we must keep an eye on it and check it again after its first drive.
Thursday was a lot more fun. David started in on replacing the rocker panel. A lot more exacting and difficult than it looks. He cut out the old one and the trimmed the cut areas and the new panel to fit just so. This kind of precision takes hours and not many can do it well. He’s one of the best. He did a much, much harder rusted panel/floor combination replacement on my van a few years back and it’s perfect. But wouldn’t you know it, when he was ready to weld it in the welder ran out of wire and we didn’t have the correct wire to replace it with. So Sunday we’ll be back at it and hopefully get it welded in.
Wayne was there working on the dents and such on the body. Took care of a crumpled spot in the left rear corner and of course it looks great. Also straightened out a weird dent in the big panel along the driver side. That one looks good too.
Then Wayne and I spent some quality time sanding on the dash. It was pretty rough but we have it almost ready for primer. An hour or so more with some 320 or 400 grit should do it. So it was a good day.
Tomorrow Bill Ross will be welding in some more patch panels in the floor. I’ll be taking pictures and showing off some more work on our bus.

Author: John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026

Shout out to Wayne Olsson who painted the window trim for the raffle bus. Thanks, Wayne!

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Feb. 18, 2026

Good day with the brakes at Russell’s today. Followed the video instruction as best I could. Removed the old clutch bushings, cleaned things up to prepare for the new ones, installed them and the clutch pivot arm went right in and feels just right. Nice smooth action.
The brake pivot arm was a touch more problematic. There’s a very strong return spring that’s really hard to get in place while installing the arm. It’s more a matter of luck than anything else but it finally went in. The adjustable shaft that goes into the front of the master cylinder was pretty tricky. The clearance into the master cylinder has to be adjusted just so and it’s a matter of feel. I don’t have any real frame of reference, but I think I got it right. Someone definitely needs to double check. The pedal shaft bolted right up to the swing arm and when I gave it a good push, the travel was ok and the pedal was absolutely firm. So I think it’s going to be ok. Need to adjust the shoes a little tighter but that’s for another day.

Author: John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Feb. 12, 2026

2026 Jamboree Splitty 

Had a really good day working on the bus today.

Took care of three things, torqued the rear drums in place, filled and pressurized the brake system, and successfully bled the lines. At least as well as I could without a pedal.

The rear drums torque to 210 lbs and then advance the nut to the next hole in the axle that allows the cotter pin to fit with out exceeding 250 lbs. The 250 maximum is important not to exceed or the bearings life span will be shortened or they will just be immediately ruined.

I installed and filled the master cylinder and attached my pressure bleeder to it. Brought the pressure up a little to find the drips at the fittings I had forgotten to tighten and then pressurized it to 15 lbs. Tightened things up some more to completely eliminate any tiny leaks left and then went around and opened the bleeder fittings to let the air out. The air bled out easily at all four corners. Repressurized to 15 lbs exactly and left it for 20 minutes with absolutely no drop in pressure. Was going to leave it overnight but decided that wasn’t really a good idea. If there had been a failure, it could have been a real mess. Russell would not have been happy.

Tomorrow’s plan it to install the Pedalworks brake pedal and see how the pedal feels. I’ve never installed one before so I’m hoping I can get Mike over there and show me how it’s done. He and Wayne are the experts because they watched the video.
I’ll keep you posted.

Forgot to mention that I was also able to spray the media blasted window frames with acid etch primer. I’ll go to Space Age tomorrow and get some of their really good regular primer so we can sand them smooth and have them ready for Wayne to paint them.

~ John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Feb. 5 & 7, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished February 5 & 7, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Feb. 2, 2026

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Feb. 1, 2026

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 31, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished January 31, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 29, 2026

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 24-27, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished January 24-27, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 18, 2026

2026 Jamboree Splitty

Another day under the bus! Successfully installed the line from the left front wheel to the master cylinder area. Tomorrow I’ll run the one from the passenger side front wheel to that area and then I’ll have the tricky part to do, as if running the lines wasn’t tricky enough. Because we are converting to a dual circuit master cylinder, both of those lines need to go into a T fitting somewhere close to the master cylinder and then a new line from the T to the front circuit of the master cylinder itself. Not looking forward to that part at all. It’s very tight up in there and doing the T fitting in that enclosed area isn’t fun. And to compound the difficulty involved, I have to make allowances for the front pan to bolt up in place and cover everything up….. It really limits where the lines can be routed. But I’m getting closer every day…

John

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 15-16, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished January 15-16, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Jan. 10, 2026

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished January 10, 2026.

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Raffle Bus 35 Update - Dec. 18, 2025

David and Mike worked on rebuilding the transaxle for the bus and John gave it a couple coats of black high-heat spray paint. We'll let you know when it gets installed.

Raffle Bus 35 Update - Nov. 19-23, 2025

Read John's journals on everything he worked on in these images. John's blog post on what was accomplished November 19-23, 2025.

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Raffle Bus 35 - Nov. 12-13, 2025

Raffle Bus 35 - Nov. 4-6, 2025

Getting serious about renewing the brakes on the bus. Left backing plates were cleaned by Russell and Brian Saturday. About ready for rust converter and paint. Should look pretty good. The ones on the right are for the front and will take at least two days to prep for their rust converter and paint. We have new shoes, cylinders, and hardware for all four corners so it hopefully will be good as new when we’re done. Maybe even stop the bus, too. 🙏 We’ll replace all the hard lines when these are done.

Right now the bus is up on jack stands in the garage so we can’t sand the way we want too. It would just make a mess of Russell’s garage. So when the brakes are done and we have a rolling chassis again, we can have work parties. Probably not this Saturday but definitely the following one. Say, 11/15 ?

A little before and after cleaning the backing plates. The much thicker steel of the original ones is so much better than the cheap thin aftermarket ones that it’s worth the work to do our best to save them. They’re now ready for minimal rust converter and then paint.

~ John Manning

Raffle Bus 35 - Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished November 1, 2025.

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Raffle Bus 35 - Thursday, Oct. 30, 2025

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished October 30, 2025.

No pictures today.

Raffle Bus 35 - Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished October 26, 2025.

No pictures today.

Raffle Bus Update: Friday, Oct. 24, 2025

Reuben and our new member, Filipe, worked hard removing all the fine sandblasting media left behind after the sandblasting, along with some other tedious work. Thanks guys! Russell and John followed up with some additional details. 

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished October 24, 2025.

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Raffle Bus Update: Oct. 20-23, 2025

We're sandblasting the bus to remove surface rust and ready the bus for metal work and painting.
Looking good guys! By the way, that's David in the NASA suit... 😁

Check out John's blog post on what was accomplished October 20-24, 2025.

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Raffle Bus 35 - Oct. 17, 2025

Now we're starting to work on the bus. See the M Codes on the last two images.

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Raffle Bus 35 - Saturday, Aug. 9-18, 2025

Taking inventory of everything that came with the bus.

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The New Raffle Bus has Arrived!!

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