65 deluxe "the bavarian"

[esde]

Almost there, feels good to be finishing this repair. No doubt it was the worst damage to the bus..
welded the bottom on

And the pieces rear of the torsion tube

started fitting the rear crossmember.

I'm going to tackle the rear outriggers and top hat piece next, so there is at least something holding up the side of the bus.
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[60freak]

Nice work, looking great!

[Abscate]

Be careful working under there. You could get peanut allergies.

Nice work, and I can hear that Bus smiling as it realizes it is getting a new life!

I love the vintage photo, it should go next to the one with your Big Guy when done.
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.ssS!

[Schwing]

Looks great Seth! Thats gotta be amazing having a lift, though be careful with the sparks for sure!

I love that vintage pic. Keep at it brutha.

[esde]

Feeling brave tonight, so I started on what is a sketchy repair. I've got a bunch of holes to weld up on the passenger side of the bus roof, and it's a pain because the headliner is really nice. The original owner had it sandblasted and primed, but never did anything about the holes..

Here's the opposite side of those holes

I bought a small carbon fiber welding blanket, and folded it up so I could carefully fish it back so it sat above the headliner through the hole on the front.

After getting that in place I fished a strip of copper back so it sat just behind the area I was welding. Made sure I had some fire extinguishers, buckets of water, a hose, and got to work.

Absolutely nerve wracking, but it's getting there

Welded up pin holes inside the fresh air box

Fished out the welding blanket, looks like new. The copper probably kept any spatter from bouncing around, but I think if it had the blanket would have caught it.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[cru62]

Conan the Bavarian. Has a nice ring to it.
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"My biggest worry is that when I die, my wife will sell all my parts for what I told her I paid for them"-Jon

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery!

[esde]

slow and steady, decided to knock out the front peak. I cut some of the carbon fiber blanket, and stuffed it up into the roof on either side of the fresh air box. My hope was that it would catch any bouncing bits of welding spatter and prevent me from setting the headliner ablaze. Seems to have worked!

I've done this repair once before and tried it a bit differently this time. While I did have the repair piece clamped to the gutter, I didn't weld it at all till the seam in the roof was complete. It's a lot harder to make the compound curve of the roof peak meet cleanly at the seam if the fit at the gutter is locked down. Being able to loosen a clamp and slip the panel a bit made all the difference and it fits really well.

not a single burn mark
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[lumber-baron]

Nice work Seth! Those are some challenging img repairs you tackled.

[Schwing]

Wow really clean work Seth! I bet it feels great to jump over that hurdle.

[BarryL]

[esde]

Welded the repair to the gutter section, and got a few coats of filler over the roof peak repair. It's pretty close now, but will need finishing. Overall I'm happy with how this turned out. Also got some of the stainless air intake screens from Lumberbaron here on Samba, they are nice and will finish this repair perfectly

Next is a 14" section over the cargo doors, and some pinholes left and right of it.
I've been picking though the mechanical rebuild. New brakes throughout, had a bum master cylinder so I ended up rebuilding the original and they work well. All new steering suspension, shocks, cables, pivots, etc. Rebuilt the shift rods and shifter with new bushings, coupler, and grease and it clicks nicely through the gears. Starter, full 12 volt conversion, just been ticking though the list..
While the gas tank was out I fabbed up some rear seat belt mounts. I intend to drive the kids to a few shows, so secure rear belts are a must. I closely copied the original design, but used thicker stock, 1/4"

Set in the stock location

I just glued them in place with seam sealer, as the bolts will lock them down.

The nuts are tacked to the plate, the lower bolt goes to a brace thats welded to the frame rail, just like stock. With that done, I was finally free to reinstall the gas tank, and get started prepping for the engine

cleaned, blasted, and painted

Put a Carter electric pump on the frame rail, made the bracket with some rubber to dampen the noise. I've grown tired of the poor quality mechanical pumps available, and good rebuild kits are scarce, so I just go electric. There's a rabbit pump relay mounted next to the voltage regulator to control it.
Also scored this gem.

Drivers side windshield, with a 1979/80 inspection sticker. As I've gone with an antique tag, there's no inspection..
And, a few more pics from the original owner
I think, in the 90's, while the owners son drove it in college

At Atco VW show sometime in the early 90's

The view from the owners house. The bus can be seen parked in the background, across the street at a relatives house

Which is the same driveway as in this picture that I posted earlier, but this pic is probably 15-20 years earlier

Pretty cool. I feel lucky to have gotten these pics forwarded to me, I've been sending them updates as I make progress.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[Red Fau Veh]

That's awesome!
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1971 Deluxe Sunroof Bay 1905 stroker, dual idf40's, 74mm Scat forged crank, engle 110 cam. CB 044 heads, AutoCraft rockers, chromoly push rods
1973 Orange transporter stock type 4 with dual 40 Dellortos and Empi single quiet pack
1969 Adventurewagen blue whale Gene Berg 1776 built by Dave Kawell dual 36 DRLA's, Vintage Speed exhaust, Bosch 019 screamer
1961 Swivel Seat camper, L345 grey

[left_coast*9]

Very cool to see the vintage photos, and your work is a pleasure to watch too. Keep on it! BTW, mine is a 66 13W sea blue deluxe nonwalk ( in progress project) -- so they are close relatives!!
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Jet City 1957 VW Oval Rag Build:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=408791
1965 Sea Blue Beetle Sedan
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=472827&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

[Pinetops]

Nice work
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"A rolling bus gathers no rust."

[esde]

I dusted the motor off and started prepping it for the bus. It's an 1835 I've had for 20 some years, or more. It been rebuilt a number of times, and upgraded, and most recently got a set of thick wall 92's so maybe it wil be ok in the bus.

Also got a Porsche 356 pulley to keep the fan speed up, a venturi ring for the fan, dual 36 dellortos, and a Bosch 019 distributor. 9:1 compression and ported stock heads, it should scoot the bus along pretty well I hope.
Just need to tidy up a few things and it will go in this weekend.
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[esde]

I got sick of tripping over the engine, so I stuffed it in.

Then I was able to fit the apron and bumper, for the first time since I've had the bus. Not too bad for the first time, but needs tweaking to work with the header and muffler.

The 1 1/2" header puts the muffler pipe right on the bumper

I've already cut the muffler off, as it needs to be repositioned to clear the frame. To make it fit with the bumper I'm going to change the way the pipe comes off of the collector, so it tucks inside the bumper.

Then I have ordered a V band clamp to fasten the muffler here, next to the valve cover. Not ideal, but it'll do.

Hope to have it started and pulled out this weekend
SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[esde]

While browsing local ads, I found this gem, which is almost a match for the firetruck pedal car in the old picture. It was a close enough match that I couldn't say no, and my son is going to love it

I figure it'll be a good thing to pack w the bus for local shows

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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[vwuberalles]

I had a similar muffler to that on my bus for awhile years ago. It was fun because if you let off the gas suddenly it would backfire really loudly and shoot a flame out the tailpipe. That was GREAT for getting rid of tailgaters!!
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1973 Superbeetle: 1st car, owned since age 12. Update thread --> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=9919140#9919140
1967 Kombi: Owned since age 17, Dad's retirement project.
1966 Beetle: My new project. (SOLD) Build thread--> https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678040

[esde]

I'm wanting to put the dash and wiring back together, but before that happens there is some paint to touch up where I welded holes shut in the dash, and the windshield frame repair. I masked everything I wanted to keep original and gave it a shot.

It's a pretty good match, I'm happy with it

considering where I was coming from

I'll give the paint a few days to harden up and then sand and buff it to blend a bit

SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.

[esde]

My family is away for a few days, which has given me the chance to pull a few all nighters. I made a big push, and managed to square away the body work and get paint on the front. I've got the speedo in, and the interior electric all reconnected. Tomorrow I will get the wipers in, and find someone to help with the glass
Here's what was found after pulling the bumper off. Ugly, but not as bad as some east coast busses

The rust was pretty bad under the deluxe trim. I went at it with some phosphoric acid after grinding the rust down, but then decided to cut it out and weld in a patch.

No pics of the welding, as my phone crashed and took a while to de bug.
The inner and outer valence will need to be replaced, but that will wait and be done with the floor and doglegs, sometime in the future
First shot of 2k primer, sand down to 320, and then paint.

The original color was blue green over sea blue, but it had been painted white over some mazda miata blue. I'm leaving the blue for now, but the top is getting blue white as I clean up the window openings and roof. I took the fresh air box cover in, and had the paint shop match it.

Nice to have the outside back to the correct color, and the dash looks decent

SD
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modok wrote:
Bent cranks are silent but gather no moss. I mean, ah, something like that.