Newbie here, 1964 green Kombi

[AS350driver]

This is my 64 Turkis/Blue White walkthrough project that I found in Alabama and brought back here to AZ to restore...err get going again. It's kinda rusty in the front but rather solid from the front seats back.

A few pics as found out in the woods:

And waiting for me to return a month later to transport it back to Tucson

Loaded on the uhaul to haul back to Tucson....

After an order to Wolfburg West, work begins....

[AS350driver]

Some more pics of the 64.

Underneath is quite solid....

Rear cargo floor pretty decent

[AS350driver]

And some more undercarriage and miscellaneous pics:

[AS350driver]

[AS350driver]

Bodle's Buses moving right along....

[60freak]

Nice man! You are making really good progress. Keep this updated.

[peecee69]

Looking good! I'm surprised you couldn't find a nicer one in rust-free Arizona. Usually people go there to get buses.

[AS350driver]

I could have never have got a bus this solid, though it obviously needs work, in AZ for the $$$ I paid back in Alabama. Believe me I tried, but the demand for them out here in AZ is crazy. The very few project splits I found in AZ were far rougher than this one and the sellers wanted $7-10k for those. Or $20K + for a "restored" one with bondo and the ever popular cheap lowering job. Lol

[velvetgreen]

totally unrelated- but how is it driving a uhaul with the bus in the back of it? Are there any tie downs? Assume you didn't tell uhaul what your plans were- assuming it is cheaper than the truck/trailer option from them?

[AS350driver]

No I told the uhaul people I was putting the bus inside. They asked the weight and I estimated around 2,000 lbs since the motor and most of the interior except the front seats was removed. They were cool with it.

There's no tie downs, but my brother fabbed up a wood bracing system that wedged up against the strong parts of the inner walls and wheel wells of the Uhaul and prevented any movement. Then we strapped the bus to the 4 by 8 wood beams just for extra security. If I'd completely rolled the uhaul upside down, yeah the bus could have came upward, but at that point it's moot.

Made it 1700 miles at 75 mph without a hitch. Also I drove through some torrential rains and hail all through Miss, Louisiana and east Texas but the bus was safely inside unlike if I'd used a trailer.

[velvetgreen]

thanks for the feedback good to know- i appreciate it being covered wonder what option is cheaper int he long run- small detail- how did you get it in the truck or out of the truck at the other end?

[Erik G]

standard microbus - not a kombi

Interior panels, arm rest mounts, heater log, etc etc

very cool! Turkis is one of my favorite colors
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[AS350driver]

So microbus has more features than a kombi? The guy I bought it from kept calling it a Kombi and I'm new to split window buses, so it stuck lol.

And as far as getting the bus in to and out of the uhaul, it was easy. We loaded the bus onto the green trailer you see in the pics, backed the uhaul up against a ditch bank, then backed the trailer up against the uhaul from uphill, and rolled the bus downhill into the uhaul using the winch cable on the trailer to control the descent of the bus. The farm back in Alabama has plenty of uneven terrain to pick from lol. Gravity works great there if you harness it.

To get it off the uhaul back here in AZ, we disassembled the wood bracing my brother built (hardest part of job, he used a nail gun and lots of nails!) then jacked the nose of the bus up with the floor jack rolling on an old piece of plywood to hop the front tires of the bus over the 3-4 inch wheel wells in the uhau, and rolled the bus down onto a regular trailer, then backed that trailer up to the bus repair shop and rolled the bus off the trailer. Easy.

If the uhaul had broken down en route, I assumed uhaul would have brought another similar truck, I'd had to remove the wood frame, roll the bus into a same heighth uhaul bus, then rebuild the wood bracing in the next uhaul. But had no issues.

It's cheaper, too, to rent the big uhaul truck one way than renting a pickup and auto trailer one way. It was much less time involved to fly in on the airlines and drive back one-way than to drive both ways.

Also, I believe two buses could be gotten into a uhaul of that size but the wood bracing would get pretty complicated.

[AS350driver]

Digging deeper...the link pins and king pin feel good no slop but the transaxle, upon removal and inspection, seemed suspect. Nose cone and brake hardware missing and red paint on it. Everything turns freely but a bit suspicious.

[AS350driver]

Progress continuing....new pax side a pillar in and doglegs and some nose pieces tacked in. Adjusting before final welding

[AS350driver]

Left inner rocker and long outer rocker came in from WW today. My metal expert removed the old stuff. No big surprises hiding under there, it won't need left cargo floor, just some patching.

[AS350driver]

Left side pretty much rust free now.

[Volker H.]

New parts seem to fit very well! Keep up the good work!

[AS350driver]

Nose welded in now. Lower nose outer skin fitted but not welded in yet. Getting a new heater pipe and elbow is the holdup.

[AS350driver]

My metal expert had to peel open the old lower A pillar and cut out the old door check bracket. The reproduction lower pillar didn't have the opening, which he had to cut out, then peel back the backside to weld the bracket inside the pillar. You would think the new pillar would have that built in.

The good news is that 3/4 of the lower perimeter of the bus is now rust free and welded in, ie long inner/outer rocker, left dogleg, nose, right dogleg. It will need to minor rear floorboard patching and the front floor is on order.