Knackered '66 double-door Microbus project.

[brothernumberone]

[brothernumberone]

Another quick update. I’ve not got a lot done recently on Project Negative Equity, but i’m determined to get the bodywork and mechanical stuff done by Christmas. I’ve changed my mind on something. I wasn’t going to bother with belly pans, but now I’m putting them on. This is for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it’s a double door bus, so it needs all the extra strength it can get I reckon. Secondly, it came with them from the factory so it seems right to stick them back on. And thirdly, I figured it would be easier to to Raptor flat panels rather than try to cover all the guide tubes/floor supports, floor corrigations etc. I discovered doing the front section that it’s really easy to miss an angle with the gun and not cover the metal properly.
I had to buy another guide tube for the front to rear brake pipe to run in as i’d previously planned to leave it bare, fixed to the inside of the chassis rail. Obviously, if you want to ever change it without cutting the ‘pans back off, it needs a tube. I also p clipped the loom to the inside of the chassis and put a section of pipe round it where it passes through the chassis to stop it chaffing and wrapped some insulation stuff round the heater tube.
I did think about all the wasted time I spent making stuff look neat and original on sections that’ll never be seen again, but hey-ho! Lastly I waxoyled the underside that’ll be covered by the ‘pans and prepped them.

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[edgood1]

Are those autocraft belly pans? I copied a set that look just like that.
_________________
1987 Syncro Westfalia powered by Subaru
1963 Panel to Deluxe Bus project :::: (photo album)
'65 Westfalia

[brothernumberone]

[edgood1]

[LJay]

I love Bonda primer! I have a lot of faith in it, It stinks but it covers real well!
_________________
1962 Turkis Westfalia so34.

My build thread.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=742279

[brothernumberone]

[brothernumberone]

Hello all. I pumped the tyres up and rolled the bus out of the corner it’s been sat in for the last year or so. Then some more Raptoring. 2/3rds of the underside done now👍

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[brothernumberone]

Hi. I’m hopefully going to get a bit more done on Project Negative Equity in the next few weeks, as i’ve got some spare time. I started by cutting the dash out. I decided I needed to, as it needs some tricky repairs and I also damaged the reinforcement bar thingie that the fuseboard mounts on, so I can repair that while the dash is out.
The dash had some stickers on, including the cool, yellow one. Through the wonders of the internet, I managed to find a pic relating to it, a Swedish recovery company I think.

Lots of holes in both the windscreen aperture and the edge of the dash.

I managed to bend this when trying to adjust the door gaps, plus it’s rusty, so I can repair this more easily with the dash out.

Both the edges where the dash meets the a pillars need work. You can see in the second pic where the front panel was replaced after the crash, not very well done, but I don’t want to disturb the paint/rust on there so i’ll leave it for now

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[Two Glove Boxes]

[brothernumberone]

[mandraks]

[brothernumberone]

[brothernumberone]

I’m lying to myself today by saying i’ve reached a milestone by completing all the external, visible bodywork. In reality, there’s still quite a bit to do and I won’t get it done by Xmas as i’d hoped.
But I did finish the rear corner/arch which felt good👍 I had a small repair to do to the edge of the wheel tub where it meets the battery tray and I made a new closing panel.

Then on to the rear shelf area. This had a rubber mat on it which has trapped water and there are loads(like hundreds!) of pin holes in it, plus someone had gashed a hole in it to remove the sender unit. These panels aren’t available in one piece, but you can get repair sections I think, so that might be the way to go.

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[velvetgreen]

if you are not too bothered about 100% original an access hole to change fuel sender is not a bad idea to have (obviously could be made a lot nicer than the one that was there) . sure beats having to pull engine and gas tank to change a sender. Turns a multi hour job into about 5 minutes

Pretty sure Brazilian splits has this access hole as standard from factory

[brothernumberone]

[brothernumberone]

A little bit more done. I realised I had a few cuts of rear shelf, so decided to repair small sections rather than cut the whole thing out. It’s massively time consuming. I managed to make the curved section by heating it up to red hot before bending it which stopped the corrugations from flattening. Hopefully get it finished next week.

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[brothernumberone]

Final post of 2020. Happy new year to you all 👍
Quick repair to the area round the filler inlet.

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[brothernumberone]

I’m now at the stage of finishing all the fiddly jobs, little bits I forgot or ignored earlier in the resto. I finished the bottom of the inner wheel arch and ground down the welds on the inside of the rear arch and cargo floor. I also repaired and refitted the heater vent. The parcel shelf but is finished, i’m not particularly pleased with it, with hindsight it would have been better to replace the whole thing rather than repair sections, but it’s done. Getting some Bonda on stuff now. I think i’m going to Raptor the parcel shelf/cargo floor area.

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/

[brothernumberone]

Not much to report here. I’ve taken the ‘box/axles out again to prep the rear end, ready for Raptoring. I’ve spent a whole day chiselling off old underseal. I also straightened the cradle up which had been bent by jacks. I’ll post some more pics when it’s finished👍

_________________
http://vintageautorepair.co.uk/