My double door resto-mod project....

[Chgrec]

It was time to kick off a new restoration project and hopefully this one won't take as long as my last 3 year project, a 1974 MGB. (https://www.mgexp.com/journal/The-B-And ... lory.3321/) I have owned 63 cars so far and I just love working on them. Since I don't have the garage space and the money to keep them all, I generally sell them after a year or so. This one may be a keeper however!

After I sold the MGB, my wife suggested I try something completely new & different over my last several 2 seat'er projects, an early VW bus. I have posted this on another VW site but thought I I’d share here as well. I started this project a little over 2 years ago. Besides the metal repair and other overall restoration efforts, this is my first major modification project as well. I hope that the VW purists don't object too much to my changes, this will become a convertible....

Here is my starting point.

TheBus.jpg

A this point, the cut, chop & remove phase is well under way. All the doors (8 in all if you include the rear hatch & engine compartment door) are off & the floors are out as well. Fortunately, the “frame” is as solid as I thought so it can handle the welding in of additional supports. The additional supports will be needed since the roof is part of the overall structure & strength of the bus. Don't want the bus getting all twisty going down the road.

I have already ordered a lot of stock replacement metal and a lot of square steel tubing so once I get the rest of the rotted metal out, I can start the process of building it all back up. That is after I give the garage a really good cleaning. This phase is always so very messy….

Bus 2.jpg

I figured I needed to get the substructure replaced and then do the surrounding body panels. That way I have a frame of reference, even if it is rusty, so I can then cut the sheet metal out and then have someplace to reattach it....

bus 3.jpg

bus 4.jpg

I am getting the hang of the spot welder and the timing to make solid spot welds. It's now the best sub $200 tool I own, just don't tell my other tools I have favorites. The only downside is that it is really heavy and a bit cumbersome to handle.

bus floor.jpg

bus rocker.jpg

I got the sill & rocker panel work done including adding 1" square steel tubing to add more stiffness. It ties to the chassis and works well especially since the inner rockers are welded to it. Makes for a very solid feeling cargo area and makes the bus stiff enough that when jacking up one corner, the other end comes up as well with no flex. That will be important when the top comes off.

bus rocker 2.jpg

bus rocker 3.jpg

bus rocker 4.jpg

So now that the cargo area substructure is done, I have pulled the suspension out in preparation to mount my DIY homemade rotisserie.

MGB rotator.jpg

I used it on my MGB project and so far it seems like it will work for this albeit with a few modifications….Gotta love recycling!

I'll post more soon!

[Chgrec]

I think my bus needs a nose job! I started cutting the nose apart and as expected, it's full of crud. I was concerned that once I cut all the rust out, there wouldn't be anything left to hold the top up so I put in some temporary bracing just in case....

Nose (2).jpg

I also got the bus mounted on my recycled rotisserie from my MGB project after I got all the bus suspension removed. The suspension came off fairly easily once I found articles & videos online to show me how. I have never pulled the bottom off a VW before but it's so much, fun to learn new stuff. It was about the same level of difficulty as the MG, just lots of different parts!

bus on rotator.jpg

More cutting, welding, & grinding....and then a little more welding and grinding, and then a little more...well you get the idea. Making progress however. The lower valance below the nose and what will be behind the front bumper has all been replaced. Next will be the nose skin itself & then I'll work my way back. You can see some of my steel reinforcements in the square metal tubing. It really makes the front end feel so much more stable. Here is a series of photos showing each step. And a before & after of the rear lower rocker behind the passenger cargo door as well...

nose 2.jpg

I got the new lower nose skin on and I have finished up the basic leading of the weld seam. I still prefer body lead (actually 70/30 lead/tin) over plastic (bondo) as I think it behaves much better over the long run. I have found that when I stripped bondo off cars, there were always signs of moisture getting trapped underneath. I assume it's because plastic tends to expand / contract with hot and cold. I have never seen that beneath leaded repairs. You just have to be a lot more careful with leading. Use of respirators, only hand filing/ NOT power sanding, etc to avoid making airborne lead dust....But then there are tons of things in projects like this that are bad for you. So safety is always first!

Nose 3.jpg

More to come!

[Jadewombat]

Nice

[Chgrec]

Time for the VW bus purists to look away....

I have gotten the nose repaired and the sub structure reinforced with a combination of 2x4 1/8" & 1x1 1/8" steel tubing. So it was time to chop the top, the very, very rusty top. I re-hung the front cab doors on it to make sure there was no sag and they closed nicely with all the proper gaps. It was a lot of work & welding and there is still a lot more chassis re-enforcing to do once I roll the bus over, but so much fun.

I needed to relocate the hinges on the cargo doors as they are above the line where I want the sides. I was really dreading that part as it seemed like it would be very hard to do. I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly it went. I was able to do one body mount & one door per night so it only took me a week to do all 4 doors.

bus 6.jpg

So the plan was to get it rolled over on its side so I can get the welding & grinding done. Then I can roll it outside and give the garage a very good cleaning. Such a messy phase.

[Chgrec]

I was able to get it rolled over so the bus was on it's side. I did discover that since it is more top heavy than my MGB was, this recycled wooden rotisserie isn't the best design for the bus but it will worked. I was able clean up the bottom of the bus & weld up the frame a little more. The plan was to box in the C channel frame and then run some cross braces. There were also a few rusty things to replace under there as well. Then a good cleaning and prep before is put it back upright. It then went back over on its side one more time to shoot body color tinted bed liner all over the underside.

1642152.jpg

I was pleased by how stiff the bus is with the repairs & additional framing that I have already added. I used the front factory (and new) jack point to lift the bus up to the rotator's radius and there was no flex at all. Pretty cool...at least to me

1646550.jpg

I got the passenger frame welded up with a 4" x 1/4" steel across the C channel to box it up. I also took the time to button up a lot of other welds I had made and either did a poor job or couldn't get to it when it was right side up.

1646551.jpg

So then I rolled it over on the driver side so I could do that side of the frame as well as touch up other welds from this side. Now its back right side up so I could work on the floors.

[Chgrec]

Nice

Thanks! Lots of fun....

[ajdenette]

I look forward to seeing progress on this project, I need to update my thread a bit more as well, I do have to admit to using The Samba Gallery to host my pictures and use the same image html code you would use on The Samba right in your post here on the shop talk forums to post your photos.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

You shouldn't have a problem posting here. I had the one problem one night then the next day I was able to post pix again. I usually edit down to 640 X 480 but others go to a bigger size.

Like I said, this is going to be fun to watch.

Lee

[Chgrec]

You shouldn't have a problem posting here. I had the one problem one night then the next day I was able to post pix again. I usually edit down to 640 X 480 but others go to a bigger size.

Like I said, this is going to be fun to watch.

Lee

Yep, waiting until later seemed to work. I changed the previous photos to inline here vs off site hosted…More coming soon!
Thanks!

[Chgrec]

I finally finished the cargo area floor, at least the major parts of it. I still need to do a little more trimming and grinding around the edges but that will come. Lots of little spot welds in lots of little holes make for a very lengthy process, especially with an extra cross member I added for some additional strength. It’s pretty cool though to be able to stand on the bed and have it feel so solid now. It also makes for a great work space, a place to put things, and getting from one side of the bus to the other is faster since I can now cut across. You can see some of my “metal fab” practice sections piled on the floor, but more about that later…

cargo floor.jpg

I needed to replace the battery tray in the back as well as the exterior metal just outside of the tray. The lower section has a taper with a dual curve, top to bottom and left to right so the lower section needed be smaller & slightly shorter than the top. This need allowed me to try another technique, metal shrinking. As you heat up metal, it shrinks and thickens as it cools. Using a propane torch & a soaking wet rag, you can heat up an area until it is glowing red then cool it quickly by wetting it with the rag. It’s not the fastest route or perhaps but it’s pretty cool (pun intended) watching the metal slowly shrink into place. I have heard that a shrinking disc will do the same thing but faster. It goes on a grinder and looks like a plate. You spin it against the metal to create friction heat. They say it works much better than the torch method but have not tried one yet. The torch took about an hour and a half to do the entire section and while I still need to finish the welding & grinding on it, I am happy with learning the process and seeing it actually work as intended. Gotta love learning new stuff!

rear corner.jpg

There are a few other areas of metal work that I haven’t done before. Not because I didn’t want to but because I never had a need that could justify the expense of the specialty tools it takes. One was a metal brake for bending sheet metal, the other is a bead roller. Fortunately, this bus needs that kind of work so I could justify the purchase of some new tools. I was able to make good use of the metal brake right away. A sub-frame cross member under the upper firewall had rusted through so it needed to be replaced. It took a bit of experimentation and test sections to get it where I was happy with it. Nice crisp edges and straight bends that I would not have been able to do without the brake.

The most fun is the bead roller. The firewall above the engine had a few rust spots in it and the cost of replacing the entire panel with a pre-fab one was much more that plain sheet metal and the 2 new tools. I had read some reviews of the HF ones and they seemed to be flimsy. I found a manual bead roller for a pretty good deal so I went with it. It is rock solid and doesn’t have any flex at all. I welded a mount to it so I can bolt it to my tube bender stand to hold it. Works well and after lots of experimentation but I finally found a die set combination that would replicate the beads on the firewall so I could get that metal replaced.

bead roller.jpg

There was only one more small section to replace in the rear and then the cab floor should arrive. That was the last of the rust replacement and after touch up welding. It was on to new metal fab for the convertible part of the project.

firewall.jpg

[Chgrec]

I finished the rest of the cargo floors as well as the fender wells, splash guards, and all the rest of the underbody metal replacements and sealed up all the seams. finally. Well, at least on the main body. I do still have the doors to do but those will come later.

I sprayed the primer coats then l shot the wheel wells & cab floor with bed liner tinted gray. I like bed liner under vehicles because it’s so robust. Since I am putting belly pans back under the main cargo area frame sections, I left the floor without texture. I'll add texture to the belly pans when they go on later.

underside epoxy.jpg

I have tried several brands but prefer U-pol Raptor. coverage isn't as good as some of the others like SEM Rock-It but I think it finishes better. I have done several restorations this way and been very happy with the results. Not factory but it does a really nice job of protection. The gray underbody color (VW's pale gray L345) seemed to be close to original for buses of this era though it seems a little tan'ish to me. The photos do look way more tan than reality but that's likely just a lighting thing. Regardless. it's not going to be an all original bus restoration anyways so I'll leave the color as is.

underneath final coat.jpg

undercoating close up.jpg

Once is was dry and covered with paper & plastic for protection from overspray, then the bus was rolled back up right! I had to decide if I do the running gear now so I can put it back on its wheels or continue with the topside body work. The change of pace from weld, grind, fix the weld, regrind, etc. would be welcome but I needed to be careful about getting to far into winter where it was too cold to paint. Both for the paint and for me in my un-heated shop!

I also took a stab at making the fuel filler catch tray that goes inside the gas cap door. I looked and couldn't find one for sale anywhere and I am really glad I couldn't. I hadn't done complex curves before and I think it came out pretty good considering what I had left as a template. No fancy English wheels or shrinker. Just a couple of body hammers & dollies, a small anvil, a welder & my grinders.

gas filler.jpg

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Just for giggles, what are you going to be using the "V-ruck" for?

Look-in' pretty good so far.

Lee

[Chgrec]

Usually I work on a car for a bit, getting it original & completely right, drive it for a bit (several months) and then I sell it for another, different project. I have a Jeep TJ for my daily driver because we needed a truck to do the Lowes runs & I needed dependable transportation to drive into downtown Atlanta every day but I have to have a convertible. We have my wife's car for trips, etc. I now work from home so I really never go anywhere during the week. That changes my driving needs a bit and this one may stay & the jeep may go. We will see when this one is done but I am leaning that way...

[Chgrec]

Once I got the bus back upright and the pretty underside covered up, I began working on the topside of things.

bus upright and bottom covered.jpg

My cargo door bottoms were all a mess so I am needed to go through those. I was also mixing in some of the metal fab just to keep thing interesting and varied from de-rust, weld & grin. I tried making my own lower inner frame but that failed miserably. So I bought 4 from an online place that ships from South America (KFab green panels) Arrived in 2 days, Gotta love modern logistics.

cargo door.jpg

cargo door2.jpg

I did however make the exterior skin myself and it went much better than the frame. It is took me 2 or 3 nights per door so not too bad. These shots show just before the second weld & grind to fill in my pin holes from lousy welding....

The metal fab I started was adding trim across the cut line to top off the edge cleanly. The top edge hangs over the lip and just covers the single cab tie downs I added.

top edge.jpg

Then over the rear engine compartment there will be a trunk lid for lack of a better term (or perhaps boot lid would be more appropriate). I hadn’t quite decided how or what to do with the rear door then but I figured that out & will share that later.

trunk 1.jpg

trunk 2.jpg

Next I got to try out was my new shrinker & stretcher to make the trunk interior sections. That is once I got all my grinding done on the bazillion welds on the trunk lid.

[Ol'fogasaurus]

Usually I work on a car for a bit, getting it original & completely right, drive it for a bit (several months) and then I sell it for another, different project. I have a Jeep TJ for my daily driver because we needed a truck to do the Lowes runs & I needed dependable transportation to drive into downtown Atlanta every day but I have to have a convertible. We have my wife's car for trips, etc. I now work from home so I really never go anywhere during the week. That changes my driving needs a bit and this one may stay & the jeep may go. We will see when this one is done but I am leaning that way...

It is going to be a very unique ride for sure. Kind of a "do everything" capability kind of vehicle.

Lee