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Sun Dec 09, 2007 5:55 pm

Today marks the beginning of the resto of my 67 hardtop deluxe. I stripped out the interior and rocker trim and took some pictures as I poked around with a screw driver.

Before shot

Rockers

They honestly are not as bad as I feared. The inners are mostly ok. Some of my jack points are screwed though.

Cargo floor has some problems. I patched this about 15 years ago.

Removed the patch...arghhhhhh...

Hole by rear cargo door

Hole over the driver's rear jack point

Hole over driver's front jack point

General area

Front Floor

Driver's door bondo. Mario would be proud

Holes drilled for shoulder belts. Rizzag gives me shit about these. They are now going away.

More to come.

Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:20 am

Looks like a fun project, gives you an excuse to go buy a new welder.

Tue Dec 11, 2007 10:24 am

Yeah, it's been a long time coming. I am actually relieved that I don't really have to replace any whole panels.

Sat Feb 09, 2008 8:57 pm

****Update****

Finally spent a day on the 67 today. The whole thing is so overwhelming, but I decided just to concentrate on the bulkhead forward and that seemed more manageable. Here is the progress so far... I am still exploring all the problem areas with some bad news and good news. My screen name is OG Velvet, but my bus is about 80% OG. At some point between 1967 and 1990 my bus took a good hit on the driver's side nose. It was repaired with pieces from a donor red bus. The floor, door, headlight bucket and the front half of the dogleg were all replaced. The repair is actually pretty good. I got in there with a wire wheel just to make sure there was no new rust forming. There are a few pinholes in the floor, but thats an easy fix. The only bummer about the repair is, it seems they just smoothed bondo over the welds instead of grinding them down and using minimal filler. So I'll fix that. Here is my not so OG Velvet driver's front.

Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:08 pm

I know I said I'd only work from the bulkhead forward, but I wanted to get a look at my pop outs. The bottoms have always looked terrible, but once I took one out, it really isn't that bad. I think I will leave the glass in and just replace the window to body seal and the seal that goes around the window. This will be after I sand off the rust, paint a rust encapsulator and repaint the frames. I am hoping to do this with the window in since the seals look really good. The hinge screws actually all turn out except the bottom one on each window. I had to drill out the bottom screw on the one pop out I removed today. Here's what they look like..

This look savable to you? This is the worst of them I think.

Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:17 pm

Not as lucky on the passenger floor as the driver's floor. Here is some more detail on the rust hole in that side. I isolated where the rust stops and good metal starts on both the top and bottom. I think the repair should be pretty cut and dry with the exception of the funky hole in my kick panel slot. See the pics below...

Any ideas how to repair that slot?

Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:09 pm

Brian I would toss the cab door frames and get good used. They're out there. Get em blasted and you'll be way ahead compared to what you've got there.

Did you buy a welder yet?

Sat Feb 09, 2008 11:27 pm

No welder yet. Do you mean the popout frames? Not sure what you mean by cab door frames.

Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:06 pm

Ok I spent a lot of time on the bus this weekend. I pulled the engine and gas tank and cleaned out the engine bay. I am going to get in there with some hot water next. It should come out pretty nice in there.

I cleaned off my gas tank. It wasn't really that bad. The outside cleaned up really easy.

The inside was not as horrible as I expected either. There is some crud in there, but I'm not sure there is any rust. I stuck my camera through the fuel sender hole. What do you think?

Started learning to use a hammer and dolly on my corners. The right rear corner had a couple big dents. I hammered them down to small ripples.

And another shot of my f'ed up left side. My frame is bent so that is why it is buckled. I guess I need to get this on a frame rack and pull this thing out.

Now I need to start buying sheet metal... among many other things

Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:54 pm

So things have happened. The bus is in new velvet paint and I'm putting it back together. I cannot thank Camerod enough for the work, help, advice etc.. on my baby. The picture should be pretty obvious. This has been a long road and I hope to be driving my bus within the next couple months.

Here are a bunch of shots at Volksfab.

Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:56 pm

Here are some shots once I brought it home. It sat like this for awhile...

Sun Nov 26, 2017 10:59 pm

Paint shop... Green Star Autobody in Portland. I'm very happy with the work so far.

Sun Nov 26, 2017 11:09 pm

Reassembly. Paint will get buffed out when I am finished putting it back together (scratching it up). This is taking me forever, especially since my new garage is tiny. A friend let me use his garage this summer to get it back on four wheels and get the major stuff done. So far I have re-wired it, put in the front end, transmission, safaris, trim, gauges, doors and all kinds little things here and there. I am working on the engine in my basement while the weather is so crappy. See other thread. I still have the headliner, side and pop out windows, engine, brakes, cables, put a battery I and actually test my new wiring, seats, interior panels, etc... anyway, here are some more pictures...

me during an awful weekend of rust bullet undercarriage

More to come!

Mon Nov 27, 2017 9:43 pm

Great efforts and rewards. Nice Bus!

Tue Nov 28, 2017 8:18 am

I have a '66 velvet green Deluxe in about the same condition as your "before" shot. I am impressed by what you have done but dismayed by how much work (and presumably $) it actually takes. It will be interesting to hear your opinion on the project after it is complete and running.

Tue Nov 28, 2017 1:36 pm

Kick ass!

Wed Nov 29, 2017 1:51 pm

Great job!

Sun Jan 21, 2018 4:48 pm

Been working on the rear brakes and the engine.

I am also redoing the axle seals. Is there any issue with two different bands, one on each side? One kit is elring and the other sabo.

Cleared out the clogged up heat riser on my intake

I keep plugging away at the engine. Been test fitting tin pieces and figuring out the DH fan shroud. Gonna be a 67 1500 look, only with a DH fan shroud and without the governor.

Sun Jan 21, 2018 7:19 pm

OG Velvet wrote: One kit is elring and the other sabo.
Is OK.

Sun Mar 11, 2018 9:11 pm

Productive Weekend!

Installed 6 pop outs
Hooked up battery and everything worked! (except the horn)
Assembled rear bumper
Installed gas tank
Replaced broken driver mirror arm (gotta match paint now)
Been working on installing seat covers
Installed one eyed duck
Got my windshield washers working
Got my rear axles back together
New hard and soft brake lines for the rear as well as new shoes

Left to do...
Install engine
Finish brakes. Install front soft lines and shoes for the front
Headliner material around windows
Headliner
Interior panels (should get them this week)
Finish and install seats
Take it back to painter to get it buffed out
Alignment
Registration

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