TheSamba.com :: View topic - Tijuana Mexico Body Paint Rust work

Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:53 am

Here is the first run of photos. They are pretty low quality because they were taken with a video camera. More will be posted later showing the "after" results in pair with the "before" photos posted in the beginning. This won't happen for a month or more since I am in Mexico now and the panel is at my house in California.

Also note at the end my contract marked "pagado" on Dec 22, 2011 - 14 months to the day from the time it was written and deposit paid.

All has not been without problems, however. First, before leaving the body shop the tail lights had to be rigged; something had happened in the re-wiring. Since it was too late in the day for an autoelectrica to step in and help we couldn't do any better than having the right tail light direct wired to the battery. Then both were always on... we had to disconnect both manually at the terminals to shut them off or turn them on. Drove home with no turn signals or brake lights. This has all been remedied by a VW auto electric friend of mine.

Then about a hundred miles north somewhere on the 5 freeway near the 405 a blow out in driver side rear tire. It completely blew up on the sidewalls. The tires were already at least 9 years old and having sat for long periods and even going flat these tires were trash. It was a hairy predicament since we had no idea where we were - at the side of the road in an interchange with no visible signs. We needed AAA since I also had no jack. We were rescued and got back on the road, buying another spare in Huntington Beach. On we went.

After that, the second day after arriving home it happened again, this time the passenger side front. Same scenario, no jack, called AAA again. Now the bus has a full set of new shoes.

But the pièce de résistance came on the fifth night home during a huge wind storm my panel was parked under a canopy with one open end. At 4am I am awakened by my son hollaring that the canopy had been lifted by the wind and launched into our backyard and was hanging from a eucalyptus tree. In the process it put a yard-long scratch in the fresh paint. Fortunately it did not do any worse damage but it was very disappointing. The canopy got shredded and had to be replaced.

I have found a couple of discrepencies in the paint and with the scratch damage it will be going back. This is not a big problem since we will be returning to pick up my son's combi in about a month driving my panel back down.

I don't want to discuss these discrepencies now until I have had a chance to get them resolved. The reason is I would like to include the resolution in my thread and need to wait, again about a month from now, to see what they do. One matter that I believe was miscommunication on my part is the new safari windows they installed. I had expected them painted but they were installed with the factory powder coating in off-white. I will get them repainted in black so they blend and look more like rubber seals, not in blue. On a good note, when I went to pick up the panel, I took in a new front emblem to replace my old rusty one. It was bare metal and they painted it and mounted it while I was waiting for the other finish details to be done (like mounting new mirrors and arms). After arriving home I noticed the protection pan below the cab floor was missing. It had been taken down but was apart from the van. They had overlooked it. I called and they found it. Now it is being painted for pick up when I return in a month.

Another good note is that I managed to pass customs re-entering the USA. Despite the smell of fresh paint the agent never asked and I never told. No import tax paid. This savings will more than pay for any of the follow-up work such as the window frame painting.

By the way... the red and white combi in some of the photos is my son's 1967 now in Los Ponchos shop for paint and body. We negotiated his for $2800 complete exterior body and paint (no roof replacement nor rust, just poor prior body work, hahaha). They said they had learned from my job that they under bid by about $700 therefore his price proportionately a bit higher. They claimed this $700 was a loss, so considering that if they had bid better my job would have been closer to $4500. My son is going to do a thread on his combi also. That will be our third car with them along with two my friend has had done with them.

Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:03 am

In line waiting to cross the border back into the USA

At the side of the road on I-5 in Irvine with tire blow out being serviced

The contract/receipt = PAGADO... PAID!

Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:29 am

Here are the lights being fixed under the replacement canopy. This one is held down with cinder blocks.

Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:24 pm

Wow, looks really good! The reflection on the driver's side in the video is awesome, shows how straight and distortion free the large flat area is! Enjoy it.

Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:35 pm

I figured you'd be Happy in the end. We used to drive from Redding to Tijuana to get all our cars Completely Upholstered cheap in 8 hours! 8)

Sat Jan 21, 2012 12:37 pm

with a shell that level and straight the paint rectification should be easy. I hope you are happy and the doubters silenced once and for all

Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:47 pm

As I have learned from the past, whether it is restoring and automobile, construction, or loving your lady right, it takes time to do it right. What is the point in doing it wrong? Way to stay patient and follow through with your project, it is tough to get through it sometimes. You are right up the road from me, look us up at centralcoastvwclub.com and come out to our next event in february. See you in the water!

Fri Feb 17, 2012 10:47 am

Hi guys, not to hijack this thread, but I dropped my '64 deluxe off at Los Ponchos a few weeks ago. 8)

To give you some more idea of Armando's pricing, I dropped off a completely dissassembled bus shell, with most of the paint removed. All the welding has been done, but no bodywork (it needs a lot!). He's going to do the bodywork and give it a SWR/BG paintjob using BC/CC PPG paint (he didn't want to do single stage). We agreed on $3500 including materials, to be finished in 2 months. We'll see about the 2 month part, but I was happy with the deal!

The shop is super low-tech. I was watching them paint...it's just an open-air carport. It looked like the guy was using a harbor freight paint gun, and he was using no respirator or anything like that...just spraying! There was a guy wet-sanding bondo about 20 ft away and the bondo slurry was just running out into the street. Viva la Mexico! :lol:

When I dropped the bus off 3 weeks ago, the '67 kombi referred to by the OP was sitting in there untouched. But my dad and brother stopped in to give Armando my deposit a week or two ago and the '67 kombi has been getting work! Here's a pic. 8)

I can start another Los Ponchos thread if you prefer sanchodosrojo. Just thought I'd pipe up that others are using Los Ponchos as well...

Fri Feb 17, 2012 12:53 pm

wertygrog, thanks for your post. and thanks for the photo... that is my son's 67... good to see work getting done on it.

first, i have no problem with you posting in this thread. It may be better that way so the shop's work can be displayed over time.

second, i think you will benefit from being their third transporter, mine being the first. the learning curve is in your favor. i was the guinea pig. there is the opposite at work also... they will be better on their pricing finding where they under-priced on mine.

Good luck and please keep us updated.

Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:32 pm

Hi, I'm Lars, "Sanchodosrojo" is my Dad. Here's an update on my 1967 Kombi. These photos were taken just the other day at Los Ponchos Body Shop in Tijuana, Mexico. I will post more after the bus is painted.

Sat Mar 03, 2012 6:07 pm

stay on topic,..fingerpointing isn't.

Thu Mar 22, 2012 8:22 pm

I been laggin on getting more photos up. Yesterday, I washed the van for the first time since getting it from the body shop. Here's a photo taken in Morro Bay after the coin op wash and totally stripping the interior to wipe down shop dust and car wash water. I have been putting on parts and details little by little.

Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:10 pm

sanchodosrojo wrote: I been laggin on getting more photos up. Yesterday, I washed the van for the first time since getting it from the body shop. Here's a photo taken in Morro Bay after the coin op wash and totally stripping the interior to wipe down shop dust and car wash water. I have been putting on parts and details little by little.]
Looking good!! I saw the vid you posted on YouTube and it looks great! I am actually very familiar with that border crossing as I do it daily, living in tijuas! I have a 1970 Bay window camper that I will soon be making a thread for. She does start and runs but was in involved in an accident. Has some front end damage. Also it needs an entire break re-do. Back brakes are seized, was sitting for about a year and a half in a tow yard. We managed to get one spindle nut off after doing everything we could think of, eventually we had to grind it off. 3 more to go. Its a camper but does not have the pop top tent. It looks to be like a sun roof or maybe one of those small straight popups. I don't know yet. There is wood paneling covering the original head liner, so I think. Any ways Ill get a new thread going and welcome your comments input and so forth. For body and paint i have a friend that owns a body shop in Tijuana as well and has already shown interest on working on it. He has done great work for a newer truck i had taken to him previously. I will have to keep an eye on this thread to see if I should just go with Los Ponchos since like you mentioned they are getting more bus work after yours. He has not worked on any classic buses as far as I know. Appreciate all the info on here and hope to see more updates from you, your son and any other members taking their buses to Los Ponchos!

Thu Apr 26, 2012 12:28 pm

Quote:

What concerns me is the fact that the bus is covered in plastic filler....the filler is applied over paint and what not........the cost is probably cheap but the paint and bodywork will probably end up coming apart.

Thu Apr 26, 2012 4:22 pm

Matt K. wrote: What concerns me is the fact that the bus is covered in plastic filler....the filler is applied over paint and what not........the cost is probably cheap but the paint and bodywork will probably end up coming apart.

[-X don't go there. i posted some 'negative' comments about the whole deal and it resulted in a big thread clean out.

this is why most people hate 'previous owners' and as we all know, cheapest isn't always least expensive

Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:47 pm

[quote="Matt K."] Quote: What concerns me is the fact that the bus is covered in plastic filler....the filler is applied over paint and what not........the cost is probably cheap but the paint and bodywork will probably end up coming apart.

If you are referring to the photo you included in your post, don't be concerned; that photo was taken in the process of removing paint and filler, not applying it. As I post this the body is still in process and not yet ready for paint.

It was the previous owners of my son's combi that went overboard with fillers and paint and that is now being removed and repaired as needed.

Two more weeks.

Fri Apr 27, 2012 6:20 pm

That is good to know......I am glad they are taking it down.....hate to see all that work come apart.

Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:14 pm

Any updates on the body work?

Zack

Tue Jul 03, 2012 4:05 am

How's your bus holding up, Sancho? Would love to see it in person next time you're cruising around Ventura or on the PCH 8)

Tue Jul 03, 2012 8:58 pm

Matt K. wrote: Quote:

What concerns me is the fact that the bus is covered in plastic filler....the filler is applied over paint and what not........the cost is probably cheap but the paint and bodywork will probably end up coming apart.

x2. the other pics clearly show unsanded filler over paint and old filler..