TheSamba.com :: View topic

Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:04 am

Wow, sorry for your accident, but it sounds like things are heading in the right direction. So you have just a standard policy with State Farm? You dealings sound much less painless than some of the horror stories I've read. I have a standard policy with Mercury at present and am waffling about getting a better insurance plan, such as Agreed Value.

Hope all continues to go well for you and the vans!

Thu Apr 12, 2012 11:44 am

I have the same insurance company(have for 15 years) and I've tried to discuss the value of mine but they don't wanna touch that and say it only matters at the time of the loss not before, they said I could get my own appraisal but that could be outsdated by the time I needed it.

i'm glad yours is turning out good, never have had an issue on claims with these guys... knock on wood.

Thu Apr 12, 2012 5:21 pm

Yes classic VW rust......

and....

and...

This plus a small dent on the upper nose panel has left me but little choice to replace the whole panel. Body Shop is worried about getting up in there to reweld a new panel on.

What have others done in this situtation, weld from the top and eliminate those side seams, or gain access underneath to mimic the factory welds?

Ordering a "new" used panel from Austin Veedub..

Thu Apr 12, 2012 7:38 pm

If a shop is doing that, I would pull the dash...the only way that will ever be done correctly is if you treat the back too.

I had all that area crusty, doing it with the dash in was a huge mistake.

but I know I want to RR my core so i'll do the backside when I go down that route this winter.

Thu Apr 12, 2012 8:01 pm

purplepeopleeater wrote: I have the same insurance company(have for 15 years) and I've tried to discuss the value of mine but they don't wanna touch that and say it only matters at the time of the loss not before, they said I could get my own appraisal but that could be outsdated by the time I needed it.

i'm glad yours is turning out good, never have had an issue on claims with these guys... knock on wood.

I also have State Farm and my agent encouraged me to get a full appraisal on my doka since it's an oddball vehicle. they did have a list of recommended shops. mostly auto body/restoration shops. I haven't done it yet. I need to.

I've found SF to be pretty good overall. when I had a car stolen they told me they check average sale prices on the same vehicle type in the area, and widen the search for info as needed to figure value.

I think it's a good idea to get an appraisal, it can't hurt. and it could help if the damage disguises the condition of the vehicle...or if it's stolen and can't be inspected.

keep us posted, sounds like all is not lost.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 3:11 pm

Stopped by to give the body shop my Doka parts list and found him working on my Westy, Taj. The vehicle took a hit on the rear air flow panel and the rear passenger wheel well.

all prior to final finishing, but looking good. The paint job is my wife's art, she is an artist and original owner of the Westy.

Sat May 19, 2012 8:23 pm

Bman, what the latest on the Doka repair?

Mon May 21, 2012 7:56 am

Hi all, and thanks for the reminder Welchmaster.

Well I am now in the process of waiting for parts to arrive. I decided to purchase new OEM roof and rear panels, side door and two gates from the VW Classic Parts in Germany. We placed the order in about 2 weeks ago through a VW dealer in Salem, I believe. We had the opportunity to deal directly with Germany, but the language barrier and communications technologies (fax) were too much for my Auto Body Shop lead (he’s and old guy, good with cars, shy with computers); he preferred to deal with a dealer, even though they would up the price and take a cut. At this point I let the shop do what it wanted for he had me running around sourcing the parts and doing all the leg work for him. Germany said it would take 2-3 weeks before the parts ship, and then they were to travel by boat. So at this point I am prepared to wait another 3-4 weeks before we get the parts, a month to do the work...and I'm hoping to have my truck new by the end of July (it will be an awesome B-day gift to myself).

I want to thank the numerous Samba folk who offered me quality used parts for sale. I appreciated your parts and trusted you had good materials; I did not pass on your offers lightly; but I was intrigued by this VWclassicparts.com and I wanted to get some experience dealing with them and their parts directly. If I can confirm that their OEM parts are quality I believe that this Classic Parts component of VW will be a critical source for parts across the VW community.

Since I will be painting half of the truck anyhow, I have been actively building bicycles and chicken coops to finance a full truck paint job. I need some minor body work on my treasure chests and there are a few places on the bed panels that need some professional prepping before full paint. I am going to have the shop paint the whole exterior of the truck along with some finishing work on the interior of the front door above the wheel wells.

Once I get the parts in from Germany I will start taking pictures and posting here about the repair process.

Fri Jun 08, 2012 8:43 pm

Bman,

did you get the parts from Classic VW?

Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:00 am

VC buys parts from vw classic parts regularly and they are high quality parts. I wouldn't doubt that they would special order something for a customer if asked nicely.

Mon Jun 11, 2012 8:27 am

Well according to the importer we have our rear cab panel and a part of the roof frame which came in by air frieght; the roof, gates and door are enroute by boat and I have not heard yet about their ETA. Will begin to dismantle my old gates, interior, bumpers and trim soon so I can save as much shop time as I can for body work and paint.

I plan on powder coating my gate hardware; I'm thinking to do them black. Anyone out there have done this and any thoughts on gate latch colors?

Tue Jun 12, 2012 8:20 pm

Black for sure!

Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:40 pm

Still waiting for my roof, gates and rear door to arrive, but I did end up sttripping most of the Doka down and delivered it to the body shop for some minor repair work as we await the final parts:

Here she is stripped:

I took out the rear bench seats, bumpers, interior panels, side mirrors and grills.

Here she is delivered to the shop:

I need to have my driver side treasure chest door hinge repaired, the one dropside needs to be repaired as well, and then the vehicle needs to be prepped for an exterior paint. The shop will not doing any cutting until we have all of our repair panels in hand. Still waiting on word of which boat is hauling this stuff. For large items shipping is a PITA.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 5:02 pm

:D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Well a belated Birthday gift from Germany arrived this week, all of my OEM repair panels from VW Classic Parts:

So the story goes like this: We ordered sometime in late May, by early July there was still no word, so we start leaning on our local dealers who lean on the German dealers to find that the last anyone had seen or heard of our parts was that they were delivered to a dock for shipping, but then lost. VW Classic's made good on their end by re-issuing our order and covering the air frieght to the USA. At Last they have come and man are they sexy!!!>>>

My new roof, just as thick or even thicker than my stock old roof:

My dusty , but stright rear cab panel:

My passenger rear cab door, this one was roughed up a little bit in shipping, a minor, but fixable crease was observed by the hinges:

My new rear and side dropsides (gates); I went with the civilian (no light cutouts) for my replacement; I think it would look good:

I love new straight gates, so another shot:

Here is the official VW Classic Parts sticker:

Now the state of my Doka, Larry my body shop artist, has already taken the old roof off:

As you can see in the lower right corner I had some rust issues that the previous owner failed to elaborate on; as you will see in the following picture this area is a mess of cancer. I believe this cancer was caused by an old military tilt being left on for years on end with no maintenance or drying allowed. In some way this Doka Shit Storm is a blessing because this whole area will be cut away and replaced:

Most of you know this, but when shopping for your dream VW, take that extra time to detach yourself from your excitment and critically evaluate the value of the vehicle with the rust that is visible and NOT visible, you don't want cancer like this hiding in your baby.

Anyway, my parts are here and the Doka surgery begins, for those of you interested I will keep you posted on the progress of this project. I feel so fortunate to be able to keep this Doka alive, I have a competant body artist, and that my insurance company came through.

On=On!

Thu Aug 02, 2012 5:42 pm

man that is exciting !! bran new gates roof and rear wall...

I'm super happy your getting your rig fixed ! not only good for you but gives me hope if I ever have a problem.

I hope some of the old sheetmetal can be used as donor patch panels.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 6:02 pm

I'm really impressed that you can get those parts! I hope you get some type of sealant into the hollow parts of the gates.

Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:58 pm

Bryan

Super stoked for you! Can't wait to see the progress!

Maybe a good time for a moon roof?

Keep em coming!

Wed Aug 08, 2012 1:41 pm

Thanks guys. Yes, so far I am pleased and amazed that we have the VW Classic Parts as a resource for new OEM parts. Although I turned down some really good used parts, I am happy to have tried this OEM resource.

As for "moon roof" are you talking skylight or one of those canvass sunroofs? Either one I am not convinced is a good idea for the rainy Oregon Coast. I had thought of trying to track down a OEM Carat sunroof, but my body mechanic talked me out of it, and I opted to put that cash toward a total restoration paint job on the Truck.

Well I visitied the shop again today to check on progress; Larry had the roof painted (L90D):

He also started in on the rear cab panel and roof frame, removing that old rust cancer:

He removed the rear cab panel only half way down, cut the new panel in half and is prepping to install. This allows us to repair and not have to remove and reapply the Line X to the truck bed. Along the way he has been finding a few rust spots and repair filling from previous restoration work.

The information I had from the previous owner was that he purchased this Truck from S. Cal where it is believed that ISP had the vehicle restored and even toured with it at a few VW shows. Here is the rear cab panel cut in half:

next is getting the roof and rear roof frame aligned and welded, from there Larry will fit the rear cab panel in place. As always I'll be documenting the process so stay tuned.

Anyone have any good recomendations for sound proofing the roof prior to replacing the headliner?

Wed Aug 08, 2012 3:00 pm

Bman wrote: Anyone have any good recomendations for sound proofing the roof prior to replacing the headliner?
The stock wool type sound panels from a late model tin top vanagon work excellent there.

Tue Aug 14, 2012 1:50 pm

syncrodoka wrote: Bman wrote: Anyone have any good recomendations for sound proofing the roof prior to replacing the headliner?
The stock wool type sound panels from a late model tin top vanagon work excellent there.

Will that leave enough room for the headliner hoops? Seems like the wool like insulation will be at least an inch thick, my body shop guy suggests I try to find some felt that is approx 1/4" thick to accomodate the HL hoops.

Syncro Doka, have you placed the tintop fabric up top on your Doka?