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Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:11 am

hello Samba members!

After saving up money from my summer job in 2012 i was able to finally purchase my first BUS!I have been interested in volkswagens since i was about twelve, and have been going to some local shows. I lurk on this sight a lot too.

i got this bus last year from a great guy in Hershey. The bus was originally found abandoned in a church lot in harrisburg, i have even found some lettering on the back on the bus to reveal, "Seventh Day Adventists"! which is pretty sweet.

Anyways about the bus, it is a 1965 early split screen, so it has slash style bumpers before the pointy ones. I had agreed with a local shop who said they would mentor me and help restore it, however they and another shop have bailed on me, which was pretty sad. I start college this fall, and i almost sold the bus because i don't want it to rust in my parents yard. But i can not separate from it and it definitely deserves to be brought onto the road, so with this upcoming summer I am trying to get it back onto the road before college. I will be attempting to restore as much with the help of my local vw community. Plus i just turned 18 so i still have plenty of time to take proper care of this bus, especially living in the harsh northeast! :lol:

There are a lot of pictures in my galley, but if you would like to help me by giving me advice or anything really, I'll need plenty and would appreciate it!

Thanks!! :D

Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:25 am

Hold onto it.
Remember college and the fun that goes with it should be your first priority. You can't relive these years.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 10:57 am

Indeed...Hold on to it, even if you cant mess with it for years, hold onto it. Its rough but it'll be a learning experience and worth it on the first drive.....

Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:01 am

Congrats on the bus! And agreed, hold on to it...

Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:16 am

It's just time, money (and labor). Hold onto it.
Save your pennies if you have/find any.

It really looks like a fantastic bus.
Rust, as I am sure you have seen, can be dealt with.
Welcome, congrats, and have fun in college.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 11:18 am

Keep it.

I guess it depends on what your plans are for the bus, but I would start with getting some of the rust repair done. The rear corners looks especially rough. Then just start going through the mechanicals to make sure it drives, shifts and stops. These things are surprisingly uncomplicated to work on.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:08 pm

Cool bus.

Keep in mind that it'll costs at least $5k to put a derelict bus like that back on the road even if you do the work yourself. And that doesn't include metal work, which you will probably need. I have a bus that was in similar condition that I got running and driving. It was alot of fun. I was fortunate in that I was able to get by with metal patches and pop rivits just to get it functional. I'm not sure you will be so lucky.

Also, you probably won't be done by the end of the summer if you do all the work yourself. Stuff just ends up taking alot of time in my experience. You'll be researching things, searching for parts, making mistakes etc..

Sorry to be a wet blanket, but it's better to know this now than later. If you do fix it up and drive it you will really enjoy the satisfaction of it.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:12 pm

^^^^^

Agreed. You'll likely have tons of metal work to do on this bus. Once you start cutting, it just doesn't stop.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:37 pm

congrats on your first bus.
I have found that parents will not let you park a rusted (as in ugly) bus in the yard for a lng time. i have also found that first time owners get frustrated if there is no progress made on such a project...

You have connections to some local bus guys? if so i would make it priority one to make it driveable, this has the advantage that it turns from a pile to a vehicle. On top of that it keeps you motivated.

have somebody help you with going through the motor to get it running. then look at the brakes, get them fixed, it is easy enough to do the work.

This will make it easy to move it if it gets in your parents' way, you can drive it and smile, take it to shops to give you an idea what it might cost to fix things you can't fix.

I would in fact not do any rust repairs at first as these will disable the vehicle and make it even more ugly (i promise parents will see it that way eventually).

6 months down the road you will know if you still love it, and can start working on fixing the rust. It looks like it might need pretty much every panel ever made. But at least you will be able to drive it in between repairs.

anyway, you do what suits you, but that is what i would do. cars that don't drive, have a tendency to never get fixed....

Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:43 pm

Great advice so far. Just drive it and have fun with it. You are too young to be worried about it being restored, all that work will just eat into your special college years! Keep it to fix up later, or buy a nicer one down the road.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 12:59 pm

All depends on his situation. If hes not in a shiney beamer mercedes neighborhood, parents might not even mind. Look at the shed its next to. Well used and in need of some paint. They might just like the shed as it is. Bus might fit right in. Although Id bet the bus might feel better inside the shed/garage out of the weather.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 1:01 pm

Does PA have body inspection? We don't down here, which means if it starts, stops, and has lights it's legal. And besides, you never know where you'll end up. So hold onto it. No one ever says I'm going to go to college and move to Georgia.....but it happens.

Thu Mar 28, 2013 2:06 pm

shiningstar76 wrote: Does PA have body inspection? We don't down here, which means if it starts, stops, and has lights it's legal. And besides, you never know where you'll end up. So hold onto it. No one ever says I'm going to go to college and move to Georgia.....but it happens.

true that, happened to me too :) and the weather is much better too

Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:22 pm

I am definitely planning on keeping the og paint, and i am just trying to attempt to get it to drivable condition with all the metal work. It needs new floors front pan, cargo floor. New rockers on both sides, new doglegs, miscellaneous patches, and engine bay work. I will probably try to blend the paint.

The engine turns and i'll try to upgrade it to a 1600cc for starters. Probably try to get new brakes, etc. but it needs what you can expect a new project to need really, :?

but if anyone wants to hook me up with some good prices of anything extra they think i may need i would be down :)

Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:24 pm

it just definitely needs some serious metal work, i really want all the doors to be able to shut and close properly most of all!

Thu Mar 28, 2013 5:48 pm

dude, my bus is rusty as hell! ive been workin on the suspension ,brakes, and steering for a while now. i lowered it lot with hydraulics to raise it and what not , but the point im trying to make is get it running and driving spray down the door hinges and anything else that needs to move with oil and drive it ! you can always do the metal repair. that takes a but load of time . i just got mine on the road and dont have any reason to fix the rust soon . everybody loves it just like it is . especially me! you have a lot of fun getting it ready to drive and even more fun driving it!
heres mine

Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:06 pm

demon1018 wrote: dude, my bus is rusty as hell! ive been workin on the suspension ,brakes, and steering for a while now. i lowered it lot with hydraulics to raise it and what not , but the point im trying to make is get it running and driving spray down the door hinges and anything else that needs to move with oil and drive it ! you can always do the metal repair. that takes a but load of time . i just got mine on the road and dont have any reason to fix the rust soon . everybody loves it just like it is . especially me! you have a lot of fun getting it ready to drive and even more fun driving it!
heres mine

yeah! yours is awesome, i love it. maybe i should at least get some floors so they're not on the road :lol:

Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:17 pm

im looking for a bunch of old street signs to rivit all over the floor . i can put a nice new floor in later 8) the prob is if you start to fix the sheet metal right , it will all start running into each other so youll end up having to fix everthing. dont get me wrong, one day ill do that . im restoring a 66 bug for my wife now. it had tons of rust. not no more but ive got a ton of time in it and its a bare shell right now. you dont sound like you have that kinda time plus you never done it before. i do it for a living. of course working on the bug has been done after work. youll need more like a year or more to do all that rust repair properly . dont rush it and hack it all up . you wont be happy. im having fun with mine right now. hell i took it to the pasco bug jam and won 1st place i custom rat rod. i didnt expect to win anything but sure was sweet!

Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:19 pm

Get the metal work done to the point that is safe!!! Then work on the mechanics to get it running and drive it til it falls apart again and start all over again once it falls apart!

Thu Mar 28, 2013 7:16 pm

Since your in PA, feel free to join this group. Its free. http://www.leakoil.net/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
A lot of guys on here have advice that always comes free and parts that usually come free too. We're mostly Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan folks, but we accept anyone. If we can help, we will.

And yes, I agree with everyone else. Don't sell it. Just take your time and get it back on the road. :D