Kombia the 1974 Midwest Bus Migrated South to Louisiana

PicklePickle · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:52 pm Post subject:

Okay, so here are some pictoral updates.

Removed seats in cargo area and found the floor is very good but needs minor attention to some small rust areas--mainly where bolts and seams are.
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So, I got myself a really good compressor because I don't want to find myself lacking the proper compressor for various jobs and because I'd rather buy one that will last for many years than one that will barely suffice for a few. I then got a bunch of cheap air tools (air ratchet, impact wrench, sand blaster, paint gun etc.) because I can't get the good stuff on those and the compressor--so I'd rather have cheap tools and a good compressor than the other way around (and yes, that is right in our kitchen--as you may have read from other posts, I have a very accomodating wife Smile

)

Then I got down to work with the drill and wirebrush on the rust on the floor, followed by spot priming those areas
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I didn't finish, because it was getting dark and tomorrow is work so I wrapped it up but I did get a lot done. Here is a closeup:
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I hit all the bolts too just as a preventative measure:
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Once blasting and priming is done, I'll follow up the floor with a couple coats of fresh paint, but that's it for today!!!!
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

Caleb Melvin · Posted: Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject:

Is this where you fell asleep computer and Bentley in hand? Looks good! This is a common place to see rust because wet dirt/needles would fall down the holes in the rubber mat around the seat mounts and hold moisture, causing rust. My '78 had the same problem...
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My Current Project

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PicklePickle · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:05 pm Post subject:

Painting today. I refinished the floor with a coat of fresh paint sprayed from a harbor freight spray gun. Came out pretty good I think. Cost a quart of rustoleum and can of acetone.

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I'll see tomorrow if I need/want to do a second coat.
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

GusC2it · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 6:16 pm Post subject:

It great to see origional paint like on your 74! keep it up!
Those tires will work fine. Ive been using tires like that on my 75 for 30 years. Never had a problem, even with a lot of weight, and it handles much better then truck tires! Idea

_________________
75 type 2 http://gusc1.tripod.com/1975vwtype2
Old vices have now been upgraded to bad habits.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-Wild-Weekend-2011-St-Pete-Fl/197064760336111

PicklePickle · Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 7:36 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject:

Back at it again today. I layed down the final coat of paint on the cargo area and snapped one last pic just for good measure.

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All in all, I am very happy. I even had enough paint left over to spray a wicker chair that my wife wanted me to paint. Everything worked out just great.

In other news, I got a mother load order from bus depot--one of the things in that order was my new set of front and rear Koni Shocks. I'll be installing them over the next few days at some point. Too bad I won't really know how they ride for while yet--but it'll all be worth it once I am finished and put Kombia on the road.

Oh yeah, I also got the new front emblem clips and put the front emblem on. No pics--it's just an emblem...and it's on. Smile

peace!
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

bug-nuts · Posted: Wed Jul 30, 2008 6:38 pm Post subject:

How did I miss this? Where was it advertised? I live about 30 miles from Independence and have been looking for a bus. It looks great though,,, you've done a terrific job.

PicklePickle · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:09 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 7:26 pm Post subject:

Well over the past couple of weeks I have made a LOT of progress.

I installed a piece of acrylic laminate into the cargo area and glued indoor/outdoor carpeting to it. I mounted the rear seats and all and was feeling pretty good, then realized I did not cut a hole for the heater duct coming out of the floor. So, out came everything again and this time not only did I cut the hole for the heater duct, but I also lined the bottom of the laminate with thin packing foam to make sure that the laminate doesn't scratch of the paint on the floor and also to reduce the clacky noise that was resulting from walking on the floor with nothing between the laminate and the metal floor. Found some REALLY COOL cupholders at wally world which I have mounted in the back seat. I'll be getting more of those.

I also removed the rear hatch window and replaced the seal. Easy as it gets. In five minutes the new window was in and I've never done it before. I don't know why people seem to have such a problem with that.

And I got ALL of my Koni shocks installed!!! Yay!

Here's the pics:

Here is my bathroom wall laminate:
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Marking out the holes for the seat mounting bolts:
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Some soft rubber to protect the area where the seats mount down:
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Refinished hardware:
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Refinishing seat mounting rails:
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Installing laminate then carpet:
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Seats thrown in for now:
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Interior back out again:
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This time we'll put some foam down and cut a hole for the heater duct!
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Interior back in again!
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Cupholders!!
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Pulled old rear hatch window seal, sand down, prime and paint area:
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New rear hatch window seal installed. Took 5 minutes:
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Replace KYBs with new Konis:
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Oh yeah, and while doing half of this stuff, I have been sick!! Very Happy

_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

Rubber Duck · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:12 pm Post subject:

I installed a piece of acrylic laminate into the cargo area and glued indoor/outdoor carpeting to it.
Here is my bathroom wall laminate:
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[/quote]

Great job!! I was wondering what I need to put in below my carpet...this looks like pretty good stuff. What is it actually? Bathroom wall laminate? How did you fix it to the floor? Or does it just lay down on it?

greenbus pilot · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 8:36 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:37 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:04 pm Post subject:

Got my *new* headrests from Karl today. Now, apparently, black is almost impossible to find according to Karl--and since I couldn't find hardly any headrests at all, that's not to hard to imagine.

So, I open the box and what do I find?

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Just kidding! Anyway, I asked Karl for 5 of the nicest brown headrests that he had and he delivered! They all look like new!

So, I coated them all with vinyl paint/dye. In no time at all I had five headrests that look factory black. The paint/dye dries extremely fast too, so that made things go a lot quicker.

I lightly set them in place for now just to get the effect. They look great and I am real excited because now I don't have to worry about my kids and other passengers heads snapping back so easily if we get rear-ended.

Here is a quick photo that I snapped. It doesn't do justice because I had to use the flash as it is almost dark out, but it still looks good!

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Thank you Karl!
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

Toaster on Wheels · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 6:55 pm Post subject:

It's looking great! Good looking fam too. A lot of this touch up stuff I'm currently working on with my bus as well, baby car seats et al. Good call on the headrests, Karl hooked me up with the two headrests up front. I think I may have to make the investment for rest in the near future (if I can find them!).

By the way, what kind and colour paint are you using here?
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I recently bought two cans of Pastel White L90D from the local CMAX and it nearly killed my wallet. Unleashed them in the front floor section. I'll be cleaning up the tracks for the rear hatch seal in the near future and don't need an exact match. What you have there looks pretty damn close!

Cheers!
_________________
'75 Bus
"in the abundance of water, the fool is thirsty."
-marley

PicklePickle · Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 7:42 pm Post subject:

The paint that I used in the area under the window seal is actually just rustoleum automotive paint in white. Since the area will not be visible, I wasn't worried about exact match either. You can see the can in this pic:

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I prepped with alcohol, sanding, and then priming with a high build primer. Then I sanded again and then painted about 3 coats. I think it came out fantastic since all I needed out was a bottle of alcohol, can of primer and can of paint and I was done with the entire process including window installation within an hour.
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

biscuiteater · Samba Member Joined: August 13, 2008 Posts: 8

I just wanted to congratulate you on how well your project is turning out. When you stated that you arent a "body" man, and your pics still look good, I found myself almost having hope for myself.

PicklePickle · Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 1:06 pm Post subject:

PicklePickle · Posted: Sun Aug 17, 2008 5:19 pm Post subject:

Well today I removed the front windshield--never done that before. I cleaned up, sanded down and primed the sill area below the windshield and also painted the metal dash since the windshield was out.

I don't have a new windshield yet. I was going to re-install the old one, but it just looks really bad, so I want to put a nice new windshield in to make the best of all of the work that was done today. I'll see what my local glass shops can do this week in finding me a new windshield. Worst case, I'll order one online.

I also changed the bumper over from the 78 Westy since I recently painted it and it looks better, but I didn't really take any pics of that.

Windshield out:
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Front windshield sill area:
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Sill cleaned up:
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Masking off to paint dash:
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Dash all painted up:
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Masking off sill:
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Priming sill:
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All done!

Now time to wrap up to protect from rain. I really wish I had a real garage!
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What really drew out the process was the dash. It took a long time to even dry to the touch because the humidity is about 1000% right now and will probably be the way for the next month or two down here in south Louisiana. But the the sun came out and gave me a break for the afternoon and things got moving along again.

I can't wait to get a new windshield in..I am so pumped about that!
_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

PicklePickle · Posted: Tue Aug 19, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject:

Went to Babin's Auto Glass today and picked up new the (and really nice and clear!) windshield. Installed the new seal from Bus Depot. Inserted twine into the seal for installation. Soaked the seal and sill in silicon spray and popped that baby in there and pulled the twine.

It took help from my wife to hold to window in place from the outside and we learned that it is best to start by getting the top in first, that way when you need to put pressure on the window during the final twine pull, you aren't having to climb up on the bumper and push down on the top of the window. Instead, you can stand firmly on the ground and push up and in and whala!

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_________________
"Aircooled VWs are like roaches in that if you let one in, they'll soon be nesting all around you in great numbers."
-------------------------------------------------
1966 Volvo 120 Amazon "Shaky"
1974 Orange Bus aka "Kombia"
2012 White CC Sport aka "Nim"
2013 Verde Chiaro Green Fiat aka "Fifi"

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Kombia the 1974 Midwest Bus Migrated South to Louisiana
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