operation rust nose

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:09 pm Post subject: operation rust nose

well, seeing that i am a nice guy and have a desire to fuel my raging appetite for rust i have stepped up to the plate to put the nose of this bus back together. story goes in a previous life, a bunch of mexicans stuffed the nose full of newspaper and bondo, hence, the rust. on to the pix

6:30 arrival at my house

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

after doing roll backs and donuts, its in the operating room Razz

i had a donor nose that i pre-welded a new windshield channel into, that is what will be used on the top

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

i may have to ask for a few of these on top of the deal with the owner Very Happy

the wolfgang part is a month away, and i wasn't willing to wait, so we decided to do the repair on the donor parts

out with the old

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

in with the new

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

well, not quite. i am waiting for POR 15 to dry, i did both sides, which is a bittersweet victory, as i will burn some when i start welding

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

well, stay tuned Smile

VDubTech · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject:

Damn, wish I would have known. I'm parting a '71 right now with a good nose on it.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

enjoispammy8 · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:36 pm Post subject:

norcalmike · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:37 pm Post subject:

cant save them all. selling parts makes more money
_________________
73 Thing
61 Double Cab

WANTED: Howe Motors Plate Frames

enjoispammy8 · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:41 pm Post subject:

its too bad he lives in NY. that looks better than my nose.
_________________
1969 Westy, 1690cc. montana red and cloud white.
MY BUS MOVIE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poeSqYdYHws

VDubTech · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:41 pm Post subject:

Believe me, if you saw it underneath you would be amazed it's still in one piece. No outriggers, no jackpoints, rotted frame rails, rotted beam. It sat on grass for about 10 years less than 50 feet from a river. I know it looks nice, and everytime I post a pic of it saying I'm parting it someone asked me why. It's bad, despite what the body looks like. Here's where I unearthed it.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 9:52 pm Post subject:

enjoispammy8 · Posted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:16 pm Post subject:

Vdubtech, how does the bottom of the nose look? all rusted out?
_________________
1969 Westy, 1690cc. montana red and cloud white.
MY BUS MOVIE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poeSqYdYHws

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:44 am Post subject:

4Doora · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 5:04 am Post subject: Re: operation rust nose

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:55 am Post subject:

yea, i know. i think i can keep it under control. i just wanted to get some protection between the panels. the lower section will be a bit easier

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:06 pm Post subject:

well, got about 90% of the top done, need to go pick up some gas for my trusty mig.....

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

has come a long way from this

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

well, going back at it Cool

NLCTVWguy · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 5:56 pm Post subject: The best thing about this job

The best thing about Skills is that he lives where no one can bother him. There is no other civilization near his house. Smile

This allows him to concentrate on the project at hand without interruption.

Seriously, he's done some amazing work on my Bus so far.
I haven't been this excited about it since we took it on the
ferry to Block Island!

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Here it is loaded for the trip up...

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

The Bus in some happier days:

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It's going to be fun to drive it again! It's always been a great running van and having it back will make for a much better summer.

All my pics of it are here (more being added as I find them).

http://s200.photobucket.com/albums/aa126/NLCTVWguy/VWstuff/

--Rob

iprangen · Posted: Fri Mar 27, 2009 6:21 pm Post subject:

Finally people are giving Bays a bit of respect and believe that they are worth giving a nose job.

Doesn't any aftermarket company have an early Bay nose available? Is late Bay all that can be found?

Nice job!

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:30 am Post subject: Re: The best thing about this job

NLCTVWguy

Ah you know I'm just kidding man. Just like I know you're kidding about extra $20 bills. Shocked

Have you told anyone about your compensation for the job?

As for nose panels, even the full nose skins require significant work in 3 areas: upper turn signal holes require filler panels. emblem bump needs to be flattened. Lower section needs to be fitted to match the early lower nose with turn signals, requiring a weld line all the way across the nose no matter what.

None of the shops were able to give me a firm price on delivering a panel to CT. They all see to be truck freight from CA and that shipping price could be anywhere from $175 to $450 from the various folks I talked to.

And that's why the nose from a different 70 Station Wagon (i.e. Deluxe Bus) is getting sectioned into mine to save it. The work so far is really awesome!

(BTW just sandblasted the front vent grille...)
--Rob

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:48 pm Post subject: Re: The best thing about this job

NLCTVWguy · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 4:54 am Post subject: This is why

This is the reason you can't effectively pay a body shop to restore one of these. There's an incredible amount of work in these types of repairs and at any reasonable hourly rate the price would just be astronomical.

I think it's incredible that you were able to move so fast on this one already. I bet you can't wait to do it again! Shocked

BTW I know a lot of stuff got thrown in the back, so the turn signals and their hardware could be right behind the seat. We were kind of loading up the parts in the interior from the inside... Embarassed

--Rob

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 3:30 pm Post subject:

more progress

don't want to forget the drain hose

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

POR-15 inner section. this was right before the second coat

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

nose pinned up for welding

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

and its on! with a coat of POR-15 on both sides

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

dam, what a lot of work. still not out of the woods yet. Crying or Very sad

NLCTVWguy · Posted: Sun Mar 29, 2009 9:21 pm Post subject: You're not kidding

I'm amazed, really. You did warn me you work fast. But damn...

I'm gonna have to buy you a case of beer or something. Maybe a whole singlecab bed full of beer.

Razz

Come to think of it, the bus you're working on was full, to the headliner, of beer bottles in old boxes when I got it. Icehouse, if I remember right. Well, she was saved from certain death at a junkyard, so it's not surprising she has a checkered past. I saved it 10 years ago this month... it was in the front lot where it had been dropped off, and never made it past the front gate into the yard of Blonders'.

Jeez I feel lame. All I did today was solve 3 long-term maintenance problems at the plant and then help pull a blown Jetta III engine...
--Rob

>Help >Donate >Buy Shirts >Register >Log in	See all Samba banner ads \| Advertise on TheSamba.com

	Forum Index -> Bay Window Bus	All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4 Next
Page 1 of 4