64 11 window frame and floor replacement

[ChrisFred]

Wonderful craftsmanship!

[BarryL]

Yeah, besides the tenacious hankering, super attaboys for all the upsidedown and overhead head scratching, fitting, welding, and grinding.

[esde]

Too many projects in the shop to turn it around today, but I at least got it puller away from the wall enough that I could start on the back. It's a bit more work that I realized. Filthy dirty from the torsion housing back, so first pull the trans. All 4 nuts on the front mount are rusted tight, and some hack mechanic welded the drivers side reduction box to the spring plate

after I broke the welds loose

The trans is really, really filthy.

It's getting a straight axle swap, so the trashed box doesn't matter. I'll pull the diff and intermediate housing to see if the trans needs a rebuild, after it gets power washed..
Hard to see, but the back has been hit pretty hard in the past

The inner luggage are panels are buckled, and the tire well is now trapezoidal

There's this pressure gauge, hanging from a loop of copper that runs to the engine bay. You just have to wonder..

I pulled the fuel tank, and it is the only part of this bus that's pristine. Apparently it was being heavily guarded by lots of mice

Here you can see where the luggage floor was buckled

The hinge carrier is trashed as well, as is the driver side pillar

Oh, and my shop light

To move forward, I've decided to replace both rear corners all the way to the belt line, the hinge carrier, and the drivers side rear pillar, so another order to Klassic Fab has been made. I'm not sure how to straighten the inner rear luggage side panels, and spare tire well. It may be best to carefully cut it out, straighten, clean, and then weld it back in.. a lot of work. Next though, tarp and sandblast the rear, and prime the underside.
SD

[esde]

chopped a bunch out of the rear in anticipation of the new corners and pillars arriving. The tracking shows they're in Philly, should have them tomorrow. As I was taking it apart, I'm seeing it was hit pretty good, and it's going to be a big more than I wanted to get it straight. Here's the first cut

look closely you can see the rear pillar is pushed in

It's been cut open and hacked back together

look closely, the vertical support from the luggage floor to the wheel tub it bent..

Ugliness

I didn't hold much hope that this inner panel could be salvaged, but I had to at least try. Here's as much effort as I was willing to put forth

It actually was doing something

But then it started to pull stuff I don't want it to, so it will have to go

I got a rusty, but straight corner with the bus, and salvaged the part from it.

I'll start cutting the old part out of the bus, now that I've been able to see how it's welded on the donor panel. Man that thing is hemmed in there..

Got the trans cleaned. The case has a lot of corrosion and pitting, and I think it might be best to replace it

The first set of fulcrums was ok

The second set was shot, and the axle trashed

And that side gear was seized in the differential. Great.
Nothing to lose, so I tear it down

And press out the side gear which is cracked in three places

I've taken the gear stacks apart, and everything looks nice. I'll replace the syncros, and the 1-2 slider maybe as it shows signs of a rough life. Had to make a wrench for the pinion nut. I love making tools, especially when someone wants to charge me a mint for something simple. It's even better when I can use crap I have sitting around, better still if I can recycle old car parts..
Here's the nut

And the tube I found that is PERFECT to make the socket. Ironically it's from the front beam of a friends car, chopped out when I narrowed it 4".

Notched

Sketch the wrench body

Ta da

In action. I used a trashed slider hub in the vise, and slid the pinion in to hold it

Waiting on some parts from Geno, Long, and Berg to put it all back together. I tore apart another bus trans, that was in shit condition, but had a good diff.

And lastly, some windshield frame repair
The standard rust on a standard bus, getting chopped out

the Auto Craft repair piece after fitting

And the inside. I'm going to get the inner repair done, using the new outer as a guide.

I'm on the hunt for an entire rear luggage floor, to replace from the hinge carrier to the back seat. Pictures suggest that they are the same up to 71, though I will have to salvage my tire well to re use, if I find a bay window bus to donate metal. Next to cut out the old floor, and sandblast what's left!
SD

[Stocknazi]

Nice work on the trans nut tool.
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WANTED:
58 Westfalia cabinet knobs (3 needed), roof rack, and (7) privy tent poles (silver painted).

"When the people are afraid of the government, that's tyranny. But when the government is afraid of the people, that's liberty."
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God."

Thomas Jefferson

[esde]

burning the night oil..
drilling spot welds to free up the rear side panel

I've got an air drill, nice for this job, and a few different bits. The right bit is an 8mm spot weld cutter and works great. It would be better if it didn't leave an 8mm hole. The pilot point bit on the left, works well IF you can find and center it over the weld.

Here's the wrinkled floor without all of the crap in the way

I may have found a replacement, fingers crossed
The rear pillars are a little different from the original

Here I'm comparing new left to old right, but you can see the difference. I've emailed the supplier about the difference, but no reply yet
Did get these chunks in the mail. 2 days from Columbia to my place, wow!
Hung a corner to make it look more like a bus. I think it's going to be important to fit the corners with the floor, as it all ties together. And then pray the hatch still closes..

Moved on to the drivers side B pillar and mid wall pillars. Oh and the inner rocker

Working on the B pillar

Patch on the inside

One of the mid pillars. They are a bit thin and hard to weld

Backing the weld up with a scrap of copper sheet works wonders. It makes a great heat sink, and keeps the weld from falling out

Here's #3

I had looked at Ken Shapiro's pics where the panel wasn't lining up with the pillar. The profile on these wasn't perfect, so I made sure to match the contour to the outside skin, and let the inside fall where it did. One is a bit proud of the original pillar inside, I built it up with weld and blended it.
Finally dropped both floor pans in and promptly loaded it up with shit

And more tomorrow. Procrastinating the sandblasting, but it has to happen sooner or later..

[Schwing]

Awesome Seth.
Really appreciate you sharing all of these details. I went out to the garage to work on the single cab last night and decided to shut off the heat and watch netflix instead. You've motivated me to get out there tonight. Also, really appreciate the details of the rear puzzle pieces since I should be at that stage in early 2015 after I wrap up front end and outer rockers. Keep on keepin on.
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Shadetree Westy
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=657279&highlight=

Single Cab - BBXXVII Long Distance Winner
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

[esde]

Found a rear floor clip, but no time to look at it till after Christmas, so I'm focusing on the other end of the bus. Plus, the nose of the bus is right in front of the heater..
Continuing with the passenger side windshield frame repair. The flange that retains the windshield rubber is two layers. My Auto Craft piece replaces the outer layer, the inside layer is actually the edge of the dash, so I got started repairing that.
patch needed

Patch clamped, copper backing

Tacked

Ground

Repeat, over and over

After it got ground flat, cleaned, and primed with weld through primer, The repair piece was drilled with for welds, and clamped in place. The Clekos made this job so much neater than if I had just used pinch clamps

Completely welded. Finding the right voltage was a bitch, I had to really fight one corner that wanted to burn through no matter what.

And after grinding with the 2" roloc discs. I absolutely LOVE these things for grinding small welds

And finishing the real pain in the ass spot, that is right in front of you, where the rubber will meet the dash
I got the little christmas tree shaped carbide burr for my die grinder. It doesn't come to a point, but a really small rounded end.

really the perfect tool for the job

I imagine the driver side will go a bit faster, now that I have figured out a system, but still it is tedious work. I estimate this side was about 7-8 hours total..

[BarryL]

That right there is some mighty impressive work. I admire the effort and applaud your progress.

[esde]

A few minutes for an update after a Christmas nap..
Took the plunge and cut out all of the bad sheet metal

The driver side engine "D" pillar is beyond salvage

The passenger side is a little better

The angle of this brace shows how far everything had been pushed in

Also, broke out the sandblaster and made a damned mess. A lot of pitting, but fortunately everything you see is solid

The black is rust neutralizing paint, I use it after sandblasting to treat the areas where pitting makes complete removal unlikely

After that messy job was over, I decided to work on something clean, and got back to the transmission. Tookm the old differential, which had an exploded side gear and was trashed, and made a tool to measure ring gear center to pinion gear

Essentially bushed where the cross shaft would fit down to 5/16" to accept a mini metric indicator. Measuring the diff is the hardest part
In place, minus side cover #2

Also with the indicator to determine differential side shim total

More later, someone just brought out fresh cookies..

[esde]

Christmas gift for the project: a nicely salvaged rear luggage floor section

Major thanks to samba member poptop, who had been hanging onto this, and made a deal to help me along with my project

Very little rust, aside from surface rust. It's not a walk through section, so no tire well, but it does have seat belt brackets!

I'll see about straightening my tire well, or finding another, or making one..
but first I'll get this blasted clean, and drill out a zillion spot welds to get it lined up. Also made some headway on the transmission. Got the mains haft and pinion shafts assembled

I was feeling pretty good about the job, after setting the shims for correct gear free play, and then I realized that I left off the pinion bearing retainer flange.
Doh!

Back to the press, at least it gave me a chance to clean everything one more time

I'm hoping to get them installed into the the intermediate housing tomorrow, so I can get the shift forks adjusted, and free up my bench. I need it clear so I can get started freshening up an engine for this mess.
SD

[brettsvw]

Great job saving a bus that most would have cut up for parts.
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.







My 59 kombi build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635003&highlight=

My buggy build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=558601&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[esde]

[esde]

Either the cold, or the holidays have slowed me down a bit. Fortunately my assembly bench is down in the basement, so i could work on the trans when there wasn't time to head over to the shop
Gear stacks in the intermediate housing

I chopped the original case to use as a shift fork jig. Here it is being used. Note the reverse relay lever. Every picture I've seen shows a stamped one, this looks cast or forged

Into the trans case with it. I used a chopstick in one of the holes for the pinion bearing retainer to align it with the shim and case holes while I shoved the whole thing together, worked like a charm.

Figured out what shims gave me the proper back lash on the ring gear, got a big ol assortment from Long, plus some I had

Marked the gear to check the pattern

It looked good, you'll have to take my word for it as I had yellow compound on my hands and didn't take a flick.
in

closed. I used some three bond on the gaskets, as I hate leaks

This is the stock 4.37 ring gear with all stock gears, no RGB's. I had wanted to hold out to find a 4.12, but the early ones are scarce. I hope it drives ok with my 1835. Hell, I hope it works, period.
Lengthened some axle tubes to go with the long spline-long axles last month. Just put the boots on and pressed the short ends on

Now it's ready to haul over to the shop, install the axles and type 3 brakes. Only thing I might change is swapping on a new bus nosecone from Rancho so I can add a reverse light.
Back to the body. Drilled out many, many spot welds, and checked to see that the new luggage floor section would actually fit into the bus without taking it further apart. Thankfully it does, barely.

if only it was a walkthrough floor..

took it back out and started stripping it down. No sense installing it any way other than rust free and clean

and that is where I left it tonight. There are a few spots where the pitting is deep, and I'm concerned about getting the rust out and stopped. Might actually go old school with some naval jelly on those spots, before priming the underside and getting it ready to install.

[1975 Kombi]

You guys in the split forum are incredibly skilled and talented. Awesome work.
_________________
Brett

“He’s decieving you boy! Reach into his pocket and take what he’s got.” Mr. Crabbs.

75 Westy auto
03 Jetta TDI
71 SB
74 Westy
Licensed pilot (single engine land VFR)
--
Rust In Pieces: 72 Bug, 73 Bug, 81 Rabbit LS D 2D, 83 Rabbit D 2D, 84 Jetta TD GL, 85 Jetta D, 68 Z28 RS 302, 91 Passat 16v

[wrenchnride247]

[esde]

70? hahaha
I will be happy to manage a reasonable rpm at 60. My thoughts were to run a slightly larger tire in the back, like a 205/65/15, but I haven't even looked to see whats involved to fit them. Or thought about wheels. I started a set of 16x5.5" smoothies based on wide 5 beetle wheel centers for my bug, and I was thinking they might be right for this. Actually, I have longer range plans that involve putting a stroker crank into an 1835 that I have, megasquirt, and a stronger trans with different gearing to match, but that's for next winter. If this one isn't ideal it won't upset me too much, rarely do I find something to be exactly to my liking the first time around. As fate would have it most of the parts for a different 4.12 trans sort of popped up, and I'll just sit on it till I need it. Right now I'm just gunning to get it welded together and primed to drive out of the shop this coming summer. believe it, money has been bet on it.

[mandraks]

205/65/15 are not larger than stock, just wider
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regards

Uli

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'53 3-Fold Oval, L35 Metallic Blue, looking for a narrow hatch panel

[esde]

Soaked the floor in phosphoric acid for a bit, neutralized it, sanded again, and epoxy primed.

In place and somewhat fitted

As I had suspected, everything was scrunched forward a bit. I ended up using some large bar clamps to push the sides back some, maybe a 1/4"
Starting to see how it is all going to line up

SUre feels nice to just have something there

Welded up some holes at the flange that holds the tank spout. Felt strange welding with the mig gun shoved in the filler door

And then I found the strange part. The sloped section, behind the seat back, where it meets the wheel well is curved at the outer corners

And because the wheel well insn't curved, it pushes the part up and creates a wrinkle. The part I cut out was already bent badly and honestly I didn't pay a ton of attention when I was removing it. So, what is the story behind the difference? It seems like the wheel well would have to curve down at the rocker for this to fit. I'm sure I can cut it straight and make it fit, but it's driving me nuts trying to figure it out..

Anyway, to move forward, I'm going to clamp this all in place, and then get the rear corners fit next. There are a few welds on the corner panel upper edge that will be best to do with the luggage floor removed, but of course I need the floor in to help line up the corner. Never easy right? Also, got a nice year end deal on a new mig machine, Miller multimatic 200

200 amp wire feeder, runs on 110 or 220 volts, got the spool gun, also does DC tig and stick. My Esab MM260 does all of the same, but it's 250 pounds and hardly portable, and needs some repair. The new machine is 38 pounds with a 10 pound spool loaded! I'm loving it!

[Daniel G]

Keep up the good work!
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1967 13 Window Deluxe

1966 Beetle

1971 Panel

1978 Westfalia Camper

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