1964 Light Grey Kombi

[junichi]

Got the b pillar to work. Had to enlarge the hinge slot and cheat the panel up a bit front the bottom of the inner rocker lip. I think it will all line up in the end..I did manage to get the door hinge remounted and it has what appears to be the proper range of adjustment, other than upwards. In thise pic the rocker is just dry fit. And needs to be repositioned to fit properly.

I had to cut this part off the rocker strengthener to make the WW rocker play nice with the KF b-pillar. And after the above pic had to nibble away a little more for a tight fit. No surprise, but it would probably have been better to use all one brand. The WW rocker profile is also slightly different from KF...not sure which is more correct as my originals were gone.

the WW rocker is very nice but the ends needed flattening. The seam was wavy which prevents a good fit against the b-pillar.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Got the c-pillar to work- sort of. I mounted it 1/4 " high so the holes would line up. But now it does not properly support the rear rocker. Haven't quite figured out what to do about that. This pic shows c-pillar halfway adjusted...had to sneak it up a bit more and also enlarge the slotted holes.

Almost fit.. More trimming needed.

Gerson rear rocker and WW cargo door rocker have different profiles. But look good enough for me. Those with higher standards will not want to mix and match these pieces. A little high on the welds, but penetration is OK. I will weld the backside too for good measure and to help make up for my poor welding skills.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[Red Fau Veh]

That's a lot of work, and work is hard but if you clean the areas to be welded really well before you zap 'em, you get cleaner stuff and better connection. Are you on the bottle(argon mix)? It's also a good idea to learn how to use the welding calculator so you dial in the speed and power for the thickness of the material your welding. Rock on mr.!
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1971 Deluxe Sunroof Bay 1905 stroker, dual idf40's, 74mm Scat forged crank, engle 110 cam. CB 044 heads, AutoCraft rockers, chromoly push rods
1973 Orange transporter stock type 4 with dual 40 Dellortos and Empi single quiet pack
1969 Adventurewagen blue whale Gene Berg 1776 built by Dave Kawell dual 36 DRLA's, Vintage Speed exhaust, Bosch 019 screamer
1961 Swivel Seat camper, L345 grey

[junichi]

Yes, I am using blue shield. I will do as you suggest and hope to see a difference. I had an experienced friend dial in the welder but it is so much harder on vertical than horizontal. I suspect my technique accounts for most of the problems, but anything I can do to improve is worth doing.

Thanks for the tips!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[Michael11]

Look like the bus I just bought! Right down to the black around the front windshields..

[junichi]

And black wheels and bumpers!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

progress has been low as I've had to lay some new floors and put new trim in our master bedroom. Manged to sneak in a bit of bus work' though..
Fabricated this simple piece using a wood buck to bend the curved portion.

Needs a bit more grinding but I'll get to that later.

And got this ground a bit..

And the biggest accomplishment.... Got the front seatbelt bolt removed using lots of PB Blaster and a huge wrench! Now I can start patching there..
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Finally back at it a bit... Got the closing piece in for the b-pillar and started cutting out the rotten floor and a-pillar. Could be worse....

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Yesterday and the day before I managed a few hours in the shop each day.

Got part of the bulkhead in:

And started in the next piece:

One more piece to go. It's this little stuff that takes so much time!

Happy holidays everyone! I asked Santa to bring me a rust free barndoor..I was very good this year.
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Still more welding and grinding to do, but this is about 5 hrs work today.

Got some Cleco's in my stocking! Not sure how I lived without em.

Yes, my welding needs work!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[karl h]

dont be so hard on yourself, its looking good
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61 panel: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=465022
68 ghia vert
arctic alice (63 on irs): http://cal-look.no/lounge/index.php/topic,27456.0.html
86 Caravelle
04 new beetle vert

[Eric&Barb]

Looks like you need to turn up the power a bit and/or slow down the wire feed a little.

Try practicing on some junk pieces. Wiggle tip not too fast side to side as you go to kind of stitch/fill the gap together. You do need LOTS of lumens of light and a good helmet to see where you are doing the welding.

Not that you are doing awful now, but with a little practice you can get a cleaner weld that will not require so much time spent in clean up grinding and having to re-weld up spots/holes.

Here is a couple of videos to check out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_mpQtzFjC4

Of course do not try to weld too much in one area together with thin sheet metal or risk lots of warping.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQtQenmz7io
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[junichi]

Thanks, folks. Good to know some people are interested and good to get some feedback.

The practice welds seem to go quite well, but when I get on the vehicle it's never quite the same - I guess the conditions are a bit different due to welding on the vertical, awkward spaces, thinner metal, etc.

It is a very fine balance between burn-through and enough power- I guess it might be nice to have more than 5 power settings for more control. I am also playing with wire speed and wire size and have made some improvements.

They say It is a poor craftsman who blames his tools, but I have found over many years of wood working that this is only partially true. A good craftsman still needs good tools to do his best work.
I do wonder if a different welder would help as this one seems to lack fine adjustment of power and wire speed. It is very old and I can't find any contact tips for it, so consumable parts are very worn on it...

Anyway,a new welder is not in the financial cards so I will do the best I can with what I have...it works!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[Eric&Barb]

Not to be rude, but you should check for typos. That last one was a bit harder to decipher...

Yes infinite variable adjustment is much better than only five settings. The Hobart Handler we have has only four live settings, so have had to just learn to work with that. Having at least better quality tools and more experience is needed for the average newbie to become proficient. So there will always be a learning curve. At least till science comes up with a way to load up memories/experience directly from one person brain to another!
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[junichi]

Sorry about that! Edited the last one.. Rushed it!
_________________
1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Happy New Year!

Got a couple hours in each day for the last few days. It's exciting because, although the dogleg is not going in yet, I had to start fitting it in order to get the a-pillar in the right spot.

It's sagging a bit in the photo, but once tacked in will be a good fit against the door.. I am pleased!

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

The a-pillar was frustratingly difficult to fit and took two of the last 3 shop sessions to fit (about 5-6 hours!). Then I ran out of welding gas when I was finally ready! And of course I can't get any for a day or two because of the holiday.

The problem was this- with everything in its proper place and lined up on the bus:

I went to fit the final piece and it did't even come close to fitting. Here is the problem, but taken off the bus to illustrate:

I had to rebend all three pieces quite significantly to make things work- lots of fitting and refitting. Honestly, I have not been impressed with any of the klassicfab parts I got. The 3 pieces of the a-pillar wouldn't even fit together properly with each other, so how could they be expected to fit with my 50+ year old rotten bus!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[glideking]

When I did this area on my truck I found evidence that WV had done a lot of hand work to fit these parts. VW had massive jigs to clamp and hold these pieces in alignment before welding. They could quickly pop them into the jig and with a few hammer blows get them into final shape. The hardest part for me to get my head around was the curved flange for the nose skin where it goes into the corner of the A pillar. That flange gets hammered almost completely flat at the corner. We have to form these pieces to fit in mid air with our hands. I wish I could show you what needs to be done typing. There is no problem with the Klassicfab part. We just don't have the jig to smash them into final shape. There are six or so bends that need to be made. It will take some trial to get the VW fit but you can do it.
Kurt
_________________
"The more I get done the less it looks like I did anything"
1959 Single Cab Restoration"Funky Truck"
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=
1965 21 Window Restoration Thread (From old photos)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=
1963 Panelvan build "Tyvanosaurus Wrecks"
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8351639#8351639

[junichi]

Interesting.. I certainly could be wrong as I am no expert and am using poor quality internet pics to judge. But I compared my part to the pic on line and it looks different. The "repair piece that welds to lower inner valance right side" shown in the KF site appears to be bent a bit differently than my piece was.

In this web pic it appears the vertical seam/bend is right at the inside corner of the triangle.

Whereas in my piece the same bend was about 1/4" past the inside corner of the triangle. I don't have a pic of it but you can see in this pic below and the one in my last post that the L-shaped piece that actually forms the pillar needs to sit in a bit further in the lower valance. I rebent that seam to get it to sit in deeper into the valance. That and some tweaks to the angles of all the other pieces were needed to get it all fitting together right.

It will all need some fine tuning to fit in the bus, but I dry fit everything and it seems good.

I may have some old stock KF as I also had trouble with the b and c pillar hinge holes being off- not off in comparison to my bus, but off in comparison to the other KF parts. I do understand that no part is ever plug and play but the issue in the b and c-pillars was clearly a manufacturing issue, not a fitment issue. Some other threads acknowledge this same issue, but I believe it has been resolved in the newer parts. All the same, these KF parts are vastly superior to the cheap black ones I had to use in past builds.
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[glideking]

For me it helped to weld on the bus then hammer and bend then weld some more and bend. It is just to hard to get everything right before any welding. Sometimes I just cut a slit in somewhere, hammer it closed, weld and continue. This will become normal for you and will become just a part of the process. After bending so many aftermarket pieces into shape I just make a lot more of my own now. You will too.
Kurt
_________________
"The more I get done the less it looks like I did anything"
1959 Single Cab Restoration"Funky Truck"
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5...highlight=
1965 21 Window Restoration Thread (From old photos)
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6...highlight=
1963 Panelvan build "Tyvanosaurus Wrecks"
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8351639#8351639