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Sun Jan 18, 2015 6:05 pm

Love this thread. It has been a great motivation to me.
What brand of rust converter did you use on the bed?

Sun Jan 18, 2015 8:26 pm

I've had good luck with the Naval Jelly from NAPA Auto Parts. Costs about $9-10 per bottle and one bottle does a large area. It comes in a pink gel that I transfer into a squirt bottle. That way I can easily apply wherever needed then use a sponge to apply it equally across an area that needs to be treated. Apply, wipe, then wait 30 minutes to convert the rusty areas to paintable metal. Then I prime with self-etching primer & paint. It stores easily in the plastic bottle and lasts a long time. The best part is that it doesn't need to be washed-off, like some other rust conversion chemicals. Of course I use rubber gloves & glasses when applying it, to be safe.

http://www.napaonline.com/Catalog/CatalogItemDetai...0361152248

Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:18 pm

The rear bumper was dealt with this weekend. I'd bought new rear guards & tubes from WW and painted them back in late-December. Mounted everything (except the splash guards, forgot to order them) and today installed the bumper on the rear.

I'd read that truck bumpers were the same as regular Bus bumpers. Apparently they were shared beginning in 1960 or 1961. So I was surprised when I mounted the bumper and the tubes rubbed on the corners & the rounded edges of the inner bumper blade are touching the corners. That should not be the case with an original bumper,right?

This bumper blade has two holes on the middle edge, so it's likely a Deluxe bumper. But that should not make a difference.

Can I get a little advice here? Why are the tubes & inner edges touching the body?

Sat Jan 24, 2015 8:29 pm

Looks like the bumper is tilted toward the body at the top, maybe tweek the brackets and bumper away from the body a little? That's what I'd do. Do you have the splash pans, those would help locate the ends of the bumper with the sides of the corner of the body.

Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:02 pm

Mounts are bent and too far in. The slash should line up with the wheel opening edge.

Sat Jan 24, 2015 10:28 pm

1967250s wrote: Mounts are bent and too far in. The slash should line up with the wheel opening edge.

loosen the bolts at the frame so you can move the bumper way from the back of the bus, also, make sure you can rotate the bumper up in the front, once you have it lined up good, crawl back under there and tighen it all up

Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:19 am

Truck corners are sharper than buses. There is some debate as to exactly what year truck specific bumpers are. I have cut my bumper to fit.
Kurt

Sun Jan 25, 2015 9:05 am

glideking wrote: Truck corners are sharper than buses. There is some debate as to exactly what year truck specific bumpers are. I have cut my bumper to fit.
Kurt

This changed in 1960.

Information in this thread
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=89545

Sun Jan 25, 2015 12:23 pm

It is likely that the bottom flange of the frame where the bumper mounts is also bent, especially if there has been any kind of collision with the rear bumper. Looks like there has been at least some minor damage to the PS lower corner, which would indicate contact of the bumper with something.

That is the "fun" part of resurrecting a 50+ year old relic; fixing the broke/bent/rotted stuff, right? :?

Tue Jan 27, 2015 10:25 am

Friends are great to have nearby when you need them! My 30-year long good friend Pedro Sainz has been making VW luggage racks for years so he's got a welder that works evenings at his workshop. Pedro heard about the issues with my truck's decklid hinge mounts and invited me over last night to get the welding done. I'd been fortunate to get a pair of original mounts from NorCalMike (thank you!) so I picked-up a 12-pack of Corona and headed south to Pedro's place.

His welder got right to work attaching the plates and filling as much of the missing metal as possible surrounding the plates. The decklid metal was so thin that he wasn't able to fill all the holes, but I was really happy to get this work done locally! Now I can strip the last green panel and mount the decklid without fear of it falling out the rear.

Tue Jan 27, 2015 1:52 pm

With the mounting plates fitted, the decklid hinges installed & for the first time since I've owned it, the engine lid is properly installed! I had to loosen the rear bumper bracket body bolts & stand on the bumper to push it down & pull it away from the body so the decklid would clear the bumper blade.

Not sure if the rubber seal over the hinges goes on the top or bottom portion. But it's gotta come off again anyway to be stripped & painted. Nonetheless, I'm very happy to see the decklid functional!

Tue Jan 27, 2015 7:12 pm

The hinge seals go around the bottom of the hinge on the deck lid and the flap with two holes go between the hinge and deck lid. It is a tight fit. Just stretch it around the hinge. It drives me crazy to see them put on wrong.
Kurt

Sat Jan 31, 2015 5:39 pm

Saturday I got to work stripping the last piece of nasty green paint off the exterior of the truck, the decklid. It's in pretty good condition with two tiny dents & some rust below the license light. I used the DA sander to remove the large flat areas, then used the wire brush on the drill to get the hard-to-reach spots. Took three hours to strip completely to bare metal. The repaired hinges look good too. When the truck is professionally painted I'll have them bondo the open holes where the repairs were done. Tomorrow I'll prime & paint it.

Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:22 pm

Since I'm ignoring the Super Bowl this year (bored of both teams winning or cheating) and it was a beautiful sunny day, I broke out the self-etching primer for the decklid parts. Primed once then sanded with 400 grit, then primed again.

Sun Feb 01, 2015 1:27 pm

That turned out really nice! Way better use of your day. Thanks for the updates 8)

Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:10 pm

The decklid was painted L345 Light Gray and the prop & prop area was painted as well. While the paint was drying, I cleaned the latch with 400 grit sandpaper and it came out really nice. And I cut the lengths of black rubber seal that goes around the decklid opening. I installed the decklid with the hinge seals in the lower position, as advised. And replaced the license plate. The only issue I had was installing the new repro aluminum lock cover, as the tabs on the backside were not easily folded-down over the decklid inner metal.

Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:19 pm

It's been five months since I received this truck, and today finally all of the exterior panels have been stripped to bare metal & hand-painted L345 Light Gray. Getting it presentable for the neighborhood was my #1 goal, so it feels good to have reached that milestone. Thanks to everyone who has helped me!

Next step is to repair the broken gearshift coupler so I can begin driving it around and testing the mechanical issues.

Sun Feb 01, 2015 7:24 pm

Im so impressed with how your temp paint job turned out that ive decided to order the paint from WW and give mine a budget facelift.
I really wanted to strip mine down to OG paint but its too far gone from what I have uncovered so far.
Thanks again for the motivation

Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:16 pm

Thanks, Mike! Your decklid hinge parts made it possible to get the decklid finally installed again. Your early truck looks like it could be the older brother to mine! You'll find the work isn't too difficult if you go one panel at a time. And the results speak for themselves. It's a nice temporary solution.

Sun Feb 01, 2015 8:25 pm

You are welcome. I battled back and forth whether I wanted to go that route. I have a friend that did his Double Door Panel with rattle cans and it looks decent. full body and paint is years away for me.
My buddy agreed to come over and help me knock it out in a day if I provide the Carne Asada ant the beer. sounds like a deal to me!
Maybe Ill see you at a show this year.