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The Rascals Cats Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:14 pm

amazing rescue and really good job by Jeff .. again ... Crazy home made parts for BDs .... :wink:

Aspro Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:16 pm

Great story Ben I don't know how you keep doing it.
You could find a steamy dog turd with a VIN tag sticking out of it and somehow transform it into an amazing bus. Hats off to you mate. :D
By the way, 4 Barndoors is just plain greedy. :lol:
Chris

Huetti_1989 Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:22 pm

:popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

ian macdowall Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:31 pm

Thanks for sharing Ben, some great fabrication skills and work too !

I still think you guys are crazy though :lol:

Touch Nicks Thing Mon Dec 14, 2015 3:55 pm

Wicked save, can't wait to see the outcome.

RHD Notch Mon Dec 14, 2015 4:10 pm

Damn...Shaking my head the entire read. Would've killed a group of average guys. Congrats. Keep the pics coming!

busben Mon Dec 14, 2015 5:00 pm

Thanks a lot guys :D

So last week we had to try and work out what to do with the front end, because what's left is a bit of a mess!!!









Still some major parts that we hope to use and so the front lump was dragged into the shop for the strip down to begin



This bus really does need breaking down into its component parts in order to repair them and reassemble them, there's just no way to try and repair these panels in situ. Off with the front then ..... for now



and then tear this apart ...... carefully! ...... to see what else we can salvage



and finally a pile of vaguely useful stuff to start working on! :twisted:


nize Mon Dec 14, 2015 10:19 pm

Awesome!
So cool that you went to save this bus. As you said above, it has been laying around for long and whithout no one collecting it among us barndoor crazy swedes. Now it will finally get some love and care :D

IŽll definitely subscribe to this thread :P

Demian_S Tue Dec 15, 2015 1:07 am

busben wrote:

I think he soon realised the calibre of idiot he was dealing with and was soon telling me that he knew of a very bad Barndoor in Sweden that might be available.



Spot on! :D :D

Thanks for sharing the restoration of this bus.

bigbulli Tue Dec 15, 2015 1:16 am

I've always said, if you've got something to weld to you can save any bus! But this is nuts!!! Great work, looking forward to following the Resto.

djfordmanjack Tue Dec 15, 2015 3:17 am

WOW ! 8)

busben Fri Dec 18, 2015 10:53 am

So first up for some work was the tool box section. The top and bottom of the toolbox had survived ....... just! ..... as had the strengthening piece that runs underneath with all the cut-outs in for the steering gear, etc. This lump was pretty solid for the main part, but all the edges had been eaten away





So we started starting fabricating and letting in new metal









Not the most fun job in the world :lol:

Anyway, we persevered and eventually the section was back where it should be. It would have been way easier to just use new panels but it's great to actually see some original metal going back onto this thing .......



........ although sometimes there is just nothing left to use but new metal!



At the rear of the bus the chassis was still missing its cradle, which was lying, half rusted away on the floor.......



and because it was decided it wasn't really fixable, a new cradle was bent up to match the original



and then welded into position





with everything finished neatly with the usual attention to detail 8)



With a few other bits and pieces taken care of and finished,



the chassis is starting to look pretty good!!




bally Fri Dec 18, 2015 10:58 am

:D :D =D>

spit nolan Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:06 am

Awesome Ben and JC of course! Badass!

The Rascals Cats Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:12 am

Amazing Job on the chassis ... stunning ... cant wait to see how jeff goes to the next step :wink:

busben Fri Dec 18, 2015 11:45 am

Cheers chaps. Well chuffed with it :twisted:

Well once the chassis is complete it's time to start building upwards......

Because the front end is ever so slightly rusty :? we decided to use new Gerson a-posts and screen surround to give us something strong to build from.





Whilst many buses of this age only have one mirror arm, it was possible to order a second from the factory, and this bus did appear to have mirror arm fittings on both a-posts. (After driving my lhd panel about with only one mirror it will be a great luxury to have two!!). Only one KF a-post had the internal screws so this was quickly dealt with.





but they were still not ready, they needed more work yet :roll:

A few years back, the most famous Barndoor owner on the planet :lol: was fitting his new safaris when he spotted that early and late Barndoor a-posts differ slightly in profile and the positioning of the door channel. This is a nice detail to get right on an early bus, and although no-one sells these 50-52 a-posts, later posts can be modified. Scottys thread is here for further detail:

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=428324&highlight=

Well we read and re-read all this, looked at a lot of photos, studied my other buses a-posts, and spent a long time talking about it, but to be honest we ended up confusing each other quite a lot. The Welsh Wonder came up trumps by posting us a section of (Rather 8) ) early a-post to use as a guide. Here you can see what I'm talking about .......... the Gerson a-post is 52+ Barndoor, and the blue is early:





So new, "wider" sections were fabricated



and then with the door seal channel removed



so that the a-posts could be modified






before the channel was spot welded back on. Here's the modified "early" post compared to the normal, later one........



........ and side by side with the section of original early style post



and an early style a-post ready to use :D



with all the little details looking nice and original. This is how my Jan '51 looks, a handy reference to have in the garage 8)


bally Fri Dec 18, 2015 12:40 pm

Awesome Ben. I love the details and explanations in your posts 😃

A great start to the weekend!!

Rich's 50 Fri Dec 18, 2015 2:39 pm

Amazing :shock: 8) 8)

Lowdown Dirty Rat Fri Dec 18, 2015 3:22 pm

Amazing work as ever Ben and crew.

For the A-pillars you could have just copied what I did. They came out nice.
http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=42329&hilit=52+samba&start=180

busben Fri Dec 18, 2015 4:52 pm

Lowdown Dirty Rat wrote: Amazing work as ever Ben and crew.

For the A-pillars you could have just copied what I did. They came out nice.
http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=42329&hilit=52+samba&start=180

Great promotional skills as ever rob :-) I did read your thread ages ago before you took your bus to Paul Wisks but I wanted a stronger a post and also for all the little details to be right. Pretty happy with the way we did them tbh. Jeff's pretty handy at all this!



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