TheSamba.com :: View topic - Body Panel Replacement

Tue Mar 25, 2025 10:39 am

a guide coat helps when trying to smooth out the filler,it,s a must have if you want it straight.imo

Wed Mar 26, 2025 9:37 am

Goach2 wrote: Orwell - I bought the Klokker, but being that this one wasn't painted black, I may have gotten a different brand. Came from CIP1

Is this Blue just paint to inhibit rust in the future or some more specific coating to fight the corrosion demons?

Im embarking on the same journey and I dont have the patience for body work..Im forcing myself to take it slow.

Wed Mar 26, 2025 10:03 am

Blue paint inside all the panels I replaced, so that I (hopefully) don't have to do it again!

Wed Mar 26, 2025 2:47 pm

As has been stated, none of these buses were straight from the factory. They all needed to be
smoothed with filler and sanded by hand, especially over the welds!

The first job a worker had at Hannover was sanding the bodies. I'm sure production improved
by the '70s and less handwork was needed, but there's still some filler under that factory paint!

Mon Mar 31, 2025 9:32 am

Well, I think I've gotten the body to the point where I am happy with the filler job and looking to move on to next steps.

Cleaned, cleaned and cleaned again and ready for hi-build primer:

And shot:

Then guide coat:

Next I'm turning attention to the doors. I hadn't touched the back hatch yet and it needed some attention:

Someone had bolted a gas canister bracket through the door and pinched all the inner structure, so I cut it out and tried to replicate the original:

Of course the window ledge was rusty and I had to fabricate a new one:

Next endless cleaning of the doors and hung them to epoxy prime:

Next I have them laid out and ready to start on the filler:

I also used some window/door sealer since it stays rubbery when dry to seal the outside skin of the slider to the inner frame:

Fingers crossed that I can get some quality shop time this week to get the doors caught up to the body and start blocking it out as one piece!

Mon Apr 07, 2025 7:26 am

Every spare minute spent in the garage this week. Doors were all filled, sanded and sprayed with Hi-Build:

On to blocking out everything now. Is it best to hang the doors and block it out in one piece? Only asking as there are so many adjustments to make to get them to hang flush and I don't know that they ever really were ;)

Mon Apr 07, 2025 9:32 am

yes i think is,s best to hang them get it all adjusted then block it,then you will know that it all fits proper and the surfaces are all flush with each other,I saw one video where he used filler to lock all the panels in place ,after adjusting,and blocked the body as one unit ,but that was on a over the top ,restoration an a non vw classic car.

Mon Apr 07, 2025 11:24 am

Looking good, I agree that its best to hang the doors and block while they are on. Can make any final adjustments to the door gaps at that time as well.

Wed Apr 09, 2025 5:25 am

Hanging the doors will allow you to fudge gaps and transitions when you do your filler. I didn’t do it this way when I repainted my cab door. I think the slider would benefit most from being installed and adjusted before filling. Mine is already painted but was hung and lined up when I did the final metal finishing on it as well as the b-pillar and rear quarter. It will be installed again for when I do the final filler work on the front wheel arch and rear quarter. A great place to cheat like hell.

Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:07 am

One issue I have run into is that without the door rubbers installed, the doors have room to move in their closed state and it does make it tougher to apply pressure when sanding. I can already see where I need to add some putty here and there to smooth out the gaps, so that's something you wouldn't see sitting on the work bench!

This is all I got with 5hrs straight of sanding with 220. My shoulder is killing me today.

I don't know if these engine covers could ever be considered flat...

Wed Apr 09, 2025 7:52 am

220 may be a bit fine for shaping,100 or even 80 ,will remove material much quicker,after you have it shaped use the finer paper to remove scratches from the course paper.
use a wire brush to clean your sand paper often during use.

Wed Apr 09, 2025 10:13 am

I thought I had it all shaped ;) I even filled the engine cover to what I thought was flat. As you can see, lots of low spots to putty...

Wed Apr 09, 2025 11:11 am

Did you have to replace the lower slider track at all?

Wed Apr 09, 2025 11:47 am

No, I got lucky, but the rocker under the rail was bad.

Wed Apr 09, 2025 11:53 am

clatter had made a post on bus body work,it is worth a look.

Wed Apr 09, 2025 11:54 am

Goach2 wrote: No, I got lucky, but the rocker under the rail was bad.

Yeah quite lucky in my opinion. Mine is less than acceptable. Ive been working out how Im going to attack it. Damn Nebraska and their over abundance of salt.

Fri Apr 11, 2025 5:15 am

The thread from Clatter I posted awhile back explains it best.

Full spread of filler on the panels.

Sand with 36 grit on a long board.

Repeat until level. Leveling is all 36 (or 40) grit.

Finer grits are for prepping an already level surface for high build primer and top coat.

Hopefully once it’s level you will have enough filler left to sand through the finer grits. If not, a full skim coat to fill voids, pinholes, etc, then on to the finer grits.

It works way better and is actually faster than chasing low spots. It may feel like you are slathering on a bunch of filler, but most of it gets sanded off. This advice helped me a lot. I’m still not a master of dead straight panels, but a lot better than I used to be.

Mon Apr 14, 2025 10:53 am

Lived in the garage for the last week, but did get the body sanded, puttied and 2k'd. The putty stage was the worst, it seemed like any low spots became super high spots and I question if I would have been better off without it... Moving On!

I had cut the door track cover strip off as it was a sandwich of rust. I got these crappy replacements, but the bottom of the groove is narrower than the originals. The cover and rubber seal were already tight to install before, I'm wondering if I should just clean up the originals and reinstall? Anyone else have an experience with these?

Mon Apr 14, 2025 1:07 pm

maybe dry fit the cover onto that piece with the bead rubber and see how it goes together ,then decide,
what colour are you painting ,white hides body imperfections,black hi-lites them,

Tue Apr 15, 2025 5:31 am

A while back I bought new rubbers for this cover and it was so tight going in, I can't imagine I will be able to with this repop. I'm cleaning up the originals and will reuse them. The plan right now is a two-tone paint, no black!

320 sanding has started and already burned through in a few areas. Will be more careful moving forward as I'll have to respray these spots, let dry and sand again...