TheSamba.com :: View topic

Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:17 am

Hi,

A customer bought his Swedish 66 crew cab to us for metalwork and paint. Thought you guys might be interested in seeing progress but not sure if I should be putting it in this forum or the readers rides though?

As you can see, the chassis is in a bad way:

We decided the best way to approach this was to build a new chassis. I had been looking for a Celette or Car O Liner chassis jig for ages but couldnt find one so made one, and had a few brackets cut out which were welded up. We used my 61 split to build the jig and brackets as my chassis is nice and original / straight. Here is the finished jig / brackets, and with the replacement chassis trial fitted to the jig:

Fitted the cab doors to check the gaps were all good before anything was braced or cut out. They are pretty good considering how bad the rest of the van is. The cargo door and gap needs some work. The door is pretty badly twisted:

Broke up now till the new year and I cant wait to get in and get stuck into this :)

Mabbo

Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:44 am

This is gonna be nice to watch.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 11:07 am

Unbelievable; talk about radical achievements. You make this look like a rudimentary lube job.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:53 pm

Split Bus is better for these sort of things.

A real "Frame off" restoration.
This will be great to see progress

Sun Dec 30, 2018 4:55 pm

Cool... Nice jig.

Sun Dec 30, 2018 7:54 pm

interesting, we are looking at a Left Hand Drive crewcab with a suicide cargo door on the drivers side.

first one i have ever seen

Sun Dec 30, 2018 8:07 pm

mandraks wrote: interesting, we are looking at a Left Hand Drive crewcab with a suicide cargo door on the drivers side.

first one i have ever seen

Good catch! Never seen one either, pretty cool!

Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:29 pm

Look forward to watching this progress. :D

Mon Dec 31, 2018 3:04 am

mandraks wrote: interesting, we are looking at a Left Hand Drive crewcab with a suicide cargo door on the drivers side.

first one i have ever seen

Yep, that is a 1st for me as well, very cool build.

Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:04 am

mandraks wrote: interesting, we are looking at a Left Hand Drive crewcab with a suicide cargo door on the drivers side.

first one i have ever seen

I think that was the normal way these came in Sweden. I know I have seen others. Here is another photo Everett posted years ago.

Mon Dec 31, 2018 8:31 am

ronjonlasvegas wrote: mandraks wrote: interesting, we are looking at a Left Hand Drive crewcab with a suicide cargo door on the drivers side.

first one i have ever seen

I think that was the normal way these came in Sweden. I know I have seen others. Here is another photo Everett posted years ago.

Mike and Shannon's Swedish spec Westy is LHD, left side cargo doors.
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=644856&highlight=swedish

I am not sure what years Swedish spec is that combo, and there aren't many like that in the USA. But that seems normal for a Swedish bus.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagen_H

Mon Dec 31, 2018 2:30 pm

Thanks for all the replies :) Im really looking forward to working on it in the new year :)

Yeah, the Swedish LHS cargo door is cool, isnt it :)

Tue Jan 01, 2019 4:16 am

There is a reason for this Swedish specialty.

Sweden used to drive on the left side of the road. On September 3rd 1967 they switched to driving on the right side like the rest of continental Europe.

https://www.thelocal.se/20170904/the-day-sweden-switched-to-driving-on-the-right

Wed Jan 02, 2019 1:53 pm

Fist day back in today, got the rear chassis section removed:

Started stripping the old chassis rails and handbrake tubes etc off. Bit more to do then it can go to be blasted :)

More tomorrow :)

Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:19 pm

^^ given all the work you are doing are you gonna go IRS or stick with RGB's?

Wed Jan 02, 2019 2:33 pm

velvetgreen wrote: ^^ given all the work you are doing are you gonna go IRS or stick with RGB's?

It will be all stock

Fri Jan 04, 2019 2:14 pm

Finished cleaning the rear torsion housing / chassis section up ready for blasting or dipping. Gonna have a few repairs to do:

Door openings braced up, one more to go...

Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:03 pm

Moved onto removing the front section of chassis.

Got the doglegs, tubs and cab floor out. They needed replacing and were in the way. Bulkhead needs a bit of work too:

Then got the front chassis section out:

Need to get this cleaned up and off to be blasted ready to fit to the new chassis rails.

:)

Thu Jan 24, 2019 3:22 pm

mabbo wrote: Moved onto removing the front section of chassis.

Got the doglegs, tubs and cab floor out. They needed replacing and were in the way. Bulkhead needs a bit of work too:

Then got the front chassis section out:

Need to get this cleaned up and off to be blasted ready to fit to the new chassis rails.

:)

Way to go after it. I am always amazed at how far people go to restore these. I am very fortunate that my double cab came from the dry desert area in Nevada, US.

Thu Jan 24, 2019 4:06 pm

Now is the time to make it a walk-thru!