TheSamba.com :: View topic - Restoration costs for 1970 VW bus sportsmobile bay window

Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:00 pm

Anchovy wrote: skills@eurocarsplus wrote: lost me at the snake skin. I would burn it in place

I'm with Skills, the hidden snake is the deal breaker.

The snake probably kept mice away, though.

Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:12 pm

Pretty cool.i had a 71 sportmobile same poptop and interior.
looks pretty bad underneath at the frame rails.
body doesn't look as bad as some. I just redid a 68 westy. needed both rear corner and inner and outer nose. front door steps inner and outer and new mouting for the bumper. both battery trays. and a 1/4 of the front flor from the step to the steering column. I welded the panels in myself and paid a guy to do the body work and paint. I did strip it down to bare metal with an angle grinder and Avanti strip disk. I sprayed it with epoxy primer . the body guy straightened everything out and painted. (6 months there). I did the interior all myself, I did all the mechanical myself except pressing ball joints and front end alignment. took me 3 1/2 years working A 40-50 HR A WEEK JOB AND 2 KIDS.. I have over $11,000 in receipts for parts. complete brakes , all seals, all new wheel bearings, all new steering components , rewired the engine bay, including lights and tires I had an engine . it can be done. just watch the rust underneath for safety reasons. have fun!

Mon Aug 05, 2019 7:37 pm

BSQUARE wrote: Anchovy wrote: skills@eurocarsplus wrote: lost me at the snake skin. I would burn it in place

I'm with Skills, the hidden snake is the deal breaker.

The snake probably kept mice away, though.

Lol I actually think you’re right about the snakes! Thanks everyone, he’s even letting us borrow a trailer...so we’re going to bring it home, give it a good clean and really see what’s left...can’t just leave it out there! The motor still had oil in it :)

Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:43 pm

SGKent wrote: Matt Murata has been looking for a body shop in NorCal who will do buses. If yours is in NorCal, he is in Campbell and was still looking as of a couple weeks ago. He even looked as far as Colorado.

Matt: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=341387

Steve
I’m closing in on my body/paint options. I have 2 in California, 2 in Arizona, and 1 in Colorado. PM me if you are interested in details. I’m not thrilled to be dropping this kind of money down on body/paint - would much rather be spending that on sweet engine or subie swap, but my paint is not just fading to a nice patina, it’s peeling. Many of the shops hot on social media and on Samba don’t even reply with a “we’re not interested”. I’ve contacted some multiple times - crickets. Onwards! And thx to those that have given me guidance via PM - it has been quite the journey finding a shop, but I’m close!

Wed Aug 14, 2019 1:57 pm

How bad is the rest of the tent?

Wed Aug 14, 2019 2:55 pm

It's true that UK people do restore buses that look like that and worse. But they have generally not sat in a field. Anything that sits that long in those conditions is scrap in my experience. That kind of deep set rising damp rot will have rotted the chassis from the inside. It might look ok but it won't be. That goes for everything underneath.

I've restored the metalwork on half a dozen really bad buses but the more you do it the more senseless you realise it is. Once I even hand made the main chassis rails from just behind the front beam right to the back of the bus but you have to be crazy to do this job, or in this case a lot of money had already been sunk into restoring (not by me) pretty much all the rest of the steel, painting, mechanics and all so it was technically "worth" doing - kind of throwing good money after bad if you start knowing that much work is needed. TBH it wasn't that difficult. You'd be better off getting an extra job in the warm somewhere and saving the money to get a good one.

By the time I gave up welding buses if people brought a bad one for an estimate and had paid less than £10K for it I'd tell them to push it off a cliff, kiss goodbye to the purchase price and buy a good one which would last better, be better, cost less and they would be able to go camping tomorrow. Some people still insisted - their kids were conceived in it etc - I'd tell them I wouldn't do it because they wouldn't want to pay what it really costs. One guy was affronted by this and proposed he'd pay me £2k/month do do whatever that bought for as long as it took - it was a pile of shite! I still refused. Some people would rather spend £30-40k than admit they'd wasted £2k or £5k or £8k or whatever buying a pile of scrap.

But there are people who so enjoy the fabrication of steel parts that they wouldn't consider doing a better one - no joy in that for these folk. Only you know where you fit into this.

Wed Aug 14, 2019 5:22 pm

on the plus side, tent.
or did rodents ruin it? the poles are still worth something to someone if that's the case...

Wed Aug 14, 2019 7:42 pm

alman72 wrote: on the plus side, tent.
or did rodents ruin it? the poles are still worth something to someone if that's the case...

The snake is in the tent bag, and you know it!

Thu Aug 15, 2019 7:10 am

jakokombi wrote: alman72 wrote: on the plus side, tent.
or did rodents ruin it? the poles are still worth something to someone if that's the case...

The snake is in the tent bag, and you know it!
no, that's the nursery of 100s of little snakes. Mom lives under the drivers seat.

Thu Aug 15, 2019 10:59 am

Get those death cinder blocks out from under there and throw them away, stat.

I don’t like spiders or snakes....

Thu Aug 15, 2019 11:42 am

agreed
essentially if you have cinder blocks in or near your garage or driveway.
you should not be allowed a jack until you read the owners manual of life.

add in that in the orientation as show a cinder block has near zero structural strength. you have even less knowledge of structural integrity to use them or crawl underneath.

give the blocks back to the house trailer next door or the kids skateboard ramp.