1966 NZ splitty, was ambulance now dormobile roof camper project

[mtnbus]

cool bus !
have fun with it

[SISKOZ]

It's like Christmas when you get something you've been waiting so long for!
Today arrived my Birth Certificate!
Not much to it. Some unusual m codes I can't decode on the Samba tech page. Does anyone have any idea what these are???
M454
M313
CKD - completely knocked down production

Thanks for your help!

Bus is currently in getting media blasted around sills and roof gutter as per the repair cert guys recommendation. It will then be epoxy painted in those bare metal areas then back to be panelbeated. . Will load photos soon once I have it back.
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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[SISKOZ]

Progress....
In preparation for the bus getting the underside/sills/roof gutter media blasted and epoxy primed I removed head lights taillights indicators mudflaps and dormobile roof.

I Loaded the bus onto the car trailer and made the 2 and a half hour journey to the place to get media blasted and epoxy primed.

I made regular visits to check they had done the right areas (which were determined by the repair certifier before panel repairs commencing). The following photos were taken after their first blast.

All looking not too bad with no surprises. Very fortunate to have only minor repairs in my opinion.

I'm going to head back there now and check the underside before they apply the epoxy paint....more photos to come.
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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[SISKOZ]

Photos of underside prior to epoxy primer.

All in all no real surprises from the blasting. Excited to get it back to the panelbeater for repairs!
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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[EverettB]

No idea on the M-codes or the "Grid Grey" upholstery pattern but I'll add those 2 M-codes to the listing here.

In your earlier photos the upholstery look like smooth grey vinyl, like the style used on 64 Buses but I don't know if that matches with a "grid" description:

Or if the interior was different because of the Ambulance features.
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[SISKOZ]

[SISKOZ]

Got the bus back to the workshop after media blasting and epoxy. Turns out I may have made a mistake. When I was inspecting the underside prior to painting, the company I used to do the blasting said they had made 4 passes and there was still under seal stuck to the underside....I called my repair certification guy I'm working with who makes the calls about getting the panel work right to get back on our roads here in NZ. He said it should be okay - main concern is that some underseal may hide some small rust spots (if any). So it got painted over the underseal you see in the photos above. When I got it back to my panelbeater he wasn't happy! Said they should have spent longer doing it so it was completely under seal free (he's a bit of a perfectionist) .So next job im going to have to do is get the bus on the hoist and we are going to spend probably a long time getting the rest of the under seal off.....feel a bit silly as it would have been so easy for the blasters just to spend more time while it was there. But never mind.

I managed to find some head rests that come from the same seats I have. They are a different colour but they are hard to find items here so I'll make do...depending on the final colour scheme I may get the whole lot re-trimmed.

The panel beater is probably a month or so away from starting on my bus, so in the meantime I've decided to restore the dormobile roof!
The top itself is in average to reasonable condition. It is functional but is missing parts. I've purchased new vents from Susan (Samba classifieds) and I'm planning to purchase all the other items I don't have from dormobile in the UK. I have a cot (is that what it's called?) As well as a lot of the other parts so I'm off to a good start.

Ive noticed that when the roof was attached there was a noticeable gap under back and front right hand side where the top doesn't marry up to the roof like it does elsewhere.

I understand the top is from a bay window (phat chick?) but from the forums I've read here it shouldn't be out like that. I've considered scribing and cutting the hinge side about an inch but there are consequences such as the top maybe not sitting level and flat and being on a lean..also that would mean the Hinges fix higher up the side which could interfere with the reinforcement rod?? Other option I'm considering is to add fiberglass to the gap. I've never done that before but assume it's possible and since I'm restoring the top and likely applying new gel coat it shouldn't be a noticeable repair. Please chime in if you have any thoughts about this.

While i decide what to do I started cleaning up the top. It had what I think may have been the original headliner which came with the bus (see photos of when it was an ambulance at the start of the forum) attached to the underside of the too. (Bit manky now so unfortunately it has to go)

It didn't take long to get that off. Then I spent a few hours cleaning off residue of silicon and glue which had been used to seal windows and top to roof Seals... there has been additional holes drilled into the top for the outside Baja style roof straps which secured the top from the outside. As well as other holes. So I'll need to deal to them - I'm thinking reinforced bondo? Also there are stress cracks. So it's definitely going to need work.
Tomorrow I think I'll start dealing to the cracks/holes... while I consider the gap problem.

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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[SISKOZ]

Some progress....
My guy has made repairs to the right hand sill including front and rear Jacking Points, sill patches, partial top hat repairs, lower bulkhead repair on right hand side, front wheel well splash area patch.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

There's some bondo about 10mm thick above where he has been working which is filling a dint. So that bondo will come off then the dint sorted out. Then the sill rust repair is complete.

Next up is the dog leg / lower a pillar area on the right side.
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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[mdege]

A short note on the Ambulance side of things.

There were two styles of ambulances in Germany, the real ones with all of the known features. And the "Behelfskrankenwagen" or make shift ambulances like this one. The second style were more like a Kombi with a special rear bench which hat a split seat back which which could be folded down to either take on one or two stretchers. In Germany these were used during normal times as people carriers for the red cross and other organizations. And could be used in times of emergency to carry patients.
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- Michael

1965 21F: Restoration of a former '65 firetruck
1963 Typ3 Notchback project
1988 Multivan Magnum 112i
1984 Standard: My son wanted a bug for his first car

[SISKOZ]

Hi Michael.
Thanks for the comment.
That's interesting and is likely exactly what mine was used for. Note the split rear seat you speak of in the original photos of mine when it was new.

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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project

[SISKOZ]

As I get closer with the rust repairs ...I've been told I may have some trouble with the re-vinning (getting the bus legal for nz roads after a dead rego status) because of the hacked bulkhead, roof cut opening for the dormobile as well as the non factory front seats..all of which are not factory original so may require certification and more serious work to make sure those modifications are safe and up to standard (the front passenger swivel seat is just bolted through the wheel well metal and not that solid....it's got me thinking whether it may be worth changing direction and restoring it back to original ambulance...especially since I was fortunate to find photos showing almost every angle of the vehicle when it was brand new. I also managed to pick up what I believe to be correct middle and rear seats (rear seat needing modified should i create the split as seen in photo above ...which are super hard to find here in New Zealand.

If I go in that direction I would have to install a new bulkhead and find a sliding window, close in the roof cut, customize and install the rear and middle seats. Find a correct front seat, as well as a few other things.
So I'm going to think about that for a bit while the rust repairs continue.
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1966 Ambulance Kombi Turned Dormobile Camper
1954 'Farm Find' Barndoor Kombi Project