1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Cleaned up pretty well:

Screwed this outer panel in place to get it nice and tight:

Really struggled with the plug welds here, seemed like the wire was just burning back to the torch every time on some of the holes - could be that the remnants of paint were preventing good conductivity maybe:

Sod's law of course, these last two just flowed out perfectly:

Didn't really need to grind any of this back as it will all be hidden, but thought it was a good idea to check there were any missed spots, and also always good to have a practise

Eh... Well, it's done, I guess, even if it does look like it was repaired with chewing gum. To be honest I think I rushed, and it shows. Oh well, all lessons learned.

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Over on to the other side:

Trimmed off the rot but left the outer metal lip attached to the main lip:

Repair patched in:

Outer patch made:

Prepped and ready for welding next time:

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Also had a further tinker with the long side panel.

This lip needed trimming down somewhat in order to fit into the indent on the B pillar:

But I found that with the panel clamped with the lover edge flush with the inner rocker panel edge, the leading edge was a bit forward:

And the rear edge looked similar:

I could get the rear to line up:

But only with the rear lower lip misaligned, so the panel was slanting downwards towards the rear:

I did get it a bit closer with a bit of work on the B pillar, but I don't want to push that too far back, as that will affect the dogleg fitment.

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got this repair patch in on the inner valance:

I'm going to grind it back a bit more but it was getting late.

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Did a bit more tinkering with getting the long side panel to fit:

(Thanks to everyone that gave me advice in this thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=784458)

But before that goes on I need to replace the support posts, got the old ones cut out and trimmed back, mocked up with the replacement posts:

More mocking up:

(Feels good, going to feel even better when they're actually welded in!

But before that, I need to do some repairs on the inner rocker:

Or at least i thought so - a quick run along with the wire wheel revealed a few more holes:

So I'm now weighing up whether completely replacing with a new rocker is going to be more economical than repairing the holes, both in terms of time and money (£20)

[ted698]

If thats all there is I'd back it with copper (flatten an old copper pipe) to stop blow through, and weld it up - would literally take minutes...

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got out and had a little tinker today:

So the B post sandwiches in between the bulkhead and whatever the panel is called that the dogleg joins on to:

So that panel needs to come off first:

TADA!

Since last time I've also welded up all the little holes in the inner rocker, uncovered some more today when the B pillar came out but I think patching it is the way to go. Plus it's all practice.

I am wondering whether to weld the B post and vertical supports before the long panel long panel

Pros:
This would have been how it would have been done originally
Can weld from outside (I really need to empty the engines etc out of the bus, and cut out the floor)

Cons: hard to align lips on the posts to the long panel skin

Orrrrrrr weld the long panel on first then repair the posts

Pros:
Snug fitting against the long side panel

Cons:
Can't access the insides of the pillars to rustproof
Potentually more heat/warpage going into the long panel when welding the posts

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got out for a little while today, tackled this bit of the inner rocker:

(I've already filled up the smaller holes)

Recycling the old outer panel:

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Sun's out again in the UK, so I got out for my first proper weekend of tinkering today:

Needed to patch this hole in the inner rocker:

Patch made (Again, using old offcut from the old side panel):

Then after filling in another couple of pinholes on the inner rocker, I welded on the long panel support posts:

Got the B post welded on here:

There seems to be remnants of seam sealer here - is sealer used between this panel and the closing panel, or has it just squished under the closing panel afterwards?

But the issue was that if I made the corner of the panel line up, the curved lip was sitting too far in:

I might have to cut a slit in this to move the lip out to where the side panel will sit

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

The weather in the UK is nice again, so I got outside and made a bit of progress:

Before:

After:

Happy to have that done, although I still need to tackle the tricky under toolshest and bulkhead area, and then the long side panel...

[pondoras box]

Good job on this one. The neat thing about buses this rusty is that you know exactly how they go together when you’re done with them. Keep plugging away at it and it will be solid before you know it.
_________________
Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.

1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop (Arschloch)
1973 standard bug (Dirty Gertie)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Made a bit of progress this year - bulkhead got tacked in the other day:

Penetration seems alright:

Although I made a mess trying to plug weld vertically:

LHS not too bad:

But RHS gaps weren't tight enough and it pulled away and burnt out the top layer:

Now going to drill these out and try to put it right.

If you're thinking of trying to save time by not using screw/clecos or clamps and thinking you can just push the panels together while welding - don't!

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got out there again today:

Fully welded:

Welds ground back:

Quick spray with zinc primer to temporarily protect and also check out warpage and help with seeing where I need to dress the welds back further:

Pretty happy with that:

Definitely feeling more confident about tackling the long side panel, which is getting closer to being the next job!

Decent penetration - still had a lot of pinholes and gaps to weld, but I was blowing through a bit for a start so I turned the welder down.

I think that was just where the old bulkhead metal had pitted and was very thin, though. Also, might be the case that once there's quite a few tacks joined up I need to pump the power up a bit.

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

A 'quick hour' to to a bit of dressing back of the bulkhead welds turned into refitting the B post closing panel:

Test fitting the long panel showed that the B post wasn't flush with the inner rocker:

So I made a relief cut to be able to push it back:

Tada:

Quick blast of zinc:

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

While working on the dogleg and A post of my other bus, I had a peek at this one to try to see how everything should fit and came to the conclusion that these vertical supports on the long panel that I previously repaired:

were actually welded slightly to low / too long and this meant the long panel was being pushed lower than it should be.

So....

Chopped them off again.

And now the long panel fits much better.

That said, it seems like the original spotwelds were right along the edge of the inner sill/rocker:

(Pretty sure the long panel had not previously been replaced - it has OG paint and had a previous bad pop-rivet / inch thick bondo repair job )

Drilled a hole for a cleco to hold the outer dogleg:

which is great, but then you can't close the door, so then I punched another hole on the dogleg flange inside at the top, and drilled for another cleco:

I did briefly toy with the ideal of whether I should line up the holes I'll punch on the dogleg flange with the ones I've punched on the flange of the long panel, but I think it's best if I weld the long panel on, grind back the welds, and then do the dogleg.

Gaps suggest the door is sagging down/backwards at the front slightly:

(gap is high at the back, and the body line is slightly misaligned)

the gap gets thin where it goes upwards:

The flanges/end of the dogleg don't seem to line up very well with the A-posts:

[brettsvw]

Nice work making your metal parts.
My attempt at making the outer lower d-pillar.

In the end its hidden out of sight.
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My 59 kombi build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635003&highlight=

My buggy build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=558601&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[brettsvw]

Brett be
67 deluxe metal repair

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340406&highlight=
_________________
.







My 59 kombi build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635003&highlight=

My buggy build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=558601&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807