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Gregor77 Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2005 Posts: 302 Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 8:45 am Post subject: The Bad and Ugly (Worst Home Repairs to a VW bus) |
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OK, guys, I would like to see and hear of the worst (Butchery) repair that you have encounterd on any VW or bus. You know, like repairing a crack in the bondo and finding a pair of underwear in the hole. Let's hear it! |
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Thirstytank Samba Gaucho
Joined: August 05, 2005 Posts: 667 Location: Lake Geneva WI
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:00 am Post subject: |
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I guess the biggest hack on my 72 was somebody put in an engine hatch with a bad welding job. I am in the process of grinding it down and re-welding. _________________ Ryan
1985 Vanagon Westfalia
https://www.facebook.com/VanagonMorrison |
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Hatchet Face Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2005 Posts: 474 Location: Rat's Nest
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:01 am Post subject: |
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Speaking of bondo (outlined in red, for Valentine's day cheer):
"Hey- let's put some sage green over this bondo glob- no one will ever notice it!"
By the way, I didn't do that bondo repair. I am sure I will have some kind of mental error on something dealing with fixing my bus in the future... but hopefully none that results in a 10" x 5" bondo welt on the front... |
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Gregor77 Samba Member
Joined: February 08, 2005 Posts: 302 Location: Oakville, Ontario, Canada
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:04 am Post subject: |
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I know that VW people are generally fairly cheap individuals, but I bought a VW beetle in Highschool and someone had pop rivited pop cans around the front and rear fenders as a fix. The scrary part is that he did such a good job with the filler you could not see it.
Why would you spend so much time repairing something like that without a good base? |
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sharky745 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2004 Posts: 182 Location: Port Orange, FL
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:07 am Post subject: |
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Budget and availability of parts I would think. Now you can order anything you want, but a few years back if you didnt have a shope close or a mail order catalog you were SoL. |
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TeamSpatula Samba In The Rain
Joined: February 03, 2004 Posts: 5212 Location: WNC
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 9:21 am Post subject: |
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Probably the worst was rewiring half of the dash wiring with the same color wire! My 78 was like that when I got it - what a nightmare to try to trace out and label. _________________ <---Air Cooled Search & Rescue Team - STICKERS & T-shirts for sale!
I NEED A CAMPER!!!! (1971 is ideal but will consider other years)
http://www.TeamSpatula.com |
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jerseyboy Samba Member
Joined: May 05, 2005 Posts: 256 Location: South Jersey
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:34 am Post subject: |
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The battery tray on my '70 Bug had rotted and the PO "fixed" it by inserting a cafeteria food tray in the hole. It's still there, but half the floor is gone now and it's taking the heater channel with it. |
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Hippopotabus Samba Member
Joined: May 27, 2004 Posts: 1600 Location: Miwuk Village, CA
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:47 am Post subject: |
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I once had to rerig my accelorator cable with a coat hanger. Damn thing snapped going to Stowe VT. I get out and can see the cable snapped. I crawl under the bus and tie the real cable end to a coat hanger and then run the coat hanger to the carb linkage. Helped me get from Killington VT to Stowe and all the way back again to Syracuse. _________________ Celer, Silens, Letalis
www.2dreconbn.net |
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BigLoaf Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2005 Posts: 433 Location: Hacienda Heights, CA
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:54 am Post subject: |
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How about a big toggle switch and pushbutton on the dashboard to make up for a broken ignition switch? Yeesh, talk about an easy bus to steal. Oh, this isn't a bus, but it's pretty good. After I bought my Civic, I decided to figure out why the front speakers weren't working. I found that the speakers had been replaced by tweeters that had been held in place by being stuffed inside a couple of big socks stuffed into the door. |
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pyrOman Fire Master
Joined: July 21, 2003 Posts: 12409 Location: Over 2002 posts deleted!
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:05 am Post subject: |
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None permanent but necessary since they were done on the side of the road...
1) Broken nose cone held together with 2 C-clamps just to make it home.
2) Broken, more like totally worn out, part that holds the siftrod unto the shifter. Broke at the toll booth at 6 in the morning going to work on a 2 hour commute. After some 5 minutes of "engineering" (sitting under the bus just looking at ways to "fix" it), pull some hanger wire to hold the rod into the shifter. Not to be a permanent fix but that mother held together for about 6 months until I finally got down to order and receive the part. _________________ Some people are so busy being clever they don't have time enough to be wise. |
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DjEep Insambaniac
Joined: October 26, 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Hippy Hell
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:39 am Post subject: |
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BigLoaf wrote: |
How about a big toggle switch and pushbutton on the dashboard to make up for a broken ignition switch? Yeesh, talk about an easy bus to steal. Oh, this isn't a bus, but it's pretty good. After I bought my Civic, I decided to figure out why the front speakers weren't working. I found that the speakers had been replaced by tweeters that had been held in place by being stuffed inside a couple of big socks stuffed into the door. |
Our bus has a pushbutton starter and i was actually thinking of rigging a toggle switch in an unlikely location as an anti-theft device. Who would think that the main power switch for the bus would be the switch on the light fixture over the rear hatch... _________________ No, you are not "tripping"
That is an emu.
Maybelline, 1968 Cold-Weather Westy, 1600cc Doghouse SP Stump-Puller
Betsy, 1965 Ghia, 1776cc DP w/ 34pict3, dizzy still in test phase
Casper, 1966 Standard Patina Original Barn Find, up for grabs soon.... |
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DurocShark Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2004 Posts: 6624 Location: Crappy town in a crappy state. But the beach is nearby, so I have that going for me.
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 11:43 am Post subject: |
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Doorbell for a pushbutton starter.
Household latex paint all over the outside. _________________ No boom today. Boom tomorrow. There's always a boom tomorrow. |
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SlowLane Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2005 Posts: 1044 Location: Livermore, CA
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:23 pm Post subject: |
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Hippopotabus wrote: |
I once had to rerig my accelorator cable with a coat hanger. |
A friend of mine, upon having his accelerator cable break on his Beetle, ran a length of string from the throttle linkage, looped it under the intake manifold for leverage, out the engine lid vents and around the side of the car to the driver's window. He then proceeded to drive home (not far, thankfully) by hanging his arm out the window and pulling on the string. He steered with his knees while shifting. _________________ Present:
'81 Westfalia: 2L, manual. Originally Canadian, now Californiated
Back in the day:
'72 Super Beetle
'69 Camper Van - Corvair powered
'71 Window Van - Transferred Corvair from '69
"With sufficient thrust, pigs fly just fine." - Internet RFC 1925
"They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it is not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance." - Sir Terry Pratchett |
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howiesfamily Samba Member
Joined: March 31, 2004 Posts: 858 Location: Panther City, Texas
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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I bought a 70 vert with the top frame, but no canvas. Went to Home Depot and bought a white canvas painters tarp, laid it across the top frame and safety pinned it to more or less the correct shape. Then took it to the sewing machine and sewed it up, with no back window. Looked like crap, but held the heat in (kind of) in the winter. _________________ member of: Fort Worth Aircoolers Gang |
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tom62 Samba Member
Joined: August 21, 2005 Posts: 654
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:33 pm Post subject: |
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I thought this was interesting. The doglegs were so rusty on my single cab that the po screwed a 2x2 to it to hold the end of the bumper but at least he used treated lumber!
now
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rjlatherow Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2005 Posts: 135 Location: Tarpon Springs
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:40 pm Post subject: |
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I bought a 74 westy from a towyard. It was the most insane, cursed bus I've ever mefore .
The PO had removed, the air vents, put speakers in their place. Remvoed the blank for the clock, and with some dryer hose and lots of duct, masking, and electrical tape had the vent routed to the hole. Half the wires (that ere not burned) were electric taped toether randomly, and half were spliced in with lamp cord (only 1 of the sides), speaker cables, etc.
It had flat white latex paint on, but they had the wisdom to scrape most of the paint off most of the windows before they drove it. And the wood screws! Every fastener in the bus was replaced by a wood screw 1/4 too long and 2 sizes too large.
The front beam was COMPELTELY rusted out. Like, 5 inches of travel in ALL directions, in, out, up down, side to side. Had a hole in the engine hatch for the beetle progressive to stick out, and a old sheet to go over it (air filter?)
We called it Bealzibus, and over 2 years of various people trying to make it at least drivable it caused at least 2 vw people to swear off the hobby forever. Even tried to kill me once, while I was under it - made the jack stands sink into the ground 5 inches BEFORE the jack mysteriously broke. (yeah, i know, but its MY story)
BryanM remembers - he tried to get it going once before realizing it's horrible soul-sucking evil.
-rj _________________ -----------------------------
<---- My sad, sad avatar is my perfect 1970 Squareback on fire - 1/1/05. Magnesium burns really pretty. Use a full trailer.
Last edited by rjlatherow on Wed Jan 25, 2006 2:15 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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rjlatherow Samba Member
Joined: January 12, 2005 Posts: 135 Location: Tarpon Springs
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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And then there was Schicklebrube, my first bus, a 74 deluxe with 2 HUGE holes cut in the roof for a 'sunroof'...... one over the cab, one over the engine. _________________ -----------------------------
<---- My sad, sad avatar is my perfect 1970 Squareback on fire - 1/1/05. Magnesium burns really pretty. Use a full trailer. |
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tom62 Samba Member
Joined: August 21, 2005 Posts: 654
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 1:41 pm Post subject: |
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there was the time my main power feed th the 62 bug burnt and I hooked a wire (speaker) from the battery to the coil pushed started it and drove 30 miles to get home! |
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71_transporter Samba Member
Joined: July 02, 2005 Posts: 823 Location: Southern Illinois
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:05 pm Post subject: stupid people. |
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I think that my bus is the mother of all hack jobs.
First there was rust on the nose so im assuming that the rust was starting to get bad. so what do they do. Put a piece of metal on the nose and pop rivit it on. then the pop rivit the vw emblym back on. Then they put bondo on the nose under the windshield. It looks like a growth. then the "resealed the windsheld with silicone. its all over the darn windsheld. but they didnt seal it up all the way. so they had water leaking in. so what did they do. pull the wiring out so that way it wouldnt get rained on. i have yet to fix the leak. Now there is rust under my feet. they put some american flag stickers where the headliner had rips to hold it together. they lost the igniton keys and installed a "new" one in the dash the have rolled on paint on the outside. they took out the rear seats. took off the rear defroster button. ahhhhhhhhh what a mess. oh yah and a bunch of wiring that is all bright orange. running every where.... _________________ Bryan
Old hippies never Die, They just go up in Smoke!
63 Bug
67 Bug
82 WestfaliaVanagon |
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Tri-Bus Samba Member
Joined: November 29, 2005 Posts: 732 Location: Butler PA
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Posted: Wed Jan 25, 2006 3:14 pm Post subject: fiberglass frame rails |
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I looked at a bus on the samba a few weeks ago and noticed something weird about the frame rails (split) they were kinda wavy and had metal 1/4" mesh on them......Emailed the seller back asked if that was fiberglass, said yes! No sale for me |
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