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'66 Procrastinator's Bus
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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2017 3:22 pm    Post subject: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

After some deliberation, I decided to post up a thread about my bus. Mostly for documenting my progress, or the lack thereof. Kids, jobs, family, hobbies/obsessions, etc. all seem to get in the way but I've recently decided it was time to get off my ass and stop feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the job. So here goes...

Back in 2005, I bought this bus from a guy in Arizona. He had it since college but decided to sell it and settle down with the wife. A really nice guy and he gave me a great deal.

It's been sitting in my garage since I drove it back from Arizona. I've worked on it off and on for the past ten years or so but never too serious about it. Recently, the wife and I have been talking about moving so that's put a bit a crunch now since I'll potentially be losing all this awesome garage space. Probably the kick in the ass I needed. Laughing

This is the add photo I saw when I decided to purchase it. The scoops and bumpers were the owner's awesome carpentry job.
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It might be hard to see, but there's actually an old double cassette boom box hanging from the fresh air vent that's wired up to a inverter under the dash.
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The whole bus floor is covered in faux fur. It made for a great dog bed. The futon had legs that folded out. That hit the curb next trash day.
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The night stand is still in my garage with it's original contents. extra spark plugs, oil, extra voltage regulator, etc.
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The seats are buckets from an Chrysler I think and were bolted in with a few 2x4's. An old ammo can served as an armrest compartment.
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The engine before I took out the old wiring harness and decided to sit on it for a while...
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I broke down on the way home, around El Paso, but the folks at Competition Motors took great care of me and got me back on the road in just a few hours. http://competitionmotorsonline.com/
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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2017 3:23 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Fast forward about five years, I had gutted the wiring harness to convert it to a 12 volt, ordered some safari windows from Wolfgang International and a new 12 volt wiring harness from Jbugs. I also bought some front seats.

A good poker buddy of mine said he could do all the body work and paint so I towed off to his place - for another few years. Surprised


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It sat at his house shop with him working on it when he could but he got too sick to work on it further. He did a great job and I'm forever grateful. With that though, it was time to tow it back to the garage.
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Last edited by Alex1976 on Wed May 17, 2017 5:14 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Mon May 08, 2017 3:32 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Fast forward to now...

The 12 volt wiring harness is completely installed along with cleaned up engine tin
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Front seats are rust free and awaiting foam and upholstery
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new CV boots since the old ones were dried out and ripped
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fit a new battery tray (rusted out and had a piece of plywood holding up the battery when I bought it)
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cleaned up all the tar boards out (It took weeks and even the kids got in on helping)
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When I cleaned up the tar off the floor pans, I cut out the badly rusted spots as well.
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Repaired and installed the 12 volt wiper motor



Speedometer rebuild (much easier than I thought it would be)
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Heat boxes being cleaned currently
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Hokie87
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PostPosted: Wed May 10, 2017 3:35 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Nice! Half the fun is in working on them to make them yours.
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easy e
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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 5:25 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Batman is surely of driving age now.
I bet he's eyeballing it as of late.

Love the thread title.
Makes me want to adopt it.
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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 8:56 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Hokie87 wrote:
Nice! Half the fun is in working on them to make them yours.


Absolutely. It feels good to finally be making progress on it. It took a while, with the prodding of the wife, but great non the less. Very Happy
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1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Thu May 11, 2017 8:59 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

easy e wrote:
Batman is surely of driving age now.
I bet he's eyeballing it as of late.

Love the thread title.
Makes me want to adopt it.



Batman is most certainly driving age now!! And yes, he's already asking if he'll be allowed to drive it. My only comeback, for the moment, is "you can't drive standard. It's not even standard for a standard..."
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PostPosted: Fri May 12, 2017 8:18 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Today I worked on patching the left side of the engine compartment. The plan is to have my deep cycle battery here, once it's patched up.

I don't have any large pieces of scrap metal laying around, so I scavenged some smaller pieces and welded them together to make this patch. This is my first attempt at welding since hooking up C25 to my MIG 135 and using .023 (I was running .030 flux core before). I have to say, it makes a huge difference.


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It's not a perfect fit, but I'm going to go with it. It's extremely hard for me to work in there. My angle grinder is awkward and my Dremel just doesn't have enough umph. Time for electric shears??
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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:13 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

It's a decision that we all must make to justify our time, our hard earned cashola, and the patience to put all our efforts into these beauts.
Patience is a virtue, but procrastination is the devil! (Bobby Boucher's momma voice)
You've held onto it this long, and have the kiddos giving a hand, I feel good about this one. One day at a time, man. One day at a time, perhaps with some coffee. Just a suggestion Laughing
Keep us updated.
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Alex1976
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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 9:59 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

SamboSamba22 wrote:
It's a decision that we all must make to justify our time, our hard earned cashola, and the patience to put all our efforts into these beauts.
Patience is a virtue, but procrastination is the devil! (Bobby Boucher's momma voice)
You've held onto it this long, and have the kiddos giving a hand, I feel good about this one. One day at a time, man. One day at a time, perhaps with some coffee. Just a suggestion Laughing
Keep us updated.


Haha, it is most certainly a devil. : Laughing

Thank you for the encouraging words. They are appreciated. It's easy to get overwhelmed with these projects, especially when you see so many very qualified people doing amazing things with their own, and you start to question your sanity for taking on something so big. I guess I just needed a little fire under me to get moving. I'm not getting any younger here!

It's like eating an elephant. One bite at a time.

Thanks again, seriously!!
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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 10:16 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Last night's mission was to make a patch for the rust hole on the left side of my engine bay. When I bought the bus, the battery was actually there. The battery tray side had actually rusted away so badly that there was a sheet of plywood there haphazardly since even the lip of the rusted away tray was very unstable.

I don't have any decent-sized pieces of scrap metal around so I had to patch some pieces together to make a patch. I'm going to have to get some sheet metal very soon.

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It's not perfect but I'm happy with it. There's some minor pitting, since I'm not very good at welding, but I figure some metal filler will fix that and prevent rust down the road?

The bottom reveals the true horror to my welding abilities. I'm going to grind that down some more, metal filler, then spray paint it with some Rust-Oleum.
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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 6:45 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

If I found that repair on my bus I'd think the person knew what they were doing. Super hard area to work in even with the taillight removed.
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PostPosted: Sat May 13, 2017 8:21 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

I think, if you do the very best that you can, get some help now and then, and end up with a bus you can drive and have fun with.........then you'll be happy, proud and excited.
Keep up the good work!
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PostPosted: Sun May 14, 2017 8:12 am    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

I think I have you beat, as far as procrastination goes. Laughing
I've had my bus since 2002 and it's still not finished.
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PostPosted: Tue May 23, 2017 9:22 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

My tank regulator busted so I have to wait for a replacement to come in from Eastwood Co so until then I have to do non-welding work. Of course, there's no lack of that either. I decided to tackle the cargo doors.

I had to dig out all the hardware from my bucket of parts, scrubbed off all the rust and put a light coat of black spray paint on the locking bars.
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After it was all cleaned up, the doors were hung. It went pretty easy honestly. Seems like such a silly small thing, but it makes me no end of happy to see a door on the bus again. Very Happy
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The hardest part was running the locking bars into the channels at the top and bottom, inside the door. After struggling with it for a while, I grabbed the endoscope. I hooked it up to my phone and was done in about a minute with each.

Link


Progress is slow, but it's steady. Tomorrow I'm going to tackle the other cargo door but that one is going to require some pillar surgery since one of the screws broke off and then was drilled out - but not completely. I think I'm going to have to cut a hole and pull the bracket out to remove the hollowed out screw from the threads. Sad

By the time I'm done, my new cylinder welding regulator should be in so I can close it back up.
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PostPosted: Wed May 24, 2017 8:44 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Today I tackled the other cargo door. I ran into a number of problems here. The first being that one of the little brackets inside the pillar had a broken bolt still inside (It's the bolt hole on the top). It looked like someone attempted to drill it out at one point and gave up.
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I bought a set of screw extractors but had no luck. I decided to go in with my Dremel on the panel to access the bracket. Once I got the bracket out, I attempted to unscrew it from the back since there was quite a bit of bolt on the back end I could grip with a pair of locking pliers. No luck. I don't have a torch, so I took it to the kitchen and placed it on the stove to heat up, then cooled it in a bowl of water. I heated and quenched it three times before it finally started to move.
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After scrubbing it down of the surface rust, I put it back into place and did my best to bend the little bracket around it back into place. I'll be able to weld it all back into place on Friday, when my new flow regulator arrives.

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From there, it was time to hang the door. It was pretty easy though the bottom bolts seemed to be a bit tougher to get in and the door doesn't get quite as snug as I'd like. It shifts a little bit at the bottom still. Did the doors originally have washers or tension washers? I ended up using a tension washer on the bottom screw on the bottom door hinge to keep it from wobbling. It closes smoothly with no wiggle now.
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Now that the door is in place (yeeea!!!!) I can move onto the next problem. The locking mechanism seems to have a loose cylinder inside (top right hole) so I'm going to have to crack it open, put it back in place, and weld it closed. I won't be able to that though, until Friday. So it'll sit on the door, broken, for now.
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PostPosted: Tue May 30, 2017 7:13 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Stopped at my local welding supply store, Big Tex Welding Supplies, and got a refill for my tank. So today, it was back to work.

I decided to get a small win today and tackle something relatively easy. I cut out the rusted speedometer cable hole, patched in a new piece of metal, and drilled out a new hole. Afterward, I sanded it down and sprayed it with a fresh coat of spray paint. It's not the baby smooth finish I'd like but it'll do for now. I may sand down the rougher parts with some find grit paper and spray again down the road.

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It's a small win toward the finish line, but I'll take it. Next on the list is cleaning and sealing the gas tank, then cleaning the engine bay for some fresh paint. Getting there slowly...
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PostPosted: Sun Jun 04, 2017 4:20 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

There was lots of welding, grinding, sanding, cleaning, and cursing, but it's finally done. I was able to kill the rust I could reach and get it all painted up. It's rattle can Rustoleum paint but it looks great.

Now to clean and reseal the fuel tank, then install it. I'm even thinking about one of those fancy Blazecut Fire Suppression systems.


Link


I think I might be done for the day. It's raining and I got a slight headache. Tomorrow I start on the fuel tank...
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 4:48 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Does that generator need a 90 degree rotation on that pic upthread? Can't remember what my Splits looked Like at my age...
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 06, 2017 6:57 pm    Post subject: Re: '66 Procrastinator's Bus Reply with quote

Abscate wrote:
Does that generator need a 90 degree rotation on that pic upthread? Can't remember what my Splits looked Like at my age...


I think I got it right... The connecting bolts go to the left side (drivers side), correct? Either way, it's not quite ready to be mounted and installed so I still have time to correct any newbie problems I've made. Laughing
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