'66 Procrastinator's Bus

[Alex1976]

The past few days have been busy. I finally got around to welding in my seat brackets for my Rock and Roll seat brackets from JustKampers (http://www.justkampers.com/211-898-561-rock-and-ro...-1992.html). I cut some plates out, then welded them in place, then welded down my angle iron. Once that was in place I took my square tubing and cut the top brace for the bracket.

I ended up adding plywood shims between the wooden frame side and the welded in brackets. This brought the side frames inside about 3/4 inch on each side. This allowed the bottom seat frame to sit much better rather than barely catching the edges. Hindsight, I'd weld the brackets in about an inch more inside.

Here's the test front frame I made to get the exact height correct since I only have one piece of plywood left and I don't want to mess it up.
Also note the test strip attached with a squeeze clamp by the door. The plan is to kerf the edges to get a nice curve and wrap around to the outside of the side plywood brackets, then bolt through both to attach it. That's the plan anyway...

For the kick panel, I wanted something a little different. I wanted curved ends, so I knew I needed to cut some kerfs. The cabinet grade plywood was too large for the table saw, so I had to make a circular saw square to get the cuts (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbEjGdu5dfw&t=604s).
It wasn't too difficult but there's definitely a bit of a learning curve to it. Once it's dry I'll lightly sand it, some body filler, make some speaker pods, put two usb ports, fiberglass, padding, then some stitched vinyl. Haha, all that is waaaay down the road.

Here's the photos of it finished. I still need to round off the corners. I may expand the supporting frame, at the bottom of the seat, by kerfing a matching piece on both sides but it's good for now.

_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Alex1976]

I went to put on the rear hatch and noticed the window channel was pretty crusty so I decided to repair it before putting it back on. Silly me, I was thinking a quick sanding, some minor patch work, and done... Nope.


Here's some photos of the exterior and the condition...

You can see the bottom right corner is pretty crusty there's a few spots on the left that will need patching as well. Since I have an endoscope, I thought I'd take a peek inside as well...


Link
[/youtube]

The plan is to pretty much cut out the right bottom portion, fabricate new pieces, and weld them in. I'm hoping to get away with patches on the left but I won't know until I sand it down more to see and take a better look on that side with the endoscope.

Using my old washing machine sheet metal skin as a donor and a Metal Shrinker and Stretcher set from Eastwood Co., I set out to fabricate new window channels. Eventually, I'll do the same on my front windows too.

The process was surprisingly easy and I have far less apprehension about the front windows now. Tomorrow I'll cut out the rusted piece, weld in the new piece, and fabricate the other side.
_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Alex1976]

I had to take some time off, thanks to a horrible case of Poison Ivy. Since I'm currently waiting on the spring for the thermostat flap link bar return spring to arrive in the mail, I thought I'd tackle these front seats.

Here's some progress pics over the past year, of the seats...
After dismantling, I removed all the rust with a DIY electrolysis. It worked pretty great.

Once all the rust was removed, I repaired the broken upholstery teeth on the frame. I purchased some 16g sheet metal, cut a big strip, cut them to size, then sharped the tips.

Once the teeth were all repaired, I hog-ringed down some cheap fabric as a spring-to-foam barrier, put down my foam, then added some cheap felt fabric with hog rings to smooth it all down and hold the foam in place.

Now to make patterns from some cheap fabric and sew up some upholstery!!
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1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[dgsaz]

[Alex1976]

[Alex1976]

Now that Hurricane Harvey has moved on and my kids are back in school, I can get back to working on the bus! Thankfully we didn't flood and only had minor damage.

Easing back into it, so I tackled some easy stuff. I finished welding and grinding down the new window channels I put in months back and installed the rear hatch.

I also ran the grinder over the deck lid to remove all the surface rust, then installed that as well. Now I'm off to order the seals. While I wait, I'm gonna tackle the front door repairs and installs. Wish me luck!

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1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

===============================
“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Skim]

good job on that rear window channel. Looks excellent.
_________________
GFK
Samba since before the towers collapsed. Still here.
1953 Kabriolet
1954 Sunroof
1959 Lowlight Ghia vert
1960 Lt Grey Double Cab SMZ LEGIT
1963 Deluxe Turkis Walk Thru 15 Window OG Paint

[Alex1976]

[Alex1976]

Back at it today. I after some help over on a post about Repair or Replace (https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=687304), I went with repair. I was actually a lot easier to do than I was worried about. So now I have shiny new metal on the passenger side window. Tomorrow I'll do the other side.

I prepped and installed the rear hatch glass and new rubber. While I had the hatch off, I put the new weatherstrip in. Now to dig around and see if I still have the handle...

Tonight I attack the cargo doors and install the weatherstrips.

_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Alex1976]

Before I tackle the cargo doors weatherstripping, I decided to clean up and restore all six of my pop out windows. First thing I did was clean them up, remove the hinges, and outside rubber. Then I moved onto cutting out as much of the inside rubber seal as I could, then sprayed the screws and inside frame with Liquid Wrench. About half of the screws (almost all of the top ones) came out with a little elbow grease. The rest I sprayed down again, and soaked overnight.

In the morning I broke out the welder. I put the frame in a vise (using a welding glove to give a little cushion), cleaned it up with a wire brush, tack welded a small bead on top of the screw, built it up, then grabbed the top with a pair of locking pliers. The combination of Liquid Wrench, having something to grab, and heat, loosened the screws like magic.

I initially tried attaching a small screw with a nut at the top but was having difficulty getting a good bond. It worked decently once but wasn't worth the effort. I decided to just stack the spot welds, building height to the weld until it was tall enough to grab with locking pliers.

It was slow but I'm nearly done. I only have three more screws to go but it's late and I'm tired. Tomorrow I'll remove the final screws and start stripping them down for fresh paint and new rubber seals.
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1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Alex1976]

====Pop Out Window Progress====
My technique for welding a small spot on the stripped and/stuck screws works like magic. It takes patience but well worth the effort. All of the screws were removed with only three needing to be drilled out. In those cases, the head had broke off.

Here's a close up of one of the screws, the head stripped out, and severely stuck with rust.

Here's what's left of the screws I managed to extract. The rest of the screws, the easy ones, were lost years ago. Ordering new ones from Wolfsburg West.

Once the screws were all removed, I sanded them all down to prepare them for paint.

I used the old screws to block the screw holes before painting. Glad I kept them! Only two frames didn't go beyond this due to screw holes needing to be retapped.

Hanging from old coat hangers with a fresh coat of paint. I used left over welding wire threaded through screw holes to hang them.

Before I could move on to installing, I attacked the rusted holes in the panels around the windows and the rusted mounting spots for the window hatches.

This is the passenger side. My welds suck, I know, but they grind down fine.

Driver's side rust holes cut out, patches made, and welded in.

Assembling the freshly painted frames with some woodworking clamps and silicone spray.

Once assembled, I used a bicycle tire tool to get the new rubber in.

Once I had them all put together, I put the window frames in, installed the pop out latches (to keep the windows from falling), aligned the holes with the hinges, and screwed them in. Once I had them in place, I removed the pop out latches, then dry fit the body seal rubber, and reinstalled the window latches.

For the middle driver's side window I did have to weld in a new threaded plate since the old one was removed due to rust.

Now for the other two frames that I didn't paint...

One of the frames has two holes, on the bottom inside frame, that had to be drilled out.

The other frame had two of the hinge holes drilled out.

I'm going to attempt to weld fill, grind down smooth, redrill and tap. The parts, the drill bit and tap, are pretty cheap ($15 for the 3.5mm X .6 tap and $5 for the 2.9mm drill bit)

I've filled in the hinge holes and smoothed them out but haven't done the inside frame holes yet and I'm still waiting on the drill bit and tap to come in.
In case it's difficult to see, the holes filled are the bottom two.

_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

===============================
“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[Skim]

That was an excellent way to extract those screws. I wish I would have done that!
_________________
GFK
Samba since before the towers collapsed. Still here.
1953 Kabriolet
1954 Sunroof
1959 Lowlight Ghia vert
1960 Lt Grey Double Cab SMZ LEGIT
1963 Deluxe Turkis Walk Thru 15 Window OG Paint

[Alex1976]

[Alex1976]

Continuing the process of repairing my last two pop-out windows...

I ordered a 3.5mm X .6 tap ($14.99), a tap wrench ($21.40), and a 2.9mm drill bit ($7.68 for two pack) off Amazon.

The tap took a month to come in. First thing I did was do a test drill and tap.

Once I established I had the right sizes, I drilled the new holes in the window frame I had prepared already. (I welded in the old drilled-out holes a month back). I screwed the frame into place with the three good holes and marked where the new holes would go with an auto center punch. Took it out, drilled it, tapped it. I checked to make sure it fit, painted it, assembled, and installed.

For the last frame, it was the inside frame screw holes that were drilled out. I welded in the holes on the bar, fitted the frame together, then marked the holes. Somehow, I drilled it just a bit off the mark twice before I finally decided to weld-fill in the top side of the frame and drill them both out at the same time. I counter-sank the new holes on the top frame and it went together wonderfully. Painted, assembled, and installed.

The final window required a new threaded plate since the old one was rusted out and the pillar repaired.

The panel before repair...

After repair and new plate welded (I forgot to photo the repair afterward)...

_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[obus]

I've enjoyed following your step by step info so far. Keep up the great work!!
_________________
July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

[Alex1976]

[Alex1976]

It's been a while since I've worked on the bus since the wife now has me working on a mobile boutique.

Anyway, I finally got around to fixing the rusted hole above the fresh air vent. I used more sheet metal from our old family washing machine since it was the perfect gauge.

With that patched up, I finally reordered all the missing hardware for my safari windows. I ordered my windows years ago from Wolfgang Int. but accidentally threw away all the hardware cleaning out the garage. That was a very expensive mistake but now it's all installed.

Centering wasn't bad at all really. I put the windows into the frame (without weatherstripping), used cardboard to shim them from the bottom, pushed the hinge flush with the frame, then took a small dowel rod with a paint to mark the center hole. I should have took pictures but it worked perfect.

Once I had the spot marked with a paint spot, I took the window out, I used a auto punch on the spot, then a 1/8 drill bit for the pilot hole. I put the window back in and screwed the hinge in place. It took some awkward shuffling by myself, holding the frame in place and screw, but it was managable.

After the center, it was super simple for the rest. I did goof on the outside sliding tab by not leaving enough of a gap for the weatherstrip and had to redo the first one.

I am having a slight decision problem. When I went to replace the original hinge screws, I ordered new ones on Amazon. Both are supposedly #10 sheetmetal screws 1/2 long but if you look at the image, the pan head screws look larger. Do I go with these instead of the countersunk head of the smaller one? Will the round top interfere or pinch the weatherstripping?

Oh, I watched this video a few times to help with the window installation.

Link

_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton

[LAGrunthaner]

Wow Alex1976, you are really doing a nice job. I especially like the step by step and found the endoscopy interesting. Can you tell us which brand and how it connects to your phone? It sure can help many of our projects. Bookmarked! I hope Everett put's your thread into the build thread.
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Maui Roadsters
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http://www.oacdp.org

[Alex1976]

[Alex1976]

And the safari windows install is complete!! I still need to do a few minor things like glue the seals together at the bottom but pretty happy with the finished install.

To get the corners tight, I placed the round end of a large screwdriver and a rubber mallet, and gently tapped it down. It seemed to have worked well.

Tomorrow I'll start tackling the final bits like spraying some primer on the fresh welds and gluing the two butt ends together.
_________________
1966 Bus https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=678279

Follow me on Instagram, where I post a lot of bus progress. https://www.instagram.com/quietlyscheming/

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“Don't be a dick.” --Wheaton's Law, Wil Wheaton