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1965 Sundial Camper
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:31 am    Post subject: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

I just got my 1965 Sundial a few weeks ago. It was discussed in the "Official Good Deals on Buses" forum.

Overall, it's in good shape for my part of the country. Best part is that it runs, drives, starts and stops very well. It's got a fresh 1600 DP and rebuilt freeway flyer transmission. Brakes are rebuilt as well and stop very well. It has a folding bed that is in good shape, and the front seats are good too.

It had a really cool roof rack, but I traded it for a 72 Karmann Ghia convertible project. I hated to see the rack go, but it was too good of a deal to pass up. I'm planning on putting a pop top of some kind in anyway, so it worked out.


It does of course need some work. Here's what I've identified so far. Some are pretty extensive, others are minor:


-It was laid on it's side at some point in it's life. So the entire passenger side will need to be straightened out.

-Rear passenger corner near engine compartment is 70% fiberglass, 30% bondo, 0% metal.

-Cargo door inner lower sections need to be replaced

-Cargo floor has a few sections made of aluminum sheet covered in fiberglass

-Inner rockers are made of aluminum channel and spray foam

-Drivers side outer rocker is bamboo (kind of cool really, but can't stay)

-Front floor is made of fiberglass and spray foam

-Deck lid doesn't latch

-All wiring needs to be corrected


This will likely be a fairly slow process, since it is a driving bus and I've wanted one for about 15 years. I'd hate to completely disassemble it and have it sit in pieces like the Ghia.

More to come!

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type2rescuemaine
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 9:37 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper "Refresh" Reply with quote

VWTortuga336 wrote:


-Drivers side outer rocker is bamboo (kind of cool really, but can't stay)



Coolest sounding, most terrible looking repair ever. Lol.

Sweet bus though, and it had quite a good looking price tag on it too if I remember correctly! Can't wait to see this take shape again.

Are you planning on leaving the sweet paintjob or are you going to make it more 'subtle' let's say? Very Happy
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 10:24 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Thanks.

I will end up painting the bus navy blue & ivory.
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rotorimp
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PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 6:09 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Congrats!! I have a 65 velvet green Sundial too! I have been working on mine since last November. Here is the thread if you want to check it out

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=690569


-Rear passenger corner near engine compartment is 70% fiberglass, 30% bondo, 0% metal.

^^^^^ LOL Very Happy ^^^^^
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 6:55 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

I just finished stripping the cargo area and rear corner of all it's "repairs". The cargo floor had tons of aluminum, sheet metal screws, fiberglass, bondo and spray foam.

The passenger side rear panel was caved in pretty good, and filled with bondo. Here's what it looks like after a few hours with a wire wheel hammering it out.

The roof had quite a bit of nastiness hiding under all the plaster (yes, plaster) too. Dented corer and rusted through in several spots.

Bad timing on finding the rust roof too - I recently read through this build, which was FANTASTICALLY done! https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0
It gave me motivation, in a bad way probably, to do something crazy like a 23 window conversion. But that would mean in addition to buying the roof windows, I'd need to find all the side windows, complete corners, small rear hatch, new spring carriers, etc, etc, etc...still contemplating it Very Happy

At this point I'm focusing on getting the cargo floor, outriggers, rockers fixed, then moving my way to that dented panel.


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williamM
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 7:18 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Very Happy If you need a metal source - come get my 68 remains - it will supply you for some time.

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I got this because my roof was terrible also but managed to find this and did a trans plant- you can too-
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so - it can be done- finding a donor or new ($) top is the hard part.
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 15, 2018 4:23 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Floors are out and so is the long rocker. Lots of expanding foam and bondo.

My next question is about getting the cargo doors off. I’m not having much luck at all. I’ve soaked the screws in PB Blaster, applied heat with my torch, welded on a bolt (the bolt snapped). Can I just take the. Also, one of the sets of screws was replaced by hex head bolts, and there’s no way to get a socket on them. Off by driving out the roll pins?


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dschup
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 8:18 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Any progress? How is everything going?
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Tue Jan 15, 2019 4:07 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Man, I can't believe it's been 4 months since I last posted! I feel like I've made some good progress. The metal work is almost done and I'm planning on having it in the paint booth in about a month.

Some highlights of the work done since my last post:

-Lots and lots of frame repair. All that rotted stuff in the pics, outriggers, jack points and all the lower pillars. For those of you playing at home, here's what about $400 can buy you in frame repair parts (this isn't everything obviously, just one depressing shipment worth).

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-New patch panels on the roof.

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-Replaced lower ~10 inches of both cargo doors. I finally got the doors off and completely screwed up the sheet metal around the screws in the process, so that had to be replaced too. I learned a lot through that process and got the remaining screws off with very little trouble. My 4 year old son and I just finished filming a quick "how to" YouTube video on how to get rusty Phillips screws out. It might not be new info to any of you, but it was a lot of fun to make with him!

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-When I started to put the passenger side pillars in, it became very apparent how bad the alignment of everything had become due to rotten pillars and roof. You could really see how bad it was due to the horrible mis-alignment of the cargo doors. This was one of the most frustrating and rewarding parts of this project so far. I ended up welding a 1"x1" square tube to the inside of the C pillar and jacked the whole 1/4 of the bus shell up about 3". Made the cargo doors line up very nicely. It was a really simple solution that took me a LONG TIME to figure out how to make it work.

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-New cargo floors

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-New inner and outer rockers on both sides. Getting the passenger side outer rocker lined up right was a treat Smile

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-New passenger rear corner & battery tray. Another previous repair full of expanding foam, bondo, fiberglass and aluminum sheet.

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-New inner wheel well closeout panels. One was purchased from WW, the other was fabricated using the WW panel as a template.

-Replaced lower ~3" of front bulkhead. Just lap jointed in there. Will use filler to smooth out the joints. Won't be the prettiest repair, but cabinets will cover this area up anyway.

-Found firewall donor section and started repairs there.

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-Found a "well used" pop top. I'll need to repair the fiberglass and fabricate a lift frame for it.

-Almost finished with strip down - front interior, passenger cargo windows, front windows, front doors, engine, gas tank all removed.

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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 7:23 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

I only had about 30 minutes to work on the bus last night, but I'm working on it every available minute that I can to keep the momentum going.

Started on straightening out the dented panel between the cargo doors and the corner. I'm using the Harbor Freight stud welder, which really isn't too bad. I did have to modify the slide hammer attachment because the one it came with was just about worthless.


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type2rescuemaine
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:02 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

What an update! Very Happy Nice!
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dschup
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 8:49 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

great progress, thanks for the update!
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 16, 2019 9:14 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Wow. This bus definitely found the right owner. Props to you for taking it on and the work so far.
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 19, 2019 2:21 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Got the panel behind the cargo doors fairly straight, I'll work on it a little more and do the rest with filler.

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The firewall above the engine is all tacked in. I build it using a donor section from a bay window bus. The stampings seemed to line up pretty well.

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While I was doing the firewall, I noticed the bottom corner of the back, where the hatch goes, was rusted out. So I had to fabricate 5 separate pieces to fix it.


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PostPosted: Sun Jan 20, 2019 12:45 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

VWTortuga336, that was a cool idea.

Quote:
I ended up welding a 1"x1" square tube to the inside of the C pillar and jacked the whole 1/4 of the bus shell up about 3". Made the cargo doors line up very nicely. It was a really simple solution that took me a LONG TIME to figure out how to make it work.


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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Wed Jan 23, 2019 1:53 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Over the weekend I finished the firewall. It took quite a bit of work to get all the repair panels to play nice with each other, mostly due to the fact that the existing metal was all caved in. I also had to weld in new supports underneath.

Also finished up fixing the rust on the cargo doors, and got the front floor driver's side patch fitted up.

All that's left on the metal work is welding in the driver's front floor, cutting and welding in the passenger side front floor, and patching the doglegs here and there.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 24, 2019 10:25 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Well that escalated quickly. Looks like you're knocking it out fast.
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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Thu Jan 31, 2019 7:01 pm    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Front floor is in and doglegs are "patched". Of course there was a lot more rust to repair than I originally thought. I also forgot that I needed a lip for the door seal to sit in under the floor. Better yet, I didn't realize it until the floor panels were welded completely in.

After several expletives, I came up with this improvisation. Not perfect, but it will get the job done.




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PostPosted: Sun Feb 03, 2019 10:48 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

I spent about 5 hours yesterday fixing the bumpers. I was originally going to replace the rear mounts, but they are welded on (like, a lot). The passenger side mount was shot, so I had to fabricate a new one. It's far from pretty, but it works. I decided to weld the pieces together since the PO started going that route anyway, and I couldn't get the pieces apart without destroying them.

I also removed the trailer hitch, because she can barely tow herself as it is Rolling Eyes




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VWTortuga336
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PostPosted: Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:56 am    Post subject: Re: 1965 Sundial Camper Reply with quote

Metal work is all done and she's off to body work and paint. Should be back in my garage in ~4 weeks.

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