1956 RHD Swedish 23 window samba full restoration

[mabbo]

Hi,

Im restoring a Swedish 56 23 window at the moment. Unfortunately its not mine, its a customers. I want this bus so bad. Its pretty rough and has had some really grim previous "repairs".

It will be as close to factory as possible, and has most of the parts ready to put it back together once we have finished the metal and paintwork.

Here it is as it arrived:

We cut the panels off we know are getting replaced ready for blasting:

A few pics the blaster sent me. Waiting to get it back:

And the money shot...

[ronjonlasvegas]

That is a cool bus and I'm sure it will be amazing once it is done. You have your work cut out for you, it is rough. The front frame area and toolbox area under the front seat look seriously hacked. I'm not sure what happened there?
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September 1964 Standard Sunroof walk through SWR/BG original paint.

[aa390392]

Sorry about that front section, shit needs work. Good luck. Anxious to see the progress
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.
getting grumpy & less tolerant!


55 ragtop
56 delux sedan
56 Kabriolet

[adriano]

is it possible that it was originally a LHD?
I remember something on swedish bus with LHD and left cargo door.
Do you have the BC?

[mabbo]

Thanks for the replies...

Its been hacked pretty bad around the front but I'm pretty sure it hasn't been converted from lhd.

Will get more pictures online when it's back from the blasters in a few days

Cheers

[djfordmanjack]

Are you sure ?
the shifter base is angled to the left, indicating a LHD. Unless that detail would be the same on a RHD. it is clear to see that they replaced the upper part of frame over the axle due to quite possibly accident damage

this will be a great build to watch, keep us updated please !
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52 Barndoor DLX Coachbuild project
55 Wolfsburg panel project, og paint Taubenblau L31
62 Dickholmer, custom color Seeblau L360
63 1500 Notch, og paint Rubin Rot L456
67 1500 Käfer, og paint Lotus weiß L282 w/red interior

[mabbo]

Had a bit of time on the samba... Heres a quick update of what we have got done.

Got the bus on the chassis jig:

Braced the body up and cut the crap out ready for the new chassis rails etc:

Repairing the front floor section under the treasure chest:

Repaired the chassis rails and mocked everything else up in place. Welded the sills / I beams / top hats etc together but so it could be removed to complete the welding on the chassis rails:

The new front chassis rails needed reshaping a little as they sat a little too low at the middle of the bus when they were bolted on to the jig at the beam mount and front bumper mounts:

Welded the front repair section to the rear repair section, and the rear repair section to the original chassis rails at the torsion housing area. Cant get to the underside of this section while its on the chassis jig so will finish later:

Welded the front inner chassis rails around the beam mounting area:

When we were happy with the fit of the floor and tool chest panel, they were spot welded as factory:

And fitted in position in the chassis:

We slid the new heater cable tubes into place and welded to the original tube that holds the heater knob/mech:

Positioned into the new tool chest panel and welded in place:

The door gaps were pretty bad:

So we decided to repair the posts next so we could work on the door gaps.

Repaired the A posts next. The originals were rotten around the lower hinge mount but were good above that. The door seal channel we bought wasnt the right shape so we put it in the stretcher:

Then we were ready to repair the A post:

Same on other side:

The RHS B post inner was repaired:

The LHS B post inner didnt look too bad but was full of pin holes but a lot of the outer was good, so we kept as much of the outer as possible, and removed the full inner:

The new panel has no mounts for the semaphores, so they were taken from the OG panel and fitted to the new panel:

Pinned in place:

Probably forgot loads, but thats about where we are up to at the moment

[Bulli Klinik]

Looks like a great project. Nice, clean work!
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I've never met a Bus I didn't like.
Mike K
Bulli Klinik
Colorado Springs

[mabbo]

Not the most exciting update, but we have spent what seems like forever messing around with the silver weld through BBT / Taiwan panels. Not been impressed with any of them so far... Doubt Ill be using them again.

The LHS B post bottom just ended at the sill, so I had to buy a lower KF repair piece and weld it on. Then we spent a bit more time lining the body up and pinning everything in place before we weld anything. Door gaps are getting there now, but not quite right yet:

Back on it tomorrow...

[mabbo]

More progress The top of the dash and window lip were rotten so I made a small panel, cut the rot out, welded the new section in and ground down:

We ordered a Klassic Fab front panel. It was damaged in transit. Got its pretty good with a bit of hammer and dolly work. Still not 100% though. Few before and after pics:

[pyrOman]

[Braukuche]

That sucks about the damage to the nose.
Mine arrived undamaged and was so nice I didn't have to do any bodywork on it, polyprimed, blocked once and shot it.
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Go Reds! Smash state!

Retirement is here!
1956 Ghia
1959 SO-23 Westfalia
1960 double cab
1960 Baja Bug
1963 stretched double cab
1962 Golde sunroof Ghia
1963 356 B coupe
1963 Notchback
1967 21 window less rusty now

[mabbo]

We got the LHS B post spot welded together, and welded to the bulkhead:

The bulkhead was also spot welded to the front top hat:

The top of the new bulkhead was nothing like factory where it welds to the B post so we made a section for each end and finished it as factory:

Removed the rotten front kick panel and fitted a new one:

Also welded the tubs to the tool chest area:

We trimmed down a Wolfsburg West windscreen panel down and fit it in place at the correct height using our window frames, then pinned it to the front panel, starting in the centre to get the swage as close as possible:

Pinned in place where we want it:

One of the wiper holes and pressings dont line up, so that will need sorting:

And the doglegs pinned in place ready to weld once we are finished with the front panel:

[mabbo]

[mabbo]

[mabbo]

The corner of the dash and window frame was rotten so I made a small repair panel and welded that in:

The none factory holes were then welded up:

I wanted to replicate the original body number in the new bulkhead panel, so I marked up where it should sit and stamped them back in place:

Not too sure what this number is for, but thought Id replicate it at the same time as fitting the new seat back stop:

Once we had the windscreen repair panel pinned in the right place on the nose, we spot welded it in place:

The back of the dash / inner framework, and inside of the front panel and front valance were epoxy primed and painted body colour before being welded together:

Then we spot welded around the window frames and down the A posts:

Will get the welding on the front panel finished on Monday then that will be it for a while.

[EverettB]

[mabbo]

[AlteWagen]

There is a thread in one of the beetle forums that shows these random single or double digit numbers stamped in various area around the body. I dont think a definite answer was ever reached but the most plausible was inspector stamps.
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[mabbo]