'Let's Go! Scotland-Croatia and onwards in our Kombi!'

[TomWesty]

[mcdonaldneal]

[mcdonaldneal]

As we know, everyone’s plans for the year are basically up the spout.
Today we were due to fly from Dubai to Sydney on our way to take an epic road trip and to pick up our ‘new’ 1976 Dormobile Kombi (See other thread!) We’re not.
Here in Scotland there’s something of a lockdown. No contact outside your household and essential journeys only. I’m still working in a weird unpredictable pattern that leaves me a fair bit of time at home. There’s no prospect of camping, so I’ve put the Kombi up on jack stands and I’m starting the job I should have done over the winter!
About 18yrs ago a layer of underseal was put under the whole bus. Generally it has preserved the metalwork very well, but it is dried and separating and probably trapping water. Certainly there is some rust at points I can see at the edges. I want to strip off what I can, grind back rust and prime and paint and maybe a layer of bed liner type protection under (or over) that. The wheel arches are the worst, but it’s not clear how far I should extend things until I start...

So, this is a bit of a view of the right hand wheel arch and the lower edge of the bodywork.

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mcdonaldneal]

And this is the left hand side...

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mcdonaldneal]

After a couple of hours with a blunt chisel and a flat screwdriver, carefully scraping off an initial layer things are a little clearer. It looks as though there is mostly surface rust at the body edges and some of the outer under body, but it reaches a point where the paint is pretty solid. I’ll need to decide how far to strip back. I don’t want to remove solid paint, but it might look better to prepare and paint the whole wheel arch area.

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mcdonaldneal]

I’m trying to make progress in smallish chunks. Partly because it’s going to take a long time and mostly because it’s awkward work!
Today’s results...

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mcdonaldneal]

The CV lockdown is perfect for some things; doing bite sized chunks of a long and tedious job. I have discovered that the black, textured underseal/undercoat is probably from the factory and has done a good job of protecting the paint but there are enough areas of light rust that I’m glad I’m taking it off. I’m using a combination of blunt chisels, an old large flathead screwdriver and a small angled pry bar. The black stuff mostly flakes away fairly well, without damaging the paint at all. Next steps will be:
Clean off the residue with kerosene/mineral spirit/gasoline (with great care!)
Remove rust with wire brushes on a drill/dremel
Rust converter (POR metal prep and Jenolite jelly)
Probably POR15 the actual rusty areas.
Repair with seam sealer all the seams I can.
Probably brush on u-pol bedliner product which is well regarded.

U-pol Raptor bed liner

Maybe paint body colour, but probably waxoyl as a top layer.
Spray fluid film into the cavities via the rubber plugs.

I’m not even half way through stage one! I’ve decided to take the preparation as far back as the cross member where the brake booster is. I really can’t face doing the whole underside at this stage!

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Abscate]

A Dremel tool would be wonderful in those tight corners and spaces. They make small brush heads that would clean those up.

EYE PROTECTION MANDATORY , small parts flying at high velocity are bad for eyes
_________________
.ssS!

[mcdonaldneal]

[mcdonaldneal]

Didn’t have long today, but I tried some paraffin (kerosene) on a scrap of kitchen scoring sponge and it does a pretty good job o cleaning up the last bits of the undercoat. A few hours hard work and things should look a lot better!
I’ve just done a small strip in these pictures

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[notchboy]

You got some cabin fever brother.
_________________

[mcdonaldneal]

[notchboy]

[RalphWiggam]

I find it pretty funny that there are 3 threads going with people scraping undercoat during this quarantine.

We all know that there is probably no other time where we will actually be able to finish the job.

I am very happy with how mine came out and good lord am I glad the hard part is over. NEVER want to do that again!!!

[notchboy]

[mcdonaldneal]

I’m carrying on with slow progress when I can under the bus. There are a couple of things holding me up at the moment. The bolts for the seat rails (and a line of screw shafts) protrude into the wheel arch. I thought it would be simple to remove these from the top, but the threads are gummed up with old underseal and because of the location of the top and bottom of the nut and bolt it is really stiff to get them unscrewed! I have ended up ordering a pneumatic impact wrench and I hope that will do the trick where penetrating oil and heat have failed!
The other thing is the waste water tank, which is held in with two metal straps. It is blocking off the back of the cross member which is part of what I am cleaning and painting. The bolts for those are also very gummed up and inaccessible, but I am slowly getting those free. Actually, I might not put the tank back, as we never use it. Pic of it in situ...

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[mcdonaldneal]

A bit of grunting and swearing, but the waste water tank is out. It has revealed a couple of things. Good: I can now get to the strengthening members to clean and paint. Bad, I have a gaping hole in the floor where the pipes used to come through. Looks like I’ll have to patch that.

_________________
1978 marino yellow Bay Dormobile camper
1969 signal orange Karmann Ghia convertible
1976 martini olive Bay Dormobile camper

Stop dead photo links! Post photos to The Samba Gallery!

[Abscate]

Wire brush, phospho , and primer and that will last another 50 years if you keep salt off it.
_________________
.ssS!

[TomWesty]

[MorkC68]

Keep up the good work, that's a very good chassis, you ought to be pleased with it!

I hope the little bit of welding needed is all.
_________________
Major; 1977 Westfalia Campmobile
- Subaru EJ20
- Koni Classic adjustable dampers & Empi Heavy Duty Anti Roll Bar
- 180W Solar System

My blog: https://twolatebays.wordpress.com/