1975 "Rustmobile" Restoration

Thrasher22 · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:23 pm Post subject: 1975 "Rustmobile" Restoration

I've always enjoyed reading resto threads when its slow at work, so I thought I'd make my own...

I bought this van Oct 2010 from a guy who'd been working on the the past 3-4 years and lost his garage to work on it. When he bought it, it was a "true" hippy van. It was owned by a Hare Krishna commune somewhere in rural Alberta for years, the "owner" (how ever that works in a commune haha) was an gnarly old tattoo'd guy who was laying on the roof smoking pot when he showed up to buy the van. It was still full of tassles and Hare Krishna stickers when I bought it 3-4 years later Laughing

PO was a carpenter and unfortunately decided to scrap most the interior in favor of building something custom, so I don't know what model I actually have... What is left looks like a handyman special from a different PO. All the upholstery is mis-matched, and pretty ratty, but has good bones. I picked up a westy interior on kijiji that I'll rebuild and put in.

The Good:
The engine was completely shot, so he bought a crate-rebuilt engine, rebuilt the transmission, new clutch, new brakes, floors didn't even have an tiny bit of surface rust and body looked decent. For $2000 I thought I was getting a steal.

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Pinetops · Samba Member Joined: March 24, 2007 Posts: 2987

Looks like a nice solid bus, what are your plans for it?

Thrasher22 · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 10:44 pm Post subject:

The Bad:
Front is dented from the spare tire, a rusty looking dent on the passenger side (no pics), and on the rear driver side panel I could tell some old body filler was cracking. I knocked along the sides to see if there were any obvious bondo patches and it all was a consistent sound/feel.
Unfortunately once I started sanding the cracked panel, it turned out that was because the ENTIRE driver side was covered in 1+ inches of bondo. From the door to the back light, and from the window sill to the rocker panels... all bondo...

The crack that should have made me think twice:

Started sanding and discovered that at some point a PO had filled a gouge in the bus with a combination of spray foam and... chickenwire Evil or Very Mad

The foam ran all the way up the rocker to the driver door, and acted like a sponge for the last several decades, trapping moisture and rotting all the hidden areas away into nothing. So rotten I didn't even know buses had a c-pillar or inner rocker panel until I saw a photo on the samba!

By the time I'd removed all the rotten parts I was left with this: (jackpoints were cut out after this photo too)

For someone with zero welding or body work knowledge... kind of intimidating! But at the time I had a job I hated, so I spent most of it watching tutorials on youtube and got to work. Working through the Canadian winter in an unheated garage was character building to say the least.

Inner rocker replaced:

Mid-rocker:

B-pillar (mostly) rebuilt:

Original klokerholm wheel arch wasn't even close to a fit, and eventually tracked down a NOS wheel arch Rolling Eyes

Seat belt mount was also cut out and replaced, but in hindsight my welding skills could have used some improvement at the time, so I'm going to re-weld it this summer to play it safe:

I got a little over-zealous cutting out the rear panel before I realized what garbage the klokerholm parts I'd purchased were. The panel was pretty warped and rusted though:
[img]http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=939017[/img]

Inner-wheel arch, new part is 2/3rds fabricated now:

I'd hoped to have the whole thing (...ha...) done by July last year before I went traveling in Africa, but this is as far as I got.

Thrasher22 · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:00 pm Post subject:

FFW: 9+ months...
Got back in Canada mid-Jan, but hit a road block. My c-pillar was so rotten out it literally didn't exist, and after 4 months of searching (and one part off a samba member that was so rusted it was unusable), I finally tracked down a usable part from Avery's in Washington.
BTW Avery's was fantastic, and I couldn't recommend them more for a hard to find part: http://www.averres.com/

After soaking the part 3 times in phospho and POR 15'ing the hell out of it to be safe, finally got the c-pillar tacked on today, which felt great Cool

.

Once this is in I can start getting the outer panels on and "maybe" get it out for a cruise or two this summer! I'll tackle the other body work (slider rockers are rough, couple big dents to deal with, engine lid and rear door need small patching, etc...) in the winter.

I'm getting desperate to start driving this beast! But all-in-all, I'm fairly proud of what I've gotten done so far for a guy with zero background knowledge, a shoestring budget, $250 Princess Auto brand MIG welder, and an old unheated garage.

Pinetops · Samba Member Joined: March 24, 2007 Posts: 2987

Well I guess I spoke too soon! It looks like you are doing it right, cheers to you for that. That was some serious bondo work, wow. So do you think it was hit all along the driver's side?

Thrasher22 · Posted: Sun Jun 17, 2012 11:19 pm Post subject:

Pinetops · Samba Member Joined: March 24, 2007 Posts: 2987

Sounds like the perfect vehicle for you then! Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, that floor just looks too clean for this to be a rust bucket. That's good that it was just the lower panel. So the mechanicals are all good to go, you just need to get the body back in shape? I was assuming it was brilliant orange by the interior but I guess somebody painted over the green at some point. Keep up the good work, you will be camping in no time!

Joey · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 6:21 am Post subject:

Fantastic work!

Applause

_________________
Joey

‘60 Kombi - '74 Bus - '79 Panel - '65 Beetle

Thrasher22 · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:06 am Post subject:

Daverham · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 10:01 am Post subject:

Chicken wire and spray foam! Awesome. Your bus is a sculpture. A real piece of art!

Looks like you're doing good work. Feels nice to get rid of all that rot and replace it with fresh, clean steel, doesn't it?

Thrasher22 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 11:03 am Post subject:

Haha thanks...? Laughing

The PO must have been a sculptor...

Now that I'm hitting the point of getting some outer panels back on it feels good. I'm a little nervous about not treating the welds enough and having the rust come back in a couple years, but I'll use a ton of seam sealer to be extra safe.

Ordered a new outer rocker panel from bus depot last night! I realized that yet another klokerholm isn't close enough to be work-able. From now on I'm making sure to only get scholfield, NOS, gerson, or donor parts.

Thrasher22 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:13 pm Post subject:

Crap. Just got a call from Bus Depot that the outer rocker panel+side panel I ordered is on back-order for 1-2 months.

Anyone know who their UK supplier is? I have no problem just ordering directly and taking the hit on shipping. I need: http://www.busdepot.com/9555001

EDIT: Found it! Its a just kampers part.
In case anyone else is looking in the future: http://www.justkampers.com/shop/t2-bay-window/orig...11670.html

curtis4085 · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 6:50 pm Post subject:

Thank you for taking your hard work and time in restoring your bus. My hats off to those that take a path of restoring these priceless beauties to the former glory. Applause

_________________
Special Thanks to:
Headflow Masters - Vista, CA
www.headflowmasters.com

Thrasher22 · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 11:51 am Post subject:

Sadly barely any progress this summer, I've ran into a (LOT) of problems trying to fit the rear fender. It had so much oil-canning that I had to cut out sections and weld in patches. FFS...

Almost done rebuilding the inside of the wheel well from scratch though, and will start rust proofing everything today to start trying to get the outer panel on! Big step I've been working towards for a while.

Two questions hopefully people can help with:
1. Does anyone know where to buy plugs to fill these holes inside the wheel well? (the blue arrows) I'd rather not weld them shut, but want a solution that's better than the poor quality plastic that VW originally used which leaked...

2. What should I seal along the red lines with? I bought some closed cell window sealing foam, would that work?

cool karmann collected · Posted: Sun Sep 09, 2012 12:03 pm Post subject:

Thrasher22 · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:58 am Post subject:

^^ I couldn't agree more! My career and bank account are starting to say otherwise haha.

Does anyone know what generically those plugs would be called? I don't even know where to start looking for them...

cool karmann collected · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 12:41 pm Post subject:

You could just head down to your local hardware store and buy some generic rubber blanking plugs for that size hole?

Thrasher22 · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:45 pm Post subject:

See I didn't even know that was something they sold at hardware stores! Just something I'd never needed to look for I guess.

skills@eurocarsplus · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 5:25 pm Post subject:

Thrasher22 · Posted: Mon Sep 10, 2012 11:14 pm Post subject:


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