1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Quick update:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Had a quick look at the next task - replacing a section of the C pillar:

Luckily I kept the cut off portions from the vertical supports on from the opposite side, which should do the trick perfectly:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Quick update from the other day:


looked at this short sill/rocker that had some holes:

Chopped:

removed the old rocker/sill intact as I though it might come in handy in the future:

luck was on my side, as my 'I'll cut it lower than it needs to be - I can always cut more off afterwards' ended up cutting literally back on the height of the repair panel:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Did a bit of tinkering this weekend on the deluxe...

So it turns out the driver's side door is cracked along where the hing joins on@

I welded this up whilst pushing the door so the cracked sides sat flush. I did hope this might help with the issue with the panel gap, but it didn't seem to do much.

I tried to hammer the door forward, but this wasn't that effective either@

What *did* work was wedging a wide, blunt chisel into the gap, using an old sock to protect the door and B post from getting damaged:

A bit of wrenching/levering and I'd moved the door forward a bit, opening up the diagonal gap between the dogleg and doo:

Still some adjustment to do, but it's moving in the right direction


Cleco pinned the outer front valance in place to help me align the Driver's A post (Which I think I'm going to need to chop off and redo, again):

And sprayed a bit of POR 15 metal prep on it to turn the rust from brown into black:

Might need to give it another spray as I let it dry, so now it has this chalky coating:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Decided to do a quick job just as things were getting dark today - grind through the seat runner mounting plate:

I should be able to clean this up nicely now.
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Had a quick look at the side panel/dogleg fitment earlier:

Seems like the lower part of the dogleg goes too far round:

Compared with the passenger side that lines up with the bottom of the sill/rocker:

Same on my 1967 single cab:

Looking at these pics now, I seems like I should just be able to trim it back flush with the long panel

Dogleg/long panel join:

Gap on the diagonal section is narrow, so either the dogleg needs to move rearwards or the door/A-post needs to move forwards

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[BarryL]

What is the zipper in that photo with the zipper?

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Had a look at how the opposite A post flange aligns:

From the Hinge downwards, it's a straight line parallel to the front edge of the door.

I cut weld along the flange edge again to see if that gave me any movement closer to where things need to be:

(Ignore the pile of pigeon poo across the other seam, haha!)

Things still aren't right, I might clamp the outer valance on to see where the flanges line up, as that seemed to make things a bit clearer on my other bus:


https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?p=10445235&highlight=#10445235
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Go the inner panel trimmed up, and the A post bracket is now at the magical 195mm point:

However, my smugness was shortlived, as although along the outer flange it was nicely in line with the original A post:

but over the other side you can see it wasn't:

(Yes, I am working outside in the rain...)

So I cut through the weld on that side to allow me to align it:

(The screw face guy in the pic is shocked that I've now attempted to line this panel up 3 times...)

There we go:

Lesson learned - check fitment after tacking in place.

Quick tack to keep it in place and double check it's still lined up.
Big ol gap to fill now:

This is where my trusty flattened copper pipe comes in:

So now that front face was lining up:

buuuut still off along the fold:

At this point I'm thinking "am I really going to have to have a 4th go at this", and decided to leave it for the day and look at it with fresh eyes another day.

Looking at it now, that folded edge will move in the direction it needs to if I push the two faces together to narrow the angle. Like I saw, I'll evaluate it next time I'm outside.

Rather than end the day with defeat, I decided to fill this little hole from where I repaired the B panel:

There we go:

that'll do for today, rain stops play.
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got the repair patch onto the end of the inner valance:

But then found that the bottom of the A post bracket was lower than the 195mm I measured from the bopposite side, so I sliced through my weld to give me a bit of vertical movement:

With that done, I could push the bracket upwards so the bottom was 195mm diwn from the hinge, then figure out how much I needed to trim off the A post repair panel.

Clamped in place:

Then I put a tack on the corner, as tbat would give me a bit of adjustability both fronm side to side and also backwards and forwards:

I got a few more tacks on there, but didn't get pics.
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

I was trying to figure out how things should line up on the A-post / Front valance bracket for my other bus, and I took some measurements:


Basically measuring from the bottom of the hinge here:

is 19.5mm or thereabouts to the bottom of the bracket:

And the flat triangular face of the bottom piece of the bracket should line up with the bottom of the A post flanges (which sit op top of it)

I had a look over on the other side and discovered that, somehow, I'd not trimmed down the A post repair panels enough before welding them on, as illustrated by the bracket being far too high for the bottoms to rest on top:

Sooo:

CHOP:

Better than cutting it too short, I guess...

I still need to weld in the repair piece I've made for the end of the inner valance, I think that's next on the list.
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[brettsvw]

Brett be
67 deluxe metal repair

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=340406&highlight=
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My 59 kombi build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635003&highlight=

My buggy build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=558601&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

[brettsvw]

Nice work making your metal parts.
My attempt at making the outer lower d-pillar.

In the end its hidden out of sight.
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My 59 kombi build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=635003&highlight=

My buggy build.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=558601&highlight=

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=289807

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

While working on the dogleg and A post of my other bus, I had a peek at this one to try to see how everything should fit and came to the conclusion that these vertical supports on the long panel that I previously repaired:

were actually welded slightly to low / too long and this meant the long panel was being pushed lower than it should be.

So....

Chopped them off again.

And now the long panel fits much better.

That said, it seems like the original spotwelds were right along the edge of the inner sill/rocker:

(Pretty sure the long panel had not previously been replaced - it has OG paint and had a previous bad pop-rivet / inch thick bondo repair job )

Drilled a hole for a cleco to hold the outer dogleg:

which is great, but then you can't close the door, so then I punched another hole on the dogleg flange inside at the top, and drilled for another cleco:

I did briefly toy with the ideal of whether I should line up the holes I'll punch on the dogleg flange with the ones I've punched on the flange of the long panel, but I think it's best if I weld the long panel on, grind back the welds, and then do the dogleg.

Gaps suggest the door is sagging down/backwards at the front slightly:

(gap is high at the back, and the body line is slightly misaligned)

the gap gets thin where it goes upwards:

The flanges/end of the dogleg don't seem to line up very well with the A-posts:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

A 'quick hour' to to a bit of dressing back of the bulkhead welds turned into refitting the B post closing panel:

Test fitting the long panel showed that the B post wasn't flush with the inner rocker:

So I made a relief cut to be able to push it back:

Tada:

Quick blast of zinc:

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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Got out there again today:

Fully welded:

Welds ground back:

Quick spray with zinc primer to temporarily protect and also check out warpage and help with seeing where I need to dress the welds back further:

Pretty happy with that:

Definitely feeling more confident about tackling the long side panel, which is getting closer to being the next job!

Decent penetration - still had a lot of pinholes and gaps to weld, but I was blowing through a bit for a start so I turned the welder down.

I think that was just where the old bulkhead metal had pitted and was very thin, though. Also, might be the case that once there's quite a few tacks joined up I need to pump the power up a bit.
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Made a bit of progress this year - bulkhead got tacked in the other day:

Penetration seems alright:

Although I made a mess trying to plug weld vertically:

LHS not too bad:

But RHS gaps weren't tight enough and it pulled away and burnt out the top layer:

Now going to drill these out and try to put it right.

If you're thinking of trying to save time by not using screw/clecos or clamps and thinking you can just push the panels together while welding - don't!
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1966 Deluxe 21 Window Shamba
"Negative Nancy" - 1967 Single Cab Restoration