Rusty 65 SC restoration

[Kb65single]

[quote="70bus"]Understood. VW was not worried about water as much as saving $5 on that bit.

70bus
Yes, Hans und Franz did a real bad job of designing that part. The original floor in that section had multiple holes drilled in it to drain the water out on both sides. I am assuming that the treasure chest doors don't seal that well and the gas tank door and its surrounding metal is what it is.
I'm leaning toward drilling holes to let the water out and making a foam seal on the gas door to hopefully slow water from entering. Probably a metal pipe like you did. The VW gods will hopefully look kindly down at me for making a decent effort. The bus might get wet, but it won't be a daily driver.

Yes, getting ready to paint underneath and treasure chest area. Then load bed and bulkhead metal is all that's left. Forgot the gates damn! Those will keep me busy for a while.

[70bus]

Understood. VW was not worried about water as much as saving $5 on that bit.

Kb, while you are making a to-do list before paint... while laying in my t/c replacing the gas sender, I once again boggled at the amount of wasted space back there. I was thinkg a good welder could make a removable panel to protect the tank, yet still allow for installation of some storage containers back there. I saw a steel Army shell case that looked the right size to bolt it to the firewall and put in emergency supplies... cosmoline-dipped crank, rods, p/cs, hell a whole case! Pop off the main divider panel and haul out the spares. I can see you fabbing something with doors and roll-out shelves. :)
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Eric&Barb]

[70bus]

What year truck, E&B? Does it not already have a gutter like the one in my pic, above? On my truck, it was just a folded U in the neck support, and it looks like VW intended for gas and water to spill over those side openings and into t/c. I drilled a hole, added the copper drain pipe, and made little dams at each end of the U trough to encourage liquids to exit via the pipe. I've only had it in rain twice, so I can't say how well it works for that, but the gas that spills seems to exit properly through tube.

I bet Kb65single could zap that up in an hour and improve upon it. I think just welding tabs covering the U ends and properly welding in a drain tube would resemble the bay setup and be faster.

Kb, it looks like you are almost ready to install running gear and start work on kitting the cab? I mean, you've done nose-to-tail; what other metalwork is left?
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Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Eric&Barb]

2022 info on the green primer: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=766718&highlight=klassic+fab
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Eric&Barb]

As for the gas door water intrusion situation, have yet to do anything with our runner single cab, but it has for the most part been kept under cover and not driven in the rain for many years now. Been thinking of making a "U" shaped gutter (with a bit of a "V" bottom to encourage water and dirt to slide on downward) about 1" tall, and wide enough that someone can run a finger into it to pull out and debris that might get into it.

Thinking of going pretty much the front to rear length of that panel with a 30 to 45 degree slope for the gutter going downward to the rear. Front end of the gutter would not need to be closed off with that steep of incline, and the rear end to funnel into at least a 13mm (1/2") pipe to drop down just in front of the rear wheel well. Weld the gutter to several points of the panel and use a drip rail or body panel seam sealer coating to keep water from getting past the gutter. Probably would need to make the panel side of the gutter higher to allow easy welding and visual of the coating/sealing.

Have also thought about a cover panel that would connect to the gutter and cover as much upward of the whole gas filler area to catch as much of the water spray that gets into there, but be easily removable with 4 to 6 machine screws. First would be to do the gutter and go from there.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Eric&Barb]

No worries. Just figured to pass on the emblem info, you just never know if you might come across an old bus nose up in some attic and need that to remove the VW sign. The 1963-67 workshop manual also has that info in the body section.

Ages ago in the 1990s we came across a barn door single cab that this old fellow in very dry eastern Oregon had the local wrecking yard back in the 1970s torch the cab off so he could keep it in his back yard just for the glass in it for spare for his 1958ish bus. Torched off just below the rear window and just below the doors lower hinge across the nose. Of course the local kids back in the day were nice enough to go over to his place to throw racks thru most of the glass.......
Sold all of that to a guy down in south California, who drove a Toyota (?) sedan all the way up to Seattle area where we were at the time and back to that sunny climate. Have always wondered what happened to those parts. Did it complete a single project (pun intended) or many??

Anyway, wish we had seen your project earlier, not at all sure how we missed it. Love the work you are doing!!
The only thing we would warn you is that the green primer from what we have heard over the years is only good for shipping purpose, and should not be used for long term. Have even heard from some folks that surface rust has been found under the primer. Maybe remove green primer that you can reach now already in the truck and remove all on any piece going into it from now on. Then apply a decent primer.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Kb65single]

[70bus]

E&B make a good suggestion - especially for someone with such welding skill.

I used JBWeld. Misses a few drips, but gets most of the dribbles.

_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Eric&Barb]

FYI when taking off the front emblem, it is best to push against the posts with a piece of hardwood dowel. That will slide the speed nut clips right off.

Black set of rear bumper brackets are for 1968-71 bus.

Are you going to setup a drain system for the gas door like the bus models do in the engine compartment? Rain always get around that door to rust out the floors inside the trucks.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[Kb65single]

[70bus]

Sweet! I agree the slanting-back LOOKS best... no idea if it's the stock stance. Maybe all of the slanted ones are the result of tipped bumpers! I did look around at the other buses at the meetup, and without opening a strangers lid, they looked to range from 'watch yr fingers' to a narrow but pinch-less sweep. Maybe a 1/2" in variation? My bumper tips forward, and I'm sure if I massaged that out I'd have more room for flesh in the gap.

Any ideas why your sides were so different? W/out scrolling back, I can't remember if both sides were replaced; maybe if one is OG the repro was off a smidge? Or do you think the culprit was the bumper and all of its sad history of dings?
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Kb65single]

70bus

thanks for the pictures they helped.


Driver's side guard was a little more beat up. PO's made a mess out of it. Looks like they tried to adjust it to fit the profile of the bumper but failed. Some typical dents on the face that were easy to pound out.

Welded some small repairs on both sides of the guard and it looked and fit better.

Tried on the towel bar and it didn't fit like the passenger side. Almost seemed like it was too long.

The position of the guards was different. Engine lid opening and taillight opening weren't the same distance from each other.

Measured the difference. Marked the engine lid opening.

The stance of the guards was very different also. Driver's side was straight vertical, and the pass side was slanted in at the top. I compared the front bumper, and those guards were slanted in at the top. Some pictures from the forums show both ways, but never different on the same bumper. 70bus showed them slanted in at the top. I couldn't keep it that way because it would just look weird. (The far away bumper guard is a little difficult to see because it blends in with all the crap behind it. Sorry!)

Getting the two guards symmetrical would require a bit of effort. Choose to slant the top of the guard in first and see if that would improve the position of the towel bar. Graph some metal on both sides of that guard and ground it to match the passenger side.

Unfortunately, moving the guard toward the center of the bus required moving the bumper blade bracket and drilling a new hole in the blade and plugging the old hole. Had to undo what I did to the frame bracket to center the blade in the bus. A pain in the ass but I didn't think I had a choice. Could have shortened the towel bar but that wouldn't cure the non-symmetry. More work than I wanted but ....

After I got done, I had to move the hole slightly on the side of the bumper blade. Looking more and more like a bus from the rear. Next will be the reproduction splash pans, what could go wrong.

[70bus]

"Mine just clears the bumper. I pinch my fingers every now and then."

FWIW, that is the way mine is; I didn't say anything because I assumed it's wrong, and you would provide the 'correct' answer and I'd adjust it!

I'll try to get some measurements today but here's some pics

Lid to bumper is maybe a fat finger or two smaller ones wide. From looking at these pics, I assume my brackets are tipping bumper down towards the front; I seem to rcall stacking washers above and below to get them this good! There's a local VW meetup tonight and I'll try to see what other bumper/lid gaps look like.
_________________
Craig K
70 Neunsitzer
65 Pritschenwagen
"If Von Dutch was alive, he'd walk in there with a pistol and shoot these people." - Robert Williams

Raul the 65 singlecab

Karl the 70 nine-seater

[Kb65single]

70bus

Thanks for the comment about your aftermarket bracket attempt. That made me feel like all the head bruises from my bumper brick wall were well justified.

So, the bumper blade is centered in the bus. One plane of a 3-plane position satisfied (xyz). Decided to check out the forums using search word "bumper" and title only checked. Got 13 pages of information. Went through all 13 pages and on page 11 (oilspot 2005) asked the question "My rear bumper brackets got bent to hell by PO. I've got them pretty much straightened out, but I think it's still sitting pretty low. How much clearance should I have between the decklid and the bumper when I open the decklid? I figure that should get me pretty close to the right height." (Buckly) was the only responder. "Mine just clears the bumper. I pinch my fingers every now and then." Out of 13 pages that was the only clue that could guild me to answer my question, how high or low is the rear bumper supposed to be? There were some pictures but the angles at which they were taken made them unreliable. There was a lot of good info in those 13 pages, and I learned a lot. There was a suggestion that said you should assemble all the bumper parts loosely and then gradually tighten them. My original wood block position turned out to be way to low according to "Buckly" and I didn't have all the pieces assembled loosely. My brackets were bent to hell just like "oilspots". I needed a different approach.

Decided to assemble the guards and towel bars. Make sure they fit tight first then I could loosen things knowing that they really do fit. I bought a really nice California steel passenger side bumper guard a couple of years ago at OCTO. It went on easy, and the profile of the bumper matched the guard very well. Used some angle iron and a stick to keep the slash point level.

Had a nice towel bar but previous users crushed the pipe end where the bolt secures it to the guard. Stuck a small bar in the end and pounded the crushed part round again. Did the same thing to the other side while in the pounding mode.

That towel bar fit easy too. It was starting to look like a bus.

[70bus]

I tried an aftermarket set like that, and damaged as my originals are, I still think they made a better fit. The bumper tips facing front bend down a bit, but that's because I am not a welder and so hammered the brackets straight as best I could.

I see now in the parts manual where it just states 'rear bracket' instead of L/R; thanks.

[Kb65single]

[Kb65single]

[chrisflstf]

The left/right rear bumper brackets are for the earlier style, 1958 and earlier.

59 to 67 same:

https://www.wolfsburgwest.com/cart/DetailsList.cfm?ID=211707335a

I dont know if these are good quality or not. $25 each

[70bus]

Too late to save you the trouble... but did you try switching the brackets left/right? That 'Driver's side was the exact opposite' might mean they were how they were supposed to be

stocknazi: