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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 8:42 pm Post subject: SO-34 1962 wounded westie |
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Found this 1962 Flip-Seat almost 20 years ago after looking for one for several years before.
Went down South to a VW Wrecking yard named Averry's (Now Avery's) in Longview WA for parts with a good friend named Bob. We separated while out in the yard pulling parts Bob hollered out "Found one of those campers you are looking for!". I came a running around the VWs to find the Westie, but Bob warned "It has body damage.". Upon seeing how badly damage from 20' distance, I turned away before getting too close to be sucked in.
A month later needed another VW part and could remember exactly where one was in which VW out in the wrecking yard, but had forgotten all about the Wounded Westie. This time took Barb along. Barb loves to kind of Easter Egg hunt in the yards for light bulbs, fuses, and other small parts to fill a five gallon bucket. Usually back then only costing about $10.00!
Of course I had forgotten to mention the Westie to Barb, and thusly soon after we went different directions in the yard Barb called out "Hey, found one of those campers!". Oh, no, black hole!!
Price was $800.00.
All the cabinets came with, but was missing:
Tent roof brackets for large and small tents. Found.
Large tent. Found.
Small tent. Found.
Sisal mat.
Blaupunkt Derby radio. Found.
Aluminum tumblers. Found.
Water bottles.
LR cabinet roller wheel. Found.
Wash basin.
Hanging lamp. Found. _________________ In Stereo, Where Available!
Last edited by Eric&Barb on Fri Apr 29, 2011 10:09 pm; edited 7 times in total |
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purplepeopleeater Samba Member
Joined: July 23, 2005 Posts: 3117 Location: E. Washington
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:06 pm Post subject: |
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bad 20 years ago, now days...thats pretty nice |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Fri Apr 29, 2011 9:34 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, those were days!!
Body over the driver door was so bad that rain had no problem leaking in. Top of the "A" pillar was bent (see vertical rust line where bent) and top of the pillar bulged upward pushing open the seam between the pillar top and the underside of the over hang. DPO tried to silicon the gap closed.
So off to Eastern Washington for a donor roof from a 1965 kombi.
Fitted good used door to better check door opening fit. Turned out the belt line just behind the door was bent in about 2"! Door would barely latch on the first notch of the striker plate.
Removed the side windows.
You can really see how much the belt line and rain gutter was pushed in.
Took out the inner panel that was bent up from being pushed inward against the cabinets.
Then cut off the roof and cut down the donor section to be worked in.
Removed upper rear corner off the donor roof, and convert to the earlier small hatch rear.
_________________ In Stereo, Where Available!
Last edited by Eric&Barb on Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:35 am; edited 2 times in total |
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volksaddict Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2003 Posts: 1724
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 5:50 am Post subject: |
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Wow. A half roof replacement. Show us that looong seam when you get it welded in. |
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SO33 Samba Member
Joined: March 17, 2004 Posts: 137 Location: Ohio & Europe
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:33 am Post subject: |
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Amazing find |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:54 am Post subject: |
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More like a 1/3 roof replacement. If it did not have the hatch area, would have done a full roof.
Yes, even back then it was amazing to find.
Avverie's brother had a SO-34 and wanted parts off this for his. So off went the large tent and all the tent brackets, because he wanted a tent on each side! Almost certainly all the other small hard to find parts went at the same time.
For over a decade Avverie at each and every swap meet would ask if we wanted to sell it back!!
This had a Westie roof rack when it was rolled over on its side, and still shows some gutter damage from where it sat.
Unfortunately the donor roof had had a leak in the LF of the roof so the roof top had rust and the body frame over and down around the driver door was rusted out. This did not show up till the donor roof was cut down to size. _________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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campingbox Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2000 Posts: 10196 Location: Petaluma, CA
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Go Eric, Go! Get it done..... |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 2:41 pm Post subject: |
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Building season is coming up soon so am trying to get the roof back on the Westie before putting on a new roof on the mobile home!!
You can see the rust in the LF donor section in the image in last post with the side bus shot with roof cut off.
Had gotten a part roof section to replace the over the driver door. Back then thought maybe we could pound and pull out the rest of the damage behind the driver door. A friend mentioned they were going to get rid (crush) of a solid rust free Westie with no interior, so a small section was cut out. Boy if we only had that donor bus now...
So with this smaller donor section was able to grind off the partial roof section, and cut and grind off the door frame off the larger donor section.
Interesting joint from the door frame section with overlap from the panel behind the door. This was leaded over at the factory.
Fitted the top door frame to the new roof section. Have been applying phosphoric acid to the rusty part of the roof section for two days till it all drys out in the cool weather we are having. Then wire wheel off the coating and down to the newly exposed rust layer, and repeat with the acid and wire wheeling steps till the rust is completely gone.
Meanwhile cut out the upper left corner of the windshield frame.
Was able to drill out the spot welds in the panel the sun visor screws to and the lap joint the over hang has on the left side. The wood piece is keeping the top window opening from sagging down.
This before image shows the bent damage in this are pretty well.
Here is the "B" pillar stripped down at the top, ready for the donor over the driver door body section.
_________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 7:56 pm Post subject: |
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Donor over the door metal welded into place.
In this view you can see a little rectangle window cut into the overhang, this was done to leave access for welding the last part of the window frame below.
Door is fitting pretty well! Little reddish "X" inside the "B" pillar is where the shoulder belt reinforcement will be welded in.
Rear view of the "B" pillar, showing the area just at top of belt line where it was bent inward and wrinkled puckered there. Heated with a torch the metal there and pushed at the top of the pillar. Wood frame screwed together inside the bus (seen behind the seat) with other end of wood frame against the passenger "B" pillar kept the entire driver "B" pillar from just flexing inward. Door now fully closes!!
With the roof cut open, the cupped sheet metal form of the roof is not self supporting causing the weight of the remains of the roof to push the rear hatch outward on the left rear side. Compensated this with a ratchet tie down strap run from the driver outside seat belt mount and out the left side of the rear hatch. With a couple of 4x4s used to anchor the tie down against the rear of the hatch and hatch opening.
_________________ In Stereo, Where Available!
Last edited by Eric&Barb on Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:26 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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zimblewinder Samba Member
Joined: January 22, 2004 Posts: 893 Location: Australia
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:09 pm Post subject: |
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Good timing, Im replacing the whole A pillar and roofline over the left door on my mango at the moment. Thanks for the informative pics. _________________ 58Euro 23 343208 The Ultimate Zimblewinder Machine.
59 mango standard
Wanted- splash pan supports, og pressed bumper coach bolts, ivory blaupunkt knobs (early), armrest alloy strips, NOS door mechanism |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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Cool to hear that some of this info is helpful to you!
If you have a chance to post how your project works out, it would be very interesting to see how it goes. _________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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cru62 Samba Member
Joined: December 31, 2002 Posts: 4117 Location: Margaritaville.....24/7
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Posted: Sat Apr 30, 2011 9:42 pm Post subject: |
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I will also be replacing the same area only on the PS as well as much of the drip rail on that side. Thanks for the picheavy post. It is really informative and helpful. _________________ "My biggest worry is that when I die, my wife will sell all my parts for what I told her I paid for them"-Jon
Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.
Stop dead photo links! Post your photos to The Samba Gallery! |
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BarryL Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2004 Posts: 14259 Location: Casa de Oro, California
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 7:18 am Post subject: |
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Triple fine sheesh! I have a bus that needs the upper front fixed and now I see that its harder than I ever imagined. I probably would have just rolled that bus as a rolled bus. I'm confused though; you bought the bus a long time ago and are now fixing it, or you went back and it was still there and you bought it recently? What is weld that the little square accesses? |
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campingbox Samba Member
Joined: November 14, 2000 Posts: 10196 Location: Petaluma, CA
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 7:44 am Post subject: |
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BarryL wrote: |
Triple fine sheesh! I have a bus that needs the upper front fixed and now I see that its harder than I ever imagined. I probably would have just rolled that bus as a rolled bus. I'm confused though; you bought the bus a long time ago and are now fixing it, or you went back and it was still there and you bought it recently? What is weld that the little square accesses? |
Eric bought this bus a long time ago and he is now fixing it. |
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Autry21 Samba Member
Joined: May 30, 2007 Posts: 170 Location: Kansas
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 8:00 am Post subject: |
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All I got is a WOW. I would never be able to put it back together if I tried that. Its really neat to see that type off work being done. Good luck, not that you need it. _________________ 1967 SO42 (A42)
1965 SingleCab |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:22 am Post subject: |
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Twenty years ago found the Westie in the wrecking yard with friend. A month later went back with Barb and bought it then.
The access hole is for welding the top of the sheet metal of the windshield frame just below where the donor and original sheet metal pieces are spliced together.
Would be interested if you start a new post about the damage in the front roof of your bus! Then you can get some feed back on how you might best be able to solve the problem.
This has definitely been a learning experience. Being a machinist, and mechanic, body work just has not been something that I have dealt with much. Been many times that has been better to just walk away and mull over the problem for several days before getting back to it. Several Eureka moments have happened that way.... _________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Sun May 01, 2011 9:38 am Post subject: |
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cru62 wrote: |
I will also be replacing the same area only on the PS as well as much of the drip rail on that side. Thanks for the pic heavy post. It is really informative and helpful. |
Glad this post is helping!
Probably best way to remove the upper door frame with roof in place would be to start by cutting out a foot or so section centered over the door. With that opened up you can get a view of how these sections are formed together better. Then grind the sheet metal up under there till you have only the roof section/outer lip left. The spot welds that hold on the roof section to the bus are way too numerous and harder to find than any other spot welds in the body. After that work/cutting forward to "A" pillar and back to the "B" pillar. You can find the rear outer spot welds on "B" pillar that are leaded over, a lot easier from the inside of the pillar. Once you have removed the inner sheet metal back there you have access. _________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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Eric&Barb Samba Member
Joined: September 19, 2004 Posts: 24736 Location: Olympia Wash Rinse & Repeat
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Posted: Mon May 09, 2011 9:07 pm Post subject: |
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Here is a couple more images of the front windshield frame:
Unlike the "B" pillar, there is three layers of sheet metal in the "A" pillars up around the windshields. _________________ In Stereo, Where Available! |
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Major Woody Samba Enigma
Joined: December 04, 2002 Posts: 9010 Location: Portland, OR
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 8:54 am Post subject: |
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Monster repair.
Love the ghetto riggin' pictures. Just using what you've got! BTDT!!! |
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BarryL Samba Member
Joined: November 01, 2004 Posts: 14259 Location: Casa de Oro, California
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Posted: Tue May 10, 2011 9:19 am Post subject: |
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Eric&Barb wrote: |
there is three layers of sheet metal |
What is the third layer? I can only see two. I don't see tar anywhere in the previous shop pictures. |
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