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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:31 am Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Time to start adding some update photos to this thread. The bus is on it's way to being finished!
A picture of the cargo floors, after the plug-welds were ground down.
Here are a few pictures of the underside of the bus prior to media blasting. All surface rust, no rot.
The underside after media blasting, powder priming, and install of the heater pipe insulation. All prior to the bellypans installed.
A nice clean underside, all free of surface rust and protected with incapsulating powder primer.
Here are a few pictures of the belly pans once they were drilled and powder painted before install. The belly pans came from Grumpy, I bought them very early on in this project.
A picture of the belly pans installed onto the bottom.
One more random shot of the bottom of the bus. The transformation from surface rust to encapsulating powder primer is dramatic.
Last edited by Spitty1974 on Wed Jan 13, 2021 4:35 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 11:43 am Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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I decided to go with a 2/3 seat for the middle seat. I know it came with a full because my bus is a bulkhead and not a walkthrough....That said, I prefer the 2/3 seat, it's easier to get in and out.
Below is the modification that was completed on the seat. The seat is a 1968 Bay Window 2/3 seat. The outer handle was removed, a new one was installed. Bought from Gary here on Samba, and welded in to mimic more of a 1966 split 2/3 seat. Also, the cross part of the outer leg was removed. Left the two others, as it provides more strength and it's hidden with the interior kick-panel.
Here are a few pictures of the seat before it's modification
A picture of the 2/3 seat done and mounted in the bus to make sure all is good. All ready for the springs... Ready to be sent to the powder coater.
Last edited by Spitty1974 on Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:09 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:00 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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The hatch area of the bus needed to be aligned. Evidently corners from WW needed a little tweaking to get them to have clean gaps all the way around the hatch.
The right side of the hatch metal worked
The left side of the hatch metal worked
The right side with the hatch opened
The left side with the hatch opened
A picture of the hatch closed with the gaps even all the way around
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Yannvanh Samba Member
Joined: November 07, 2020 Posts: 143 Location: Belgium
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:05 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Killer restauration! keep the good work!! |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:11 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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The cargo door area needed some tweaking, so the air-ram was used. This included tweaking the doors a bit for the right curvature, as well as the right gaps...Required some hours of metal work!
Picture of the air-ram all hooked up and ready to go
A picture of the driver's side with it all hooked up to twist the body back into shape.
The cargo door that had a partial skin replacement needed some pounding and grinding
A little massaging done to the inner edge of the cargo door, so the gaps are nice and even.
A picture of the cargo doors close to the roof showing the correct arc from the roof down to the doors.....Some major banging and twisting had to take place.
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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After the media blasting was done a few small areas needed attention. Some pin holes and some small patch areas....Nothing major.
The wheel well area had a little rust rot, so the section was removed and patched with clean metal.
A few of the pop out windows had some small pin holes from rust, those were welded up.
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 12:35 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Here are some other areas that needed metal attention prior to the bodywork starting.
There was a decent size dent here. The short rocker area near the cargo doors was not replaced, but needed some major pounding. It was originally filled with a ton of Bondo!
Some pounding between the rear corner and the side vent panel area to get things nice and straight from one panel to the next.
The new WW nose didn't have the holes for the wiper squirters, so those were cut in, as originally on a 1966 bus.
A little pounding and tweaking of the passenger door area of a few dents and dogleg wheel well area.
A picture of the lower dogleg getting a good beating.
The area where the cargo floor meets the pillar supports needed some cleaning up.
Some final welding of the cargo floor needed to take place around the perimeter.
A little welding and grinding on the inner section of the short rocker and cargo floor
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:12 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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While the bus was getting final metal massaging, I went about blasting all of the smalls that needed to be blasted. Once blasted, I took them to the coater and had everything powder primed for a nice seal. I consider this step, like placing epoxy primer.
A few pictures of what the rims looked like prior to blasting
In the blasting cabinet at work getting cleaned with some coal slag.
Two pictures after the rims were blasted
A picture of one of the rims powder primed. I made sure they put a round mask around where the lug-nuts hot the rim....I've heard horror stories about powder coating and rims flying off.
Pictures of one NOS rear bumper bracket and one repo WW rear bracket. Spot on in my opinion.
The NOS bracket all blasted, WW bracket came primed.
The original front bumper brackets prior to blasting
The front bumper brackets after blasting. Nice and clean, like new!
Two NOS rear bumper guards, bought from a Samba member.
Two pictures after the guards were blasted
The fresh air vent cover before blasting
The air vent cover after blasting
Some of the smalls after they were encapsulated in powder primer.
Pictures of the NOS correct pointed rear bumper. I also bought a NOS front bumper need to find those pictures. They wouldn't fit in my blaster cabinet, so the powder coater blasted them for me prior to powder primer.
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 1:24 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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I decided I'd give a go and try a Black Oxide Kit for some of the nuts and bolts. I used Caswell's Kit. Here are the results...We'll see how they hold up over time. These pictures I believe are of the hardware for the rear shocks.
After they were dry.
The set up I used for nuts and bolts.
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2021 3:59 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Sent my speedo to Ryan in Corona. Man it turned out well, he does exceptional work! He currently has my deluxe clock and the gas gauge. Excited to get those back from him.
All pretty with zero miles, ready for install.
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EverettB Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000 Posts: 69829 Location: Phoenix Metro
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2021 9:24 am Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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EverettB wrote: |
Awesome progress, thanks for all the detailed pics
For the wiper nozzles, how did you do the hole?
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I wish I could take credit for it, but the body and paint guy did it. I had provided a clip piece with the original holes in it to use. However, I believe he has done this several times in the past. From what I understand, a small hole is drilled, then small files are used to shape it into the cross square shape. I imagine it takes a while using small files... |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2021 3:20 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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I was able to clean up my plastic knobs and polish them up. Here is the fresh air vent knob.
Before the knob was cleaned
I used some 400 grit wet sandpaper with a litle dish soap. It took off all of the grime. I then hit it with 800 grit and then 1,000 grit.
Then, I applied some Semichrome polish and used my Dremel with a cloth buffing attachment. The plastic buffed up nicely. The picture doesn’t do it justice. They look brand spanking new.
Looking shiny
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EverettB Administrator
Joined: April 11, 2000 Posts: 69829 Location: Phoenix Metro
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 11:04 am Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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EverettB wrote: |
Super nice!
It's weird how satisfying cleaning up little parts can be. |
It really is, and it seems these small parts take much less time than others; instant gratification. |
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Two Glove Boxes Samba Member
Joined: March 03, 2005 Posts: 838 Location: Texas
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panel Samba Member
Joined: December 02, 2001 Posts: 1091 Location: Victoria B.C. Canada
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 12:26 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Re the nuts and bolts......how long in each solution? Any link to the kit ? _________________ My '65-Subaru EJ20 Turbo conversion |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:10 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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panel wrote: |
Re the nuts and bolts......how long in each solution? Any link to the kit ? |
Here is the website:
https://caswellplating.com/black-oxide-kits.html
I ended up buying the complete black oxide kit, which is a 9-1 ration when mixed. 9 parts water, 1 part oxide chemical.
They recommended mixing more, but I usually did 9, 1/4 cups of distilled water, and 1, 1/4 cup of the oxide mix. I found that after a while, the oxide bath would get a bit chalky and needed to be changed.
It also came with two quarts of penetrating oil. I found I didn't need to change that once, and still have 1 & 1/2 quarts left. I did a bunch of small nuts and bolts for the bus. I have read some use motor oil for the penetrating oil instead of their stuff. So, you might just order the actual oxide from them and save yourself some money and don't buy the penetrating oil. The distilled water I just picked up from the grocery store in a 1 gallon bottle.
There are some YouTube videos out there on Caswell black oxide, that might help too.
For times, I think they suggested 5 min for the oxide. I gave it a good 15 min, I found it to produce a more consistent black. Also, I kept it in the penetrating oil for 20 min. Then, I let them air dry for a while on a cloth. After a day of drying, I would wipe off any excess oil and they were good to go.
I hope this helps.
Last edited by Spitty1974 on Wed Jan 13, 2021 10:17 pm; edited 4 times in total |
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Spitty1974 Samba Member
Joined: September 30, 2011 Posts: 647 Location: California
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2021 4:14 pm Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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German Krew wrote: |
Spitty1974 wrote: |
t justice. They look brand spanking new.
Looking shiny
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Damn looks good! |
Yeah, I was really surprised, I didn't know you could do such a thing with plastic stuff. It shined up like new. I watched a few Youtube videos. One thing to keep in mind is to go light at first, and watch the heat from all the friction and pressure because you could melt the plastic. I ended up only using the Dremel tool, as opposed to using a bench grinder for the buffing. I think it is easier to control the potential for heat with the Dremel. You can easily turn the speed down too. Also, Harbor Freight sells the small rotary buff attachments for much cheaper than Dremel brand pieces, and they seem to hold up just as well. |
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ToolBox Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004 Posts: 3439 Location: Detroit, where they don't jack parts off my ride in the parking lot of the 7-11
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Posted: Tue Jan 12, 2021 10:23 am Post subject: Re: My 1966 Deluxe Project |
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Spitty1974 wrote: |
EverettB wrote: |
Awesome progress, thanks for all the detailed pics
For the wiper nozzles, how did you do the hole?
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I wish I could take credit for it, but the body and paint guy did it. I had provided a clip piece with the original holes in it to use. However, I believe he has done this several times in the past. From what I understand, a small hole is drilled, then small files are used to shape it into the cross square shape. I imagine it takes a while using small files... |
A hand nibbler would be a good tool to do something like this. |
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