1984 Doka Tragedy to Restoration

[Bman]

Stopped by the shop to pick up some spare parts and document Larry's progress. He has the rear roof frame welded in place and has begun the delicate job of fitting the roof in place:

I like this shot:

Larry has been taking his time on this project which is OK by me as it's summer and I enjoy biking around, and I want an artist's touch on this job, not a rush and get paid job. He says the insurance people are still gripping about his supplemental pay requests because they still do not understand that although these are new parts, they still need to be primed by the shop before painting, and even in shipping little imperfections arise.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[syncrodoka]

[Bman]

Rear cab panel was getting fitted on today:

Nice line inside:

_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Crankey]

looks like you found a good guy to fix your baby.

[sub-hatchtim]

wow that looks great how much did that roof panel bust ya for
_________________
58' pg/sg silo fridge westy
58 Dove blue singlecab
76 911S

[Bman]

Hey Crankey! Yes Larry of North Bend Body Shop is a master at his craft. I have been very pleased with his level of attention and skill, I am however anxious about the final bill....

The roof panel cost me about 750 Euro which at today's exchange rate is $926 from VWclassicparts.com. The next most expensive pieces were the "load flaps" or drop gates which were approximately $900 a piece. WOW! I sure am glad that my insurance company is covering those. Shipping for the whole mess from Germany to the US west coast was $269 and included both air and boat frieght. There was a previously mentioned problem with shipping, but it all worked out in the end. Also we did end up going through a local VW dealer to order the parts, and it is my understanding that dealers tack an additional handling % onto the price as well.

Long story short, protect those VWs.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[turbotransporter]

Looking great Bman!

Good to hear/read about another skilled body man that is willing to take on such a project AND will put up with "us".

[Bman]

Another update:

Work on the Doka slowed down for a week or two as Larry worked on some other jobs that he had at the body shop. However, he recently got the roof on and welded to the rear cab panel:

The rear cab lip here in the next photo looks so fine from what it was that I thank my lucky stars.... Also see my new front door seals, I am also waiting on a new rear door and treasure chest seals.

Larry was also working on priming and painting the new load flaps (gates) and rear cab door. He told me his process was this special pourous primer that needed to be sanded after drying and then he does a " tacky coat, followed by a medium wet coat and then a final wet coat" to get a finished look.

The following photos show a few of the little spots that he has been addressing where evidence of previous work has been done, not too much thankfully, but enough to know that the vehicle was not completely immune to rust.

The back cab panel where the tilt is secured to the vehicle. After sandblasting he found that there was some previous filling work going on here, he said he was going to possibly weld in a new piece here, but it looks like more fill to me. I will have to ask him about this tomorrow, as I do have a OEM piece off of the factory rear cab wall we got from Germany.

Next up he is going to finish prepping the interior , again the bottom rear cab wall seems like a place where additional attention is needed, he will sand blast and fill all those seams.

In the meantime I am now on the hunt for some sound deadening and insulation material for the roof and driver rear cab wall and the rear cab door, I am trying to decide between the Go Westy fattmatt or the second skin that Sew Fine sells. Any thoughts out there about either material for the roof, where the hot sun does not melt anything down and onto your headliner? My friends are now taking bets on whether it will be done before or after Halloween, any takers out there, I really don't know what the odds are as I am too focused on the quality of the prize.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Bman]

Well, Larry is still at it, preparing the vehicle for a new paint job. I have been quite educated to learn just how much a paint job can hide "sins" as Larry calls old nicks and dings. Whether or not to call this a restoration is also debateable. A "true" restoration involves stripping the whole vehicle down to it's shell and repairing and replacing from there. I'm sure all of you know this, but this thread is not really for you, but for me to document this vehicle and learn.

So I am lucky Larry is so 1.) skilled; 2.) patient; and 3.) detail oriented because he truly is going over evey conceivable part of the shell. Alas he is find more than a few spots of filler though; not huge or thick chunks, but those little coats that hide old use:

Like this:

and this:

there was also a quarter size fill in here as well:

the worst was here, not thick mind you, but enough to know that it was not perfect:

Yes that is a new layer of fill on my treasure chest door.

Other spots for attention:

Now this last photo of my gas filler, we have unscrewed the face plate from the filler spout, but the face plate still does not come free from the body. Is this something sealed onto the body, or is there another attachment in there that I can't see or feel? How does one take this off without destroying it?

Back to the grand scheme of things though. What constitutes a restoration? Yes, the OEM vehicle with original factory paint; I realize why these are so coveted, for you know what you get. What? You knew this? Well we all learn somewhere, some of us more painful then the rest. I have spent many years hanging with the T1 and T2 crowd where I have learned the value of different DIYers; for some original paint and a rusty floor was still a rare and beautiful find, others went the way of por-15 and complete Macco "restorations." What will the value of this project hold for me and any future owners? How will I measure that, most likely by the value of the vehicle at resale.

For the time being, I will continue to raise moey for this project, hope for no more fill and trust that when it is done it will be beautiful and functional for me; not the best, but definetly not the worst.

Man, I gotta lighten up and get my pretentious head out of my ass. This doka is gonna rock!
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[syncrodoka]

2WD? The metal behind it looks like a cog pattern and it has to be rotated to free itself. You can see the metal voids then the one of the cogs at about 10 o'clock.
VC sells new ones since yours looks like it took a wire wheel to it's side. http://www.van-cafe.com/home/van/page_1071_296/fuel_filler_neck_housing.html
Good luck

[Crankey]

man that's sweet stuff. one thing I've learned, once you get into a project that takes your baby out of service, best be well funded to get through it.

it's hard to deal with seeing it all cut up like this, but something about it also made me relax a little too. from the small bit of rust chasing I did. I mean I felt better after hacking into it and seeing what it really was. it's just sheet metal, nothing mysterious. cut it weld it grind it...just work.

what's really hard though is when you want to get your hands dirty with the work yourself but can't due to space, time, skill level or whatever reason.

well...continued good luck with it !!

[Bman]

Thanks Syncrodoka, we will try rotating it to get the feel for the cogs. I also agree about replacing it.

Crankey, thankfully insurance is covering a majority of the bill, and as I see the detail the body shop is putting into it for a complete paint job I am wondering how much I am going to be responsible for. I have anticipated this and that is why over the last several months I have been building people chicken coops (side business) and building specialty bicycles to sell to fund this project. I think its about time I talked with the body shop for an updated estimate of additional repairs.

Thanks for the replys.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Bman]

Larry is still working the Doka, he has begun the priming process and then soon the sanding:

We finally got in under the 2WD gas cap to fix some horrible seam rot to discover:

Yea, I know ugly, but I do not have anymore money to cut into this now. Larry will treat the rust to arrest it and then seal it. Nothing I can do now, if I can I will address it down the road; but for now I've documented it and the next owner will know. To combat and prevent any further rust in the pillars, Larry will be using a 360 degree sprayer to apply 3M Rust Fighter 1: Internal Panel Coating for the new roof seams and the A, B, and C pillars of the doka. This is good news, apparently it goes on pretty liquidy and then hardens into a rubbery coating. I've tried to find previous post about doka specific rust hot spots, but couldn't find it. Right under the rear cab pillar is a plastic/rubber plug, when I took this off my Doka last year I had about 1-2 gallons of water pour out of the pillar and frame. I was not happy about that and I don't think it is wise to hold that water against the body. Yes it's inside, how bad is the rust? I don't know, but now I will do what I can to prolong the integrity of the body as best I can.

Not sure if I posted a picture of the completed new gates and cab door:

Here they are in all their glory.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Welchmaster]

Bman,

love this thread.... it makes me excited and scared for my Doka project...

i think i have a lot more rust... but its part of the love/hate relationship.

very excited to see this come together. when you are all finished, we need to have you up to a PDX Westy get-together at The Lucky Lab to take a look at the this sweet ride!
_________________
________________________
90 2wd Orly Blue Multivan weekender. "Van-Duzer"

"Further up, further in!"

[CdnVWJunkie]

That is the inner fender and is going to get blasted with wet and road grime anytime its wet out. Accessibility is pretty easy. Pull the tire and filler neck. With the quality and attention to detail you've put into this project thus far, personally I wouldn't leave that as is.

[RicoS]

[Bman]

OK, so you mention this is not too hard of an area to reach, but what about replacing? would I need to procure and replace a whole panel part or can I just do a cut and weld there? I will look on the driver's side to see if I can find any duplicate evidence.

This project is like that old native american story about the young brave who keeps falling off his new horse, breaking a leg, but missing a war; good, bad? Who knows.

I'll renew an effort to do something about this now.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Bman]

I met with Larry today to drop off my new treasure chest and cab door seals from Germany, and to discuss the gass filler mess. We decided to go ahead and cut and weld new material for that area, so I need to bring my manuals to him so we can figure out how to take the gas filler tube off. I looked at the driver side, same area; no where near as bad. Larry will address the driver side seam too and when I get the Doka back, I will be doing an under coat cleaning and por-15 job to address any additional under carriage rust.

Thanks for the realistic comments, I know I was trying to squeeze out of paying for anymore rust work, but you guys are great for holding me to task. Well, rust free or broke which ever comes first.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl

[Crankey]

I know it's painful, but if possible I would take out a loan to have as much done as possible while it's there and in process, rather than wait on anything.

the image of that rust hole getting flooded with water, sand and salt chemicals this winter would have me in misery. it would nag at me every moment of the day.

but, we all have our limits with finance. push on !

[Bman]

Thanks Crankey,

The good news on this is that I just picked up another chicken coop job today (I build custom bicycles and chicken coops/rabbit hutches as a side business) which should be another $400-$500 for this project. I've just finished building a cargo bike for someone in Eugene and I'm already building another coop locally. All these funds are to go to this project, but instead of getting new door cards, or a SA grill, I'll now be getting the rust good and gone, well at least the rust that I know of.

Rust never sleeps.
_________________
~Bryan
1990 Burgandy Tintop (Wife's Daily Driver)
1989 Tiico Westfalia "Taj"




2WD Doka build thread: http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=503578&highlight=
FaceHook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/VW-T3-DokaSinka/129026087217120?ref=hl