1984 Doka Tragedy to Restoration

[Crankey]

yeah, coming together nice !

I would like a ballpark cost for this if your willing to say...or send a PM.

I don't have any damage to repair but a little rust. mainly I'm always interested in what a good repaint would cost including alot of interior and engine removal.

maybe you could PM me your guys phone # or ?

[Bman]

Crankey,

When all is said and done I will post my spreadsheet on the project with final costs; I have no issue with detailing how much was spent, because it is a lot of money and I would appreciate knowing that information. I am not embarrassed to give that information out; so far I have spent $1,600 in extra parts (grills, lights, step and seals).

I am still busy in the field and attending out of town meetings, but I hope to visit the shop this Wednesday to view progress. I'll let you know in later posts.
_________________
~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]

As we are coming to the end of the year, so we are approaching the end of this project. The last component (original dropside gate) is in the paint booth for it's first prime and sand:

Larry of North Bend Body Shop, has re-enforced the hinge arms on this gate, straighted out the dings from the tree branches and had to strip all of the Line X and paint, because of the crap primer and paint job of a previous owner.

We have also finished with the paint on the two front doors:

They are getting all new seals, LT mirrors, seal clips and we even repaired the cut out of some PO's speaker holes. The only reason they are not on the truck in all their glory is because I've had a bitch of a time trying to purchase used wing windows WITHOUT the groove. The first clown I tried to get them from sent me the whole packeage, but the quality was way below what he advertised, the second ass-hat just sent me the window, and now hopefully the pair I have coming from WA will be just right (yeah, yeah the challenges of electronic communication). Another delay is that GW sent me a front door seal package with my bottom scrapers being WITH the groove. "No way, we can't even get with goove scrapers" says GW, well I'm looking at em. GW was all good though, they are sending me new scrapers now, and then I get to send them back the evidence of their supplier's Fk'up.

Other projects include the matching of the bed liner on the rear cab panel. Here we are using a "Raptor" product and so far it is matching the Line-X pattern quite nicely. Larry needs to let it cure and then he will try to blend in those mid lower corners where the new stuff meets the old.

I advised Larry to go a bit further in the rear cab gutter so as to allow extra protection for a tilt frame in there. As you may know from earlier post, this Doka came in with the worst cancer of rust here. Here we are now though:

You can't really see it here with the tape and shroud cover, but we are going in and up a little from the gutter to protect from tilt abuse. I assume we will then seal in that edge there so NO water sneaks under there. I WILL ensure that this area above all is bomb proof!

This last shot is our table of parts, obviously I'm upgrading to a SA Grill, got my wiring harness in the mail coming from thatvwguy, so it should be a plug and play, I've got my gate step powder coated, my gate latches done, and I've been raping all of the known junked T3s within a 100 mile area for the spare screws, clips, and other assorted knicknacks I've been missing.

I'll be back East for the Ho Ho Holidays and so I'll miss the last two weeks of work. The next time I will post hopefully the project will be complete and the rig will be ready to shine. "O Great!" after all the local show and shines are done with for the season.

6 months in the making and worth the wait so far. Again when all is done I'll also give a run down of the budget for this project; may it stand as proof of just how much vehicle care and "rest-O-ration" can truly be.

Happy Retail Holidays to you all!
_________________
~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]

this would be prime time to do sound deadening work in the doors and...well everywhere.

[Bman]

[Bman]

Well I returned home to Oregon after a few weeks back east for the holidays. I expected a completed Doka, but of course there is always something more to be done.

Larry did have the rear dropgates completed, including the bedliner. It all looked great, but something made it just not GREAT!:

AH, yes he had the bedliner applied to the outter edge of the dropgate as well which makes these big black "Magic Marker" lines on the body:

I definitely prefer it the other way I had it originally:

What do you all think? I'm going to see what it would take to cut that liner back on the two side dropgates to get rid of the big black magic marker "outline" look. Early in the project I took my danmaged side dropgate home to keep for parts and so Larry had no direct model to copy for the bedliner (he stripped the repairable gate). In hind sight, it might be better to keep all OEM parts on site (if Possible, as it was here) so these choices are easier.

Otherwise everything else is looking good if a bit dusty:

The front bumper is going back on and Larry still needs to complete putting the driver's front door together and on. We have a completion date of this Friday Jan. 4th set. Another last minute item is to install the dropgate rubber buffers for the tilt and body protection. Obviously I'm psyched to get it home, if I can get it for this weekend my buddy and I will work on installing a 88 instrument cluster with Tach and new LED cluster lights in his garage.

No word yet on final cost, I'm hoping I'll have some $$ left over to get some of T3 Technique's front end bushings which I sorely need. Nothing will be done for the interior panels or upholestry as I have no money for such; I do hope to get BFG tires on there by the summer.

More soon....
_________________
~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

[tarandusVDub]

Wow, that looks fantastic! Personally I don't mind the liner outlines ~ they compliment the other trim, and are understated...wow, it's really turned out nicely.
_________________
1990 Syncro 16" DoppleKabine 2.1 DJ 112i
________________________
Sold: 1972 Bay Campmobile; 1984 Westy, base model, 2WD.

[Crankey]

well...my personal opinion is just paint and no bed liner at all. but since you have it I guess I prefer how it was, no liner on the vertical edge. at least no liner on the rear of the side gates as the front edge is hidden more or less.

and while your at it...I think I would carry the bed liner all the way across the front under the grill right at that body crease. I think it would make more sense visually and also sort of hide that little bit of a hole on the body just under the grill which has always bugged me.

[syncrodoka]

[Bman]

Over all I like the bedliner in the truck bed, however, I am quite convinced that the edges of the side gates do bother me, a bit over the top I think.

I just returned from the shop where I asked Larry about that and he said although it was his fault for telling the liner guys to copy the rear gate he was hesitant to change it. He further said that the liner was a top dollar job and he thoroughly prepped the side of the gates for it to stick. made it sound like that it would be a royal pain in the ass to remove and then repaint. Can I live with it? I'm not sure yet, every time I look at the rig my eyes will be drawn to those lines. I'm gonna sleep on it it tonite and try talking with Larry tomorrow about it. For sure it will probably extend the project another week.
_________________
~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

[carterzest]

[Bman]

[Crankey]

if I was in your situation I would just deal with it myself.

sand down the bed liner on the rear edge. by hand with a block. finer grits till it was smooth, then repaint that small bit with a bomb can. I mean it's white, not that hard to match white...

I wouldn't bother with the front edge of the side gates. you like the bed liner so that's cool, but the front edge of the gate is hidden so to me it's not that big of a deal.

so do the rear edge and be done with it. you have a mountain of great restoration done here. that rear edge of the gate to me is not that hard to deal with on my own. it's not like it needs welding or any real work. you could do this yourself on a weekend. sand and prime one day, scuff and top coat the next day. if need be a little rub out to blend the masking edge the next weekend after it's cured real well. I wouldn't think it needs to come off 100%, just knock down the texture till it's smooth.

it's hard to get everything resolved perfectly. I work on multi million dollar houses and man there is a ton of stuff that doesn't get resolved very well if you ask me.

I mean no disrespect on the bed liner...just personal choice.

[Bman]

Sanding may be an option for sure, I'll have to explore this possibility as I think about options. And your right on projects like these where there is so much detail to cover and mistakes are made. Those top to bottom restorations you see on some cars are appropriately priced at $60K; this project is no where near that, but I do need to get it where I am happy with it.

I hear you on the bedliner, I usually assume people do not like covering the OEM paint because they want to know, see and retain the original metal (hopefully in as rust free condition as possible) and know what they have; thus the popularity of the "patina" look. At least with the bedliner on mine I can still use it as a truck and not cringe over every scratch on the bed paint.

I don't really know what the condition of the bed is under that line X (it seams solid), but I do know that it would be easy to take off now, because the paint job completed by a PO sucked and chips right off. My new drop gates though are solid and now have a solid bed line layer on them; while also apparently being a PITA to remove. Thanks all for the opinnions and advice
_________________
~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

[comet42]

Nice to see the Doka making a full recovery! Seems like color matched paint over those vertical gate edges might give you the best of both worlds - you'd regain the aesthetics and still keep the added protection provided by the liner.
_________________
86 Doka (Suby 2.2)
02 Eurovan Weekender (sold)
73 Squareback (sold)
79 Bus - Champagne Edition (sold)

[shadetreetim]

Wow Bman. Awesome truck. I do agree with you on the magic marker look. Those ends, front and rear looked better white. Sounds like the simpler solution is to go with white bedliner in those areas. It may be the thing to try first, to see if you like it. If you don't like it, it won't be any harder than taking off the black.

Even if you leave it as is, it's still a badass ride now.
_________________
Tim Potts

Doing my best every time I drive it to dispel the myth these Vanagons have to be slow!


'89 Vanagon Bluestar/Country Homes 1.8T & .77 4th
'74 Jeep CJ5

[Bman]

After harassing the body shop with a couple of visits today I finally got it accross that I wanted an all white look on those edges; Larry didn't agree, but opted to paint them.

After further thought, I realized even painted I wasn't gonna be happy with it, so I went back to the shop and asked to continue the conversation. After much haggling on my part, Larry just scraped a side off and he began to remove the liner from the side edges. It didn't take to long to come off, but it did take all the layers down to metal with it. So he will have to paint those edges again.

Nitpicking? Sure, but I know what I want and I will wait another week and more money if I have to to get it as right as I can. It is a badass doka now, and Larry has done a great job.
_________________
~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

[asw75R]

I`m not sure with the bed liner at all to be honest, it looks like something you would put on a van to cover up some bad repairs, which this van does not have* ? would this stuff not just trap any moisture behind it and rot from the inside out ? being all over the bed and bottom 6" where most of the rust would get hold ?

my crewcab had less visible rust on the seems than your filler cap area and once the underseal has been removed it has become a big job with alot of new metal needed to make good

you could use some rubber floor tiles to protect the bed floor when transporting things to protect it ?

I have enjoyed the detail in this thread



*fuel cap area needs more detail . . .

[MKIII and Sons]

excellent build and terrific use of the term "asshat"
_________________
broke.status

[Bman]

Thanks guys, yes I know a lot of people get suspicious about bed liner and start wondering what is under there, but I'm confident about it's use in the bed area and the rear cab gutter where the most use would occur.

I will use this truck, by no means am I expecting a show room museum piece, and if I did have no liner I would expect that I would be less inclined to put anything in the rear for fear of scratching the paint. I do already have a set of rubber to also add to the bed when done to offer more protection.

As for trapping moisture these new parts went from a dry shop to the line X place and had a top dollar application there will be no moisture seepage through this. As for the rocker panels, after inspection and sanding, Larry applied seam sealer to all edges for a finished look and to prevent such seepage.

Each his own for sure on this one, but I am confident that the body of the truck will be protected for years to come. Thanks for all your encouragment and thoughts.
_________________
~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