74 Kombi - The onion bus

[Welt]

Hello bay afficionados! Guess I've become mad enough to buy one myself.

This will be a build thread for my newest acquirement, a 74 Pastel White Kombi, "the onion bus". The name comes from the previous owner, who used it mainly to transport onions and other farm produce. I'll do my best to revive this old workhorse to it's former glory.

I made the deal quite long ago but only recently got around to actually fetch it. It had been sitting in a barn for a long time, so a year or so made no difference to the previous owner, to the car or to myself. This one really needs some tender love to get back to the road but I think I can handle it, having done a rusty 56 oval.

It's amazing just how tiny these T2s really are. There really isn't much legroom for a 6'1" person. Driving a slammed, tubbed one must really be a feat in itself.

Washed all the grime off and everything starts to look a lot better! (but isn't) Both front doors have large dents on them and they are bent, thus they wont close all the way.

The rear floor looks to be quite solid contrary to my expectations. It has been "repaired" in quite a few places but nothing major. There are some large holes in the corners though.

The cabin smelled really funky and moldy. Mickey & friends had made a nice little nest in the space under the seats. I've seen some sh.... Don't forget to use breathing protection when examining these old carcasses. I'm quite bad at taking "before" photos, but most will likely know what kind of mess there was.

There's some rust, and then there's lots of it. What's a bus without globs of filler, right? The left side has some bondo on it, but generally there is quite little of it.

The lower sides are completely gone both left and right as are the rear corners and battery trays. No surprise there really.

This one came originally with a Type 4 1.8. The PO got better use out of it elsewhere, so he replaced it with a H-code 1.5 engine out of a 67 split bus. The 67 was actually given for free to somebody some years ago ( why not me). Well, this isn't so bad for a 135$ (100€) Kombi, I think. The right split bus will come to me, I'm certain of it... I'm thinking of doing a 1800-2000 torquey engine for this one. Not quite sure yet.

Didn't have much time to do anything on this one except clean it a little as I got my oval and a 74 bug ready for winter storage. I tried to clean the seats a little though. It takes a lot more than that to wash away all the dirt and grime of a farmer's workwear out of these vinyl seats. If it all fails, new interior it is.

Oh, and here's the M-plate decoding for it while I'm at it:

Que in for rust repairs, soul wrenching agony and kombi action at a later date! Peace!
_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle

[scrivyscriv]

Thanks for posting your build thread, I'll keep an eye on it!
_________________
Robert in Memphis
Dünkelgrügen 1967 Java Green bug thread
Engine rebuild thread
If you're ever in the Memphis area, you are welcome to stop by for advice and help.

[Welt]

After slightly longer winter sleep than I had planned, the work on this beauty has finally begun properly. I've welded up a rotisserie and begun disassembling this rusty piece of German metal in preparation. First up was the front beam. Quite a heavy piece that assembly is. I'm accustomed to working with bugs so everything seems to be a little bit more complicated, there's a lot more things that are in the way along with all the usual rusted out bolts. A compressor and some pneumatic tools were a necessity.

The heavy beam didn't budge an inch when all bolts were removed. It was rusty enough to be solidly stuck against the frame. Lots of crowbar, slide hammer and hydraulic jack action later I finally got it to slide out. Fortunately, neither the beam nor the frame were rusted through even though there were lots of caked mud on the shock towers. Phew!

Beam looks ok-ish. It remains to be seen how much metal is left after sandblasting. There's a lot welding to be done as many places in this bus look appalling. At least

- cab floor
- wheel arches
- sills
- some chassis parts
- rear corners
- rear valance
- battery trays

need to be replaced. There's also some rust hiding under some window seals. I've got my work cut out for me on this one.

Next up is removing transaxle and engine. I have a Type 1 mag case opened up for 94's and all the late bay specific engine tins waiting for this one. Been thinking of doing something like this:

74x92 thick wall
stock valved DP heads
web 218/119
DRLA 36s or 40s
heater boxes and a VS exhaust

This will be my happy bus so there's no turning back now. All in or all out.
_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle

[Welt]

Engine and transaxle came out quite nicely. Some parts needed a little extra heat but nothing major. Axle nuts were easy with an impact wrench and a big socket on this one. Got the bus mounted up on rotisserie after that. Rust repairs will be much easier now.

The underside is rusty but nothing major. Wheel wells and other rustproofed areas seem quite nice. A lot better than I expected. Next up will be sandblasting and rust repairs.
_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle

[Stuartzickefoose]

this will be fun to watch


_________________
Stuart Zickefoose

2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDi 6 speed manual

206-841-7324
[email protected]

[Tcash]

Hi
Good even for the experienced. There is not a panel that he doesn't touch.
Volkswagen Bay Transporter Restoration Manual

Bobs bay westy rust repair

Good Luck

[Welt]

[secretsubmariner]

Wow! That's a cool bus. I'm becoming more and more partial to white busses! Good luck, there's a lot of framework to be done
_________________
-Tony
ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ
1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
1970 Auto Fastback FI

[Manfreds78bay]

Man those fame rollers thing are handy. Wish I had room for one. Looks great so far!
_________________
1978 2.0L FI Campmobile

1982 AMC Eagle SX4 4.2L FI

[Welt]

[Brian]

I wonder why it was bought with no battery. Also looks like the partition is still there?
_________________
Wash your hands

'69 Bug
'68 Baja Truck
'71 Bug
'68 Camper

Only losers litter

[Welt]

[Welt]

Garage for the kombi is done and has proper heating so I can finally start doing proper rust repairs without fearing immediate flash rust. Cut out a few bad outriggers and assessed the situation with the drivers side sills. Fortunately the floor crossmembers and other sill "locating pieces" are in good condition so the sill replacement won't be a huge hassle. Can't say the same about the outer panel though. Outer skin repair panels I have won't cover all the damage and dents so I'll most likely need to do some major gorilla fisting/hammering to get the side even relatively straight. Sketchy repairs have clearly been done to this car as there are layers consisting of rust-bondo-more rust-bondo-primer-paint. Not aiming for a 10 point resto here but will avoid using filler where I can.

I think I'll strengthen the frame with new metal rather than try to replace small pieces of it one at a time. It may not be the best choice ever, but it'll do. Started the frame work by doing some paper templates, traced them into a sheet, cut out with plasma and did some test fitting. Simple and clean.

For the cargo area interior panels I've been thinking of using some birch panels a retired old school carpenter gifted me a while ago. Flame/wavy birch (?) should look great.

Been thinking about adding some adjusters to the front beam now that everything is off the car. I definitely want to be able to adjust from stock height to slightly lower. If the adjusters are welded to the backside of the beam, the top adjuster will foul the shift rod at stock height. Will avis style adjusters be accessible if installed like in the illustration? Has anyone installed those like this? I should have taken measurements when the beam was still in the car. Don't want to do all the work and then notice that the beam won't even fit.

_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle

[secretsubmariner]

Awesome to see you crackin' down on it! Can't wait!
_________________
-Tony
ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ
1978 Champagne Edition Bus FI
1970 Auto Fastback FI

[Tcash]

avis adjusters

[Welt]

^^^
Might as well post that question in the more relevant thread (lowering a bay). Some must know the answer, surely.

Progress has been slow but progress is still progress. Front brakes got new parts. Junked the old rusty rotors as new ones are cheap. Hubs were dipped in a phosphoric acid bath to get rid of surface rust and then lightly oiled. Replaced bearings too while I was at it. Need to throw away some more cash and get new calipers as the piston seals were gone and the pistons themselves rusted too badly to even think rebuilding them.

Was going to do a basic transaxle "refresh" with all new seals but decided against it after a quick wash and oil drain. No seal has really leaked other than the one on the input shaft. The drained oil had no surprises and I can't feel any appreciable slop on the hockey stick. New flange seals, input shaft seal, throwout bearing and starter bushing should suffice for now. Most likely I'll sodablast the case to make it look nice.

Some rear parts were glass bead blasted to get rid of rust. Rebuilt the axles with new CV joints as the old mismatched pairs (different manufacturers) had significant wear and some balls were bad. Found some metal flakes in there too.

More I tear into the car more I find sloppily made and questionable repairs. Loads of filler everywhere. Drivers side panel looks quite interesting after removing "paint". The rear jacking point wasn't really attached to anything on the topside. Only a few bad welds held it together to make it look okay The jacking point ítself was a good OEM replacement (had a sticker still on) but the attachment was lacking.

Bonus points for the one that guesses what I'm making here.

_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle

[beenjamin]

Bonus points for the one that guesses what I'm making here.

[/quote]

Bumper overriders

[Tcash]

Might want to pull the nose cone and check the shift lever (hockey stick) ball?

[Welt]

[Welt]

Went ahead and popped the bellhousing off too and found large quantities of that same sludge found in the nosecone. R&P etc. looked fine, so I think this 002 box will be good to go after the stuff in the nosecone is replaced.

New cuts have been made and it looks like I don't have to remove much more. Decided to cut a large piece from the floor panel. Thus I get better access to repair the crossmembers and only have to weld a single big floor repair panel on this side. JustKampers sills and outriggers (as are the OEM ones I got in a bundle) seem to be of great quality. Test fitted some of them and the fit is almost perfect!

Removed the fuel tank and weren't surprised of the stuff what was in there. Do you know what is lurking in your old fuel tank?

_________________
1956 Oval
1971 Type 181
1974 Baywindow
1974 Beetle