Belgian 1976 bay window kombi resto.

[jfdestree]

hi all.

I want to introduce you my 76 bay window project. I started it a few years ago, working on it by myself and learning body work along the way at the school of trials and errors. So be kind with me if some of my first jobs are not as good as the later!

I bought it thinking it's was a good basis to start. Well, not so much.

A previous owner liked to travel across France

I first wanted to mechanically overhauled it and enjoyed it this way for a few time before restoring it, but one thing leading to another, I ended with a completely dismantled bus!

Both steps looked like this. A mess made of fiberglass and bondo.

I wonder why people spend time to make a bad job when doing it right the first time is not much difficult?

Rear corner. Right and left looked quite the same.

Cargo floor was a bit damaged as well as some braces. I decided it will be easier to remove half of the floor to get a better access and replace everything.

Both left and right looked like this too ...

I welded a new sill on the driver side, but later decide to remove the two side panels as they where full of dings and dents.

Some C pilar repair ...

New inner and outer rear valence were needed.

As the bottom of the bus was now solid again, decided to sand it. It has been repainted 3 times before and I didn't wanted to add another layer on it.

At least, both doors are in good shape!

I did have to repair the windshield, rear door and sliding door glass but cannot find the pics.

Sliding door bottom corners needed some repairs too;

Cab floor needed some welding too.

After sandblasting it, I trailer it to my in laws body shop get it painted. That's when I decide to change both left panels, following the advices of the shop guys. It was pretty clever that it will be more cost efficient and will give a better end result to change them. As the parts are readily available in VW quality, it was not to difficult to do. The only mod to do is to fill the fuel hole that is on the left side of the bus.

oops

Nice view.

The panels are now welded and I start to prep it, but I lost all my latest pics, I did them with my phone but I drive over it with my truck... 26t are a bit too heavy for a phone
The bus now sat this way for a few months. Not a lot's of time to work on it and I'm not confident enough to prep it myself. I was a bit stuck as the bodymen at the shop does not have time to work on it, and doesn't have lot's of motivation for this kind of work too...
But, a few weeks ago, a friend offer me to help prep it, so we normally will start to work on it again next weekend. If everything goes well, I can hope to have it painted at the end of spring!

[driverinmyhead]

Wow! Nice work! Should be a lot of fun when it's all finished!

All of the stickers are cool too. Well travelled! Hope you are planning to keep those.

Are you going back to the same color combo?

Thanks for sharing......

[jfdestree]

[BusPriest]

Awesome awesome stuff!!!

You're going to have an amazing bus soon.

As far as paint= you can always just paint it white and have a vinyl wrap put on bottom to make it two tone. That way you can have stock and your two tone![/u]

[jfdestree]

My kombi is back in my workshop
It's been months since nothing had been done on it. I have a friend that will come every Sunday and help me finish to prep it and paint it.

The 2 panels I changed.

The fuel trap I had to weld.

From the inside.

We epoxied the front as I had begin to prep it

[Thrasher22]

Awesome work! I bet it feels great to get some paint on it. You must know what you're doing with metal work, that's very clean.
_________________
1975 Westfalia - http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=516701

[jfdestree]

[jfdestree]

First coat of filler.

And found some pics of another job I did for a friend. His 79 bay failed to MOT due to rust issues. When your start developing skills, friends always find something to do to help you practice
First, sand blasting to have a nice clean area to work and find how bad things are...

After some more grinding to find a good place to start the repair.

Patch welding with a 3mm thick scrap sheet of metal. I didn't butt weld it as I feel it is more solid this way.

Welded in place.

I bought a torsion tube repair kit I found on Ebay UK. Great stuff, a bit expensive but give a nice solution for job like this.

Front wheel repair.

New jacking point from Autocraft in UK, top products!

Done and an happy camper. Not a show quality job, but he is back on the road and passed MOT succesfully!

[WestyPop]

Nice work. Looks great! Congratulations.

Hit the road & have fun... needs more stickers!
_________________
Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.
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J.R.
68 Westy
(+ others)

[jfdestree]

Long time without update... Progress are much more slow as expected, but I think it is normal with any "project car"

Sooo, we finally get the body prepped. All is in a last coat of surfacer and we keep the last sanding cession just before painting it.

I focused on the bottom of the bus, Rudy want it to look as good underneath as the rest of the body. I didn't planed to get that far, but hey, I'm not that on a hurry now...
I removed the front beam, rear suspension arms and every other bits that are bolted to the bus. Will have them sand blasted and powder coated for a clean durable finish. I removed the old underbody coating, wax, grease as much as I could and it was a pita! Next one, I will have it sand blasted for a much more easier, quicker and cleaner result! Lesson learned.
Clean everything with thinner and spray some Standox self etching primer. Next, I will redo all the seam sealer, then spray some epoxy primer follow by a thin coat of anti gravels and finish it in body color. Should look great and for a long time!

Still a long walk, but every step is closer of the end!

[jfdestree]

Almost 3 years later...
My Kombi is finally off to the painter. After talking with a close friend during Le Bug Show at Spa-Francorchamps, he advices me a good painter to do my bus.
I had to fabricate some body dollies to move it from the lift where he was proudly sitting for the past 3 years.
I ended up with this.

And on the trailer to, finally and hopefully, got some paint on.

I still have to decide which color... I was set on a VW cherry red and white roofskin, then I found that Gemini blue would be cool and now stay with the original paint which is pastel white, not very exciting, but no risk taken.

[Clatter]

_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[jfdestree]

[jfdestree]

Didn't update this post in a while...

My bus had been painted
The painter got some free time during confinement and spend it on it.
I change my mind again about the color and finally choose savannah beige... I had to repaint the frame and wheelwells to match and apply Raptor bed liner in matching color.

Quite happy with the result

Masking

Underbody painting using polyhuretane 2k paint

Wheels well painted with tintable Raptor liner. I used a paint gun with 3.0 nozzle. I expected a more rough texture, turned out better

[jfdestree]

Long overdue update
Progress on this project is quite a bit irregular to the say the least.

Dashboard had the usuals previous owners hacks. Various holes and butchered radio housing

some cutting and welding required.

I used krinkle paint and was pretty pleased with the result.
I also clean up the mess in the background

I then start to rewired it,and I'm now fighting to resolv some odd. I ordered a new SWF turn signal switch and ignition switch and hope it will solved some of those problems.

finally, some life is coming back into it

To avoid burning wires, I power it using an old battery charger with a 15a inline fuse.