1964 Light Grey Kombi

[junichi]

I think I've gone right through to the primer. The bus (I think) is latex painted and the stripping methods from other threads are not working (easy-off, goof off, etc). The heat gun is working, but too much heat takes me to primer. Not enough gets me only to the new primer... From what I see, the L345 is pretty rough anyway. Haven't given up yet though. I will have to get the green and white off regardless.
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[Eric&Barb]

Have you tried 3M Safest Stripper?? Have had great results with that for taking off non-factory paint.
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[junichi]

Thanks- will see if it's available in my area. I did try another stripper - gel type and it was a pain to use in this application (worked just fine on my wood boat though).
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Pretty poor selection of paint stripper in my local shops... Grabbed a few and tried them all, limited success. Went back to the heat gun, which has been effective, although a bit sensitive to overheating, which takes the OG paint with the rest.

Anyway, I noticed as I got further along, there are some spots where it just stuck a lot better, and other spots where all the repaints just peel right off. Regardless, there are a lot of blemishes on this old bus, and OG paint is looking bleak. I will keep going since I can't repaint over this poorly adhered base, but sad to let go of the dream of OG L345.

You can see it's coming off in pretty big patches...terrible paint jobs over the years.the topcoat is very orange peely and may be latex, and was almost definitely put in with a roller.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

You can see some good OG paint around the signal light. It appears in about 4 paint jobs they were never removed. The predominant color on the nose needs a brush of goof-off and the )345 shows thru. It's unlikely that step will be needed though, based on how it's looking!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Still more to do, but here is how she sits after a day of stripping.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

This past weekend I stripped most of the long side of the bus. Found a big dent filled with bondo and did my best to shrink it up. I couldn't access the back side as it is a localized vertical indent right where is a structural support on the inside. Managed to shrink and flatten it a bit, but bondo will be needed again, just less of it.

Then I dug out the nose and found a pretty nasty nose under all the bondo...

Cut it open

Started patching. Ran out of welding gas almost right away so I had to quit..

Oh, and check out the blue paint that was once on the long side.... Yikes!

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[Eric&Barb]

You could use steel nails welded to that dent in the long panel, and use those to pull the dent outward. Then shrink it down. Made a puller out of a dent puller to do that, to fix places like that.

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=462164&highlight=wounded
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In Stereo, Where Available!

[junichi]

Thanks as always for the tip. I will read through the thread.

I did drill a hole so I could poke at it, but. It just pops back in....it's pretty stretched out. Hopefully will find some tips in your thread to deal with that
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

A little work on the nose welding in my patch and plugging many holes. Also pulling out a big flat spot on the nose. In progress..

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Wow, 2 months since I have worked on the bus. Bathroom renovations and yard work are caught up for now.

Anyway, hard to tell but there was about 1/2" of bondo in the dent here. It wouldn't pull out, just kept oil canning back in.

Now it gets ugly.. I couldn't live with this dent but I can't afford a new nose. The dent is right behind the dash and the structural piece in the nose so I can't hammer it out. So...

I cut it open. Then, between my boot, some butt-weld clamps, and some creative use of a dolly and inflatable wedge, I pushed it back in to shape. It will need a skim coat of bondo, but not a lot.

Some nasty looking one handed welds made while pulling and twisting on the butt-weld clamps, but it worked!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Well,that didn't work. It was still oil canning because the bent up metal was still there in places. So I cut it ALL out. Way bigger patch than I wanted, but it needed to be done.

And formed a panel using some specialty tools- an old bag of concrete mix and a rubber mallet. It worked out quite nicely- took about 5 hours to firm it correctly. There was lots of trial and error; fitting, hammering, refitting.

I am very happy with the result.
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[BarryL]

Pretty dang crafty.

[junichi]

Decided to prime the driver's side. Worked the last two days to ready it. Decided on epoxy primer then filler after much research.

Makeshift paint booth- masked the top and tented it in- there is a bus hiding in there:

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Posted in paint forum but will repeat here:
Hi,
First time using epoxy primer after much research. I opened the can and it was all separated and chunky. Must be old as time. Shook it up real good and it looked fine (surprisingly thin though) so I sprayed a small test patch. Is there any way to tell tomorrow morning if this stuff is any good or if it should go back? Destructive testing ok- rather that than having to strip the whole side later!
Edit- it seems to be curing fine. Tack free in 15-20 as the label says.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

All seemed well this morning so I went for it. You can see it needs some blending still where the new rocker is welded, but that will come later. For now, feels good to have it sealed up a bit.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

Well i got my bus to the local vw show a couple weeks back. On the way home my idle cut off solenoid seems to have busted and the bus wouldnt start for a bit. I got going again by pouring some fuel in the carb. I bought an old 30 pict 3 to rebuild and replace my brosol h30/31 eventually. Cost me 10 bucks but it is rough! Hopefully it can be rebuilt...just researching that now.

Today i got back at it (was out of town for a bit).

Did some welding, grinding, sanding, and priming on the nose. Removed the antenna which will eventually be in the way of my safari windows, which left a couple new holes to patch.

And primer:

A small patch inside the headlight bucket will be tomorrow's mini project.

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[BUSorBUST]

coming along nicely.

Thanks for the build share.

This stuff takes time huh. I've got kids too and my 65' panel is barely creeping along.

[junichi]

It sure does take time. I am hoping to take it out this weekend with the kids, even for just a short ride to help keep my eyes on the prize. I want to get this thing built, but not at the expense of missing out on quality time with my kids. It's a tough balance. Enjoying it with the family is what this is all about, but i cant enjoy it if i cant drive it!!
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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf

[junichi]

I think i have my idle issues solved finally. I cleaned the idle jet and turned both adjustment screws to 2.5 turns out..finally idles with choke all the way off.

We cruised to dinner and back...so great!

I didnt get my headlight bucket fixed-trailer maintenance instead. had to cut more out to patch the headlight because the existing metal was just melting away when trying to weld. Hopefully this does it:

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1964 Kombi- http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=640048
Sold: 1985 Transporter Doka,1978 Westfalia, 1975 bay x 2, 1986 syncro vanagon, 1965 beetle, 1980 vanagon, 1967 deluxe bus, 1988 golf