B Pillar construction/pictures - sans wheel arch.

[cmonSTART]

Hey Folks, I'm in the process of doing my right side wheel arch and tub. Does anyone have a picture of the lower part of the B pillar? Preferably without the wheel arch in plate. I'm having trouble visualizing it's construction with the multiple layers of rust and previous repairs.

Thanks!
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[ImAddicted]

Check babysnakes' gallery, I think might be some pics there IIRC.

EDIT: found the link to his gallery

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_search.php?search_id=501587495&start=0
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[cmonSTART]

Thanks! I found the following in the Gallery. Note: Always search each sub model of Bay Window.

I found this which helps a lot. Yes, there is a "step" in it. And it does appear at least here that everything in the front is flush.
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[orwell84]

I know this isn’t quite what you were looking for. I think the front ends up flush from the factory, but it was quite the sheet metal sandwich. When I redid mine I didn’t duplicate any of the factory seams because they only served as a logical way to spot weld it together. I guess it matters if you take it to the kind of car shows where people park on top of mirrors. Those seams just trap water anyway and I ended up welding it much like your photo. I did mine the way I did to save the stamping on the original wheel arch. The repro I had looked like crap and that you really can see.

[orwell84]

Actually, this thread helped me a lot. Great photos of b-pillar/wheel arch deconstruction:

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=543445

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/gallery/pix/1022772.jpg

There are steps in the front sheet metal where the inner and outer sections of the the b-pillar fit together so the surfaces are all on the plane. We often hear when welding not to overlap sheet metal, but that's how these buses were made and this is probably part of the reason they rust here.

[cmonSTART]

Thanks for those, guys!

That guy who did that thread has some serious sheet metal skills. I'm just proud of myself when I don't burn through!
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[babysnakes]