Dan's '65 Dormobile project

[ThatVWGuy]

I’m a little over 10 years late starting this thread but have been motivated to post up after reading Matt Jackson's thread on bringing “Helga” back to life.

In 2006 after two years +/- of being bus-less a friend of mine in the midwest sold me a solid '65 standard microbus shell that had been in his barn for years. Given todays crazy prices I think this was the last "cheap" bus I will ever buy.

This is what the bus looked like the first time I saw it. I don't remember what kind of fiberglass camper top was on the roof, could have been Bay window or Chevy, but it was big.

Like I said, it was a shell. Had a few nice door panels, no rear seats, no engine, no bumpers, partial front seats etc.

Soon enough I had it loaded on the trailer and was headed for home. I remember the neighbor asking me why I drove 500 miles to pick "That thing" up and bring it home. I told him to restore it and drive it. He said "But why?" Some people just don't understand.

Aside from the hideous color (IMHO) and the missing parts this was solid start to a great project. Yes, there was surface rust in the drip rails and some rust through in the front floor (but not the A-pillar), cargo floor, and p-side rocker, but otherwise this was a very sold bus. There was shiny Velvet Green paint an NO RUST in all four wheel wells!

At this point I should say that all of my previous busses have been stockers except for the running gear. I know there are different schools of thought, and to each their own, but my thought has always been if you have something original, especially if it is a rare model, keep it original. That being said I now owned a Peacock-shit green bus with a ton of missing parts so I felt no such constraint. I was going to lower it, run Fuchs, and paint it some bright but non-Peacock-shit color.

Here is where I should say building a camper, any kind of camper, was the LAST thing on my list. I have NEVER wanted a camper, never ever, zero desire, actually avoided them.

Campers were good for two things:
1) Parts.
2) Flipping.

...until this happened.

While out driving around in the countryside for work I came across this field find Dormobile. As luck would have it, the field Dormobile was also a '65! Initially I wanted it for the bumpers, engine, and the miscellaneous parts that I needed for my bus but after dragging it home I popped open the top so that I could clean all of the junk out and... HOLY SHIT!! It was like a cathedral in there. With apologies to all Westy owners, size matters. The reason I previously had zero desire to own a camper is that the little Westy pop top with it's tiny interior dimensions is barely big enough to give you enough room to stand up and change your pants. The opening for the Dormobile top on the other hand is wider and longer the opening for a deluxe sunroof and the the top is around 8' at the peak! It's huge!


Turns out the donor Dormobile was actually a 21 window that had been hacked right through all the skylight windows on both sides to add the Dormy top. It had also been sitting for hears with missing vent hatch in the roof so the floors and and frame rails were swiss cheese. No title, lots of rust, hacked roof and bulk head = parts bus. ...at least at the time. If you want to read more about it see this thread. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=246621&highlight=

After dragging the green bus home my older son and I start cleaning it up to evaluate what we have.

Amazing the difference some wax and a couple cans of Krylon will make.

...to be continued.

[Longboardluv]

Oooo! To be continued? Can't wait to see what happens next!

[ThatVWGuy]

Unless you have a ton of money to throw at a project, which I don't, I always advise that your first step should be to get your project running and driving so that you can enjoy it. First on the list was a complete rebuild of the brake system: New Shoes, new wheel cylinders, new lines, turned or replaced rums, and a new master cylinder. Cleaned out the mud robber nests while I was at it.

Before:

After:

When I bought the Field Dormobile it came with an engine that the owner claimed had been rebuilt a few hundred miles before parking the bus. The engine looked pretty crusty but turned over. Definitions of "rebuilt" vary and as you can tell from the lichens growing on the bus it sat for a long time before I found it so I was skeptical. After rebuilding the carb, and replacing the plug wires it ran like a champ!


Before:

After I painted the case, tin, putting on the alternator, etc.

Next order of business to replace the rusted metal. For this I turned to a local friend Will Foitik who I can't say enough good things about. Extremely talented guy who has a passion for VW's.

Front Floor:

Cargo and Rocker:

[ThatVWGuy]

I should mention that I also replaced the e-brake cable, throttle cable, clutch cable, all the tie rod ends, drag link, steering dampener, rebushed the center pin, and added a '66-'67 front sway bar. Reliable and safe.

[Pinetops]

Ok, you got my attention. Staying tuned...
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"A rolling bus gathers no rust."

[MicBergsma]

Right on! I think I saw Matt posted your bus picture on his Instagram and it got painted... yours?
_________________
1967 VW Bus walk-thru 21 window deluxe
Restoration series on YouTube right now!
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[pyrOman]

[Birdmanhere]

Nice. Love Dormy hacking!

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66 Bus
71 Bug

[ThatVWGuy]

[Mr. Electric Wizard]

Hi Dan from Austin, I'm Eric from Austin.
Sweet bus!
_________________
"Saying what we think gives us a wider conversational range than saying what we know."
~ Cullen Hightower

(T)exas (C)oalition (B)uses
(H)eidenhammer (B)ully (B)oyz

--1966 De Luxe Camper

[pyrOman]

[ThatVWGuy]

[ThatVWGuy]

Since I am now fully committed to the Dormobile route vs. the lowered cruiser I have to totally rethink my drivetrain. If I'm going to have a camper I'm going to camp. If I'm going to camp I'm going to be hitting the trails at some point which is not conducive to lowering. (Again, to each their own but I do not understand the desire for lowered campers. The last place I want to camp is in a parking lot.) So my thought is I want stock height or higher. For several months I toyed around with the idea of somehow lifting the bus while maintaining reliability. the front end is a piece of cake, all you have to do is modify the spindles but the back end is another story, Raise it much and you get weird wheel tuck and put the CVs at a pretty extreme angle which will cause them to wear faster. My friend Scott Hall was building a Monster lifted bus at the time and figured a lot of it out with Porsche 930 (I think) CV joints etc. but in the end it was to extreme for what I wanted to do so I ended up dropping the idea for the most part.

What I ended up with was bigger wheels and tires. The '65 came stock with 14" rims and I found somebody locally with a set of 15" that I traded for. I put a set of 215/75 R 15's Geolanders on it and I am very happy. I have no clearance issues, it doesn't look like a monster truck but I have and extra inch or so of clearance. I prefer the look of raised white letter tires, YMMV.

Somewhere I have a picture of my bus next to a twin '65 where you can see the difference in height between the two. When I find it I will post it. Zozo? You reading this? It was next to your bus at one of the "Big Picture" events.

[Longboardluv]

tires look good! you won't have clearance issues a stock height bus can get over a lot!

[ThatVWGuy]

Found the picture! Both of these are 1965 Velvet Green Standard Microbuses built Just a few weeks apart. Both busses are running a stock suspension. The one on the left is running the stock 14 inch rims. My bus on the right is running 15 inch rims with oversized tires. I think this picture best illustrates the height gain from my wheel tire combination.

[zozo]

You bringing it to the freeze and shine?

[cru62]

[ThatVWGuy]

[zozo]

[ThatVWGuy]