1961 Grey Commercial

[Busted-bolt]

Some more things I've been up to!

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

I have been putting some long hours in on the bus. My 23 window will not spend another winter outside,and winter IS coming. I have dug in to the right hand side floor and found some lower pillar sections bad so I busted the nose open . I have the main parts to complete ,I have to make the pillar parts though. I do have photos,but have trouble loading them ,and it takes me forever, so photo drops will come soon. So Im off to work on my bus this morning .It was 10 pm when I got done working on it last night
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

I found the toe board shot, [what the front of the front floor fastens to]so I had to source one from a scrap 59 panel from the yard. It took all day to remove.I salvaged the nose skin for a wall hanger. The lower pinch seam is 85% there and the inner bumper is really solid and the best I have seen so far from project/salvage bus.I bought this bus on a farm sale ,It was rusted out so bad it folded in the middle .It did not help matters that the farmer that owned it before cut the sides, roof and doors off. It than sat out in a pasture with the nose pointed straight upward and some hoser used it for target practice! lol .Don't worry I have photo records of the build ,I just have problems uploading due to resolution and need to resize some how.
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

I started to dig into the front floor and found more rust to fix.

than I dug into the nose,and sourced a lower headlamp panel from another bus. I made patterns for the lower A pillars

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

The headlight panel ,acid dipped and painted

Mockup of inner bumper to align parts perfectly

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

The savage rust as found on the lower headlight panel

A bit of cleaning up for floor fitting

A minor modification to the inner bumper for strength and to prevent water intrusion

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

All welds are POR 15 treated and primed or painted

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

Well I did not have the heart to kick the panel out of the stable just yet.There are just to many things that need to be done before it sees the elements. I have a lot of progress and will post photos soon ,lots of welding grinding and sealing of the work. I try my best to blend all butt weld repairs and smooth them out so as to be almost like factory with out any filler.This requires a lot of adjustments to the metal that takes a lot of time to get just right.Yeah I know my goal was to get started on the 23 window,but I don't want to cut any corners on my panel so as to prove myself worthy of my 23. I hope to have the panel ready to drive it to some vw get togethers this summer. I have been reading up on all the build threads ,and I think my work will be at least on par with the restorations going on here. I really appreciate the suport from The Samba ,the info is priceless and the people here are awesome, more pics coming this week
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[bally]

Any more progress on this panel? Nice work thus far 😊 Dave

[Busted-bolt]

I do have a bunch of pictures accumulated since then . I have been plating the under body with aluminum skid plates to protect the inner rockers and floors . So my work done will remain like new for a long time to come,and I can have a nice bus even after the the Shasta runs I have planed for it .
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[bally]

I look forward to seeing your work. Cheers. Dave

[Busted-bolt]

Progress so far. Pattern made to replace affected metal. Reinforcement made for bumper bracket and fastening system for front skid plate with two weld nuts above the bumper bracket. Por 15 for sealing and paint for extra protection. then weld the new metal in.

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

I went back to the nose and got it sealed up and adjusted "stud gun"

And then on to the windshield lower frame replacement due to rust delimitation of the two layers of metal.

I had to relocate the wiper shaft holes a bit to line up with the og metal. This part of the build is still ongoing.
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

This is where the aluminum 1/8" plate comes in. It is mounted on a removeable crossmember system I designed.It is all held together by counter set stainless fasteners. I will be documenting more on this because It will all have to be unbolted to paint prior to siliconing it all back together.

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[zimblewinder]

wow ground affects bus! Now all you need is the big F1 wing.
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58Euro 23 343208 The Ultimate Zimblewinder Machine.
59 mango standard
Wanted- splash pan supports, og pressed bumper coach bolts, ivory blaupunkt knobs (early), armrest alloy strips, NOS door mechanism

[junichi]

Do you mind showing more of how that windshield piece gets welded on?
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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

[Busted-bolt]

Im not at that point yet. The only proper way about it would be to remove the dash panel. With it removed the spot welder should work. Im going to butt weld the three vertical posts after a lot of careful measurements so i get the location just right . Then I will remove the dash to access spot weld area. I will be covering that with pictures soon.
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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[Busted-bolt]

Modifications made after driving some miles

a view of my fakeprin

no O/G parts besides the bumper were harmed in the process ....oops

To answer the question that junichi posed , I just plug and but welded things together .It is a process seen here many times. I don't really believe in filler unless it is of the melted steel variety. I was more interested in driving it this summer and need to log some miles .

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Vw collection 60 combi ,61 panel ,62 deluxe micro,82 diesel Westfalia,88 Vanagon synchro,98 Jetta tdi,11 Jetta tdi mt ,11 Jetta tdi dsg.
I do all my own work,body,engine and transmission.

[junichi]

Thanks..looking good!
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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

[Busstom]

Excellent. Been envisioning something very similar for many years, just can't seem to get to that point. Like!