1959 Kombi/Deluxe Rebuild Thread

[Burlyhammer]

Wow, you are showing no fear, and tackling some very intimidating areas. I hope no one ever has to detach the cross member, top hat, and outriggers to relocate. I am sure I will never do it again...
How is the spot welder? I want to get myself one some day (hopefully sooner than later!)
Keep up the great work. Your bus appreciates you!

[Navydave73]

[Navydave73]

[Navydave73]

This is what’s left of the long wall vertical reinforcement pillars.

Again, i tried to leave as much OG metal as possible for a guide to make sure that i got them in the right place.

Replacement Auto Craft pieces from WW

Cutting out, trying to take my time with the cutoff wheel and plasma torch

Reference picture of the little L-shaped piece that goes from the vertical pillar to the top of the new floor. I thought i read somewhere that this was an early bus thing or 59 only??? There is no trace of the first pillar...is it only the rear or both? Or all 3????

[Navydave73]

I ran out of SEM Copper Weld, bough another brand at the paint shop. I cant tell the difference, this one is pink...that’s the only difference i can tell. Mastercoat on all the non-weld surfaces and copper weld on the weld surfaces.

The screws that held the latch plate had been replaced by 4” screws that went all the way through the B pillar so i bought these from WW. The heads were too large for the recesses in the latch plate so i made a Hill Billy Lathe. Chucked the screws up in my drill and spun the drill while grinding with my cutoff wheel. Good enough for government work.

[Navydave73]

Final fit of screws

Ready for the long wall next!! I will be replacing the top hats at the rear of the bus, the OG ones are too nasty.

[Clatter]

Nice build.
Way to dig right in.

I keep seeing this video playing in my head when I look at all of that.
Don't they just make it look so easy?


Link

_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Navydave73]

[Clatter]

Ya, have seen so many ads about buying the equipment or a franchise, even..

It's kind of like vapor blasting,
There's been three people come and go in that arena in the last couple of years.
It seems like it would be fun/rewarding,
And maybe on your own project it might be,
But,
Dag,
After about three cars how bad would you hate it?

Maybe you could buy the rig, do a car or two, then sell it on?
Maybe even buy a used one to start with?

How sweet would it be if we had an official Samba wet-blasting rig you could either buy and sell on for close to what you paid,
or maybe rent it?
Group buy?


_________________
Bus Motor Build

What’s That Noise?!?

[Navydave73]

A couple reference photos for how far the shifter tube sticks out... 1/2” or 12.7mm according to my metric tape measure

Another pile of rusted metal cut out. The rear top hats.

[Navydave73]

The left over sheet metal that i used for the divider wall was almost a perfect fit for the rear tophat middle section.

[Navydave73]

The bottom two reinforcement pillars are completely rotten. I think i can save the top, smaller profile reinforcement, but not the bottom two. WW sells an Auto Craft replacement for these but it looks like a lot of work. They need to be clearanced around each of the vertical reinforcement pillars, not to mention the 1/2” crimp every so often. Doesn’t there need to be a short vertical for the door panel to slip over for the rear seat armrests?

I have searched and didn’t find anyone replacing the entire long wall like i plan to. Surely someone has done this before. I will take a lot of pictures if there isnt any documentation yet.

Any suggestions for removing the top of the long wall without trashing the inner structure? My spot welder wont reach, so i plan to plug weld.

[Navydave73]

This is the stamping I’m talking about, how do i recreate this?

Looks to be about 1/2”

[Navydave73]

Peeling away the remainder of the long wall at the top where it is spot welded to the window panel.

[Navydave73]

Long wall reinforcement pieces from WW (AutoCraft UK) don’t have the cutouts for the vertical pillars. I measured the one that was removed and came up with a cardboard template. Not the most beautiful thing, but good enough to hide with door panels. The cuts where with simple hand shears.

[Navydave73]

The old, handy dandy Harbor Freight hole punch/panel flange tool helped me get the reinforcement rails to sit flush to the wall

Everything mocked up and looking beautiful

Welded in place. We used the hole punch on the reinforcement pillars and did plug welds. My son pushed on the outside while i plug welded on the inside.

[j.pickens]

I have to comment here.
When I saw this thread months ago, you posted this photo of the first thing you did when you got this bus home:

And I thought: "This bus is a HUGE rust restoration project, and THIS is what he does first?"

I just saw this project as a potential disaster!

But! Boy was I wrong!!!
You are killing it, congrats on all the fine work you are doing.
Easy to see you're gonna do this rustbucket justice!!!
Keep it up!
_________________
Founder and Chairman Emeritus, ECMSAS
BBX BBXII and BBXXI Long Distance Award Winner

[Navydave73]

[type2rescuemaine]

Way to go. That long panel looks amazing!!!

[BarryL]

Yeah ^^^^. I think that's the first time someone has posted up the whole enchilada side attachment. What a feat.