1959 Kombi/Deluxe Rebuild Thread

[Navydave73]

[Navydave73]

Finishing the bottom welds on the long wall. I made sure the contact surfaces were Coated in weld through primer and the outsides were ground down to bare metal to make the spot welds better.

Using clamps to keep everything tight as i spot welded for 1 sec about 1 in apart.

My son the contorstionist fitting himself in the window and bending over to complete the plug welds at the top of the long wall where it joins the window panel.

And, finally, gratuitous Primer shot. 2K PPG Epoxy Primer.

[Burlyhammer]

Wow! That long panel looks great!

[John Ghia]

Any more progress Dave
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BUS BOYZ

[Navydave73]

Ive been working on my bus, i just suck at taking the time to post updates. I try to be like Burlyhammer in skill and thread-updating, but i have fallen short.

First corner window, passenger side.

I went back later and drilled holes from the outside, just to the right of the hatch opening so i could weld the inner brace to the new window frame. It was too tight to get my spot welder in there.

[Navydave73]

Someone ripped out the front heater tube when it was sitting in Way Out Salvage in Arkansas for a million years. And i mean ripped, metal was twisted and torn. I bought this heater tube but it was frozen solid so its been soaking in a bucket of diesel for 4 months.

Short wall wheel well replacement.

[Navydave73]

I watched Glideking and Burlyhammer replace front floors, their threads were extremely helpful...lots of detail pics. Having the front clip removed made this pretty easy for me. THe spot welder weighs a million pounds and is awkward to hold and use so I rigged it with a rope and pulley to take the weight as i moved across the front lip of the floor.

My rigging

More Pics of my front floor rigging

Turned out pretty good and I don’t have to grind. Grinding sucks.

[Navydave73]

Very important to keep everything tight when plug welding. I followed other post’s advice of using tech screws to ensure the floor was drawn tight to the frame when welding. I leap frogged between plug welds and screw holes, remove the screw between welds and then plug weld that hole and frame hole together with a high heat weld.

I live local to WW and usually use their sheet metal panels. But my early 59 floor is the same as a 58 and has double sheet metal in the area of the shifter and e brake. The WW was single so I went with Klassic Fab’s that was double, it did not have a slot for the steering wheel, it had a hole like late 59 so i did have to cut the slot. I saved that portion of my rotten front floor along with the plate cover. Nothing is perfect.....the WW floor has the little pockets for the felt pads where the brake and clutch shafts are and the KF does not. Luckily that portion of my floor i saved had one of the pockets on the bottom so i just made it out of scrap metal cut out from the bus.

[Navydave73]

The heater tube would still not budge even after 4 months soaking in diesel. I cut along the back side and split it open, cleaned it out and then patched where no one will see. Good to go, ugly, but no one will see.

[Navydave73]

I got carried away with the passenger side 4th window and didn’t take pictures. Splitting the window at the factory spot welds was a pain in the ass and it tore up a lot of the metal. I bought a 3 window section cut from a Kombi at the Prado Damn show. In hindsite, i should have bought the window sections from Grumpys Metal or now WW has the complete inner and outer 4 section and 2 section window sections. Shit.
For the driver side, i decided to keep the donor window together and just clamp it from the inside. My machinist neighbor introduced me to Dykem and a scribe to fine line cuts. I cut through both panels together with a 3M 3/32” cutting wheel. Worked way better than splitting.

[Navydave73]

PO had hogged out the ignition switch hole for an aftermarket one that looks like it had been in there forever. Again, scrap cut out from the bus.....drilled a hole that matched the size of the OG ignition and held it in place from the inside. Scribbed and marker to match the patch size needed, voila.

[Navydave73]

Again, too much work and not enough pictures. I used the remaining window from the 3window donor section to make the rear hatch into a deluxe. WW let me take measurements on their re-pop one hanging in the shop. Looks OK.....may still buy one from WW but it was worth it to try and save $700

Overall progress shots

My handy-dandy machinist neighbor also has a sand blaster and powder coated buddy. He hooked me up and blasted all 4 of my crows foot rims and powder coated white for $250. That seems extremely reasonable to me, never had anything powder coated before. He wasnt happy with how they turned out so he baked them at 800 degrees to cook off all the first coat, blasted them again and coated them again. H apologized and said I didn’t have to pay if I wasn’t happy. WTF????? He must be a perfectionist because they are freaking beautiful! Too bad I’m a long way off from needing them yet. I should have replaced the clips before he coated them, but the offer came quick and i had to jump on it.

Another forum buddy gave me these pictures for relocating the rear roof brace.

[Navydave73]

Front benches are almost $1,000. Re-pops are $700. I thought about posting an add to split the cost with someone because i only needed the backrest. Lately, i have bay window seats coming out of my you-know-what so I decided to modify a bay window rear to make the back rest for the front bench. Turned out pretty awesome!

Gratuitous shots of the undercarriage. Been using the Mastercoat recommended by Burlyhammer. Again, thanks to Burlyhammer, Edgood, and Glideking for taking the time to document.

Need to make a heater log also, the early ones are 50mm which is pretty close to 2” so i used 2” EMT and a “Heater Log” thread on here for holes. Looks good.

[Navydave73]

The cargo floor was a royal pain in the ass. I almost hurt my back wrestling with the damn thing. I didn’t want to drill holes through the cargo floor frame pieces like the front floor so i used a wooden block and bottle jack to mate the two tight before welding. The Harbor Freight hole punch is my BFF but it wont work for the floor holes so my son and i had to drill a million holes. I mocked up the floors in those rotisserie pictures so i could trace where the floor braces were to locate holes. The wooden block tweaked the roof, but it is rotten and coming off anyway so I didn’t care.

The rear did not have the lip that goes under the back panel like the KF. 20ga sheet metal bent in a 1/2” 90 worked out well enough. I used the hole punch and plug welded from the bottom.

[Navydave73]

ITS GO TIME!!! I am sick of this gigantic box in my garage. WW was selling out of the deluxe roofs quicker than anyone thought so i ran and bought one way before i was ready for it. I try to buy parts as i go instead of hoarding because i just don’t have the room.
The old roof. Cut into pieces and thrown in the recycling bin.

Me cutting off the roof with DeWalt shears.

Huge box that we have been using to paint parts on

[Navydave73]

A couple of questions. Kombis don’t have the headliner grip strips so they will have to be added. I see on Edgood’s thread that the KF roof pieces came with the headliner strips, but the WW roof does not. Am i correct that the headliner strips go on the sunroof opening perimeter, fresh air box, along the front where the sun visors go, and........where else? Anything go above the driver/passenger front doors?

Also, take a look at the detail pictures below...this L-shaped piece and connections to the front...is that a Kombi thing? Will they get in the way of the deluxe inner skylight panel? Should i remove all of this? I will probably figure it out when i get the inner panels this Friday but looking for any detail pics or feedback.

Edgood’s conversion thread has incredibly detailed pictures of the reinforcement pieces that go behind the sunroof hook opening that i would not have even know i needed if it weren’t for his thread. Do those reinforcement pieces connect to the upper part of the roof in any way? What about the lower support piece that seems to connect the reinforcement piece to the fresh air box? Does that piece spot weld to the roof inside the air box?
My work with the tophat reinforcement pieces and my best guess for measurements. The top hat seemed to leave about 1.5cm from the inner rain gutter edge to the top bend of the tophat. I assume this measurement is critical for the inner panel spacing. So i intend to keep everything loose and unwelded until i get the inner panels to make sure i have enough room for it all before I commit to spot welding.

[Navydave73]

Another question.... looking on samba there are a lot of headliner threads, but i have not been able to find a DIY 23 window step by step thread. For my kid’s 60 Bugs we bought the Chris Vallone headliner video, best $20 i ever spent. But there doesn’t seem to be a similar video for Bus, at least I haven’t found anything. Any suggestions?
There are sharp spikes I’ve seen on the roof, rear of the sunroof opening. And, the kids bugs have a panel that attaches to the rear roof and hangs until you finish the ragtop then the panel attaches with door panel clips to hide that part. Do buses have the same setup in the rear on a 59? Detail pics will help, don’t want to miss anything while I’m replacing the roof.

Another note, I wasn’t sure about he bus stability when i cut the roof off so it has been taken off the rotisserie while i do the roof. After the roof, it will go back on the rotisserie so the Belly pans can be installed. I figure i need to do heater insulation, wire harness, and choke/fuel reserve cables before belly pans. What about the brake line? Ive read somewhere that on deluxe, the main brake line is outside the belly pans?

Thanks everyone

[Burlyhammer]

Wow you have been busy. Incredible progress! There are headliner clips above the visors and down the sides above the front doors. Mine were partially rusted so I made some. I am sure I have photos on my thread, but I will get you more detailed photos and can get you some measurements also if needed. Awesome work!

[Krustybus]

The brake line does run on the outside of the belly pan.
There is also a tube along the inside of the right frame rail for the wiring harness that should be in place before the belly pans go on.

Great work!
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Tim

[Navydave73]