Swedish 66 Crew Cab Resto

[Burlyhammer]

Wow! One awesome looking chassis. Those welds look incredible. Looking forward to the next update!

[mabbo]

Another update...

Finished seaming up the beam mounting section to the new front chassis rails:

Plug welded the top hats and spot welded the I beams to the tops of the chassis rails, and welded the tubes for the cables etc:

Got the tool box and floor sections pinned in the right place, and trial fit the front tubs:

Trial fit of the front cross plate, front valance, master cylinder cross member etc to check everything is OK before welding:

Once happy I welded in the handbrake / shifter mounting panel in place:

Then the steering box section:

Removed the took box and floor section to paint the insides body colour before they are fitted as it would be impossible to get good paint coverage in there once welded:

And spot welded in place:

Welded the rear section of the beam mount cut to the new chassis rails:

Heater control tube welded:

Front valance welded to the chassis rails:

Rear donor bump stops were cleaned up, repaired and welded to the chassis as factory:

Got the chassis onto the rotisserie so we can get the underside finished. Loads of bits and bobs to get done under there:

Thats it for now

[mabbo]

Had a few days on a customers 66 we restored a couple of years go. It was never built to be a show car but he did a great job of all the assembly and I love it.... Anyway, he bought it to us to sort a few issues with the engine and gearbox. I sanded and mopped a few areas and helped detail it before the show:

Now Volksworlds all over, its back to real work. We got a bit more done on the chassis... Loads of hours but not a lot to show for it, enjoying it though.

We got the rear donor chassis / torsion housing section trimmed down and tidied up. We got the new chassis rails square and lined up the rear cut before tacking everything in place. Then got the sills, I beams etc mocked up and once happy panel pinned in place:

Once we were happy everything was in the right place we seamed the join in the chassis rails up where the factory join is. Bit gutted, was hoping these would come out perfect as they wont be ground flush. They are not bad, but not my best welding:

Spot welded the sills to the I beams and top hats. The complete floor support framework finished but not welded to the chassis just yet:

We got the front and rear outriggers and cross members pinned in place, once happy we took them apart and spot welded the rear cross member to the inner sections of the chassis rails before they were fitted:

Then we spot welded the rear outriggers to the chassis before the rear crossmember 'assembly' was welded in place. We painted epoxy and weld in all the box sections, and weld through primer on all the spot welded sections before anything was welded for maximum protection.

After the outriggers were welded, we spot welded the 'cross member assembly' in place trying to make it look as factory as possible.

Seaming up the torsion housings:

Repaired the rotten lower sections of the beam mounting plates. Now ready to fit to the new chassis rails:

The other side needed the threaded tube welding back in place:

Outer section on the other side repaired:

They were a slightly different profile along the top edge compared to the new chassis rails, after a bit of messing about they fit nice:

Inner front chassis rails spot welded in as factory:

Thats it for now, back in it tomorrow

[mabbo]

Had the chassis parts blasted:

Not as nice as I had hoped. Rotten in quite a few places:

Rest of the parts:

I repaired the rotten corner of the front floor section:

Trial assembly of new chassis and front section:

Found a solid rear cut including the complete rear chassis rails so decided to use the whole rear end as the pressings were nicer than the repro chassis rails around where the support bar is welded. New piece tacked in place temporary:

The front inner chassis legs were flat and needed shaping to fit the bulge in the bulkhead:

Thats it for now

[mabbo]

Got all the original parts from the chassis that will be reused ready for blasting.

Rear parts:

Front parts:

The floor section was better than I thought it would be, hopefully its just a small repair at the back it needs:

The beam mount sections are going to need some work though:

Got the seat runner and the extra section thats fitted to the cab tool chest area off and it seems to git the new BBT panel pretty nice:

Enjoying it so far

[wcfvw69]

I always marvel at the length folks go to in bringing back a dead, badly rusted up bus. I say this with admiration of the skills, time, money and effort. Some of the barn door bus restorations in Europe have been mind boggling.

At the same time, us long time VW folks in the SW USA saw thousands and thousands of buses like this (that were basically rust free) getting scrapped and crushed decades ago.
_________________
Contact me at [email protected]
Follow me on instagram @sparxwerksllc

Decades of VW and VW parts restoration experience.
The Samba member since 2004.

**Now rebuilding throttle bodies for VW's and Porsche's**
**Restored German Bosch distributors for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored German Pierburg fuel pumps for sale or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche fuel pumps or I can restore yours**
**Restored Porsche distributors or I can restore yours**

[mabbo]

[Skim]

holy fukc, y'all really put up with some serious rust issues over there
_________________
GFK
Samba since before the towers collapsed. Still here.
1953 Kabriolet
1954 Sunroof
1959 Lowlight Ghia vert
1960 Lt Grey Double Cab SMZ LEGIT
1963 Deluxe Turkis Walk Thru 15 Window OG Paint

[Major Woody]

Now is the time to make it a walk-thru!

[ronjonlasvegas]

[mabbo]

Moved onto removing the front section of chassis.

Got the doglegs, tubs and cab floor out. They needed replacing and were in the way. Bulkhead needs a bit of work too:

Then got the front chassis section out:

Need to get this cleaned up and off to be blasted ready to fit to the new chassis rails.

[mabbo]

Finished cleaning the rear torsion housing / chassis section up ready for blasting or dipping. Gonna have a few repairs to do:

Door openings braced up, one more to go...

[mabbo]

[velvetgreen]

^^ given all the work you are doing are you gonna go IRS or stick with RGB's?

[mabbo]

Fist day back in today, got the rear chassis section removed:

Started stripping the old chassis rails and handbrake tubes etc off. Bit more to do then it can go to be blasted

More tomorrow

[mdege]

There is a reason for this Swedish specialty.

Sweden used to drive on the left side of the road. On September 3rd 1967 they switched to driving on the right side like the rest of continental Europe.

https://www.thelocal.se/20170904/the-day-sweden-switched-to-driving-on-the-right
_________________
- Michael

1965 21F: Restoration of a former '65 firetruck
1963 Typ3 Notchback project
1988 Multivan Magnum 112i
1984 Standard: My son wanted a bug for his first car

[mabbo]

Thanks for all the replies Im really looking forward to working on it in the new year

Yeah, the Swedish LHS cargo door is cool, isnt it

[Clara]

[ronjonlasvegas]

[crukab]