Project Dugong - Syncro Bay Bus

[daves_ale]

Truly awesome to watch.
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"Beer is proof that God loves us and wishes us to be happy"- Ben

'66 Euro Beetle 1200A
'71 Single Cab
'78 Westy
'02 Jaguar XK8 convertible

[notchboy]

Dude. sick
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[merlinsbus]

I realized that the wheel well aft panels will act as speakers, particularly as they are close so close to the tires. I thought about a few ways to mitigate the inevitable drone, I think a combination of dimples in the metal and a spray on body liner will do the trick.

First off was to make the former, I started off with a single hole to test my setup, had a successful run and finished off the other holes. These where made with some Forstner bits, a coping saw, a file and a router table for the large bevel on the top plate.

The dimples came out great with a very clean edge and a consistent smooth appearance.

Here is the panel mocked up, they are considerably stiffer than before. I am looking forward to installing some new metal soon, but I must order a lot before I can think about doing that.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[merlinsbus]

First off, a flashback to what I did to the old filler neck and computer bulkhead, a full removal to facilitate installation of a radiator (yes, still the plan). This presented one issue, the fuel tank and engine compartment are now open to each other. Although a fire hazard is greatly reduced by the use of diesel, the fact that dust and dirt will more easily collect inside is reason enough to separate the compartments.

This was a pain to remove but greatly increased the volume of the engine compartment, not to mention the removal also included the air filter mount found on fuel injected buses.

Here is the completed panel, I have no photos of the process but it was similar to the past projects where a wooden former is made. I used the same dimple former to stiffen the panel up.

The hole is for the filler neck to pass through and designed to use the diesel vanagon filler neck grommet to prevent chafe damage and act as a seal. It turns out the filler neck for bay buses and diesel Vangons have the same O.D., the O.D. for the grommet is 70mm, so I cut the hole slightly under and then beveled it, again, for added stiffness.

My next project has been on my mind for a while, the original chassis has only one fillet plate per side to tie the floor cross members to the chassis. I find this lacking, so I went ahead to make more.

I made six more (actually eight, to get my tooling setup right), naturally I had to put my stamp on them.

Each floor cross member that does not either already have a fillet or jacking point will be getting one installed. My hope is this increases the body's stiffness and perhaps aides in preventing the dreaded seam seal cracking we all know to well on these older VW. But who knows, this may worsen it, trouble with being a garage engineer I suppose.

My next project was a strike of reborn inspiration and serves no function towards the actual restoration of the bus, but has been a dream of mine for a while. Catch you on the next update.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[crownline]

Mad skills. Great metal work.
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1972 Bus 1700 cc Single Carb. But not a progressive.
Barelymuvin
Wish I still had the ones I got rid of.

"It"s got some dings and dents and neither of us is going to SEMA."(Update, I went to SEMA in 2019 but the Bus stayed home)
[url=http://www.vw-mplate.com/mplate-8446.png]Click to view image[/URL]

[merlinsbus]

Okay, so, I cut off my chin! Do any of you agree that the metal protruding from late model bay windows is just plain hideous? Interesting fact I noticed while rotabroaching the spot welds was that Dugong had extremely weak non-penetrating spot welds on teh right side (top and bottom) until the center line. I deduced this has to do with one side being done by another person in the factory, regardless, it shows the poor quality control at VW in the 1970's.

Inside the chin was a massive nest, something that would have been impossible to remove had I not cut it off. So, why remove the chin you may ask? Well, I want to install a heavy duty bumper along with another detail which I will leave untold for now, but I can say it will be interesting to see thesamba's response.

I went about designing frame extension to jut forward from the body for the new bumper to mount onto, it will be made from 2mm steel just as the factory frame is.

Paper into metal, the design is straight forward and based on the original frame layout found under the bus. I spot welded the two pieces together where they meet with ten per edge. Crumple areas built in for safety...

Frame extension to bumper mounting plates, these took some serious hammering to form! Luckily they turned out smooth. Now I must drill three holes per plate and install weld nuts, but first I need to find a supplier.

With the plate installed it does not look to far off a train. I am looking forward to fabricating the bumper, I have a few ideas in mind.

Here they are, tied into the frame of the bus. Currently tacked on as they need final adjustments before welded on. Once welded on I will be forming up some new skins to fill in the missing body work, likely to comprise of three individual parts.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[merlinsbus]

Gosh, I want to work on this sucker more but time is just the eternal human issue. Regardless, I have been doing some work and it has been fun.

I removed the recovery points and it revealed some corrosion, luckily very mild and not something I was going to worry about.

I removed the factory recovery points as I needed new support plates that would bridge the old frame to the new frame extensions I had fabricated a while back.

Here are the new recovery points welded to the 3mm steel plates, equally thick as factory but the welds are not 65% porosity. Amazing what they let slide back then, honestly seemed they had not used a shielding gas when welding them.

Here we are all clamped up and square, ready for welding. It does not appear the most secure setup but I had very little material to actually clamp to.

I want to point out here that the frame extension was already tacked on and a weld had been done between the frame extension and the original frame where the recovery point plate covers, I linished it back flush.

Here everything has been finally welded in place, I did suffer some issues with welding the frame extensions to the body of the bus as I had not properly cleaned the back side of the original sheet metal and some impurities came up through.

Now with the chin gone we find that the lower area of the nose of Dugong is looking rather manky, some filler panels need to be fabbed up. Out comes the hardboard for some layups. To my surprise I only needed a single template as both sides are remarkably symmetrical!

Passenger side came first and it was a treat to make, with a bevelled hole for added stiffness.

Drivers side took two attempts as I accidentally botched the lower edge. Despite only one template for both sides, I did need to make two separate formers for each side as the holes I had laid out are mirrored from right to left.

Next came the deceivingly difficult panel, the center. The entire panel has a gentle curve but also requires a set down from top to bottom, for this I needed a shrinker/stretcher.

Luckily I had a perfect buck to run off for former of the metal, the old chin. By gently shrinking the upper edge and stretching the lower edge I has able to get a perfect curve while maintaining the stepped nature of the panel.

Fitment ended up very neat, including the hilariously off center "centering" notch VW engineers provided for alignment of the chin in production.

Here we see all three panels in place, cleanly filling in the voids. Bumper design will be next, and I have a few ideas.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[KrisBalfe]

Going to be one hell of a bus!

[juancho_clasico]

Dude, this is the most awsome build project for an Earlybay

[metz]

So cool. Looking forward to the next update!
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68 panel
64 ghia coupe

[merlinsbus]

Decided it was the time to get some welding done on Dugong this weekend, started with getting out the spot welder and installing the bumper flanges onto the frame rail extension.

Currently they are only spot welded but I will be running a bead along the top and bottom flanges for extra strength.

To facilitate mounting of the bumper, I ordered some VAG style reproduction weld-nuts and tacked them on for the factory look. I did a strength test with them being tacked on and I could not get them to break off so I deemed it structurally sound.

Next up are the chassis to floor crossmember fillets that I fabbed up a while back. Wire brushing the frame and getting into the inside of floor crossmembers required a finger sander with a Scotch-Brite belt. Here they are tacked insitu.

I decided to stick to the factory welding pattern, all done TIG. The original welds on the factory installed fillets are absolutely horrible, I may address them but as they are still attached clearly they are strong enough.

I know I am a broken record player but now I am certain an order for new metal has to be made. I will most likely be getting a few new jack points and various crossmember components to allow me to move forward on the wheel well project. Until next time!
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[merlinsbus]

I have finally ordered some reproduction metals for Dugong, all autocraft metal. As stated previously, I got a few jacking points and a floor cross member along with various other parts. They are not yet arrived, but will be soon. In the mean time I decided to tackle the hole I had to cut in the cargo floor from welding the inner torsion housing.

It was a fairly simple flat panel with 10mm flanges on all sides to allow welding.

I went with notched out corners as I didn't feel a complex former needed to be made for what would be an otherwise simple panel. Fitment is great and I am happy with it.

When the metal arrives I will post about quality and hopefully get some stuff installed.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[otiswesty]

I have used weld through primer when putting bare metal panels together to try and avoid rust in the sandwich spaces. Have you given any thought to that?

Your metal work and your project is very impressive.
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1978 Sage Green P22 Westfalia
1989 T3 Syncro Single cab

Just a regular guy

[merlinsbus]

Hello all,

It has been a long while, unfortunately it will continue to be that way. The project is still 100% going to be finished, but my life has been incredibly busy as I have been developing a plot of land and building my home all by myself all while still working part-time. Regardless, I think of Dugong nearly every day and new ideas are constantly coming in as well.

I have a few short car projects that I have been forced to mix into the lot to sell and make quick cash. This again holds Dugong back, but fear not, the work will continue soon. I hope to be back at it, to some degree, this coming summer in some capacity. For now, cheers fellas.
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"If I wanted a restored truck the most cost effective way is to buy one already done. My truck is special to me and the journey has enriched my life. VW people understand". -Glideking

"Always remember: others may hate you, but those who hate you don't win unless you hate them and then you destroy yourself" -Richard Nixon

[Iguana]

How's progress ?