Hello! Log in or Register   |  Help  |  Donate  |  Buy Shirts See all banner ads | Advertise on TheSamba.com  
TheSamba.com
 
Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus
Page: Previous  1, 2
Forum Index -> Bay Window Bus Share: Facebook Twitter
Reply to topic
Print View
Quick sort: Show newest posts on top | Show oldest posts on top View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:14 pm    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

78BusGA wrote:
Very impressive! I will definitely save your thread as reference. I have a '78 reef blue that I will have to do similar work on too, so this is good work to see. And very impressive that you're 17, I should have learned to weld at your age too.


Thanks! Glad to hear that!
Cmonstart, I am using an Esab Mag C140. Orwell, good tip about welding upside down, I will test your that!
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2020 10:43 pm    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Did some more cutting in the weelwell.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Incredible how rusty the seatbeltmount was!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Made a new lower b-pillar
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Made a new inner wing.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I know, this should be two pieces, but I made it in one as the seam always seem to rust.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Welded in place.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Then to the inner of the wheelarch.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Upper b-pillar.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Then the upper piece of the wheelarch! Very happy with this piece.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Seatbelt mounting panel.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Painted
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

C-pillar welded in place
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 1:40 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

removed the epoxy where I should weld and painted with the red stuff instead. That can be welded thru.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Outer sill clamped in place.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Welded small, fast spots, one in the front, one in the rear, one in the middle. then let it stand to let it cool. It took a 7 hours, because I had to wait between the welds to stop warpage.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

All welded.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Went out good.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Inner b-pillar painted with a primer that can be welded thru.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Starts to look good!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Had to cut down the outer b-pillar alot to get it fit.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Inside painted.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Spot welded.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

More welding.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Grinding and painting.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Lower, inner wheelwell, rear. I had to make this piece by my own using pictures I found on internet.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Outer skin on the lower rear wheelarch. This was a Klokkerholm panel, wich needed some work to fit, but then it was fitting pretty good.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Welded.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Grinded the weldings down:


It is fun to watch old pictures of how bad it was lokking before I start work on it. Before:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Now:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
orwell84
Samba Member


Joined: May 14, 2007
Posts: 2528
Location: Plattsburgh, New York
orwell84 is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:40 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

You're making great progress on your bus. The only way to do it right is to the way you're doing it, cut out the rusty sections and replace with new. It would cost a fortune for a shop to do it. Your entire bus appears to covered with a thin layer of filler. It's one of the reasons I insist on doing my own prep. Body shops want to deliver a straight vehicle to the customer and seem to do this by applying filler over the whole thing. Buses were not dead straight from the factory. I would rather have an honest slightly lumpy bus than one with a ton of filler.

Some more unsolicited advice...sorry. You did a great job weling in the drivers side side panel. It's easy to warp it and make it worse trying to correct it. You did good. When you repair a big panel like that, it is good to get all the filler off the whole panel down to bare metal. Then you can see its condition and get behind it to do any straightening before the new panel goes on.

Looking forward to your updates.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
metz
Samba Member


Joined: March 31, 2005
Posts: 278
Location: Norway
metz is offline 

PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2020 5:56 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Doing a great job here! Looking forward to more updates.

Stå på Smile
_________________
68 panel
64 ghia coupe
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:07 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

metz wrote:
Doing a great job here! Looking forward to more updates.

Stå på Smile

Thanks! I have followed your panel project too!
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 12:16 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

orwell84 wrote:
You're making great progress on your bus. The only way to do it right is to the way you're doing it, cut out the rusty sections and replace with new. It would cost a fortune for a shop to do it. Your entire bus appears to covered with a thin layer of filler. It's one of the reasons I insist on doing my own prep. Body shops want to deliver a straight vehicle to the customer and seem to do this by applying filler over the whole thing. Buses were not dead straight from the factory. I would rather have an honest slightly lumpy bus than one with a ton of filler.

Some more unsolicited advice...sorry. You did a great job weling in the drivers side side panel. It's easy to warp it and make it worse trying to correct it. You did good. When you repair a big panel like that, it is good to get all the filler off the whole panel down to bare metal. Then you can see its condition and get behind it to do any straightening before the new panel goes on.

Looking forward to your updates.

I appreciate your advice, thank you. The bus has an old repaint from the waistline and down. Probably 20 - 30 years old. It is really poor done, and as you mention, it was all covered with filler. Most places it is just a skim layer, but a few places it is centimetre thick layers. I will have to bare metal the whole bus to see that there are no weird repairs and fillerwork left before the final paintwork. The paint will though wait until all welding are done and until the underside is blasted and painted, then I can start with working on the outside. I am thinking about doing a work with keeping the roof, or maybe the whole upper part originalpaint and paint it from 15 cm up on the windowpillars and down. I am going to use as less filler as possible, perhaps just cover my welds and other ugly dents, but keep most of the dents under the paint to minimalize the amount of filler. This will be a use-car, not a show winner.
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
orwell84
Samba Member


Joined: May 14, 2007
Posts: 2528
Location: Plattsburgh, New York
orwell84 is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 5:24 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

EliasP wrote:
orwell84 wrote:
You're making great progress on your bus. The only way to do it right is to the way you're doing it, cut out the rusty sections and replace with new. It would cost a fortune for a shop to do it. Your entire bus appears to covered with a thin layer of filler. It's one of the reasons I insist on doing my own prep. Body shops want to deliver a straight vehicle to the customer and seem to do this by applying filler over the whole thing. Buses were not dead straight from the factory. I would rather have an honest slightly lumpy bus than one with a ton of filler.

Some more unsolicited advice...sorry. You did a great job weling in the drivers side side panel. It's easy to warp it and make it worse trying to correct it. You did good. When you repair a big panel like that, it is good to get all the filler off the whole panel down to bare metal. Then you can see its condition and get behind it to do any straightening before the new panel goes on.

Looking forward to your updates.

I appreciate your advice, thank you. The bus has an old repaint from the waistline and down. Probably 20 - 30 years old. It is really poor done, and as you mention, it was all covered with filler. Most places it is just a skim layer, but a few places it is centimetre thick layers. I will have to bare metal the whole bus to see that there are no weird repairs and fillerwork left before the final paintwork. The paint will though wait until all welding are done and until the underside is blasted and painted, then I can start with working on the outside. I am thinking about doing a work with keeping the roof, or maybe the whole upper part original paint and paint it from 15 cm up on the windowpillars and down. I am going to use as less filler as possible, perhaps just cover my welds and other ugly dents, but keep most of the dents under the paint to minimalize the amount of filler. This will be a use-car, not a show winner.


I think that’s a really good approach...getting the underside done and seam sealed...window frames too. I had my bus repainted decades ago but never replaced the window seals. One of the rear window frames had rusted through under the seal and the water getting in caused a new jackpoint and section of rocker panel rust through after a fairly short time.

There is nothing wrong with filler if it is used properly. I try to get the metal as straight as I can and keep filler under 3mm at its deepest points. I could never finish metal to the point that it didn’t require and but I’m still trying.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:20 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

orwell84 wrote:
EliasP wrote:
orwell84 wrote:
You're making great progress on your bus. The only way to do it right is to the way you're doing it, cut out the rusty sections and replace with new. It would cost a fortune for a shop to do it. Your entire bus appears to covered with a thin layer of filler. It's one of the reasons I insist on doing my own prep. Body shops want to deliver a straight vehicle to the customer and seem to do this by applying filler over the whole thing. Buses were not dead straight from the factory. I would rather have an honest slightly lumpy bus than one with a ton of filler.

Some more unsolicited advice...sorry. You did a great job weling in the drivers side side panel. It's easy to warp it and make it worse trying to correct it. You did good. When you repair a big panel like that, it is good to get all the filler off the whole panel down to bare metal. Then you can see its condition and get behind it to do any straightening before the new panel goes on.

Looking forward to your updates.

I appreciate your advice, thank you. The bus has an old repaint from the waistline and down. Probably 20 - 30 years old. It is really poor done, and as you mention, it was all covered with filler. Most places it is just a skim layer, but a few places it is centimetre thick layers. I will have to bare metal the whole bus to see that there are no weird repairs and fillerwork left before the final paintwork. The paint will though wait until all welding are done and until the underside is blasted and painted, then I can start with working on the outside. I am thinking about doing a work with keeping the roof, or maybe the whole upper part original paint and paint it from 15 cm up on the windowpillars and down. I am going to use as less filler as possible, perhaps just cover my welds and other ugly dents, but keep most of the dents under the paint to minimalize the amount of filler. This will be a use-car, not a show winner.


I think that’s a really good approach...getting the underside done and seam sealed...window frames too. I had my bus repainted decades ago but never replaced the window seals. One of the rear window frames had rusted through under the seal and the water getting in caused a new jackpoint and section of rocker panel rust through after a fairly short time.

There is nothing wrong with filler if it is used properly. I try to get the metal as straight as I can and keep filler under 3mm at its deepest points. I could never finish metal to the point that it didn’t require and but I’m still trying.

Yeah, the window frames will be sorted, they are pretty rusty, I have new metal for that, and all new windowseals and doorseals, but I will do that as the last metalwork just before paint, as it can't be driven without windows and I don't want to take them out again for painting.
There will be used some filler, but not a layer all over the car. There are small dents everywhere, especially on the side panels, these will probably be left. Long time left to paint though!
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 12:33 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Last thing I did last year was to spray rust treatment inside the repaired area. Then it was stored for the winter.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It had some engine troubles and it was not used until August when some men came and helped me fix it. I drove it some weeks, then I continued with the metal work again. My goal was to get the underside done this year. Repaired a hole in a crossmember.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

And the rings around the torsion tube.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Cleaned up and rust treated the battery tray and rear corner. It is sticky, but it was already someone who had done this before and I don't had the energy to clean all that away and grind and paint it.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Bought a new cargo floor half and seatblet mounts, plus some more. Rust in the seatbelt mounts, rear.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Repaired.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Rear floor repaired
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 1:11 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Dent in the floor
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

To hard to straighten, cut it all out.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

New metal welded in. For the right side of the floor i cut out some of the middle of the new cargo floor half, not 100 % like original with the pressing but good enough for me.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Under the middle seatbelts
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

On the bulkhead
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Cargofloor all solid! Also welded som drillholes from the old campinginterior in the floor.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Heater pipe repaired
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Some rust on the front wheelwell
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Cut it all out
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Welded
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Grinded the rust and loose paint from the cargofloor
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Painted it with rust stopper
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Epoxy primed!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Spare wheel tray too!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Sprayed on some black bodyspray. This will protect it from stonechips and keep the rust away.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Painted with rust eater and epoxyprimer.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Grinded down and painted the new metal on the outside too.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Underside now solid from the cabfloor and backwards. Cleaned it al fith pressurewater and tar remover and let it dry. Then I removed loose rust and painted with rust eater. Not a showcar restoration, but it will help keep the rust away a while.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Eberspächer with new pipes in place.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Sprayed thin floating rust treatment in all cavaties and all over the outside.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

This wheel ramps was really helpful while doing this!
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Then the fat product all over the outside. This is not as sticky and nasty as the thin one and it protects against stoneships.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

After that the photos was taken I have sprayed a lot of more thic floating over the walding seams ond similar spots to seal them from water coming inside and increases rust.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

And now the interior is back in place! The bus looks so much more solid with a totally black underside. Now it is rainy and frost on the nights so I can't do more this year. Next year I will repair the last rust (cabfloor and some around that) then the underside is done. Then I will remove doors and windows and repair windowframes and doors, then it is time for painting!
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Shonandb
Samba Member


Joined: January 12, 2019
Posts: 1129
Location: Vancouver, BC
Shonandb is offline 

PostPosted: Wed Oct 20, 2021 8:40 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Nice work! It seems like yesterday that I did similar repairs to my 76 Westy. Love the colour of your Bus. My 73 Panel was a darker blue.
_________________
*******************************
76 Westy with a 2.5L Subaru SOHC + Vanagon (010) Automatic Transaxle
Build & Trip Thread: https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=758760
Previous 1973 Panel Bus:
Click to view image
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
EliasP
Samba Member


Joined: January 09, 2018
Posts: 55
Location: Sweden
EliasP is offline 

PostPosted: Tue May 17, 2022 2:18 am    Post subject: Re: Reefblue 1976 Kleinbus Reply with quote

Hello!
In case anyone wonders what ever happened to this project, I can tell that I sold the bus a bit over a month ago. It was just too much technical problems with it and I was just so tired about that engine who never wanted to work as it should, so I just sold it.
I am not going to buy another bus, not now. Maybe in the future, who knows. But if I should buy any, I would buy one that is mechanically in mint condition, and I am not willing to spend that amount of money right now.
A few pictures I took before I sold it:
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

I drove it to it's new owner who was located on the south side of Stockholm.
Image may have been reduced in size. Click image to view fullscreen.

It went to a good, new home, though.
_________________
Why have a good looking face? You can't even see your own face!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Gallery Classifieds Feedback
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Forum Index -> Bay Window Bus All times are Mountain Standard Time/Pacific Daylight Savings Time
Page: Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

About | Help! | Advertise | Donate | Premium Membership | Privacy/Terms of Use | Contact Us | Site Map
Copyright © 1996-2023, Everett Barnes. All Rights Reserved.
Not affiliated with or sponsored by Volkswagen of America | Forum powered by phpBB
Links to eBay or other vendor sites may be affiliate links where the site receives compensation.