1959 Mango walkthru metal rehab.

[Burlyhammer]

[Burlyhammer]

I'm back to work on the bus. I finished the hinge carrier and the decklid but didn't take any photos. I will post a few in the next few days. Yesterday and today I started working on the punchlist I made back in September. I welded in a popout hinge, I lubed and straightened and got the remaining 6 popout hinges working, I flipped the bus upside down and ground down the welds under the dash, and I removed the drivers side door hinge. My friend Nate Jung gave me this cool air hammer tool to remove stuck screws and it worked great.

I made this jig to set and space the hinge. I saw one on Instagram made by the master fabricator @Wrennmetalworks It worked well!
Screw removal tool:

If you don't want penetrating oil running down the side of your project:

I am going to fill the gas heater holes since Matt won't be using one, but I didn't take any photos of which holes were which before everything got removed. Can anyone confirm which ones were for the gas heater?

Thanks

[Burlyhammer]

This is the photo of the hinge carrier repaired:

I fixed the pop out hinge weldment and sheet metal:

When I took the cargo doors off, the hinge backing plates came out of their holders, so I had to do some surgery:

I have the hinge backers straightened. I cleaned out the threads and put them back in. I had to reweld the straps that keep them in place, and for some reason I did not take any photos.
I started working on the cargo doors. I took a before and after shot of how the inside cleaned up. I put the clean one next to the dirty one to get an idea of just how dirty it was:

[Riff Raff]

Still cheering you on!!

Love what you have done for this bus!!
_________________
The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance, but the illusion of knowledge
- Daniel Boorstin

[Burlyhammer]

[Burlyhammer]

The cargo door hinge thread plates are repaired and back together:

The inner cargo door panels are fitted and the skins are ready to weld on.

[Burlyhammer]

I got the skin on the rear cargo door tacked on, and I got the skin on the forward door finished. It will probably need a little more pounding, but it's close. I also cleaned it up:

[braddick]

Great progress
Any updates

[Burlyhammer]

[Burlyhammer]

There is officially no more rot on the body! The only rust is in the front doors which I am working on now. Once the cargo doors were repaired I took the bus off of the rotisserie.

Matt had a set of safaris which are now installed:

Drivers door is under construction:

Once the doors are done there are a few holes to fill in the dash and the old heater control hole and then the metal work will be done!

[obus]

_________________
July 1959 Mango Standard Bus aka Obus L346 L347 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=256592&highlight=
June 1973 Pumpkin Orange Thing aka Othing L30H
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=711775&highlight=
1960 Paprika Red Karmann Ghia Convertible aka Schatze L452 built 5/20/60
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...highlight=
66 21 window bus built 8/31/65 https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=777273

[sled]

it may be an illusion, but it appears your doors don't line up at the belt line, but line up at the bottom, meaning the forward door is actually shorter?

_________________
drive your split.

[Burlyhammer]

The forward door is hanging a little low and the rear door is a little high. I believe that is what is going on.

It’s possible that the doors may be different heights too.

[Navydave73]

[Burlyhammer]

Navydave73,
So far I have used acetone and 1000 grit steel wool. I would probably use TR-3 once the paint is clean
Thanks!

[challomoner]

Bus is coming on great. I dunno how you guys have resisted from cleaning up the nose already

[Burlyhammer]

[braddick]

Thanks for the update
Bus is looking sweet

[Burlyhammer]

[ddutch]

Those doors look very nice after the repairs and the clean up! I like the way you treat this bus, with respect to its history and its patina.