While we wait for me to get some more work done, here's my history in VW's: First bus, a 1975 1800 FI when I was about 17 got this for $800 and sold for $1500.. the goal was to save up and buy a nice one for $4-5k.. those were the days And then a modern, heated one.. that blew its heads in 2 weeks. fixed and sold, and got out of VW's for about 10 years. Got back into it a few years ago with another 1975.. this time lowered. Got it off of Geoff Peterson, in [glow=red,2,300]FACT[/glow]. It was a parts runner for his old shop. then a 1986 Syncro, which was going to be scary expensive to fix the trans and exhaust, so traded it for something a little different. It was fairly rusty and high mileage as well, but got it for $2k. Traded it for a very low 65 beetle (pictured with my daughter and my lovely and supportive wife) and my then 1 year old daughter enjoying it and finally here I am a few weeks back.. pic by my now 4 year old daughter
thought i'd get started on the next project - replacing front arch lots of rust under there started drilling spot welds but it's not loose at all.. i'm missing something here. some filler on the windshield into the paint booth primed
painted the dash while the window was out.. windshield is back in and nose painted.. photos hide most of the shoddy paint and body work... but hey, it's a driver, not a showcar! next step is to pick up some 3M trim tape and put on the nose badge.. meanwhile, I am plugging away very slowly on the front wheel arch and B-pillar.
Juni, that nose looks fantastic. I am going to need some pointers when I pull my windscreen. if all goes well with removing the fiberglass top, I'll drive her home this weekend. (assuming, of course, it's not raining) Hey, do you think the cops would care if they saw me with the fuel tank half hanging out the open slider? ;D ;D
Thanks.. a little encouragement always helps. The other day I had the kids out playing in the bus.. a great motivator. (I think they might like the bus almost as much as I do) Anyway, back to the wheelarch. cut out all the rust.. lots! so, far, I'm leaning towards keeping as much original metal as possible, in spite of reading many posts advising to just cut the whole piece out... it seems such a shame to cut out good original metal. I know this way will be harder, but... any wise advice out there? next is choppping up the b pillar and inside of the wheel well... much more rust to come out! My lowering job is a bit delayed.. but soon.
found 1 more hour today... there's still some metal under all that .. time to clean it up and start fabricating and welding.
decided to cut out a bit more metal so there'll be only one seam pile of wheel arch bits don't worry, this is not an example of my panel fitting skills.. was just trying to make myself feel like I'm getting somewhere. Sadly, there's lots of B-pillar and wheel well welding to do before the arch goes back in.
thanks for the encouragement.. after this weekend, I need it. A scrapped bus gave up its long side for my metal work... bent up a piece with my high tech metal working tools decided i should cut a slight angle on the wood so I could get a 90 degree bend... and welded it in (poorly!) view from inside the bus (b-pillar) I cut the new metal a bit small, and the metal in the bus was a bit thin.. lots of blowouts and just made a mess. Hopefully some more welding and lots of grinder work will work this out. I think if I did this again I would've lap joined it, and taken out any less than perfect metal... lessons learned! Kind of feel I should do this over, but hate to throw away a weekend's work. I'm lucky if I get 4 hours in on a weekend.
couple hours work today had the wheel arch in... only partially welded still, but it's in! you can see the klokkerholm panel is not even close to the OG metal in profile i will have to fabricate some patch panels to blend it all together, maybe using some of the original metal turns out I should have cut the whole thing out, but it's too late now!
Nice work mate, if you get disheartened, take a look at my bus which is exactly the same as yours but a hell of a lot rustier!!!!
thanks for the encouragement. I do often get discouraged, and think I should just sell it and buy a rust free one. truth is, i don't have the $$ to do so. And your right, Karlito, looking at rustier buses is a great way to feel better about what you've got... ) I took her up and down the street yesterday after the wheel arch went in.. just to remind me of why I do all this work.. there's nothing better than driving a bus!
well, made arrangements today and this is the last time I will see this bus with this much room under the wheel arches: taking it across the water to get lowered tonight.. work won't be started right away, but should be done in a few weeks! Now with the bus gone from the garage for a while, maybe I'll finally get that flooring job done at home... of course my new pop top is still there waiting patiently for a resto too..
