'65 Standard

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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

Prime and paint. The SWR has so many different shades on this bus it's impossible to match most of them. The door jamb is probably one of the most original as it's not bleached from the Texas sun.
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Oh, yea, cut and fit a floormat courtesy of Home Depot. It was marked $18 but had a tear in it (which didn't matter as it would be cut off anyway) so I got it for $14.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

Go to put the driver's door on and realize I hadn't looked at it in nearly 2 years. I had forgotten it was hit near the handle, putting a good "V" not only in the outer skin but also the inner structure. Strip it to a bare shell, I didn't take a "before" picture, but spent an afternoon with a BFH and blocks of wood making it straight again. Even the latch was bent, but I was able to straighten it too. The outer door handle wouldn't work prior to straightening due to geometry problems, afterward it worked fine. Funny how stuff like this eats up a bunch of time, much more than you'd anticipate or estimate. Good thing I'm not doing this job on a quote or flat rate. ;) Here's a shot of the edge where the deep V was.
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Glow the hinge, remove the mirror arm/pin,
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Install the WW mirror.
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Insulate the inside with bubble wrap and spray glue.
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Here's the right side door done, also insulated with a new mirror arm/pin. How do you like that truck bubble mirror?
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I checked my rear camber, I was shooting for 1° positive, I got .7° positive on each side which is pretty good. :) I did the adjustment when I was installing the tranny, it's pretty low tech- remove the torsion bar, turn it, install the spring plate, put the level on it to see where you're at (remember I was shooting for a 3° change in the spring plate), repeat 97 times until the level says you're at 3° less. (see previous post) The inner and outer ends of the torsion bar have different counts of splines (40 and 44?) so if you turn the bar just a bit it changes the spring plate angle. It only takes 10 seconds to turn it, check it, turn it, etc. I think VW calls for 3° positive which will wear the tires funny and contribute to rollover if you go through a curve too fast. :shock: 3° would be fine if you plan to haul heavy loads regularly (busses are rated at one ton!) but I won't do that much. The only thing bad about running little camber is the bus appears to squat in the rear because it sits about an inch lower with no camber.
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Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

I need side glass but upon inspection, my popout frames are all rotted junk.
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I ordered a full set of frames and rubbers which will come in next week, but meanwhile I put the old ones in with a couple of screws so I could drive it. The rubber was so hard and brittle I was afraid it would scratch the new paint so I wrapped them in masking tape to protect the paint.
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Now, for an alignment. :lol: The beam that came with the bus was a later Bay disc unit, but I wanted a correct kingpin unit. I don't know much about this used front end except it came from Texas off a running bus, I bought it off the Samba and had it shipped up fairly cheaply. The new beam was way better than I anticipated when I got it, I was expecting a rebuildable core when it appeared well maintained and tight! I had checked, greased and adjusted the link pins while it was on the lift. (You guys are adjusting your link pins regularly, right? ;) ) The link pins were adjusted wacked out, the lowers were spot on but the uppers were adjusted way too loose, like the previous guy was dyslexic or something.

First, roll it onto my homemade turntables. :lol:
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The bearing plates were stupid cheap on Ebay, like $9 and rated at 1000lbs each.
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From there, it's low tech- the front and rear track are virtually identical on a split bus, so to get zero toe (the setting) you line up the front and rear sidewalls. :roll: I've done this before and then put it on an alignment rack to find it within a tiny fraction of correct.
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Turn the left tie rod sleeve (the right isn't adjustable unless someone swapped tierods), mine took some heat to free up. I started with about 1/2" of toe-in. Camber and caster are non adjustable on older VW's.
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If you don't have turntables you have to roll the bus back and forth each time to settle the suspension. Once the toe is set, drop the drag link and turn it to level your steering wheel. I have about 100 miles on it now, it really drives much better than I expected- motor, trans, suspension are all great, I put 10w30 oil in it for the winter. Not as much rattling as I expected from the doors, either.

Here's a shot of the engine bay, carb preheat is important in weather like this (or anything under 60°, really).
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What kind of plate do you expect on a '65 bus?
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I was a little surprised the DMV let me register that plate, but I was in there getting my historicals and took a picture of the plate from Ebay. They said yea, no problem, so I bought it and registered it. :D
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Karl Kombi
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Karl Kombi »

It was great to see it "on the road" last night, Bruce! :)
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

The camera card filled up, so time for an update. Some of my hubcap clips were broken so I decided to change them. Sean and I did this last year with great difficulty because I didn't have "the tool". Well, I changed that.
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The procedure is in the shop manual, and the tool is $18 from WW.

Put the tool in a vise.
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Blow the old rivet out with an air chisel. It helps if you drill the head to weaken it, but it's not necessary.
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Clean the surface with a wire wheel.
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Set up your stuff on a vise and use wood blocks to level the wheel.
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Set the rivet and spring in place.
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Blast it with a blunt tip in the air chisel.
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Ta Da!
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This is what I used. Note the picture in the WSM showing the guy using a 8 oz tack hammer. I bet he's still working on that rivet......
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When Sean and I did this we used a different supplier that gave a shorter rivet. This probably did not help.......
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P1020007.JPG (102.67 KiB) Viewed 1150 times
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

My popout frames were rotted junk so I ordered 6 new ones from Wolfgang at $35/ea. West Coast Metric was out of the rubbers so I got them from Wolfsburg West. Boy, was that a mistake.......

Two coats of primer and two of color, they look like an art exhibit when drying. Use a Scotchbrite pad to remove the gloss after drying thoroughly several days, this makes it blend better with the old paint.
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Cut the old frame from the glass. See the cardboard on the glass protecting it from sparks? Wanna know why that's there? Ask Lurch.
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Cut the frame twice and pull the halves off.
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They can be pretty stuck from age, be carefullllllllllllll...... $hit!
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Clean the grunge from the glass using the magic crap, razor blade, and steel wool. My glass had some etching on it from age that would not come off.
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This is where the problem came in- I looked up in my file where the last rubbers came from on the '66 and it was WCM. They were on backorder there so WW filled in, and the WW rubbers were MUCH harder to install than the WCM ones a few years ago. On the '66 I had a combination of OEG frames and Wolfgang frames, this time was all Wolfgang frames. It took several times as long to install the glass into the frames as using WCM rubber. I probably had 3x the time in this and had to resort to force (strap binder) when I just used my hands with the WCM rubbers. In addition the edges of the seal constantly wanted to disappear under the frame. :twisted: What a bitch! I tried both Windex and Silicone for lubes, neither worked perfect.
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Then install the second seal using a HF plastic gasket scraper, this wasn't bad but I still think the WCM fit better.
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Install, buff the latches, use baby powder for a lube, dry rubbers fold up when you open/close the glass. Install the third seal on the window opening in the bus. Repeat 6 times. :?
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Last edited by Dual Port on Thu Jan 11, 2018 11:53 am, edited 2 times in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

The weather's too sloppy to drive, might as well attack the cargo door bottoms. At a glance from the outside they don't look too bad....
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Until you look closer....
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Wrench the door off, measure and make your marks, cut the bottom off.
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I'm using AutoCraft panels from WW, they fit MUCH better than the green Gerson junk I used last time. I remember having to shorten the last panel because it was a frigging 1/8" too wide. :x And the green paint is junk, you have to remove it all before painting. AC comes oiled, just wipe it with some brakeclean and go to work.
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Put the door back on and size things up. Set the new outer panel in place and cut the upper stuff away by the hinge that gets in the way so it will sit almost flush.
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Clamp it in place, set your gaps. Note I'm using paint stir sticks which happen to be the right thickness for a gap.
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With everything mocked up (You have it all right, right? Measure twice and cut once, right?) make a pencil mark on the inside at the cut line.
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Cut the excess off.
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Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
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Dual Port
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Dual Port »

If you did everything right, you can now clamp the panel in place and verify the gaps and stuff are right. Note the bottom gap looks nice.
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Start welding, but don't get in a hurry. If you don't cool each tiny tack weld completely down to room temp, the panel will warp like a potato chip.
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Here I'm welding- 2 seconds welding a tack, 5 seconds with an air gun cooling it off to room temp. Repeat 500 times.
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Keep moving around and take your time. Fill inbetween each tack until the tacks grow together to a solid weld.
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Note the gaps look nice.
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That's a fiberglass welding blanket hanging behind.
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This was about 3 hours taking my time, a pro could probably do it in half that time. Maybe you don't even need to pull the door, you might be able to do it all with the door hanging in place. At this point I'm still not done welding the outer skin and still have to fit and install the inner support. I know that's going to give me grief from the last time.

More to come......
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
Six Volt
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Six Volt »

Great stuff! I love the welding tutorials. And that hubcap clip tool is awesome! Beats pounding the @$%# out of the rim with everything falling apart after the second smack! :lol:
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Karl Kombi
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Re: '65 Standard

Post by Karl Kombi »

Looks great! The welds are centered very nicely.

I just got that hubcap clip rivet tool -- haven't used it yet. I think it's weird that they sell the tool to hold the rivet/clip, but you still have to cobble together a bunch of stuff to hold the wheel in place. :?
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