'66 Deluxe

[slayer]

Just love this thread. Things look like they are moving right along!! Nice work!

[tferr]

I do them off the bus to start with. Unless the bottom is totally gone. You can fit the new panel to the old panel making all your cutting marks and be very very close on all the gaps. After all tacked up I hang the door and some final adjustments and weld it all together. Note: only cut out bad metal and leave as much original metal possible, no matter how much it kills you to use all that fresh new metal.

Bruce, it looks like your patch metal has some galvanizing to it? If so, be careful not to breath it.

Hey Bruce Tom here EastCoastCornerstore the project is lookin good I do the cargo doors like Kirk off the bus. I drill out the spot welds and separate the inner from the outer then cut out the inner and replace it first. Then I cut out the outer and replace it. Just a few spot welds to hold it together and re hang and check gaps. I always use a couple pieces of old door rubber (4" strips) in a couple of spots in the door helps for correct gap later

[Dual Port]

Rear cargo door is done and went well. I cut the bottom and fitted the skin while it was hung, did the final welding off the bus, then added the inner panel after the skin was complete. I did almost all of the welding from the inside so the bugers won't matter as they are hidden behind the reinforcement .


OK, now that I wasted 3+ days on the rear cargo door it's time to go on to the front cargo door. I cut the bottom out (this one had much more rot than the rear door), went to fit the skin to find the frigging skin was 1/16" too wide, which really screws up my door gaps!

Now I have to fab a buckboard by grinding and belt sanding a 2x6 to meet the rounded contour of the skin so I can beat it into a smaller width.
The skin fits much better now and the gaps all the way around are acceptable. Not perfect, but acceptable. Note the hillbilly welding cart is gone because HF put theirs on sale for $35.



The skin is tacked and I spent a butt load of time getting the gaps as good as I could. Put the door on, check the gaps. Pull the door off, heat the hinge and bend it, let it cool, and put the door back on. Repeat 467 times until the gaps are acceptable.


The latest in fab fashion straight from the runways of Paris. If this bodyman thing doesn't work out I could probably use this to rob banks or scare little kids on Halloween.


A couple of stiff drinks went down really well when I got home from the shop last night.

[Six Volt]

Great job Bruce! Keep the pictures coming. Excellent work.

[vw7266]

bruce shes looking good! What kind of powerplant are you thinking for this thing? I know its going to be stock but one of those sweet Raby's Aircooled Tech motors would be cool to have in it.

[Ron]

Bruce is a Simpson Racing man.

[Dual Port]

Yes, Tom Simpson did my 2180 and it's going strong after 3+ years. I have a full trim 1600DP from my Ghia that will initially power the bus because it's handy, but other weird things may be in store like a SP stroker. Let's get it on the road first before worrying about details.

I'm a looooooonnnnngggg fvcking way from worrying about an engine right now..... Roecker asked me what kind of radio was going in the bus and I laughed.

Today I gave up on that rocker/floor assy and cut the fvcker apart. I know why they paint it brown at the factory, it's to remind you it's a POS. It was welded together aligned improperly and there was no way it was going to look right and fit properly. I tried and tried to no avail so today it got the whizzer wheel, trashing the rocker and inner rocker, leaving the floor alone. After drilling out a zillion spot welds the floor fits well. Now I have to buy a new inner/outer rocker.

[vw7266]

glad to hear your ditching that crappy rocker


I was keeping my mouth shut about them being shit...I knew you'd figure it out.

I will say I used Wolfsburg west new rocker and inner rockers on a bus and they were really nice!

[Dual Port]

I ordered new rockers (both sides) and associated parts from East Coast Cornerstore in CA. The last stuff I bought from him was nice quality, let's hope this is too. I'm just praying it fits the crappy floor.

[Dual Port]

Got the forward cargo door done and it looks almost as good as the rear one does, but the pics didn't come out.

I was wiping up some stuff in the bus and a piece of mig wire found its way under my thumbnail for about a half inch ride. Isn't this some kind of Asian torture?


The PO gave me a radio repair plate so I finished prepping it for install.


Finished- it looks better than the pic shows, alignment is great and only a skim coat to finish it.


The RF door needed pins, of course I ordered the wrong oversize so I'm once again waiting for the right ones. Does anyone in the club have hinge pin reamers? I have a sneaking suspicion I'm going to need them. If nobody does, maybe I'll buy it/them and make them public.



I cleaned the bondo off the RR corner to see what it needs, I ordered a corner for it. The LR is not rotted at all, the reason this one rotted was the shitty repair job done decades ago when it was hit lightly there.



Even inside the battery tray area doesn't look horrible after sandblasting.



There was a mudflap screwed here with 3 sheetmetal screws. Is that OEM? The screws came right out, maybe that's what saved the corner.




It's getting a new tray, of course, along with the corner.