Patina
Next you will be throwing Fuchs on it and lowering it.
I know you are not a "camper" per se, but it will be nice to have you at some more of the camp outs (schedule permitting)
If nothing else, maybe it takes on life as a rolling resto.
'65 Standard
-
Mike Kever Kombi
Re: '65 Standard
Patina
Next you will be throwing Fuchs on it and lowering it.
I know you are not a "camper" per se, but it will be nice to have you at some more of the camp outs (schedule permitting)
If nothing else, maybe it takes on life as a rolling resto.
Re: '65 Standard
Good to hear! They are only original paint once and anyone can "restore" a Bus.Dual Port wrote:At this time I have changed my direction and intend to do a patina bus with a cheesy bed to sleep in for camping.
Will be a lot more useful with a Bed. Passenger Buses suck for camping. The Bay full width beds fit real nice (like I have in the DD Panel).
#fuchfuchs
"There is no restoration process that can give a car legitimacy equal to originality."
Re: '65 Standard
Maybe not lately but I camped hundreds of times years back, both locally and long distance. I built several sandrails in the 70's and 80's and towed them all over the eastern US, FL and to the beaches camping. I built this rail in '81 with a VW engine, here it is in Ocracoke, NC on the beach in '86 with a turbo Corvair engine in it. I was young, broke, loved to travel, and camping was the only way I could afford it. Man, was that fun!Mike Kever Kombi wrote:
I know you are not a "camper"
PS Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame was on that trip before he became famous.
Here's the rail in about '84 going camping, I think it was Salt Fork that trip:
Last edited by Dual Port on Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
Re: '65 Standard
My short term goal is to get the bus back mobile so I can wheel it outside and do some sandblasting. Someone took a lot of time to make these casters which suck because the wheels don't pivot. It's nearly impossible to move this bus without a jack so it's been sitting on HF furniture dollies since I bought it.
Now I'll put the torsion bars and plates in, first zero the angle finder on a framerail, or in this case the body line.
Then play with the side plate until it reads 20* per the book, and install the covers.
Before the axles go in I thought I'd address the cable tubes and make sure they are good. The throttle and heater tubes were clogged badly with rust and I was finally able to get through them with the cable/drill setup after several glow attempts with a torch. After getting through and blowing air through I noticed rust spewing from the side of the tube! It turns out, not so good- it seems this bus was submerged at one time, filling the trans with water as well as the cable tubes. The clutch and brake tubes easily drained out and were not damaged but the throttle and heater tubes curve upward on the ends so water cannot drain out. It appears the throttle tube froze, splitting it wide open. I've never seen this before.
The throttle cable tube was now clear but I was concerned about internal rust causing rough spots and short throttle cable life so I replaced it anyway. It's 8mm ODx 1mm wall, which is virtually identical to 5/16" brake line so I used that. Once I got the old tube out and cut it open, it was really crusty inside.
[/img]The minor problem is that brake line comes on 60" lengths which means you need to splice it. No problem, 3/8" flare tube has an ID of 5/16", so ream the ends to remove the burr and braze in a small section of 3/8 to splice the 5/16 line.
Some large object had fallen inside the bus in a previous life putting a big dent in the luggage area.
No problem, it straightened right out with some force.
Because the tranny was filled with water it is wrecked inside and seized. It took nearly 100 lb/ft of torque to turn the input shaft (in neutral) and it sounds like it's filled with sand. I pulled the nosecone and could not move any of the forks even with a prybar. That means pushing it around with this tranny is an issue but luckily the spiders are nice and free. I took one RGB apart and pulled the drive gear out, now I can put it in the bus and push it around. If the spiders were seized it would have been both RGBs.
So I wirewheeled and shot the tranny bay, front axle beam and the front axle area. The tranny will be coming out later but the front axle won't. The front axle is from a different bus so it shouldn't be filled with water.
I still have my trick gun set up for painting overhead from the last bus.
Stuff the axles, put wheels on, and
It's finally mobile! Those wide deep dish wheels came with the bus and look cool except they won't clear the fender lips when it gets loaded.
I pulled all of the doors off to make access easier and make it lighter to push around outside. All door hinge screws came out without heat or grief except one cargo door which was hit. The hinge slid into the frame to where the screws are covered up and you can't put a screwdriver in. I don't think this will be a big deal to fix.
Anyway, now it's on the rack where I can do some BS underneath before the big panel replacement comes.
Overall still in much better shape than the Deluxe was when I got it.
Now I'll put the torsion bars and plates in, first zero the angle finder on a framerail, or in this case the body line.
Then play with the side plate until it reads 20* per the book, and install the covers.
Before the axles go in I thought I'd address the cable tubes and make sure they are good. The throttle and heater tubes were clogged badly with rust and I was finally able to get through them with the cable/drill setup after several glow attempts with a torch. After getting through and blowing air through I noticed rust spewing from the side of the tube! It turns out, not so good- it seems this bus was submerged at one time, filling the trans with water as well as the cable tubes. The clutch and brake tubes easily drained out and were not damaged but the throttle and heater tubes curve upward on the ends so water cannot drain out. It appears the throttle tube froze, splitting it wide open. I've never seen this before.
The throttle cable tube was now clear but I was concerned about internal rust causing rough spots and short throttle cable life so I replaced it anyway. It's 8mm ODx 1mm wall, which is virtually identical to 5/16" brake line so I used that. Once I got the old tube out and cut it open, it was really crusty inside.
[/img]The minor problem is that brake line comes on 60" lengths which means you need to splice it. No problem, 3/8" flare tube has an ID of 5/16", so ream the ends to remove the burr and braze in a small section of 3/8 to splice the 5/16 line.
Some large object had fallen inside the bus in a previous life putting a big dent in the luggage area.
No problem, it straightened right out with some force.
Because the tranny was filled with water it is wrecked inside and seized. It took nearly 100 lb/ft of torque to turn the input shaft (in neutral) and it sounds like it's filled with sand. I pulled the nosecone and could not move any of the forks even with a prybar. That means pushing it around with this tranny is an issue but luckily the spiders are nice and free. I took one RGB apart and pulled the drive gear out, now I can put it in the bus and push it around. If the spiders were seized it would have been both RGBs.
So I wirewheeled and shot the tranny bay, front axle beam and the front axle area. The tranny will be coming out later but the front axle won't. The front axle is from a different bus so it shouldn't be filled with water.
I still have my trick gun set up for painting overhead from the last bus.
Stuff the axles, put wheels on, and
It's finally mobile! Those wide deep dish wheels came with the bus and look cool except they won't clear the fender lips when it gets loaded.
I pulled all of the doors off to make access easier and make it lighter to push around outside. All door hinge screws came out without heat or grief except one cargo door which was hit. The hinge slid into the frame to where the screws are covered up and you can't put a screwdriver in. I don't think this will be a big deal to fix.
Anyway, now it's on the rack where I can do some BS underneath before the big panel replacement comes.
Overall still in much better shape than the Deluxe was when I got it.
Last edited by Dual Port on Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:05 am, edited 2 times in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
Re: '65 Standard
I love these Bruce projects! 
Re: '65 Standard
Wow Bruce, you're moving quick on this now. What a great project. Keep the progress pictures coming.
It's Marla with an " L"
(My list of assets is just too long...)
(My list of assets is just too long...)
Re: '65 Standard
While on the lift I wanted to do a bunch of undercar service to make it easier. I sure wish the whole bottom looked like where the axles are!
This means removing the shifter, tube, park brake lever, throttle, and repairing the damage done by some Neanderthal that picked up the bus in a previous life with a towmotor.
The park brake lever came first and it was a bad one, just like the other bus.
These SOB's seize in place and most guys use a Sawzall to cut the pin, but I'm not most guys.
Glow it, let it cool completely, glow it again, twist it back and forth with VGs, glow it again, you get the idea.
After wasting $20 worth of acetylene the $4 pin will finally come out. Just like the other one, after bead blasting the pin falls right through the hole in the lever.
The right brake cable tube was mangled by the fork and I was able to straighten that and open it up by beating a rod through it while it glowed. The floor also had to be heated and pushed back down, and the left rocker was also caved in, but that's going to be replaced anyway.
The frame rail was also bent in several places by the forks so this was a good time to straighten it using two balljoint presses and a piece of super heavy angle iron. No biggie.
This is also a good time to check the front heater tube and make sure it's clear. I borrowed Sean's USB borescope, which is a mini camera about 1/2" in diameter on a long stiff wire.
It plugs into a laptop and lets you examine areas that you normally wouldn't be able to see. I ran the borescope into the heater tube, and into a big mouse nest, what a surprise. Thanks, Sean!
Looking at the forward end of the tube where it makes the vertical bend I see a surprise, an access port that VW put in to blow out the tube!
I bend open the access port, put my big vacuum on the back end to catch the hantavirus, and blow out the tube. That worked great! I also ran a cable/drill through it to remove loose crud.
Once I got all of the bottom crap done and all of the junk removed
I started working on the side windows. This means getting all of the tiny hinge screws loose. I started by bead blasting the screw heads to make a screwdriver fit better, but the real trick was glowing the hinge quickly right around where the screw head is.
This made it quite easy to get the screws out. You'd think this would melt the rubber and break the glass but that didn't happen. No damage!
Once the windows were all out I freed up the hinges with a torch as they were all frozen.
Somebody in a previous life mangled the front shift tube pretty badly too. Not only did they cut the tube in half but they also kinked the front of it trying to remove it. Luckily after cleaning I can see the parting line where the original tube was made so lining that up will give me the exact rotation needed to restore where it was.
I spent some time removing bits and pieces of leftover headliner, weatherstripping, curtain drape screws and misc. bullshit all over the interior. The pile in the foreground is numerous wasp nests collected from inside, luckily they were all dead.
The lower cargo hinge comes next- it was hit and the screws were not accessible.
I wedged a large piece of angle iron against the jack points and held the bus up with some jackstands to hold it in place. This gave me a fulcrum point to put big leverage on the lower hinge to pull it out.
It wouldn’t budge cold so my favorite tool came out.
It pulled out like butter when hot, right back into position so I can get the screws out and straighten the flange a bit better.
I brazed a temporary support in the lower C pillar to hold it in place. Once the floor is removed this can wobble around like mad without it.
I’m in the process of doing the right floor/rocker area. Drilling the spot welds is low tech- use a flap wheel to remove the paint so the spot welds show up, then take a ½” bit and just drill enough until chips show. Then take a prybar and pop the weakened metal apart. I’ve used a variety of spot weld drill bits and have not been impressed with them. Plus, they wear out and the tips are expensive, like $10/ea.
The old stuff is cut out and the floor supports look fine.
I need to put a patch in the bulkhead, easy fix.
I have all of the replacement panels I need in a pile, just need the time to put them in. An initial test fit shows the right floor pieces fit well but I haven’t started welding yet.
I'm about 6 months behind where I'd like to be on this bus, but life got in the way this year. I should be able to get a lot done this winter.
This means removing the shifter, tube, park brake lever, throttle, and repairing the damage done by some Neanderthal that picked up the bus in a previous life with a towmotor.
The park brake lever came first and it was a bad one, just like the other bus.
These SOB's seize in place and most guys use a Sawzall to cut the pin, but I'm not most guys.
Glow it, let it cool completely, glow it again, twist it back and forth with VGs, glow it again, you get the idea.
After wasting $20 worth of acetylene the $4 pin will finally come out. Just like the other one, after bead blasting the pin falls right through the hole in the lever.
The right brake cable tube was mangled by the fork and I was able to straighten that and open it up by beating a rod through it while it glowed. The floor also had to be heated and pushed back down, and the left rocker was also caved in, but that's going to be replaced anyway.
The frame rail was also bent in several places by the forks so this was a good time to straighten it using two balljoint presses and a piece of super heavy angle iron. No biggie.
This is also a good time to check the front heater tube and make sure it's clear. I borrowed Sean's USB borescope, which is a mini camera about 1/2" in diameter on a long stiff wire.
It plugs into a laptop and lets you examine areas that you normally wouldn't be able to see. I ran the borescope into the heater tube, and into a big mouse nest, what a surprise. Thanks, Sean!
Looking at the forward end of the tube where it makes the vertical bend I see a surprise, an access port that VW put in to blow out the tube!
I bend open the access port, put my big vacuum on the back end to catch the hantavirus, and blow out the tube. That worked great! I also ran a cable/drill through it to remove loose crud.
Once I got all of the bottom crap done and all of the junk removed
I started working on the side windows. This means getting all of the tiny hinge screws loose. I started by bead blasting the screw heads to make a screwdriver fit better, but the real trick was glowing the hinge quickly right around where the screw head is.
This made it quite easy to get the screws out. You'd think this would melt the rubber and break the glass but that didn't happen. No damage!
Once the windows were all out I freed up the hinges with a torch as they were all frozen.
Somebody in a previous life mangled the front shift tube pretty badly too. Not only did they cut the tube in half but they also kinked the front of it trying to remove it. Luckily after cleaning I can see the parting line where the original tube was made so lining that up will give me the exact rotation needed to restore where it was.
I spent some time removing bits and pieces of leftover headliner, weatherstripping, curtain drape screws and misc. bullshit all over the interior. The pile in the foreground is numerous wasp nests collected from inside, luckily they were all dead.
The lower cargo hinge comes next- it was hit and the screws were not accessible.
I wedged a large piece of angle iron against the jack points and held the bus up with some jackstands to hold it in place. This gave me a fulcrum point to put big leverage on the lower hinge to pull it out.
It wouldn’t budge cold so my favorite tool came out.
It pulled out like butter when hot, right back into position so I can get the screws out and straighten the flange a bit better.
I brazed a temporary support in the lower C pillar to hold it in place. Once the floor is removed this can wobble around like mad without it.
I’m in the process of doing the right floor/rocker area. Drilling the spot welds is low tech- use a flap wheel to remove the paint so the spot welds show up, then take a ½” bit and just drill enough until chips show. Then take a prybar and pop the weakened metal apart. I’ve used a variety of spot weld drill bits and have not been impressed with them. Plus, they wear out and the tips are expensive, like $10/ea.
The old stuff is cut out and the floor supports look fine.
I need to put a patch in the bulkhead, easy fix.
I have all of the replacement panels I need in a pile, just need the time to put them in. An initial test fit shows the right floor pieces fit well but I haven’t started welding yet.
I'm about 6 months behind where I'd like to be on this bus, but life got in the way this year. I should be able to get a lot done this winter.
- Mouse nest in heater tube 002.jpg (16.87 KiB) Viewed 10892 times
Last edited by Dual Port on Thu Oct 19, 2017 10:11 am, edited 2 times in total.
Bruce Amacker
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
'66 Deluxe Bus
'65 Standard Bus
-
CraigOnTheBoat
- Posts: 506
- Joined: Wed Dec 17, 2008 11:10 am
- Contact:
Re: '65 Standard
Nice Documented Build
And I especially like the Park Brake which was my least favorite job.
And I especially like the Park Brake which was my least favorite job.
64 Campmobile
87 Syncro
87 Syncro
-
sweeth20007
- Posts: 206
- Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2011 10:17 pm
- Contact:
Re: '65 Standard
Bruce I also marvel at your skill, ability and your willingness to take the time to document and then share this project with us!
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