Rusty 65 SC restoration

[Kb65single]

Front jack point welded in.

Rear jack point welded in.

Long rocker final fit and welded in. Paint/rustproof the inside of the long and inner rocker before welding in.

With the long rocker welded in; final adjustments to the floor. Hole for the treasure chest door lock needed adjustment. (Easier with the floor removable)

Drill holes and rustproof/paint the areas before welding. If you blow up the picture you can see that I used a 3/16" drill bit into the I-beams to get better weld penetration.

Welded all the I-beam and top hat plug welds first. After that, the plug welds that joined the floor to the long and inner rockers. Then the welds around the perimeter on the flanges. Last was the long butt weld joining the original and replacement floor. While waiting for welds to cool, fit the gas tank separation panel flange that I repaired previously.

Used a jack to adjust the height of the floor at the butt weld.

Weld penetration was questionable at certain sections in the butt weld. Filled in some obvious holes by Mig welding on the back side. Also used the Tig gun without filler rod to smooth and connect the interruptions created by the individual Mig welds.

Before Tig.

After Tig.

Long weld finished; then what seemed like endless smoothing. Insert Jeopardy theme music. Almost done with this area, but still some small odds-n-ends to complete on the punch list.

[Kb65single]

Made the tabs at the bulkhead loadbed support and at the c-pillar during grinding and welding rests.

Welded them in.

Welded the flange that the gas tank separation panels screw to.

During the assembly of these panels, it became obvious that the curvature of the treasure chest door needed to change. I needed more bend to match the sides of the bus. It took me a couple of weeks to get the courage to try.(like jumping into cold pool water). Put the door back on the jig/frame that I built and cut the back side of the treasure chest door frame. Placed an 18 guage piece of metal under the face of the bottom of the door and clamped it in the jig. Welded that cut shut figuring it would help draw the two sides of the cut together. Biggest unknown was how much movement I was going to get. Fortunately I got the right amount of movement. Didn't want to use filler to fix the problem and didn't want to screw up the door that I had a lot of time invested in.

Harvested the treasure chest door catch from the original floor. Profile of the treasure chest floor and top part of the long rocker channel that houses the rubber seal (90-degree bend).

Sandblasted the piece but had to change its profile for it to fit.

Welded in place.

Long road to get to this picture, just need some original paint color.

[BarryL]

Looks magnificent.

[Kb65single]

BarryL

Thanks for your compliment

After finishing the treasure chest area, I wanted something less complicated to do. The load bed top hat that joins the front and rear panels of the load bed was really beat up. Getting the new load bed panels to mate up flush and straight across that top hat would be a challenge.

Unfortunately, I picked the only load bed top hat with 75 spot welds to free up. The load bed edges were riveted to that top hat. The rivet's locations were spaced equally from front to back and side to side. Didn't know if this was done at the factory or because the edges started to peel up after years of abuse/beating. Spot welds were also present but some failed.

Picture of 50+ years of beating.

Spacing of rivets. Anybody know if the rivets are factory or local install?

Some of the spot welds that helped support that load bed top hat failed. Replaced those with some plug welds and cleaned up the original mating surfaces.

Got the new top hat from Gerson. Just needed minor flange adjustments where they weld to the hinge carrier panel. Punched all the holes in the new top hat and coated the chambers before welding. New top hat will be a definite upgrade when fitting the new load bed panels.

All welded in. Decided not to grind the welds flat (no one will ever see them except the mice 50 years from now).

Speaking of load bed panels, I ordered the 4 panels along with the top hat. I heard that shipping costs were going to get even more ridiculous than they already were. ("Supply chain problems"). When the load bed panels arrived, the outside cardboard didn't look good. All the panels were damaged some worse than others. Had to go through the pictures to the Gerson representative thing and the reorder time involved. I deleted most of the pictures because I took way too many. but saved the best. The two worst ones were the rear driver's side and the one that was stacked next to it, the passenger front corner.

When they sent the replacements they were damaged too. Not as bad as the original four, but damaged. They gave me 100$ off for my trouble to straighten them. They only had just one 3'x3' piece of cardboard between the four panels in the first batch. One piece in the whole box and nothing extra around the edges. Not much more in the second batch. (End of rant)

[Kb65single]

Next is the chassis crossbraces front and rear and the long heater pipe that runs through them. The original Y heater pipe was in good shape from the engine to the rear chassis crossbrace. The original long pipe was toast.
Started fitting the rear crossbrace and all of the channels for the accelerator cable, clutch cable and heater box cables fit very well. The hole for the new long heater pipe was too small and didn't match up vertically or horizontally with the Y pipe. Didn't expect it to. Just too many variables.

First had to make the end of the new long pipe fit inside the hole at the end of the original Y pipe. Gerson pipe was made so that it had a large lump in the pipe where they connect the ends lengthwise. Cut the lump off and butt welded a length of the end so that they could slide smoothly inside each other. During this process of wrestling with a 6-foot metal pipe I decided to stabilize the front of the pipe by fitting the front chassis crossbrace . The front replacement part did not have a slot for the clutch tube and the hole for the brake line was wrong compared to the original that I saved. Fixed those things and made the shapes and locations of the other two channels match the original.

Closed up the 1/2 circles should be rectangles.

Plugged the old holes and drilled new holes for the brake line. (It was larger than the Gerson hole in case your rubber grommet is hard to get in)

With all that done I could fit the long pipe in the front crossbrace. Would worry about fitting the 2 sections of the rest of the piping system later since there seemed to be some amount of flexibility in their location. The rear original Y section did not move a millimeter.

Back to the rear chassis crossbrace. Filled the holes where the end of the Y section was leaving a gap. Scribed the outline of the pipe on both sides leaving it smaller than needed. Gradually enlarged the holes using a straight edge on the inside of the new long pipe to guide my grinding. Finally ended up with 2 holes that let the long pipe go through the crossbrace and slide into the end of the Y pipe. Yeah!

Took the wife and RV to Chimney Rock state park in N.C. Found a sweet sticker for the RV.

[chrisflstf]

That thing is night and day from when you started. The end is in sight soon. Great work!

[Kb65single]

chrisflstf

Thanks again for your comments. Yes, the bus is less rusty and it's getting a lot heavier. Harder to flip on its side. Still a few things to do.

With the chassis crossbraces fit, needed to assemble the pieces. Sandblasted the shift linkage tube and one of the heater cable tubes. Bought a new heater cable tube because the old one was bent and rusty.

Decided to sandblast the crossbraces because the green paint behaved strange. (Flaked off easily). Paint/rustproof the insides of the top hats and crossbraces before welding them in. Scuffed the inside of the epoxy primer while the tubes were movable.

Welded in.

If you look closely at the next picture, you will see that the passenger heater cable tube is not as long as the driver's side. Don't know how that happened but I needed to correct it. Can't remember which vendor I called but the replacement tube was sold and shipped in 2 pieces. I only needed a 10" long piece, but they would not sell one piece. . The price for the 2 pieces was 37.40$ plus tax. shipping was 35 $.

Unfortunately, Home Depot doesn't sell 8mm metal tube, but they do sell metal tube that I can make 8mm. Cut some 1-inch trial sections of the tube and cut out the correct amount lengthwise until I had an 8mm tube. Black marks along the length of the tube is what I had to cut out after 4 prototypes.

Used a Dremel tool to remove the metal.

Gradually smashed the rest of it back together and welded it along the length.

Made a coupler to help join the two sections and to plug a hole at the b-pillar location.

Welded in.

[Huetti_1989]

looks good!!!

-Christian
_________________
My 1957 semaphore Single Cab:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=605363&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0
MY 1967 Sparsamba:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=757182
My 1954 Deutsche Bundespost Barndoor:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=621802
My 1961 SO34 Flipseat Westfalia:
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=716285
My 1991 Westfalia California:
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=650751

[BarryL]

That might be the first time I've seen something that dedicated created for a Bus. All you creative builders are fantastic.

[Kb65single]

Huetti 1989

Thanks

BarryL

I just couldn't spend over 70$ for 10 inches of tube. It's just a matter of principle and I don't have a lot of donor metal available. Thanks


With the heating tube finished all the way to the b-pillar the rest of the system was in need of repair. The front of the long tube through the front chassis crossbrace needed the same treatment as the rear. Eliminating the bump and butt welding a length of that tube allowing the tubes to easily slide over each other.

Got the 3-tube assembly that completes the rest of the system sandblasted. Kept some of the original paint to color match.

Worst damage was the section that joins the long tube with the two front sections.

Went to the local NAPA store and sized up the metal for the repair nothing matched exactly. 3" exhaust pipe was too big, which was good, only wanted to cut once lengthwise and weld back together to match what I needed. Used the old end to appoximate the angle that I needed to make the repair.

Did the same thing on the other end.

Gradually grinding to fit and welding together.

Finish welding on the bench and final try-in. Welded all the tubes to the I-beams and tophats. Gradually moving forward.

[ryans65]

Your work is so good, love seeing updates on this thing!

Chimney rock is something to marvel at, did you hike all the way up?

[Kb65single]

ryans65

Yes, we did the steps to the top. We went early so there were very few people for about an hour. Probably had the whole rock to ourselves for 30 minutes. (weekday) Fantastic view from the top, have pictures but not allowed. Still love your velvet green SC and the rims and stance and hell everything about it. Thanks for the comments.

After the improvement of the load bed top hat that joins the load bed panels, I put a straight edge on the rest of them. The worst one was just before the end of the load bed. The sacks of concrete were probably getting really heavy by then. Decided to replace it with a new one (rust and multiple bends).

Needed to straighten some others. Made a jig with some bed frame angle iron so I would minimize damage to the top hats.

Used a comealong hooked to the main beam of my house to help straighten them. Popped a few of the spot welds where the top hats get welded to the main load bed support beams (pass and driver side). Rewelded those spots and the foundation for the load bed metal is complete. Yeah!

In theory I am done with the metal work from the b-pillar back except the load bed and bulkhead panel. Next is the cab. Working my way from the top down made the most sense. The gutters had some rust, but I didn't know if there were any holes hidden by the PO's brush paint job. The front windows I knew had holes at the bottom corners. Sand blasting would find the damage. Covered all the possible passages for the sand to get into and went at it. Lots of cardboard and masking tape and a cool dry day.

Bulkhead cleaned up well with no holes.

Gutters and fresh air vent area was pitted but solid.

Three out of four of the bottom front window corners had pin holes and heavy pitting in selective areas in between. Used Eastwoods After Blast to stabilize the metal. Repairing the window metal is next.

[Kb65single]

Decided to attempt making the repair metal for the front windshield repairs. If it failed, I could always spend the 155$ plus shipping for the WW repair section. BTW I could not find the same Gerson panel offered anymore, just a full outer windshield skin for 400$. Started on the passenger side because the metal was in better shape compared to the driver's side. Bent the metal in a brake to get close to the shape that I wanted. Cut some shapes from 3/8"thick plate that matched the profile of the panel. Started with some short sections to get the bending sequences worked out before trying longer sections. The longer sections are usually less accurate in the brake and require more time with the shaping dies.

Used the shrinker/stretcher to bend the metal for the corners. Marked perpendicular lines along the length of a straight longer shaped piece. Shrunk the inside line and stretched the opposite outside line hoping that the profile shape would stay the same. Had to run it through the dies to correct some minor distortions. First corner turned out well enough to start shaping the rest of the metal to finish both sides.

Cut out the first corner. I marked the spot where the corner just started to curve up. This would give me a reference point for maintaining the window opening dimensions. Also made a thin plywood pattern with reference points marked to double check the corner bends.

Corner piece fit and welded in before cutting out the flat horizontal piece.

Cut out the horizontal piece. Finding the spot welds that are located on the flange of the front nose skin was difficult. In the picture you can see (shinny steel from grinding) one on the end of the flange, two in the middle about four inches apart and one on the outer side of the wiper shaft hole.

Cleaned that area up and fit/welded the replacement section.

Same deal on the driver's side. Cut out the corner first then the horizontal.

Driver's side outside corner.

Plywood patterns to double check. With that finished I can move south and to the east and west.

[BarryL]

Downright impressive.

[Mr Margaret Scratcher]

Great work!

[Kb65single]

BarryL and Mr Margaret Scratcher

Sorry about the delayed Thanks, big honey do list involving the kitchen. I did earn major "anytime" VW minuets for the next part of my build.

After the windshield repairs turning my attention to the front doors, A-pillars, dog legs, front floor and front nose. The doors and surrounding structures had a lot of issues.
1. Hinges were loose and wobbly (50+ years of wear)
2. Driver door gaps were larger than passengers at the b-pillar
3. Both doors sagged screwing up the body line alignment
4. Bottom of A-pillar were very rusty with multiple holes
5. Door mechanisms were worn out
6. Cracks around the door sheet metal where the hinges are riveted to the door
7. bottom of the doors were rusty with holes
8. Multiple holes in the door skins from different mirror choices
9. Dog legs needed replacement
10. Inner and outer valences and lower nose skin needed new metal

Not sure if that is a complete list but I need to start checking off some of the things on the list. Decided to address the door and hinge issues first. Most of the build threads I've seen fit the dog leg to the door, not the door to the dog leg, so I wanted to finish those door issues first. Since there would be welding on the lower a-pillars the same logic would apply; fit and adjust the a-pillar to the finished door.

Couple of pictures at the beginning. Some of the damage in the front floor area. Sheet metal riveted repair with Bondo, fiberglass and resin poured over the existing rusty floor.

Rust underneath the front floor and some panels to help fix it.

Trying to get an idea of what the extent of the a-pillar damage is. Needed to peel off the lower 5" of the nose panel. Made a tool to help peel back the lower nose sheet metal.

After getting the crimped metal bent back, I could find the spot welds and free those up.

With the nose skin off I could order the correct a-pillar (height). Damage went higher than I thought. Driver's side was worse than passenger. Still debating on the nose skin but am leaning toward re-using the middle section and welding that back on. Then making the sides myself. Inner and outer valances were wasted. While waiting for the new a-pillar metal I could start on the doors.

Spent some time in Arizona this winter made a detour to the OCTO show in Longbeach CA. VW bus porn everywhere. Don't see that on the east coast, it was worth the trip.

[chrisflstf]

And your blue blanket hasnt gone up in flames yet

[scrivyscriv]

[Kb65single]

chrisflstf

Yea the blue blanket has caught fire a few times and leaves blue fuss balls on the garage floor; hopefully it will last a while longer.

scrivyscriv

Thanks for the kind words. Read your build thread and really enjoyed your 3 helpers. Keep at it, your attention to detail and your problem solving skills will serve you well. Keep at it bit by bit you will get there.

Needed a reference point on both doors to see if any changes that I make will have an effect on the door alignment. Passenger door was better than the drivers door. Passenger door was date stamped 6/64 and is an original door with the same paint as the rest of the bus. Drivers door date stamped 9/66. That door has the original color paint as the first coat inside and outside but has an exterior blue coat over that along with the brush painted gray over those two coats. I'm assuming it is not original to the bus.

Passenger door:

Even gaps at the b-pillar. Gaps measure 6mm (with paint). Slight body line sag.

Even gaps on the wheel well panel and the inside of the door.

Even gap at the corner below the bottom hinge.

Driver's door:

Wider gap ( 8.5mm) at the b-pillar and increases toward the bottom of the door. Body lines on the door drop significantly at the b-pillar.

Gaps in between the wheel well panel and the inside of the door increase and is widest at the point where the wheel well panel turns downward.

The bottom corner below the hinge touches the the a-pillar and rubs against the it.

The passenger door fit the best in the bus so I used that as the standard compared to the driver's side. The inside panel of the driver's door was distorted compared to the passenger door. Somehow the interior panel of the driver's door was bent toward the outer skin. In order to pull that out I made a jig that attached to the inner door panel and with a come-along pulled it toward the wheel well panel. Used the arm of the tipper cart as an anchor. After a lot of pulling and banging that gap was improved.

Another problem with the driver's door. The door wouldn't close all the way. The bottom hinge halves would contact. (Picture with arrows pointing to the contact areas of the door side of the hinge with the bus side of the hinge.)

when in contact this is how far the door would close.

Somehow, I need to change the alignment of that a-pillar bottom hinge area. There was a lot of rust in that area and I used a manual impact driver to break the hinge screws loose. (The kind you hit with a hammer.) So it could have been partially self inflicted. Time to put the thinking cap on. Decided to address the individual door issues which would give me some time to think.

[Kb65single]

Removing hinge pins:

All four had a lot of free play/wobble in all directions. Hoping that with new pins I could eliminate that. Read a lot of stories about failed attempts at getting these pins out. Failures were most likely with doors still attached to the bus and using poor quality tools designed for pin removal. There was a lot of success using impact drivers. I had one but didn't have a tip that was wide enough. Tried it out on some metal that I didn't care about. Found that you can do a lot of damage with that tool, it's hard to control. Didn't want to mushroom the end of the pin or the hinge metal around it making the job even more difficult. Gave up on that idea with the narrow tip that I had and my lack of confidence using that tool in a tight space. Tip of my finger still has a numb spot on it from the saber saw incident.
My first attempt was a failure because I could not stabilize the door while holding a 1/4" wide drift in one hand and beating that with a hammer in the other hand. Had to stabilize the door with something better than my legs straddling the door.
Traced the outline of the top of the door on some old 2x10's in the back yard. Jig sawed that out and started building up layers to hold the door and most importantly holding the hinges upright level and perpendicular to the garage floor. It was crude but turned out very effective.

Supported the hinges on a large piece of metal on the concrete floor. Made a stack of metal pieces with a c-shape so that the top of the pin could escape. Used a lot of heat from a propane torch and a lot of quenches with W-D 40. After the last heat blast and a few blows with a 3lb. hammer, out they came.

Upper hinge supported with metal.

Lower hinge supported with a rear axle from an old rusty transaxle.

3lb. hammer with a 1/4" drift. 3lb. hammer made a big difference compared to a framing hammer, bigger target area and more force. Held the drift with vice grips, hitting my hand with that hammer was not an option

Flopped the layers of wood over to make the support for the passenger door.

All four pins removed and sandblasted. Removed pins show no wear on the ends but significant wear in the middle. Glad to have that job done.