Aircooled VW South Africa

How's this project progressing ?? This is one ambitious job, worth keeping an eye on.

PCee wrote:How's this project progressing ?? This is one ambitious job, worth keeping an eye on.

OK,OK, So I only read the first page of the post!!

Hi all, update time. The roof is completed What a job! The rear proved to be a lot more work than I planned. The drivers side rear corner was very bad. The top of the curved corner had completeley rusted away. Water and sand had collected and rotted out the inside too. Some if it looked ok from the outside but prodding small (very samll) rust pits turned out to be rust on the inside and the panels looked as though they had been shot with a shotgun. The drivers corner was also very difficult to fit and didn't want to go on. I think the panel was the wrong size. I got a noticable gap at the top of the rear door and frame now I might be able to do something about it but I'll save it for later. I've started on the window bottoms but i'll post some pics later.

u got some mad metal-fab skills dude... keep it up

Well done, some people just have a knack for this type of thing.

Hi all, I haven't posted for a while but I have been busy. The roof and windows are now finished soooo glad their done, was by far the bisgest job. I've managed to repair all the windows, except the outer rear corners by fabricating the parts from scrap metal. The repair sections have been simple with no complicated curves. The first picture shows how each window corner is made up The whole job took quite a while as I had eight windows to do. The rear door was a bit more complicated to do as there was nothing left of the hinge or hinge rail or drip tray. I ended up making it up and now have a door that opens fine. I have since seen how it is made up and mine is nothing like it. Still does the job though. I got some spray cans which were about the right colour and sprayed the window frames and added back some of the graffiti. I'm not going to put to much paint on until i've finished the other repairs.
The next job is the rockers, they too look rotten I'll be able to make these bits as they just look slightly curved with a few drain holes pressed in.
The roof has only got primmer on at the moment. Although I have repaired the roof and weleded in loads of metal the surface rust areas are still there. I plan to strip it all off later and treat it with a phosphorus acid gel.
I havent got any pictures of the rear door hinge rail as I manged to walk into one of the doors and the corner went straight into my camera which was in my pocket. Saved me a brused leg though!

Great job in breathing some life back into the old girl!

Unbelievable what you have taken on there - please keep us updated and replace that camera asap

David, I'm going to the Fish Hoek area tomorrow to look at a bus and I have a digi camera that we don't use anymore that I can drop off for you. A project like this with no camera just won't do. Let me know if you are interested.

looking absolutely brilliant Dave !

Hi all, all the work above the coach line is now completed. I must admit that the window repairs wer a right pain. I have now started below the coach line and there are rusty bits everywhere. I thought the caargo floor might be ok but after poking it wirth a screwdriver i found it was a lot thiner than i first thought.After much grinding, cutting and hammering it now looks like this:and I halso have a pile of metal which was once a floor. The front B post bottoms are very much gone as are the front jacking point outriggers. The bottoms look ok but the tops are very bad. I have made up the channel sections which go on top of the outriggers. The are top-hat in section which I havent got the equipment to make so I made two Z sections and spot welded them together at the top. The section is then just welded to the bottom outrigger and the remains of the inner section.Its a bit fiddly near the chassis but it all loors about right. I had to do exactly the same for both sides.I will finish the closing plate on the inner wheel arch when I do the rockers.
My next job (which I have started) is the two rockers (inner and outer). I have bought the passenger side outer but have made both inners and the drivers side outer. The fleetline longside is different from a normal split in that it is made from three sections rather than one long side. It means that if you put a long side on you wont have the joints between the panels that you see on a fleetline.
I've also stated to repair the door top frames, i'll post some pics soon.

great stuff - keep those pics coming - please ! A few of us here are about to do some similar work on the bottom sections of out busses, any/all pics will be appreciated

Hi all, the bus is progressing nicley and the floors are now done. I havent got as many pictures as I would have liked but I kept on forgeting to take them. Here are some pics of the rocker on the cargo door side. I assembled it all first so I could spot weld most of it. I havent got a picture of it all spot welded in for some reason. It must have been late and I wanted to get home
I've also completed the other side but again no pictures. I'll post the pictures of the floors going in later.
The steering box is completely shot with about 150mm play in the steering wheel. I'm going tom convert to a Bedford Rascal steering rack. The old box is out and I’ve stripped it down so all I have left is the tube and shaft. I plan on using a MGF collapsible UJ on the end of the original shaft to connect it to the rack. This means that I don't have to be to accurate on the shaft length as any slack is taken up in the linear joint. This conversion has been done before, the only modification I am making is the bottom connection as I think is is easier to assemble as there is only one bolt holding the rack shaft to the steering shaft. Pics to follow

Very nice to see work I am also in the process with being a done a different way. More pic's please!

Good luck with the work ahead.

just love this thread, good work dude Where is this bus now - are you in the UK or USA ?