Today the bus was dropped of at the glasshop for new front windscreen and installing all windows with new rubber seals. The last final parts (bumpers) are getting painted tomorow or on Thursday. They were handpainted with brush, twisted, rusty and lots of small dents. After sandblasting they got welded, straightned and all dents hammered out. Then a light coat of bodyfiller to make them straight again, then Zinc rustprimer and after this surfacer/ground primer to get them smooth again after the sandblasted surface. Next up is some more sanding and then Deepblack paint. New covers and bolts are waiting from Just Kampers! The bus should be ready for the road in the end of the week! More pics to come…
Wheels have been fitted, needed 5mm spacers all around and longer wheelstuds (56mm) in the rear and new bolts. Wheels are 17″ inch with 225/45 tires, offset 35. Need to make a custom centercap for the speedometer tho. Lots of new parts have been installed from Just Kampers, like new taillights, fuelfiller neck, footsteps, roof ventilation, mirrors, windowfelt trim in front doors etc. Waiting on tailgate seal and new clips for the freshly painted front grills. Bumpers have been blasted and are now getting welded, straightned up and removing big dents before paint in Deep Black. Next big step is taking it to the glass shop and get all windows installed with new rubber seals! Then its ready for the road…
After alot of bodywork and sanding it was time for topcoat paint in VW Marsala Red H3D. Looks nice in red! Also got new Deepblack paint on the sun grey faded trim and parts like the front grills, handles, air intakes, wipers etc. I think all the black parts will match the black wheels perfect when its all together. The wheels from Germany will arrive this week and the other new VW parts from Just Kampers will be here tomorrow!
All the places that have been sanded and sandblasted down to the bare metal have been painted with yellow 2k epoxy rust primer for protection. After this, all the small dents, scratches and imperfections in surface/metal after sandblasting etc have been filled up and sanded smooth and all the seams have been sealed up with new seamsealer. Then it was covered in yellow epoxyprimer again. When it was all dryed it just needed a light sanding before 3 coats of grey surfaceprimer was added. Now it has to dry a couple of days before it can be sanded down again, but this time more carefully and must be perfect! When this is done its ready for topcoat paint in VW Marsala Red H3H3.
Bumpers and some smaller parts is at the sandblasters at this moment and more new parts from Just Kampers in UK is on its way right now. Time to choose some cool wheels also, stay tuned for more pics and updates!
Stephans VW Bay project moves on and here is some pics from the transmission overhaul made last week here in the garage. The transmission is a 002 case, 3 rib from late 1973. Code CK. The Baywindow buses are famous for their poor gearshifts. If you have a sloppy gearstick on your bus, first check all bushings in the gearlinkage that runs thru the floor from front to back. If the shifting still is bad, then its possible that the gearleveler balljoint (made in plastic) inside the nosecone is worn out. I replaced this balljoint on this tranny for one made in metal instead, so it will last for ever! The magneticplugs was cleaned, oil drained, all gaskets and seals new and then a coat of fresh paint. Now its ready to be bolted back in the bus again.
Got some stuff done on the front beam/axle on the Highroof bus this week. Fitted new grease zerks to the beam, installed a new center swivelpin and bushings, test fitted the new brakebooster, 4 new needlebearings (made a tool so they were easy to pull out). They were seated 8mm inside the tubes. Used a old bearing to knock them in again, and then the tool the last bit. New dustcovers mounted too. Got the axle bolted up in the frame on the bus and during the weekend, I will start installing torsionarms, spindles, tierods etc. The bus starts to look really nice, atleast underneath! 😉 More pics coming soon!
Been in Barcelona, Spain with the family on a vacation and just got back home. Nice to see some sun instead of snow! 🙂 Going to start put together the front beam axle this week. I have all the new parts from JUSTKAMPERS waiting for it, and hopefully have it bolted back up in the frame on the bus. More pics coming soon!
The front beam/axel have been sandblasted and painted in Deepblack paint. Also modified the servo/brakebooster bracket so a new modern Brazil Bay booster will fit on the old Bay beam. The bracket was made 30mm extra wide, because the bolt pattern is little diffrent on the new servo. Doing this you just have to pay 140euros for a new servo instead for the original 400euros(!).
Some more progress made on the Highroof bus. More parts have been sandblasted and painted during the week. The chassi is finally painted too, after months of hard work. 2k polyurethane paint with elastic attribute. Good if you dont want to have stonechips in the paint later on. Cant wait to start bolting on all the new parts on the shiney chassi, no more dirty work! Also got a NOS 1960-70s roofrack that will get modified to fit on the highroof, perfect for the future solarpanels etc. Got a spare BA6 Eberspacher burner too, will be good to take parts from when I start the restoration of the original one. Here is the pics…
Sandblasted and painted silver metallic. RAL9006.
DURING. Straightned out and sandblasted baremetal
AFTER. Painted, also made a custom mesh in stainless for it but forgot to take photo.
Painting tons of chassi parts in Deepblack paint at the moment to the Highroof bus!
Have sandblasted alot of parts in the new cabinet, so nice to have. No need for waiting on the mediablasting company any more. Just put it in the box and go! Got a box full of new parts from Justkampers.com yesterday too. Brakeservo, starter, all brakepipes, front beam seals, 4 torsionarms with new pressed in balljoints, transmission gaskets and seals etc. Also scored a NOS Eberspächer combustion/airpump for the BA6 heater. Found a supplier in the UK of new BERU glowplugs for BA6, the GZE201 plug replaces the old (original) BZE22. Have anyone tried the new GZE201? Let me know how it worked: info@maindrive.org
Have scraped and cleaned all of the chassi during the last 2 weeks. Hope to push on further with the chassi this week and weekend and get it primered, seam sealed, undercoated and painted in body color. After that the chassi is ready to get all the new parts bolted on! More coming soon…
Doing some really boring work on the Highroof Baywindow at the moment. Specially when it’s -20 celsius outside. Removing all of the old undercoating. Work that takes alot of blood, sweat and tears and is not showing much later, but good to know it’s like new under also. Only going to drive it on the summers anyway. Next time I can start sanding the chassi and lay a coat of rust protection (epoxy primer). Then add a new layer of fresh undercoating, that sort thats possible to paint over. So when it have dried for some days I can paint all of the underside in top color, VW L20 Marino yellow. Ready for all the new parts, wires, hoses, grommets, bearings, bushings, balljoints, steering rods, brakelines, servobooster basicly every nut and bolt!
When the chassi is painted and ready I can start restoring the frontbeam, transmission and get the Eberspächer BA6 working again. A really good and clever heater, much better then the older BN4 ones. Will be nice on chilly mornings in the spring!
Still looking for some parts if someone have for sale? NOS parts for BA6 is intresting, like sparkplugs (BZE22) etc. Also looking for a pair of the slider rail metal covers (held with 2 screws). Engine cooling thin and heatexchangers is missing. Send me a mail on: info@maindrive.org
Chassi parts that are going to be sandblasted and painted/restored.
No more undercoating. Just some wires and tubes that needed to be removed before sanding and primer. Here you can see factory grey primer and the orange overspray from body. When I am done with this chassi it will be better and nicer than it was from factory for sure.
Color on chassi will be the same as on the body, original VW color, L20A Marino yellow. Period correct.
Can’t wait to start bolting on new parts on the painted chassi!
Replacing all rust with new metal on Benny’s bus, the VW transporter from 1983. Hope to finish the rest tonight and then it’s ready for sanding/bodywork/paint. New rubberseals for the all 6 windows, new bushings for frontend and new mirrors from Just Kampers.
Got loads of brand new parts from Justkampers today. Wow what a quick delivery! Basicly a new bus chassi in parts. Removed front beam, torsionarms and brakes. I think every nut and bolt had to be cut, they were froozen stuck! But it dosen’t matter everything going to be replaced with new parts anyway. Need to remove all chassi parts for sandblasting and painting!
My old 1950 Splitwindow Beetle. With all new and custom made suspension parts. 6″ narrowed front beam, adjusters, dropped CB spindles, flipped tierods, adjustable springplates in rear, later style transmission with syncronized gears and all new bushings and brakes. Awsome car! Sold to a collector in Italy 2009.
Yeah the winter season is definitely here. It’s -10 celsius (14 Farenheit) outside here in Sweden. But days like that are perfect for ordering new VW parts with a cup of coffee in the other hand. Im making a loong list of new parts for the Baywindow Highroof project and also new window rubbers etc for the VW T3 transporter. After 10 years of building VW’s I finally found a serviceminded VW part store that have great quality on their stuff too!
Im now buying all my new parts from JUSTKAMPERS instead. They are based in the UK but ships worldwide, cheap shipping prices and have the best service you will ever find from a VW shop. I can really recommend these guys, take a look at their website here!
I also got some stuff done on the Highroof, removed all brakes, masterbrakecylinder, booster, steeringrods etc front beam soon ready to get dropped down and put on the table for some restoration (new needle bearings, balljoints, bumpstops, kingpin bushings etc). Hope to get started on the metalwork on Benny’s T3 soon also…
Bennys VW Transporter is in the garage and got some parts removed. Like bumpers, emblems, lights etc. Preping for a new paintjob! Moved the Highroof bus out to the main hall getting it ready for new brakes, wires, steering parts, shocks etc. Got the new Fiama rooflight/ventilation with 12v fan and some other parts too. Ready to install next time…