It’s been a busy week of bus work – I’m mentally and physically tired, my body is sore, and I’ve ruined about half my clothes with a variety of automotive chemicals and cancer-causing solvents… but I’ve learned a ton, and by the end of the week, the bus is finally beginning to come together! This post is going to be waaaay too long and the pictures will probably be waaaay to mundane, but here it goes:
I started by primering the completed passenger side from the cargo doors back to the rear engine vents. I then moved on to start body working the back end.
Used the hammer and dolly to work out the dented driver’s side corner, then applied a layer of fiberglass filler on the deeper gouges, and a layer of Bondo to even everything out. Something clicked with me and the electric orbital sander – we became best buds and it made the sanding process much smoother (literally).
Applied a coat of finishing putty and sanded everything feather smooth.
I’m definitely happy with how that corner turned out – now about that other corner…
A previous owner had replaced the passenger corner with a piece of sheet metal (and done a crappy job of making it fit). I decided to keep the sheet metal hack, but work it into shape. I used a dremel to cut off excess metal and give the wheel well side the proper curvature.
Before I could body work the corner though, I had to address the rotting battery tray – bought a new one from vintagewagen.com which distributes the UK AutoCraft replacement parts in the US – sweet! It’s a big improvement over the old one (which had been hacked into place at some point in the past).
After my experience with the other replacement metal, I was worried that I was going to have to do a lot of shaping to get everything to fit – instead the new piece just clicked right into place, Awesome! A lot of work and welding and PORing to get the new tray and wheel well cutoff plate in place. My flux core welder and lack of skill makes for some crappy-looking welds – but they are strong and will get the job done, and the POR layer should prevent rust from destroying these parts in the future.
I’m friggin tired!! (Noelle did get me a water after so nicely taking my picture)
I also POR’ed the back hatch area to prevent rust around the frame.
Finally I got to body working the passenger corner… but sometimes this project gets overwhelming, and I just need to pause for a happy thoughts break:
Pretty flower from Carla’s garden (with Noelle’s expert photog action)… happy thoughts
Pretty rainbow after a rainstorm… happy thoughts
Ok enough of that hippy crap, I’ve got a VW bus to fix! (sometimes I decide to just lay on the ground and work)
Before I finished the corner, I needed to kill some flies – they deserve it… because they are flies…
And here is the culmination of a tough week’s worth of bus work – a lot learned, some frustration mixed with anger/self doubt, followed by determination and ‘F’ it, pull the trigger and weld that SOB so we can get this stupid bus on the road! I think the work looks good – it’s an improvement from previous owners, and it will keep this bus rolling for a few more years at least.
Maybe next week I’ll have more pictures of more work done – yay!
