225 replies to this topic

[dirtbag]

OK, well I have some time off so am passing the time here with you guys : )

I've been mucking around with this 1976 Kombi single cab ute for a couple of months now. It's the 3rd VW I've built for this guy and it's going to be the best one.

The body on this thing is pretty bad. Every panel is rusty, as is the chassis, so I don't feel bad about how much I'm going to chop this thing up : )




Body mods are going to extensive, but very subtle. The whole rear quarter panels will be made from scratch and will have 3 inch deeper sills giving a lower stance, and will also delete the side vents and side cargo door. The majority of the interior will be steel. The whole tray will be replaced too. I'll also be fabricating a new rear wall for the cab with a nicer shape. The tail lights will be replaced with smaller earlier model ones. The mods will be hard to spot unless you know kombis well.

The motor is going to be a 350 chev and I've already sorted the engineering out with my mod plate guy so it will be 100% street legal. I'm going to enjoy this one : )

Here's a few pics showing it's best features
















Pretty nice huh? hahaha.

Here's more : )







OK, I think you get the picture. It's stuffed : )

First thing to do with any project is get it naked.





Because I'm going to replace the whole sides I didn't bother stripping them back.

I did the paint removal in two sections, so I etch primed the first batch of bare steel straight away. I've only been working on this car one day a week so don't want it sitting around in bare steel for a week. Not with this humidity.



Then I got to strip the rest of the paint.





The front bumper mount was pushed in a fair bit. This is a very strong panel so I wont be able to pull it out from the outside. I'll have to cut it to repair it.

















Having an etch priming party : )



Well that's the start. I'll go over a few of the repairs I've done so far in the next post.

[dirtbag]

The first thing I fixed was the small amount of rust around the bottom of the windscreen.





Here's the piece I made for the other side



With the screen finished the next job was to wire wheel the inside of the cab.

Here's a nice repair.



Yes, they fixed rust with a mobile phone SIM card holder : )



After lots of fun it looked like this.





Even though most of the inside will get cut away I etch primed it just to seal everything up.




I'm going to cut the seat bases out as they're rusty and full of swages. I'm going to replace them with thicker steel with no swages as they'll get painted in body colour.

In this next pic I've already repaired a bit of rust in the back wall.



Here's the other side. I'm keeping a bit of this side in place for the seat mount.









With some etch primer applied you can see how much smoother it looks now.



The front step was the next to go.







Because I'm going to extend the sills down 3 inches, I've made the lower part of the step a little different. It's the same depth at the front but is 35mm lower at the back so it will help line up with the new sills once they're done.



The front bumper mount also got some attention.



I cut the dent out which meant I could bash it into shape on an anvil, and also meant I could clean and rust convert inside the bumper mount.








Next bit out is the floor. I'll be replacing the whole thing.





Nice! hahaha.

Edited by dirtbag, 02 February 2011 - 12:12 PM.

[Neils LX]

Love the old kombi, am using one atm for a shed for 5 red holden motors and 2 253s.

[dirtbag]

So the floors are going to be done a little differently too.

I made two 25mm RHS rectangles and lines one side with 2mm zinc. These will be the foot rests.



I then folded up the new floor in 2 pieces also from 2mm zinc. I use thicker steel so I can keep it smooth but still firm.



The entire interior will be painted in 2 pac body colour, including the floor. There will be removable trimmed pieces in the floor recesses for your feet. Just for something different.



The next thing I wanted to sort out was the back wall of the cab. Not only does it have dodgy rust repairs, it's totally stoved in and sticks out like dogs nasties.



The back wall sticks straight out as it used to line up with the drop down side gates, but this one isn't going to have them, so this squared off rear wall looks silly.



I folded up a test piece to see if I could duplicate the thick swage properly.



Happy with the test piece I then started chopping.



It took a while but I finally got the whole lot trimmed off, including the corners. I really need a plasma cutter : )



I used some thick wall 25mm RHS to frame up the rear wall. The first pieces were welded into the sides.



Here's the rest of the frame I built. It doesn't really need this for strength as far as roll over is concerned, it's more for support for the new rear wall which will get plug welded to it.



Here's the new rear wall I made. You can see the look I'm going for by continuing the thick swage around the whole cab. I used 1.6mm zinc to make this piece so was a bit of a battle bending the swage into it as it's 1500mm wide but it is very strong.



Here you can see I've trimmed out the rear window and drilled the holes for plug welding.





Here's one of the corners getting filled in.



I made the swage as a separate piece to make it easier as it's a fairly curvy piece.



With all the welding done it scored some rust converter, just for something different : ) I still have to do the other side corner though.



The rear pillars where the vertical seam is will be getting cut out too, and smooth pieces welded in. They will be joined to the top of this new rear wall. The big step in the panel that is there now wont be there once the pillars are replaced.

I think the new rear wall suits the shape better, but isn't an obvious modification.



The new floor and step also got some rust converter.



Well that's where it's at for now, but if anyone is interested I'll keep updating as the work gets done.

[MRLXSS]

Very Cool! Can't wait to see this progress! I love watching your threads Mr Dirtbag!

[dirtbag]

Thanks Matt. It should be a fun build. Crap loads of fabrication to keep me happy : )

Also, anything that gets a V8 when it shouldn't is always good

[wot179]

You are a glutten for punishment,mate.

But its looking sweet and is going to be a very stylish custom.

....with a small block

Keep us updated.

[Stinga]

this is going to be cooooool! i like the idea of the painted interior... and anything chev powered.

[Peter UC]

Awesome I'm glad you put up this build. I'm suprised you didn't tub the front guards, generally this is done to get Kombis belly scaping low.

[dirtbag]

Hey Peter. Yes we did think about tubbing the front, but it's not going to be THAT low. It will get lowered so the top of the front tyre is level with the guard. Plus the owner is about 6 foot 4 and his head just touches the roof as it is so raising the seats wasn't an option.

Also the sills are going to be 3 inches deeper (lower) so it will appear lower than it is.

[Heath]

Very cool project, I rate it and I love the work that's going into it. You must be inspiring a lot of people Tim hahaha

[dirtbag]

Thanks guys for the kind words.

Niterida, that's a fair guess, but no. The owner doesn't go on this site.

On another note, I got a 1955 split window single cab ute in last week for some work and I think his friend and I have talked him into going with a porsche 2.7litre flat 6 and 5 speed. That would be cool : ) It's keeping it's original paint and patina too so will scare the hell out of a lot of traffic light bandits hahaha.

[Heath]

I probably have more interest in that next one Tim!

[dirtbag]

Well unfortunately the '55 split window single cab kombi is getting a worked flat 4. Pity, I thought the porsche motor would have been awesome.

Anyway, I've done a little bit more to the proper (V8) kombi : )

I am in the process of removing the seams from beside the rear window.

This will also get rid of the big step that was in the panel. I wasn't worried about the step as it was always a temporary arrangement.





This shows the new piece compared to the old piece with the big seam in it.



I also made a start on the other side but still have to fully weld it in.



I didn't weld it in as I wanted to make the new corner. Wasn't really in a welding mood today.

I started by welding some 2mm plate into the base of the rear wall for the new corner to mount to.



Then I made the new corner. It isn't fully welded in yet either. I'm getting slack in my old age : )



I still have to make the swage piece to go around the corner and replace the area where the vents are. Then I might feel like welding it all in properly : )



There's not much of the original rear panel left now.



That's all for now.