225 replies to this topic

[dirtbag]

i love ya work mate. even when its a vw. i think it will look pretty good. for a vw. so now you have the v8 lux, torrie ute and a vw ute in the making as parts chasers for your business so you now just need 3 workers to chase parts............oooh oooh pick me. hard worker, honest. able to start at the crack of dawn (10am) only have 1hour lunch and 1/2 hour sleep then back to it. i will work into the night when needed (no later than 4pm). so in essence with some one like me i can enter your shed, the magical land where time stands still and pump out a fully rebuilt car a day.................

Hahaha, nice : )


Well I did a little bit more today, but I've been spending most of my time on the 55 kombi.


First thing I did today was remove the vents from the drivers side rear pillar, as they're only on this side and I like things symmetrical.









Next bit was to start on the corner of the swage line. I'll do it in two pieces like I did on the other side.






I'm not sure when I'll get back to this so I coated it in some more rust converter for now.




That's all I had time for today apart from the 55 kombi and he doesn't want it posted until it's finished, so now you get a break from my mindless rants : )

[dirtbag]

I've done a little bit more to this one this week.

I finished the corner of the cab.



I also finished the passengers side step and fully welded the floor in. It was only tacked in before.





I then made the step for the drivers side.





With the door back on you can see how good it looks with the new rear wall and the thick swage continuing all the way around the cab.



That's all for now : )

[lxsstorana]

This is going to be one very cool Kombi.

[fenz]

Looking the goods....are you doing the v8 conversion as well???

[dirtbag]

Hi Aaron, yes I'm doing the V8 transplant as well. Can't wait!!!

Well today was a pig of a day, but it was fun at the same time.

I'm still coughing up rust and dirt. You'll see why soon : )


It's been a really good workbench this old beastie, but today I had to clean it up so I could chop it up hehehe.



There are some really good quality repairs on this car. Here's a couple.



Bog that rust : )





Let the games begin!!!!!!




A few corn cobs in there. Not really sure why???




I'm going to remake the entire rear quarters from scratch, but I'd like to retain the original wheel arch. The sills will be 3 inches deeper too, so the rear end will look a bit chunkier and make the car look lower. Having said that, it'll be getting dumped in the weeds too : )




I started chopping a bit out of the passengers side, and found another of those really good quality repairs.




In case you're wondering, that white stuff is plastic bags. hahaha. I cracked up when I saw that : )



Getting there now.



Here's just a small look at why I'm cutting this thing down to nothing.



More plastic bags in the front of the left hand sill. It still makes me laugh : )



Nearly there : )




How good does this look? hahahaha!!!





I'd rather build the whole rear end from scratch than bother to try and fix what was there. Plus I can design a nice cavity in between the chassis rails for the radiator.



I still have to remove the top rails and tray floor on that rear section, but I ran out of day. It took quite a while to get it to this stage. Even though it has a full chassis, it's all welded together. No bolts. I must have gone through about 15 cutting discs. I used the oxy to cut some of it but I need to bite the bullet and get a plasma cutter. I have an SIP one here, but can't find anyone who supplies the tips for it anymore.



I also need to replace the outriggers under the rear of the cab as well. Now the middle part of the car is gone I have good access to fix these bits now.




So next time I'll get the rest of the tray cut off, then I can start building the new bits!!!!

[GML-31]

you must be getting a good price for scrap metal up there... those corn cobs are tampons for rednecks mate

DJ, they use the standard kombi floor pan and build up

[dirtbag]

On the left hand rear quarter is a hinged door, so you can store stuff in there. It's called the treasure chest. This one will have a radiator in there though : )

[dirtbag]

Hahaha, that would be cool, but no, I'm going to redo all the rear end so it looks fairly stock, but not, if that makes sense? Nearly every panel will be modified, but only kombi spotters will pick the differences.

I'd love to be able to mid mount the motor and have it stick out the top, but it has to have rego so that means no mid mount : (

[dirtbag]

The chev will go behind the rear wheels, where the original 4 banger was.

As for bumpers I did a 68 beetle for this guy a while ago and fitted early 60's guards with no bumpers. The road worthy guy said they should be there but since the mounts were removed meaning no sharp edges he would let it through with no dramas.

[dirtbag]

Yeah those plastic bags and corn cobs are a pissa! Looking forward to see what you come up with on this one. Would it be possible to engineer and rego one of these with a mid mount V8? Is it just that the engineering process would be too long/involved/expensive and the owner doesn't want that?

There are a couple of major reasons for not chasing the mid mount set up. The main one is rego. To go mid mount would mean the whole rear part of the chassis would need to be removed and converted to a live rear axle or IRS of some sort with a diff e.g BMW, commodore etc. Qld rego wont allow those sorts of modifications as suspension mods are a big no no. I wasn't even allowed to fit a bolt in 4 link kit from the states into the 68 firebird.

The other main reason is with the rear mount engine, the radiator can go in the middle of the car, out of sight. If the motor was in the middle, the radiator would have to go out the front, and that's just not an option.

I'm thinking about tossing the iron 350 idea and going with an LS1 instead, so if anyone knows of one for sale with computer and loom let me know. I wont need a gearbox, so I don't need to go the expense of getting one with a T56. I've seen them with computer, loom and auto for around the $2500 mark, so something like that would be perfect.

[myss427]

Also don't forget to allow for NEW plastic bags in the rebuild!