So, I'm fairly new to this VW ownership malarkey........previously I've been a very careful borrower of a mate's van but now I'm a fully fledged owner with my own van. I've been lurking around SSVC a while collecting (some) knowledge and random parts/bits but its time to come out and show myself!




I've had Geoff for a year or so now but not used it in anger much due to wanting to get work done on him but not having the cash.

Geoff is a '66 LHD bus that was shipped over from California a few years ago and has seen better times.
He's not as bad as some rescued splits (limited rust and fairly solid underneath) but his rear end was involved in a big shunt at some point and there's quite a few things that need straightening and pulling out ........some need a lot more pulling than others!

So now I've bitten the bullet and sent him to have some much needed spa treatment at Blasting Die Past back in Bristol (well a little place just south of Bristol but no-one knows where the hell it is! ).
Will has taken him in over the winter and will be doing the bits that i don't have the skills to do........which is most of it
He'll be stripping it down, blasting it back to metal, sorting it out (via a bit of cutting and welding) and then re-painting it back to its original colours of L680 - Cumulus White & L360 - Sea Blue.

Once Geoff is returned as an empty-ish shell I'll then have the fairly easy job of kitting out the inside (oh how i look forward to raising the issue of Noisekiller vs SilentCoat vs DynaMat again!) and adding all those useful bits like seats!

Fingers crossed for a positive experience!!!
Either that or I've got a shed full of bits that I'm going to be selling on here soon.

Cheers

May we start ?

Ok good!

Arrival day

We don't mess around!

Stripped

Cut!





Issues....

Well apart from the rear end shunt damage we have a good old USA IRS setup basically a big plate to mount a stock bug gearbox in the back with the use of a hammer to make the driveshafts fit (on the frame horns) easily fixed!

Damage







Other side is the same with the damage being...

D posts
Rear chassis legs
Hinge panel
Rear floor
Rear wheel arches
Long and short panels

All this will be repaired and we will pull the chassis damage out on our universal bench



More then just a four post ramp, this is designed for chassis repairs and has its own body dozer attachment.

Currently the bus is sat in the blast room awaiting a full blast down.

More updates next week when the media arrives and its blasted.

Good progress

Good Luck. Have Fun

Jim

Clean metal!

Next up a full clean down and some more cutting before another light blast

Still a few areas to clean up and reblast, the media we use is very gentle so any silicon, glue etc needs to be scrapped off then blasted again.

Really enjoy your updates and love your skills.
So if you see on my build thread I need to replace the lower inner front sill and A post bottoms so please start your repairs with those so I can copy!! Joking but following your thread. Cheers. Loz

Time to get jiggy with Geoff....

I'll get me coat!

Time to pull the rear chassis legs straight again.