Replacement Roof Clips

Picked up these clips from around the place. They are not rust free, so will need a bit of prep work. When considering the job, I reckon it will be quite fiddly and time consuming, but successful in the end. The straight sections are all side pieces. The roof line across the back of the kombi has a steeper profile going up to the top of the roof than on the sides. Considering that only a narrow section may need to be replaced, it should be easy enough to work the metal to fit. All will be revealed when I cut it open to inspect the internal framing etc.

Rusty Roof 1

At this point, assignments are due and take up most of my spare time. All the Kombi gets is a wishful look through the study widow.

Not so long ago, I peeled the tarp back and had a look at the roof. Quite a bit of surface rust as you can see.

The gutters didn't look to bad. Except for the right rear corner (above). The rest of the gutters were only surface (below) and should clean up easily.

Here is a closer look at the rear corner, from above and below. Kind of serious looking and in need of new metal. It looks OK from the inside. Hopefully the framework under this rust hasn't been too badly affected.

The outside edge of the gutter along most of the right side is well eaten and will need some attention. I am not sure whether to replace this gutter, or try to rebuild with weld.

 I've been on the hunt for bits and pieces over the last few months and have collected various gutter/roof section clips from across the country, and they should be enough to sort this area out. Just need that welder, and good weather to do the job!!

I'll gather the clips together and take some pics to show you..... next time.....

Left wheel arch

Having made a start on the rear end, the next job in view was the left rear wheel arch.

It seemed like an easy job of stripping back, derusting and painting over, but it ended up being the same as both corners. The more I looked, poked and prodded, the bigger the job became! It became obvious that the left side had taken a significant side swipe at some point as there seems to be a lot of filler here. You can see the where the rust had developed under the filler on the right in the photo below. Not too much, but enough to cause future headaches.

With the same goal as the left corner, I kept prising the filler off in the hope of finding the edge of the damage. It just kept going. I was again amazed at how thickly this had been applied. You can see the comparison of filler thickness with a fat screw driver shaft in the photos. I don't really want to keep all this filler. Questions came wondering about the quality of work of the last repairer!

At this point I just kept at it and so have failed you with a lack of progress photos. I took a lot of filler off which covered most of the area above the wheel arch. Just above the inner arch I found some holes drilled to pull out the damage. I'll weld these up as they should have been at the time of the repair. They are full of paint for now.

 There was not a lot that could be done to improve the damage (other than replace the panel) so this area was striped back to metal and given a good coat of protection until I get to panel replacement. The lip of the arch is very straight but the panel above is rough. You can't really see that so well in the pictures though.

So now I'm happy, Ive made a good start on a long project. This progress will also keep me in the good books of the other people who use this driveway. Don't want to leave it just sitting there, taking up space, uncared for and gathering dust. I reckon that I should find an easier, more satisfying job for next time............

Bug In 2012 South Australia

We packed the camper and set off exploring the county side south of Adelaide over the last few days. The 2012 Bug In was to be held in McLaren Vale on the Saturday, so we headed over that way to soak up some VW atmosphere. I'm not sure why, but I was expecting a much bigger show, but it had a nice intimate feel about it instead. We easily spent a coulpe of hours looking and chatting. After that we went for lunch in town, and were treated with the sight of a VW convoy down the main street. There were some excellent vehicles on display. My favourites have to be the Blue/White Ghia, as I had one like this some years ago, and the very well finished 54 Beetle.

 

Concept 3

This idea was influenced by a girl I know. Kind of like it now that I've coloured it.

Concept 2

It seems that I just can't help myself!! The orange door on my first drawing led me to think about an all orange van. Think PMG Burnt Orange.

Concept

Found myself doodling a bit today.....  Thought that I should share this with you. It's the result of some wishful, future mind projection, some hand drawn pencil on a busselecta blank. Or, what the kombi will probably look like by the time it gets on the road, unfinished, half done, but going!!!

What do you think?? Comment?