This is my 1969 Lowlight Microbus, haven't worked on it for over a year, the goal is to have it registered in 2 months, probably wont happen, but worth a try! It was a coast car so plenty of rust to be found, but thats ok, just develops the skills a little more!
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
tar76 ·
Some nice work there Kuchster! Sic looking bus mate
vwpizza ·
Looking good Rob......
Camo ·
Hi Rob,
doping a great job and obviously haven't lost your enthusiasm at all 👍
Kev
snitz ·
Awesome skills witht the gas axe Kuchster.Next on our list is a lowlight bus..just gotta have one!..😎😎.
Who did you buy the nose rust repair panel from?..regards Jason.
Kuchster ·
Bit more done today, nearly ready for the sills to go on
Kuchster ·
Thanks fella's, hows the bug going Kev? Sold the splitty Dino?? Must be a better one on the way 😉
Jason, might just be your luck, this one will be for sale once its registered. Nose panel was a klokkenholm panel, not bad, just made incorrectly and need a lot of work to make it fit. That goes for the inner and outer. Thats why i try to make most of it myself, so it fits..
Cheers
Kuchster ·
Nickster ·
Wow, impressive metal working skills. Your welding looks top notch. Well done!
kaiisons ·
Very skillful Rob, if you need anymore flies on the wall you know where I live
DubLeg ·
You got skills Kuch. Very impressive repair work there. 🙂
Kuchster ·
Now we are starting to see something..
Kuchster ·
Thanks for the comments, come around any time Kai, just give me a msg to make sure im home. DubLeg, looks like i've got your bus's brother here!
Kuchster ·
Side panel very close to finished
And the outcome hopefully, and no, i dont mean for it to transform to a late bay..
Kuchster ·
All this side is done except installing the jacking point when i get one. Now to start on the other side
splitbus ·
Great work Rob, you are a artist, but you need to change your bus generator to a low light 😉
Scottkombi ·
Rob,
Your craftsmanship is amazing.
This will be a very solid bus at the end - actually - now!
Well done - should pass rego easy if the brakes and steering are all good.
Cheers,
Scott
Kuchster ·
Kuchster ·
Passenger side done.
DubbyDo ·
That is dead set metal artistry, thanks for sharing
Kuchster ·
Now for the window bottoms to be replaced
Kuchster ·
Side windows are done, need to do a repair on the inner of the middle window frame still. Started on the rear floor where there is plenty more rust. Registration before 10th march deadline..
binner ·
Geebus, your speed and fabrication time has really put my 1 year resto to shame!! top class stuff there mate. 🙂
Kuchster ·
C'mon, 1 year is plenty, im doing the almost impossible 2 months!!
Engine and fuel tank out, nice original paint in fuel tank section.
What lies beneath? Looks like an easy repair for a change..
If it isnt, my favourite?
Suppose we better make a new one...
Kuchster ·
Inner finished
Outer finished
Rust around where the battery tray was welded on
Finished
Test fit battery tray, it actually kind of fits!
rossdanialnaumov ·
Really nice work mate!
Klaus ·
2 months is still too long rob haha
69bug ·
Amazing welding,
Thanks for sharing
benny_acko ·
Beautiful work!! I bet my '67 Bug wishes it was getting this kind of rust free love!
Mr Bubble Head ·
Nice work love the way you make the fab panels I would love to gain skills and the tooling to do half what you've done
Kuchster ·
Sorry for the lack of progress, been working on the country buggy, now that is done, bit more work on this..
Scottkombi ·
Yay Rob....well done - back to the lowie for some more work.
I was wondering what happened - you were steaming along at one stage then the wheels seemed to fall off.
Great she is almost done now by the look of it - great work.
Pastit ·
Kuch, you using oxy and planishing the welds as you go?
Kuchster ·
Windscreen repair complete and welded some adjusters into the beam.
nils ·
Stand up work! 👍
Scottkombi ·
They really are rusty buggers these old busses - lots of work and good to see you are including the essentials like lowering!
Kuchster ·
Dropped it a little and some new tyres on the front.
Had to patch up some holes from an existing couple of antennas.
Starting on the sliding door. Neighbour told me to find another one?? I did some rust work on his VK the last couple of weeks, just because my door has more rust than his whole VK... Fixing rust on a vw is so much more fun 😂
Scottkombi ·
Nice work again Rob.
Is the sliding door the last patient for this once very sick bus or are the other doors just as rotten?
Amazing quality of repair though.
That Oxy should burn off all other internal surrounding surface rot we cant really see too.
Kuchster ·
Thanks Scott, just the passenger door after this one, shouldnt be a lot of work on that one though, and a bit on the engine lid.
kaiisons ·
Looking good Rob! Will be better than new once you are done.
Kuchster ·
Rather difficult repair because of all the shaping
Making a start on this section
vwpizza ·
Looking good Rob.....
Kuchster ·
Thanks Kai and Dino, come around any time, Your wheels are here for the CB Dino..
Just the bottom of the sliding door to be done, getting a section bent up so i'll finish it off later in the week.
Engine Lid done, sorry no other pics, it really needs a new engine lid but this one will be good for a while.
Corners done on both sides
vwpizza ·
And I have your wheels here ready to go,just need to pull my finger out!!!
Kuchster ·
There is nothing I hate more than doing rust work on bay window front doors, bit of shrinking required even after using the mig to put in the patch panel.
Scottkombi ·
Another fine job Rob.
Im surprised thesedoors are so bad there.
69 models dont have the extra side intrusion bar that sits along the sill - which causes most of the rot to the door sill as it traps water and dirt.
I have seen a 69 with a rusty sliding door sill & tailgate & engine lid and no rot in either the front doors.
Front doors are notorious for warping and why some prefer to totally re-skin.
Cheers,
Scott
Kuchster ·
I think a reskin of the door would have been a much easier process..
Did a bit of painting over the weekend, decided to patch all the welded areas and give it some colour, didn't quite get the look i was looking for, the red is noticeably brighter and looks really good, so i've decided to do a full respray while it is stripped this far, same colours in 2 pack, I've basically come to the stage of a full resto so i wont spoil it by leaving the old paint, I guess I was more after rat look though its not really working with this bus.
Painted the dash also
Now back to the easy part!!
And rust converted the interior ready for a lick of paint
Camo ·
Hi Rob,
good to see you are only taking on little jobs, NOT 😂😂😂😂
Kev 👍
Kuchster ·
That's right Kev.. haha
Did I mention that i'm aiming for rego by the 1st march??
Finished the headlight buckets
Bit of paint on the interior, few imperfections though most of it is going to be covered, looks good and stops the rust.
RODZ ·
Coming up a treat.
Scottkombi ·
Awesome work Rob.
I would throw some more paint on the seat bases as moisture seems to get to these areas and rot them out.
Also the middle inner driver side panel could use some paint just to keep the rust at bay. The job looks great so far - Cant wait to see it all back together and on the road.
Kuchster ·
I understand what you mean Scott, this will be oiled up very well before reassembly to stop any further rusting.
Now we have some primer
Craig Torrens ·
Looking good👍
Kuchster ·
Sanded back ready for re prime
Reprimed
And we have white on top, Came out fantastic!
Scottkombi ·
Looks great Rob.
Are you going for the same colour for the lower section?
Your panel shop skills are amazing!
nils ·
Boy I look forward to getting mine to that stage. Pleasure as always watching your work.
vwpizza ·
So looks like you will have it ready for the Pizza Drags Cruise .......
Kuchster ·
Cheers boys, not too bad for my first time.. hehe.
When is the pizza drags cruise??
Taped up ready for paint
Ooohh colour layed on
And the body is done, good finish, few runs which i cut and buffed and looks not too bad at all
Friends
Fixed up some rust on the front bumper
grinderman ·
By the looks of your new red garage floor your exhaust fan shit itself hey?🤪
Looking great, cant wait to be at that stage with buttercup
Kuchster ·
I had 2 exhaust fans going, cant catch it all as it lays down onto the floor! I think of it as floor protection.. The pics of it just painted look dusty because of the overspray on my phone haha
Kuchster ·
The last bit of rust that i've been avoiding all along, though it came out rather well, just hate mig welding that's all, couldn't use the oxy because I couldn't get behind it due to the door framing.
Now for the rest of the parts to be primed and painted! So then assembly can begin!! I need a shaft for the wiper mechanism if anyone has one? Or a whole dead wiper system??
vwpizza ·
Kuchster wrote:Cheers boys, not too bad for my first time.. hehe.
When is the pizza drags cruise??
Friday 21st of February .....
Kuchster ·
Not quite ready enough for the pizza cruise.. but getting there
Everything in primer ready for sanding
Ready for the white
Time for some red
Mmm shiny
Sprayed black under the guards
Installed the new jacking point and outrigger.. Fitted just like a klokkenholm panel does........
Tinware and other parts painted black
Sprayed all the back of the doors cream
Hopefully that is all the painting done!! Now time for assembly. New rings already in engine and time for assembly.
Scottkombi ·
Sensational stuff!
On my lowie the inner sliding door sill is exposed above the trim.
US busses had a piece of vinyl over that inner upper sliding door sill area that scallops in - is that your plan?
What an amazing transformation all in your backyard shed/ garage.
Bizarre ·
WOW............................. 😵💫
Was sort of wishing it was going to stay rat and schmick on the inside
Looks unbelievable now though
The black highlights really set it off
Camo ·
Excellent Rob, you are doing a great job on my new Kombi 😉
Thanks, Kev
Kuchster ·
Assembly time
Fuel tank in
Lights oohh pretty
Custom shadecloth
Re ringed and cleaned up the engine, gasket kit and carby kit through it
Cut some carpet for the rear
Dad doing some contact glue work, doing all the underlay and the vinyl on the pillars and sliding door
Mate came over to do the headliner for me
Dropped it a little, ended up getting 2 new front tyres as the ones that were on there had been driven on flat and stuffed the side wall, these were second hand tyres from another bus I bought, the ones in this pic are still the old ones, the new ones are slightly higher profile and had to adjust the height on the front
Couple speakers
And it's registered! Blue slip was done on monday and got the number plates today, just waiting for the full interior door card kit to come now
Bizarre ·
That is so sweet
I love a nice tin top
Camo ·
Wow, that came along quick in the end. But looking at that sticker on the rear (Kuch) I don't think you will still be selling this one 😉
Great work, enjoy.
Kev
Bizarre ·
I like the window sticker 😂
Isnt the Nimbin Kombi Convoy on soon?
Kuchster ·
Cheers Fellas, This one will definately be for sale, i'd like to get another car on the road before hand, though if it sells it sells, so just let me know when you'd like to pick it up Kev??!!
The window sticker was on it originally and thought i'd keep some of the history with it!!
Scottkombi ·
Fantastic resto Kuch.
You covered all the bases here, inlcuding body repair, prep & paint, ride height adjustment, and interior refurb.
These busses can really be a paint to even re-fit all the bits especially if they were taken apart a long time ago - finding the right bolts and screws etc can be difficult - especially when they get pilfered for other vehicles.
Brilliant finish mate!👍
Kuchster ·
Took the bus for a holiday to Kioloa Beach, Ulladulla area nsw, was great