So I sold the kombi and bought this. Plan is to weld up the rust, slap some paint on it, have my fiance delivered to the wedding in it (rego not needed, farm wedding) and then pull it all apart to do it properly. though i do plan to do the rust properly the first time round..

..and boy is there some rust. But for $200 i care not. its nothing I cant handle, and the motor kicks over, so hopefully will fire up with a little more investigation.



the battery tray has seen better days, but replacement panel costs close enough to fuck all



rear quarters are the worst bit, did they have foam in there this early?




not worried about the cancer in the gaurds, boot or bonnet, as im going with fibreglass panels to try and make this the lightest i can

A good scrub with the finest wash cloth known to man (a dirty work sock and the hose) yeilded fanstastic results. Most of the surface rust and 'patina' scrubbed off easily, leaving a much less scary project. unfortunately it was dark by the time i finished but luckily edo was on hand for night shots



Passenger side rear 1/4 has been cut out, along with the rusty steel beneath. Remaining steel has been cleaned up, rust converted and painted in killrust enamel..i hate enamel cos it never comes off but for this application i think its perfect. This side needs a bit more work to tidy up the cut hole before I can make a stencil, and im also going to have to try to replicate the rain gutter too.




Process repeated for the drivers side, but also got stencil and repair panel done, ready to weld in tommorow

Making Stencil for passenger side c pillar out of corflute



New steel all welded in, passenger side ready for a skim of filler to correct the body shape



Drivers side C pillar needs a couple of holes filled before it can recieve a skim of filler to correct the shape



With the metal work on the c pillars complete, I was struggling to think of a way to recreate the damaged rain gutters with my limited set of skills and my cheap arse bunnings mig. My solution was to end the gutters at the same measurement from their original length each side. Only Vw nuts will notice (no one ive shown so far noticed it) and this is in no way going to be a concours car anyway. Tommorow i will begin work on engine bay lip. its pretty much all down hill from here as I chose the worst bit to start on first.

So ive been working on this where I can, still cutting out rust, rinsing and repeating. this time attacking the front cowl area. as a bonus I managed to crack my perfect windscreen removing it. not happy





also decided to remove the front and rear seal channels, as theyre nothing but a rust magnet, and the seals ill be using attach to the panels rather than the body anyway



progress on this has slowed down somewhat, with me working 4 hours away from home, and only home on weekends... This week I forgot to bring my tools home with me so nothing got done on the rust side of things. Instead i decided to try and get the motor going. Previous owner had completely fucked up wiring up the coil during its 12v conversion, as well as putting the plug leads in the wrong spots. got that sorted, but I still couldn't work out why the points werent breaking the circuit to fire the coil. bit of sanding on the contact points, re setting of the points, setting the timing properly, and replacing the plug leads back to where they should be, and it fired straight up. fair bit of shit blew out of the muffler but i havent really had a chance to run in properly yet, as i had to shut it off as smoke started coming from something electrical on the drivers side of the engine bay. im yet to investigate it, but I think its got something to do with the 12v conversion. in the video below its the rectangular box above the generator. im assuming thats some sort of regulator?

I also need to pick up an accelerator repair kit, as mine doesent go the full range of the throttle, and wont return to idle. kombi was no different so it must be a vw thing that shits itself often



Yes, thats me carrying on like a goober, was pretty excited that it was running.

pretty stoked about how simple these cars are. Im the worlds worst mechanic, and even I can fix these with shit i found around the house cos my tools are hours away. loving it.


sorry for the obvious cut n paste from another forum, just thought itd be nice to show you guys what im up to, since most of my advice is from the avd facebook group

Good work and you sure haven't mucked around at cutting her up

Great to she fired up, but we know they do even if that have sat for over 10 years


Keep the photos coming, Kev

great work!

Progress has slowed right down now that I work in Proserpine during the week and only come home on weekends...meaning its sunday arvo by the time I can be stuffed to do any work on it most weekends. Have taken the exterior back to bare metal and sprayed in etch primer, as well as completing what I thought was the last of the rust repairs. Unfortunatley after removing the glass and wings theres a whole new set waiting for me. Nothing i cant handle, but will obviously take more time. Also turns out ALL my guards are rooted, so will definately be going with fibreglass hanging panels now. pretty much the only usable panel is the bonnet, and im yet to decide if I will source new doors. Would love to use fibreglass doors that are available, but I have doubts that they are legal in AUS.

Anyway pics.



LH R guard lip needs patch panel work


as does the front


Patch still needed on bonnet seal area


Rust repairs are now complete along the front cowl area, white marks are where I am not yet happy with the filler work. will finish that next time I come home


RH/Rear guard copped the worst. looks like theres been an accident in the panel behind the door too...dodgy welding and a days worth of bog removal that will not find its way back on there


Bootlid has been reattached to finalise the shape of the filler on the c pillar


Little bit more work needed to complete c pillar area


Bug is now in primer and marked up for the remaining work needed


Decklid is only on there as a sanding shape guide for the filler. its rusted to shit and will be replaced with a fibreglass variant

Paint time getting very close, so photoshop decision time...left..or right? Big fan of the Gulf colours myself..the martini took hours to shop crappily lol




meanwhile ive been making room and planning how to mount my excel radiator..plan is now to fit ej22 i have here, and go turbo once ive got it all sorted, probably only something tame like a t25 as i want to fit it between the motor and the rear valance..that way im not cutting into the parcel shelf. probably just going to cut the entire radiator support out of the parts car for winnie's pussbox race excel and go from there. will also borrow a few other excel parts like seats (sans headrests) and airbox. Ive got a vl turbo fuel pump and a stupidly oversized surge tank here, plan is to just get someone to cut the top off the surge tank and weld it onto the tank as some sort of swirl pot.

other than that its just been body work after body work, and its getting a bit same old same old for photos