72 VW Panel Bus

Started out as a blue 1972 VW panel bus.

This one created with bus-selecta and colors of wheels and bumpers changed in photoshop.

Here is a link to it's debut at the 2009 Burger Meet. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=577426

Modifications done:

Lowered using adjustable beam and lowered spindles from Franklin's and boomerang brackets in the rear.

Black powder coated 17x7.5 Porsche style twist wheels with centers machined and lug holes drilled out to 14mm to fit the van.

2.0L fuel injected type IV engine from a 77-78 bus. Rebuilt and detailed.

091 transmission from later bus. Rebuilt by Gary's transaxle service.

74 and later style steering box. Major improvement over the clunk style of the 68-73 box. Requires drilling cutting and a big dimple in the sheet metal to get it to fit.

Ambulance fans

76 bucket seats with leather sides and basket weave centers with seat heaters

Line-x under front seats, entire floor in cargo area and area over the engine

Black leather and basket weave door panels in front

Removed plastic from dash and painted body color

Modified to fit much improved later bus steering box

Bumpers welded into one piece, smoothed and painted black

Fresh air grill screen replaced with drilled aluminum

Moon accelerator pedal

Late bus gauge cluster with VDO tach. Needles on fuel and speedo painted to match VDO tach.

Special edition green tinted glass in side windows. New custom made green tinted rear window without heating element

Restoration included:

Paint inside and out

Semi-detailed undercarriage

Re-chromed handles and window parts

Silver cad plated latch hardware

Powder coated engine tin, manifold, and fan shroud

Ceramic coated new heater boxes and muffler

Polished glass

A lot of rust repair

Completely replaced the driver side heater cable guide tube

Left to do:

Install headliner

Build rear interior panels and get painted. Upper portion will be body color

Buff paint

Few little odds and ends

Anodize window cranks and wheel spacers black

Fabricate up e-brake handle

Dye heater and fresh air knobs

Install ambulance fans and covers

Here is a before restoration picture.

Here are some pictures of the process...

Here it is during the body work process.

There was some rust and undercoating that needed scraped off...

There was a lot more rust that it looked like when I started the process.

Here it is after the first full coat of primer before blocking started

Shelby as Sacars did the bodywork, paint and some rust repair. The picture below

is the bottom of the slider door. I did this repair while the van was up at Sacars. Since

it is a panel door I couldn't just find another less rusty one easily. Instead I cut up a

regular door that wasn't rusty and grafted that piece into the panel door to replace the

rusted out section.

Here is the dash after the black plastic cover removed and radio and extra dash

knob holes welded up.

Here is the van after getting the roof painted. Turned out to be the wrong color.

Nice that only the roof and inside were painted the wrong color.

Here it is just after getting painted at Sacars.

Here is the engine after being detailed. Tin and shroud are powdered coated.

Heater boxes and muffler are ceramic coated.

Here is the dash assembled most of the way. I had to paint the needles of the

gas gauge and speedo to match the VDO tach.

Here is the front suspension. Underside of the van was coated with a sprayable

seam sealer and then black paint over that. This is the same type of coating used

on newer German cars. It both protects the metal and acts as a sound deadener.

Koni adjustable shocks are at all four corners. They are currently set in the middle

I will adjust as necessary after I get it on the road.

Here you can see the dynamat in the doors. You can also see the line-x coating

on the fender tubs that would normally have a fitted rubber mat.

Here it is at the end of January 09. All doors have been installed except the engine

lid. Hinges are at Sacars to get painted so it can be installed.

Here it is on the ground. You can see the Koni shocks and heavy duty sway bar.

Here is the transmision and rear suspension. It is hard not to clean and paint everything

once you get started. Nearly every part has been cleaned and painted.

Finally got the exterior assembled.

I drive it around a fair amount. It has over 8,000 miles on it since the restoration.

At the Yakima show with Curt's coral bug and Franklin's Thing in 2012.