Turnkey Operation

Happy are those who dream dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true.
Anonymous

We're running again!

We're putting the new wiring harness to a proper test and actually starting and running the engine using the "proper" tool - the key! So the battery needed a boost from the jumper leads but she starts and runs. These are certainly exciting times, what a rush!

Thanks for the visit, come back soon! Prepping for paint next.
CooP

Time to Dash Off

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined.Henry David Thoreau

We're getting on with body work and preparation for paint now that the bulk of the wiring has been completed. I've whipped out the dashboard panel and the attached, vinyl padded plasticky bit so that I can paint and polish them separately from the bus. Lots of dust and crap under there but now is a good chance to clean it up properly and double-check our wiring and electrical connections.

Pictured above is a bolted-in plate ahead of the steering column, the existing version of which is slightly bent from the front-end bump that this bus has suffered. I have replaced this with the original Marigold one from the orange bus. Despite being from a left-hand-drive bus these parts appear to be identical and interchangeable. As with many of these Kombi parts - they were designed to be used in different parts of the World with the minimum of fuss, too clevah.

The surrounding rim of the windscreen is badly rusted and consequently pitted with occasionally holes going right through the thin sheet metal. We set up some little bits of backing plate made from old angle-iron and filled the holes in with weld. After grinding down the protruding welds I then mixed up some fibre-glass resin and spread a good, thick layer over the entire bottom section of the surround. I'll have a wee look on Saturday and see how it sets. I'm hoping that it'll serve the dual purpose of smoothing out the pitting and sealing out any water in future.

Thanks for the visit, come again!
CooP

Let There Be Light

All I want is to stand in a field and to smell green, to taste air, to feel the earth want me, without all this concrete hating me.
Phillip Pulfrey

We've had  a long struggle to sort out the dusty, dirty, burned mess that was the wiring harness. We finally got to slap in a battery and start testing. With a fire extinguisher at the ready we cautiously started working our way through the lighting systems. Click the pic for a bigger version. Or don't, your choice.

To my faint amazement it all seems to be working!

The headlight and indicator relays attached to the underside of the fuse box were rusted through and completely unusable. I managed to source replacements locally, although the indicator relays from the nearest parts shop turned out to be repeatedly duff and failed to work at all. After returning three times for replacements I ended up demanding a refund which I then spent at Krugersdorp getting a suitable (and working) replacement. Exciting times, it's good to see the various bits coming to life again.

We had some rather dodgy connections in the rear light clusters and most of the lights did not initially work at all. They are now stripped and all of the copper contacts have been gently sandpapered back to shiny beauty. I'll leave the clusters out for now so that we can start prepping the surrounds for the imminent painting.

I still need an indicator switch. Nothing yet from the various feelers that I've put out, I may have to import a new one or simply stick an ordinary toggle switch on the dashboard for the time being. But we have shorted out the wires and the indicators are all working just fine.

Over-all the new wiring loom seems to be a great success, the ignition switch works, the starter turns over the engine, the lights all seem ok and the dashboard gauges and lights all seems to be doing what they should. Powaaaaaaahhh!

Thanks for visiting, see ya soon!
CooP

A Bit on the Side

Life is like riding a bicycle - in order to keep your balance, you must keep moving.
Albert Einstein

So I eventually got around to tidying up the mess on the sliding door. It's not quite finished yet but I made a lot of progress today.

It's a helluva lot of hard work sandpapering this polyester body filler! It really gets hard and it takes time and care to get it to flow and blend with the curves and turns of the door. I was about half-way finished when I stopped for a needed breath of air and I took the snap. I had a go with the polisher shown in the pic, after I had added a sanding disc to it. Even at it's lowest speed it was still a bit aggressive so I packed it away and finished off by hand. It 'aint perfect but I like it.

With a brush I walloped on some of the fancy 2K primer that I bought some while ago. It seems to work ok but I'll spray it next time for a smoother, neater finish. This will require more sanding to get it right but it has covered the worst of the damage, which was my real concern.


Thanks for the visit, sight ya!
CooP

Going Topless

For every person who has ever lived there has come, at last, a spring he will never see. Glory then in the springs that are yours.
Pam Brown

Wheeeee! We managed to get the fourth and final coat applied to the pop-top roof. It's looking pretty gawjus, people. Interesting texture, I rather do like it. I bet that the rubbery matte finish attracts dirt like a 5-year-old in a swamp. But it should flex and stretch with the movement of the roof and not crack and split like the old paint had done. And for only forty bucks per litre I can easily afford to touch it up regularly if I have to.

Click this pic for the bigger picture, if ya like.

More soon, thanks for visiting!
CooP

Flipping My Lid

I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.
Douglas Adams

Sometime before Marigold left Germany in the early seventies she was fitted with a side-lifting Dormobile "pop top" roof. This allows fantastic headroom and also allows room for the fitment of two stretchers, quite suitable for kids although a tight squeeze for most grown ups. My younger sis and I spent almost every holiday night in our youth sleeping on these stretchers.

As always, you can click on the pics for a larger version. Or not. Hey man it's your choice.

The combined ravages of time, neglect and the harsh South African climate have had their effect on this fibre-glass masterpiece and it is showing some wicked wear and tear. One of the translucent pop-up skylights was destroyed loudly and violently against a low concrete beam in an underground car park. The other departed suddenly and with a loud BANG at full speed (Speed? Lol, poetic licence) on the road to Heidelberg Kloof some years ago on the way to the local version of the Woodstock music festival. This caused some interesting and exciting swerving and fist-waving in the long line of already impatient traffic behind us, and startled my pre-teen daughter into wide-eyed rigidity. Ah, happy memories - yet another item on my wishlist.

I can get replica replacements for these on a Brit website for some nasty high price (36 quid each plus postage, *gulp*, that's nearly 15 gazillion rands with the current exchange rate).  but I have decided to either find a similar and locally-available substitute or to replace them with fixed windows. Maybe one from a caravan or summat. A friend on one of the local air-cooled forums has suggested a bain-marie dish so we have lots of possibilities. I'll be on the hunt over the next couple of weeks for something suitable.

The window rubbers were rotten and brittle so we pulled them out and removed the windows for cleaning. While at it we decided to do a proper job and remove all of the other fixtures and fittings too. We started sanding down the fibre glass surface to prepare it for paint, partly with an electric sander and partly with sanding blocks where the electric proved to be a bit too aggro. What a way to take off the autumn chill. Blood, sweat and tears: not just a bad singing group for nostalgic parents.

I grabbed hold of some modern inertia-reel type safety belts for the project. I don't like to buy second-hand for safety-related stuff so I bought brand new ones. The originals were well worn and didn't look very safe. Nor even very belt-like, come to think of it, more like giant, grey, furry caterpillars breeding in the seats. We made up some extra-heavy steel brackets to support them and they'll be fitted correctly once we applied some proper paint.

Sorry for all the rubbishy pics, I keep forgetting the better camera at home and end up using my old phone to take the shots for the project diary. Just live with it and use some imagination. Or bring some beer and come and see it for yourself.


Thanks for visiting, do come again!
CooP

Bay Window Blues

When you stop doing things for fun you might as well be dead.
Ernest Hemingway, True at First Light

This model type of the VW Kombi was known to many as the Bay Window. This is because the large, curved front windscreen was such a noticeable change from the twin, flat windscreens of the previous "split-screen" models. The windscreen has not weathered well and was particularly affected by the fire that caused so much other damage to the front end of the white donor bus. (As usual, click on the pics to enlarge them a bit.)

The screen was cracked at the bottom right, and the glue within the laminated glass had boiled and bubbled and turned a blueish brown colour. I removed the pristine screen from Marigold before I gave away the leftover sections of the project and it's been carefully and lovingly stored away. So I do have a replacement and will just need to get a new seal and some assistance with fitting, when I'm eventually ready.

I cut around the rubber seal and popped out the old glass with little effort. As I expected the steel surround is badly rusted and pitted, there are a couple of holes that go right through and much of the rest is thin and useless. This is a fairly common problem with these old Kombis, the design of the surround makes it a water trap and the rust is almost unavoidable without taking special precautions.

I have been scratching, scraping and scrubbing at the side windows to remove all traces of many souvenir stickers and transfers that once graced the old girl and boasted of her successful travels and conquests. They were, in most cases, faded and peeling and looking rather tatty so they had to go. I'll start a new collection of my own when I hit the road!


Thanks for visiting, come again!
CooP