www.dsk.com.au

hi,

(newbie alert) can i just say i'm so green with envy right now. The standard of some of the kombi's on here is, wow. I'm just about to finish uni and have finally been able get get myself a decent job

I'm pretty keen to get a splity to restore/do up. Although i dont really know that much about kombi's.

Have seen a few ads (mostly on ebay) for some, but how much would u recomend to spend on an old rat? I'm not interested in buying an already done up 1.

I realise the price is usually depends on the time/effort to restore 1. But having looked through some other forums, have found other guys that have repaired absolute rust buckets, 1 guy even did 1 that fell off a cliff. http://www.kustomcoachwerks.com/forums/ ... php?t=2424

just for my benefit how much would u pay for

A) http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... &rd=1&rd=1

B) http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... &rd=1&rd=1

Also, what would u recomend in terms of engine/gearbox choice.
I will prob use the bus mostly for cruising but must be pretty reliable.
Have heard that some people have used subaru engines??? What box would run with it? I like the idea of a modern-er engine for reliability and parts.

What is the difference between front beams between the years. As i'll prob build a narrowed beam. which is better/which beams suit different requirements???

I have done some research, but have read so much over the past few weeks, i'm starting to get confused

Thanks in advance, Tom

tommy...
mate ill just say welcome. there r alot of lads on here that will give u the answers u need. they are a gr8 bunch.
cheers matty

hey tommy i live in newcastle and have just joined myself if you get around to purchasing a unrestored van i may be able to give you hand at times as i am a spraypainter.

S U B A R U

Hi Tommy,
Good to see you joining the brotherhood.
Have you restored a car before?
If not, you're in for some surprises to say the least but good on you for being willing to have a crack.
You're braver than me!
As far as engines go Subarus are good items but you then have to deal with a more pressing problem.......where will the radiator/s go?
A number of great minds have tried to solve this with varying degrees of success but in the end you'll be spending more on a Subie engine coversion than a well built aircooled VW motor would cost you.
If you were intending to restore a ute I'd give you the nod but in a bus or panel there are problems find effective places to mount the radiator.
With a good twin carb 1600cc with external oil cooler, unleaded heads and low compression you'll have an engine that will push a splitty well and there are plenty of mechanics who can keep it up to scratch.
From there you can go to bigger engines like a 1776cc, 1835cc or 1914cc if you want more power.
The beauty is that all will fit straight into your bus with no cutting and messing around in the engine bay.
What I would recommend is a conversion to IRS both for stability in handling and also for better highway speeds.
You will want to look around for is an L-Bug (1303?) gearbox for this setup.
Anyhow, good luck on finding something decent and don't get duped by an Egay con artist for something that's about to dissolve into flakes of rust.

Oh, one more thing......that 23 Window the guy is restoring on kustomcoachwerks.com is a BARNDOOR.
They are rare as rocking horse poo.
There are precious few 23 windows left these days and even fewer barndoors.
The combination is, well, rarer than rocking horse poo!
So it isn't really surprising that they are rebuilding.
Steve Muller found a barndoor 11 window than had it's roof crushed right down and okrasa power here redeemed it and put a new roof on it.
It needs alot of other work too but barnies are like gold.
If it hadn't been a barny we would all have shed a few tears and tried to block it out of our memories.

kombi1976 wrote:Oh, one more thing......that 23 Window the guy is restoring on kustomcoachwerks.com is a BARNDOOR.
They are rare as rocking horse poo.
There are precious few 23 windows left these days and even fewer barndoors.
The combination is, well, rarer than rocking horse poo!
So it isn't really surprising that they are rebuilding.
Steve Muller found a barndoor 11 window than had it's roof crushed right down and okrasa power here redeemed it and put a new roof on it.
It needs alot of other work too but barnies are like gold.
If it hadn't been a barny we would all have shed a few tears and tried to block it out of our memories.

Yeah that's why i put it up, well almost rarer than rocking horse poo.

kombi1976 wrote:Hi Tommy,
Good to see you joining the brotherhood.
Have you restored a car before?

na, but have done some basic rust repairs and some panel work, some of my mates are into mini-trucks, so have helped them abit (shaving handles, notches to chassis etc)

kombi1976 wrote:If not, you're in for some surprises to say the least but good on you for being willing to have a crack.

Thats 4 sure.

kombi1976 wrote:You're braver than me!
As far as engines go Subarus are good items but you then have to deal with a more pressing problem.......where will the radiator/s go?
A number of great minds have tried to solve this with varying degrees of success but in the end you'll be spending more on a Subie engine coversion than a well built aircooled VW motor would cost you.
If you were intending to restore a ute I'd give you the nod but in a bus or panel there are problems find effective places to mount the radiator.
With a good twin carb 1600cc with external oil cooler, unleaded heads and low compression you'll have an engine that will push a splitty well and there are plenty of mechanics who can keep it up to scratch.
From there you can go to bigger engines like a 1776cc, 1835cc or 1914cc if you want more power.

yeah, the possibilities. A nice aircooled with straight cut cam gears always sounds awesome

kombi1976 wrote:The beauty is that all will fit straight into your bus with no cutting and messing around in the engine bay.
What I would recommend is a conversion to IRS both for stability in handling and also for better highway speeds.
You will want to look around for is an L-Bug (1303?) gearbox for this setup.

yeah, that what i was thinking. What are these IRS's like when the bus is lowered??? (angle cv's can take???) Might run an airbag sus setup (done a couple of bag setups in a few utes and seen a few airbeams, doesn't look too impossible) What are the ratio's like in these box's?

i basically what the looks of the 50/60's with modern advantages eg IRS, heat air etc. (if thats possible) Would like all mods to leave basic structure intact, so can convert back to original.

kombi1976 wrote:Anyhow, good luck on finding something decent and don't get duped by an Egay con artist for something that's about to dissolve into flakes of rust.

cheers mate, u've put to many idea's in my head.

tommy wrote:na, but have done some basic rust repairs and some panel work, some of my mates are into mini-trucks, so have helped them abit (shaving handles, notches to chassis etc)

Minitrucks!!!!
Arrrgggghhhh.....get thee behind me, Satan!!

tommy wrote:yeah, the possibilities. A nice aircooled with straight cut cam gears always sounds awesome

They do.
Get the revs up and they sound like an early Porsche!!
Mind you, the whirr of an old 1200cc bus is indescribably blissful.

tommy wrote:yeah, that what i was thinking. What are these IRS's like when the bus is lowered??? (angle cv's can take???) Might run an airbag sus setup (done a couple of bag setups in a few utes and seen a few airbeams, doesn't look too impossible) What are the ratio's like in these box's?

There are guys in the states doing airbag stuff on buses but from what I remember they often fabricate the entire thing from scratch.
Mind you I could be wrong.
It's been a while since I looked at them.
There are a number of advantages to IRS though.
Firstly, it means you don't have the hassle of reduction boxes, which of course are a nightmare for highway speeds.
You also have 2 trailing arms which stop the wheel from going under the body the way swingaxle transmissions did and this is really good for tightening up the rear end.
The best, however, is definitely the better speed and strength that can be got from a L-Bug box.
The final drive ratio is as high or a little higher than a 2.0l Baywindow box
and the box is good for well over 120hp.
And all you have to do is exchange the nose cone on the L-bug box for the one on your split bus box along with a easily available block off plate.
Then it bolts straight in.

tommy wrote:i basically what the looks of the 50/60's with modern advantages eg IRS, heat air etc. (if thats possible) Would like all mods to leave basic structure intact, so can convert back to original.

You sound more and more like me, mate!
You'll need something muscle bound in the back to handle air-con though.
Mind you, there's a mob in Florida fitting them to Bays and they were featured in last months Hot VWs magazine.
I'm pretty sure a couple of guys here are chasing how to do it too.
As far as I'm concerned though that's what windows are for.
The engine gets hot enough without aircon to help.
My panel has a 68 Balljoint front beam and '74 front discs, rear drums and IRS.
When it's finished around September it'll have a L-Bug box, working heater boxes, a dual carb 1600cc with external oil cooler, inertia reel belts, a rock'n'roll rear seat and slide out middle seat, bus cargo doors(with windows), child harness points and other safe bits.
Steve Muller is basically working out exactly how to make it run as close as possible to a modern car and I can't wait.
It'll be lowered but not slammed as I need functional.
The SBS crowd look amazing but there are too many speed bumps and high driveways near my place.

tommy wrote:cheers mate, u've put to many idea's in my head.

Glad to be of service.
I should be up Nelson Bay direction sometime as well and if I'm driving the splitty I'll let you know so you can have a look at her.