The expat microbus

[kombibob]

Hey Guys,
Thought I better start a thread on this thing to help keep me motivated.
Most probably know that I bought Pats Samba off him, he was happy to sell to me as he gets to watch I come back to life and enjoy it again (AS A PASSENGER!!!) once she is back on the road.

Anyway I stated working on it in the last couple of weeks, and its coming along.
I started by stripping the rear pas corner, short side, wheel tub and part of the upper engine floor.
After that with a heap of bashing, pulling and straitening I managed to get the rear square again with good tailgate and engine lid gaps.








Nice and bent in here



So out it all came







Managed to beat the inner closeout corner window panel back into shape to accept glass again



Tacked the floor section back in and trial fitted the new tub today.

[kombibob]

In the next couple of weeks I will get it up on a rotisserie after I weld in some supports.
then its off with the belly pans to see what it is like in there, fix what needs doing and por15 it all.
As for the front I will just work towards it getting every thing square and where it should be. what I would really like is to find a donor front to rebuild and graft on as the one on there is from a 67 anyway and was roughly attached after another accident in the 80'S
The poor bitch has been slapped around a bit in her life.
But on the plus side most of what I am dealing with is not rust! and she has a great cargo floor.

All advise, criticism , and encouragement welcome.

[kombi niko]

nice work mate, will be great to see this back on the road!!

[splitbus]

Looking good Bob, will be good to see this back on SEQ roads again

[flipflop]

Bloody Hell, done in no time!

[067DUB]

Nice work Bob

[Ian 68]

Well done Bob, good to see it getting some loving.

As always mate, I admire the skills patience and dedication that goes into keeping these old buses on the road, keep at it mate and in no time it'll be rolling again.

See you round the tracks sometime soon no doubt.

Expat bus...like it, very good ha ha

Ian

[rodz]

Good stuff, after seeing the pics on sat, glad your putting them up on here, will stop me hassling you and Ash for updates every time I see you.

[Cam Biscuit]

Good work Bob, keep sharing the photos!

[MISS VDUB]

Good to see you are keeping out of trouble while i'm not there!

It's looking awesome, can't wait to see it!!!!

[GFresh]

Great work Bob

I'm very happy to see this bus being tackled and not hacked up for parts

Small bites mate and you will have it knocked out in no time

[NorCalRiviera]

Boy, there's some dedication! Great job!

[Ged]

Great stuff Bob. What's the ultimate plan? Patch and roll or Resto?

[Leroy]

Looking the goods mate!

[matara]

Nice to see its going to come back good Bob. Did the corner window area suffer some damage as well?

Cheers

Steve