Inner Structure - various updates

This distorted photo above shows the space that between the lower nose cut and the picture that follows.  Getting the inner structured install is going to be a challenge.

Sizing up the new inner structure.  While it is not that same as the original in shape, it will serve the purpose. I will document my steps once I have both pieces installed.

Inner Structure from the inside

 Here is a view from the inside.

Inner structure from the side view

Repairing mount for Inner Structure

I cut out the lip where the inner structure is mounted.  I used my plasma cutter as I was majorly frustrated from removing the spot welds to the valance in the front.  So, I welded in and filed down the new replacement piece.

Here is why I used my plasma cutter to originally remove my inner support panel. As you can see, the section was really rusted up due to the prior crash.

Rust and damage

A-Pillar/Front Valance connection

I am currently researching where this tab connects when rebuilding the front pillar. I've examined the old one removed and it doesn't seem like this existed on the original design.   If you know how this connects, please comment to let me know.

Front Nose Clip Repair - Part #2

 I used a plasma cutter to remove the front headlight support bracket.  I guess it was from being lazy or just frustrated with removing the inner valance off of the frame.  I've fabricated a new replacement for the section that I quickly cut out.  For some reason, this still seemed a lot simpler.  This was done on both sides of the van.  I am currently awaiting my order for a new headlight support bracket. I just need to grind it down once a few places are tack-welded to the body.  This piece is required to spot-weld the inner valance to the body, so I must put it back.  I'll show this completed, but I will only continue after I have the replace support bracket in my possession to try it on for size.

 Just making sure that I am going in the correct direction with the fender and pillar from the size perspective. It doesn't completely line up yet because I have not grind-ed down the tack-welds for the side rocker panel that I repaired previously. This is just to check to see if the angle will be right when I hit that step soon.  This should be completed in a few weeks.

Although, the valances does not fit onto the frame, because of metal that still needs to be clear off the two frame post.  I had to try it partly on to make sure the part's location is exactly where I expected it. This is an AutoCraft part, so it is very proper.  Stay tuned.

You can watch this video to get a full status of what I've just discussed:

Nose and A-Pillar replacement

My prep to fix the front noes of the bus.  Here I measured the replacement panel that will repair the crushed bus nose shape.  The panel that I cut is 8 inches (20.32 cm) high. The replacement panel is it a tad bit higher, but I rather grind it up to cover my imperfect cuts that normally run a bit high and low. I used the blue tape as a guide, trying to cut on top of it, or skimming it.  With all the sparks, it is very hard to tell. That is why I made sure that I under cut the piece. If I made a mistake, the whole replacement would be roughly $600.00 USA with shipping and it would require my retro-fitting the earlier bullet turning signals.

The bottom nose was removed. I tried to input the replacement part and as expected, it is to low to insert.  The main goal of this repair is to replace the A-Pillar below the floor.  I needed access to see what was beneath it all.  The secondary reason was to replace the damaged nose.


Please stay tuned..

Nose and Valance Removal - updated

In this photo, 8" inches of the noes has been removed to fix a few crushes  along the driver's headlight and the point in the center was banged in pretty badly. A former own drilled a lot of small slide-hammer holes to try to pull the tip out.

 I removed most of the outer front nose panel skin from the heavily rusted and bent out of shape inner valance.  The target is to remove the inner valance and headlight support bracket.

Exposed is the headlight support bracket on the top and the inner valance at the lower half. This is before the removal.

Side view of most of the inner valance removed. The hard part is removing the part in which it is connected to the frame. I'm am going to finish removing the headlight support bracket so that getting to the top of the beam would be simpler.

Front view of the removal.  I mostly used a plasma cutter to remove most of the metal and a cutoff wheel when control was required.

Here is all the scrap removed.  Stay tuned.











Getting the bottom valance off the bumper support beams is not an easy task.  After another 2 hours, i'm basically still in the same situation.  In this photo below, I removed 80% of the metal off the bumper support beam and I have the headlight support bracket detached from the passenger's side. I've decided to remove it to have access to straighten it out. It had been impacted by the minor accident.

Nose reconstruction project.

I just purchased a new inner valance for my bus project.  I have been reading up on how to install it. It seems pretty straightforward and scary. Hehehe.. I've also, purchase lower A-pillar post to assist in alignment of the whole setup. Stay tune for that process which will begin shortly.  I am not going to add the fenders until I have had a chance to work both sides of the door post (A-Pillar on the passenger's side).




Here is a photo of my current front under the nose clip. Doesn't look good. the previous owner had damage and popped holes into the front. The holes allowed moisture to get in causing this amount of rust.  This will all be replaced and made to look new. The mini project will be called the VW Bus Nose Surgery project (Front Inner Valance).

Rusty front

Closing Crap up! - Updated

I had to go a little medieval to get the side rocker panel in place, bending the B-pillar closeout plate with my Ford's scissor jack . It worked perfectly. The top lip of the outer rockers had about 1/8 of space that needed to be balanced out.   See the next photo and you'll understand that it was indeed successful.

As you can see, the panel lined up beautifully.  I've added the tack welds to hold the panel in place and I also added a few spot welds to the bottom to keep it in.  I ran out of gas today for my MIG welder.  Picking some up tomorrow and finishing the closing.

Here is the side bead welded across and down. The warpage was minor for such a long piece of metal. I had to jump around the line so that one part of the metal did not become too hot at anytime.  Just need to grind down the slug and prep area for priming.

Major Progress

 It's been a long time. A lot of my slow speed comes from mistakes and the lack of confidence.  I believe, once I finish this area, things will speed up, as I am already feeling my confidence building up nicely. The way in which I tackle each problem is only creating a stronger Marquis at the end of each session.

I finally got the B-Pillar closed up and sealed perfectly.  I ended up switching from the AutoCraft parts to a Funky Green panel pillar.  This pillar reaches farther up and it also closes the gap perfectly.

Once the  B-Pillar closed up,  I spot welded  the inner rockers to the cross connects (top and bottom hats). In some cases, I had to use a MIG welder to spot weld behind the middle pillars. For the ones that were reachable, this spot welder was the fastest and cleanest method possible.

This is a photo that shows how I tried to access in the middle of the beam with the spot welder.  In most cases, I didn't work well.  I was tired of holding the welder since it is very heavy.

The inner rocker and the pillar and the pillar closeout plate looks solid. I've added some weldable primer to resist against rust that could form when closing the gap and from the welding process overall.

The outer rocker is finally sized up for the final time to make sure it lines up for welding. I need to purchase a few more magnets to make sure all areas along the panel mates the original across the van in a leveled way.

I will post pictures when I am finished with the welding of the side.

Funky Green Panel sizing - B Pillar

This is a video moment of the installing the Funky Green Panel - B Pillar.  I promise this will end soon. :-)

Metal Prep - Video Part 1

Here is the metal prep for my damage front nose cone (panel). The process takes 5-6 weeks to remove rust.  So, this is Part #1

The Funny Green Panel vs AutoCraft

I am setting up the Funky Green Panel - B pillar, as the one from AutoCraft had a lot to be desired. It did not close properly and it also did not come with a block-off plate. Here I am sizing up my cuts before I begin to weld this piece in.  I will also check the block-off and make sure the outer rocker panel will close properly. The block-off plate that I tried to fabricate did not allow the outer rocker to close as it did not have the right curve in the right area. My piece was pretty good, but for $40 for both parts, why do this? With the AutoCraft piece, you have no options, as the part showed in this photo comes alone.

I have a weird cut, as I want the piece to lock vertically and horizontally.  More importantly, it has the standout tab to mount the  block-off plate to it at the top, which I am heavily modifying to fit with my Dremel.  The next photo will show the 1/4 of an inch that I'll have to raise it to. The bottom piece must completely clear the bottom lip of the inner rocker so that the outer rocker could sufficiently close.  Please see my next photo.

As you can see, the clearance is not quite there.  I will be back in the shop this weekend to complete this fitting session.  Before then, I'll complete the inner rocker welds.  This is all taking a long time as I am learning and I am learning that not all replacement parts are created equal. The outer rocker was purchased from AutoCraft and I must say, that it is awesome. So, this discussion is not to say AutoCraft is inferior, but we have to use the best part for each application.














Funky Green Panel vs My Fabricated versions.  I was pretty good.. :-)  The only real problem was the B-Pillar didn't allow the outer rocker to close. This could be because of the accident.  The Green one just fits much better.

The Front Nose - Damage

(p1)

(p2)

 I purchased a new 8 inch nose replacement panel to repair the center nose that normally gets smashed in at some point by some driver poor at parking. This is the Green Stuff.  It comes with a weld-thru green primer to prevent corrosion.

This is a very used front nose panel that I purchased online (p2). The unit was advertised to be used as wall-art, Go figure!  Who in the hell would use a split bus nose as wall-art?

Anyway, I had other intentions for it. I needed the section to the left of the light bucket and to the right of the bucket (p5).  The area to the right of the bucket, on my current nose was damaged (as seen in p1). The complexity of the curve didn't allow for me to straighten it out by a stud hammer. So, rather than using filler like how it was originally setup, I'll cut it out and replace it with the downer.

(p3)

I had to remove the rusty bottom, it bothered me greatly, even though, it was not my area of interest. By blocking out the areas that I want to protect with a marker, I let the cutting begin. Please see my cutting videos at the end of of this section.

(p5)

(p4)

Photos p4 and p5 shows the downer areas sized up to the location in which they will be graphed. I will attempt to repair the left-side of the light bucket with a hammer and dolly before cutting it and replacing the sheet metal.

Please see videos on the next page ->

Nose Clip Repair Plan

I have it traced out where I am going to remove the damaged area.  Before, this was filled in with filler and I tried pulling it out with a stud hammer. Because the area has a rather complex cure, the metal is not very malleable. None of the stud hammering pulled any part of it out. I will cut this part out and patch in a replacement.

I found this rather crude organ downer online. It was cheap, because it is pretty rusty, but the part I need is OK. I wish under the eye wasn't so jacked up as I would have liked to pull the who area, but once I have the cut open, I'll be able to work on the other part with a hammer and dolly.  I'll also have to pull out a small 5"x5" patch on the passenger's side.  It is not shown in the above picture, but there is a small rust hole there.

 I've also found online a nose clip that I can replace the smashed up nose area of the bus. This will handle the bang in the front.  This project will begin when I close up the side. I'll start cleaning up the downer part when I have a moment before, As I want to reduce the big elements in my garage. So I am going to do most of the cutting this weekend.

Wrong Part - UGH!

I ordered a single item from Wagenwerks, a jack support for at Bus and I received a jack support for a Beetle. This kills the work that I had planned for today. The main goal was to seal up the inner rocker and to prepare for the side panel replacement.   I'm a bit annoyed by the oversight. The two looks completely different and are not interchangeable.

Beetle

Bus

As you can see, the bus jack port is completely different, it has a lip to weld the inner rockers to.

I've order parts from Wagen Werks before, and never did this happen.  I guess we are all human.  Will I order from them again?  Of course!  They have fair prices and never have there been anything wrong with anything I order but this jack part. I forgive them, only because I like their site and products. :-)  I'll think of what else I can work on tonight and recover once this is fixed and I have high confidence it will be.

The photos link to their site, as sort of a recommendation, apart from me supplying the visuals for this post.