1952 Barn Door Restoration

Cab Floor Finished

2012-03-01T04:51:00.000-08:00

The cab floor is now all in place. There is one piece that remains as a bolt-in section. The rest is welded into place. The original floor is made up for 5 separate sections.

Here you can see the floor finished and seam-sealer used prior to giving a coat of primer.

'A' Post Modifications

2012-03-01T03:15:00.000-08:00

The new 'A' posts that we bought turned out to be the pattern for 1953-55 ones. The change is very minor and hardly spotted until you know what you are looking for.

Below are photos of the LHS 'A' post before we modified it:

On the return lip, the earlier 'A' post has an almost right-angle shaped lip rather than it being flush. Here's the other side now modified to the correct pattern:

The new metal you can see protrudes 7mm from the back of the seal holder strip. The later version from mid 1953 - 1955 was virtually flush

Thanks to 'lowdowndirtyrat' on SSVC for the info before it was too late!!

Dashboard

2012-02-24T08:06:00.000-08:00

As we've put a new clip on the front of the van, we wanted to keep the original dashboard out of our van. So it got cut up:

Here looking from the back of the dashboard:

You can see its like 'machine gun alley' with all the holes in it.

The 'Y' piece will get removed, split into two and repaired.

In the bottom left of the picture, the 'Y' piece is badly crushed. Thankfully, the other side looks nearly perfect so we have a shape and contours to follow:

The horizontal support pieces here are badly out of shape - they should be straight!

The two tabs sticking out from the underneath of the dash are where the speedo pod locates. The 'tray' that the pod sits on has been moved in the past, so this will be re-aligned

The vertical tube is wrong, it should have a opening section to allow heat into the cab area.

The 4 holes in the flat bit of the dash are where the passenger grab handle is fixed to the dash. The other holes are being welded up

Finishing Off Seat Bases

2012-02-24T03:19:00.000-08:00

The Seat bases / inner wheel arch tubs are now finished off and seam-sealed as appropriate.

The whole front under-seat cab section is now virtually complete.

Looking from where the wheel will be you can see the arch of the front chassis rail in the bottom right of the photo. The Front beam will be mounted here. You can see the frame liner going upwards from there where it meets the wheel arch tub.

Back section of the wheel housing area. You can see the bulkhead panel forms the back of the wheel housing section with the chassis frame line meeting it at 90-degrees.

Looking directly upwards, you can just see the edge of the outer front wheel arch framing the top edge of the photo. You can see the 'X' pattern pressing in the wheel housing (more details on this below).

Here you can see the wheel housing panel at the front of the wheel tub, here it comes down and meets the cab floor. To the left of the photo is the box section of the front outer wheel arch (this is actually made up of several sections).

The 'X' pressing was introduced on the Barndoor sometime between chassis numbers 20-04639 and 20-05385. It continued with this pressing upto 1955.

Here you can see the back of the wheel housing showing where the outer wheel arch meets the Bulkhead panel and the 'B' post where it comes down to meet the chassis.

Centre Seat Box

2012-02-23T04:33:00.000-08:00

The Centre seat box fits between the inner wheel arches under the front bench seat. This panel has the hole in the top for the storage of the tool kit.

This particular panel changed frequently during the production years as the choke cable / heater cable was re-designed and re-located. For our van, there is a very specific 1952 only version, from chassis number 20-14685 through to 20-41711 was the type we have.

Luckily, the original centre section was included in the van when we bought it, but to say it was 'rough' was an understatement! It had been cut about and had a hole cut for a radio, so it needed a lot of work!

Here the tool box is now in place with all the wrong holes welded up and the bottom edge has been repaired. The tubes for the heater cables and the choke cable are now in line too.

Front Wheel Arches

2012-02-22T04:35:00.000-08:00

Now that the 'A' post and 'B' post pillars are in place, we can fit the wheel arches into place and then work on the cab door alignment ensuring the door gaps are perfect all around and match on each side.

Offside front wheel arch in place. Nice alignment along the bottom edge of the door. The bottom of the wheel arch lines up nicely too with the 'B' post.

We'll trial fit the bumper again to ensure the bracket lines up as now is the time to make any alterations!

If you need to repair or replace the front wheel arches on your split screen van - click here - we carry a range of complete arches or inner / outer sections and in a wide choice of qualities to suit all budgets

You'll notice we've welded the doors shut too. Once we've got the gaps right, we want to keep it right, so by welding the doors shut, we preserve the door position whilst we make any further alterations.

Hidden Treasure....

2012-02-22T02:58:00.000-08:00

Sometimes you do find a little bit of a surprise during a restoration....

When we originally bought the van, the semaphores had been welded up on the B-pillars. When we came to replace the B-pillars, we just cut the whole lot out, only then did we decide to cut them open..... guess what we found on one side:

Yes, one of the original Barndoor semaphores had been welded up inside the 'B' post! Its beyond repair, but a really nice find. Will go in one our display cases in the showroom. We've got NOS ones to go in the van, but it was nice to find one of its originals.

Front Valence

2012-02-09T05:27:00.000-08:00

Now that the A-posts are in place, we can go about fixing the lower front valence into position. This has the holes cut out for the front bumper irons to go through.

We have modified the lower valence where the holes are for the bumper irons. The panel comes with perfectly oblong slots with 90-degree corners. The original slots were rounded on the corners and the slot was not perfectly level with the top of the panel, but lower down, so we've re-made the slots by welding up the incorrectly cut hole and dropping in the new slot cut from an original lower valence.

The correct shaped slot now showing in the lower valence (yes, we know you'll hardly see it once the bumper is on but......)

'A' posts

2012-02-03T04:59:00.000-08:00

Continuing the theme of re-building the cab area. The 'A' posts are now being put into place. This will add much more structural integrity to the cab area.

The RHS A-post is offered up and door alignments checked. We've cut away part of the windscreen frame to allow the A-post to sit properly up into the roof.

We took measurements off the original panel and also off another front to ensure we get the exact gap between the A-post and the centre division. If this was wrong our windows and seals would not fit properly.

Here we have used a ratchet strap to pull the A-post further in to get the exact postion

LHS 'A' post offered into place. The door is fitted to again check the alignment and ensure exact positioning. The LHS front roof had dropped 20mm from its original - probably due to a front-end collision in its life and bad repairs. Here we can now correct his and get the roof line and A-post all perfectly back into place.

With both A-posts now in place, we can work on the front panel and front valence sections. Once the front panel is in place, we can work on the inner wheel arch tubs and the cab floor.

'B' Posts

2012-02-02T08:28:00.000-08:00

After cutting off the cab and the side panel, we need to get some support into the front cab and ensure the lines are right for the long side panel.

LHS 'B' post upper section - we've cut off part of the upper panel to fit this in properly. We need to make sure the door shut line is perfect too. You can see the mounting plate for the semaphore and the fixing screw for it.

On the other side of the van, the B post contains the slot for the semaphore built into it. Here we've cut away part of the door surround part to neatly fit the B post into place

Door gap sorted, the doors are then welded into place to keep the gap perfect at all times.

Bulkhead

2012-01-28T04:02:00.000-08:00

The old bulkhead had been modified in the past. It looks like someone had welded into place an extra section above the original bulkhead in order to fully enclose the rear load space. Barndoors never had a full height metal bulkhead (yes, there was an optional accessory closing panel with a window in it, but not a metal panel).

Then, later in its life, this 'new' bulkhead had been cut back down to something like original height, but badly done. So, we cut the whole lot out when the cab came off and have fitted a new one:

Here the bulkhead is offered up into place to check alignment with the chassis cross-member, and front chassis rail frame liners.

The bulkhead is tacked into place on the return lip of the frame liner.

Here we have the 'B' post clamped into place too so we can check the position against the chassis, side panel, roof line and bulkhead

From the 'cargo' area of the van, the bulkhead is now in place

Original spot-weld spacings are reproduced so the panel looks factory fresh.

The Cab Comes Off.....!

2012-01-27T07:20:00.000-08:00

Yes, you did read that correctly, we've cut the cab off, not just a bit of it, all of it!!!

The cab area had been so badly messed with over the years, we could not accurately rely on any of the measurements or datum points. The only way to make sure the door gaps are perfect and that it all lines up was to cut it off and re-build it piece at a time!!!

You can see we've cut through the windscreen pillars - the roof is supported so it doesn't droop or bend causing damage.

Several minutes later and the cab section is mobile.....

And that's all we've got left.......

Here's the cab on the floor now, we can take this apart piece at a time now and work on it properly. The cab was so badly messed with that we can't rely on any measurement and if we did, it would through out the entire re-build.

Long Side Trial Fit

2012-01-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

The long side panel gets tacked into place.....

All the seams are cleaned up and made ready first.

First fit into place - panel gaps looking good and fit is excellent.

From the inside, we've fitted the two horizontal supports into place to give the panel some support and strength too. Nice fit around the wheel arch and up the 'B' post too.

Now the lower side is in place, we can work on straightening out the swage line and the upper side as we know we have a true straight edge to work to.

Long Side Panel Work

2012-01-27T05:31:00.000-08:00

After removing the long fixed side panel and leaving the vertical and horizontal supports in place, we proceeded to remove the supports so we can work on them properly.

The 2nd vertical support - note the recess where the horizontal support pieces fit between the upright and the actual side panel. These need to be straightened out.

The small gap between the upright and the swage line is where the return lip on the top of the side panel fits into plate.

Here you can see the recess for the lower horizontal support and where the upright meets the chassis. This will be removed later to repair it.

Full Side Panel Comes Off

2012-01-25T03:32:00.000-08:00

Yep, we took the angle-grinder to the side panel and hacked it off, well, we were a bit more delicate than that!! We can now start repairing the vertical and horizontal support bars before trial fitting the side panel.

Here you can see an internal support bar that we've welded into place to keep the structural integrity of the van whilst we work on the side supports

The side cross-members will be removed and replaced as they are beyond reasonable repair.

The rear vertical support bar that the firewall is attached to - needs work at the base, but now we can access it easier.

One of the vertical support bars again needs substantial work at the base to repair it. This is where its welded to the chassis - this is all loose at the moment so it can be repaired properly.

What's left of the 'B' post is shown here - this will all be cut out and new ones welded into place.

The upper part of the 'B' post showing where the side supports join. You can just see the underneath of the swage line in this photo.

'C' post & Cargo Door

2012-01-24T03:41:00.000-08:00

Work continues on the 'c' post and rear side panel. Before we can do any work to the fixed side, we need to make sure the 'c' post is back in place, welded up and secured in order to maintain strength in the vehicle.

Here we've got the 'c' post welded in place so we can hang the NOS cargo door to check the panel alignment and the door gaps.

Not the best photo ever, but we're trying to ensure the swage line stays 100% true and arrow straight along the length of the van.

The small side panel is now welded in place and the door gap is perfect.

Here you can see the inside of the cargo door and the side panel in place. We've tack-welded a support piece across the width of the van - this is to keep strength in the van when we take the other side off

NOS side cargo door in place and door gaps all perfect.

Wheels

2012-01-12T05:18:00.000-08:00

This morning we collected 5 shiney newly painted wheels from the paintshop.

The wheels are painted in L82 Silver White which is the original colour. Gloss finish.

Just got to get the tyres fitted, then a final polish then they're ready to go on the van!

And The Award For The Painting Goes To.......

2012-01-04T07:51:00.000-08:00

..... Trevor Franklin at The Cotswold Bodyshop.

We weren't going to let anyone with a paint gun paint our van - it had to be someone we could trust, someone who understood the level of detail we were aiming for, someone who completely grasped the entire concept of the project from the very first time we spoke to them. We are pleased to report that we've found them: Trevor Franklin at The Cotswold Bodyshop.

They recently painted a race-car for a friend of ours and we were utterly blown away by the standard they had achieved.

Having discussed the project several times with them over the last 4-6 weeks, at every time they completely understood what we were trying to achieve. Their level of customer feedback and customer support is exactly the same as what we aim to deliver to our customers.

Their multi-award winning, multi-million pound, state of the art complex only built in 2008 paints and finishes only the finest car marques you can think of: BMW, Aston Martin, Bentley, Porsche, Audi and Mercedes-Benz to name a few.

They have already been given the wheels to paint and we'll detail the work involved and photos as soon as we get them back in the next week or so.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

2011-12-16T04:11:00.000-08:00

We just wanted to wish all our customers and followers all the very best for Christmas & the New Year

Lots more to do on the van in 2012. Look out for some SERIOUSLY big changes in late January 2012 as we have a blitz week!

All the Best!

Cutting Corners.....!

2011-12-14T06:22:00.000-08:00

Yep, we're cutting corners, and no, we're not cheating!!! We've been busy cutting the first corner off the van, ready for the new one to go into place:

Here you can see the corner missing. We first made sure that the RHS short side was perfectly aligned so that we keep the panel seem between the side and the corner perfect.

Not really much left of the corner now!

On the inside edge of the engine door upright are the small tabs that held the wiring in place for the number plate light and brake light in the decklid. These will be repaired where necessary and this portion of the upright re-used.

Offered up for a trial fit is the new rear corner.

Its very important for us to keep the alignment of any new panels in the exact same position as the original one. Ensuring that the panel lines up properly before its welded in place is essential for the finished van to look right.

Trial Fitting.

2011-12-13T01:53:00.000-08:00

With the body back on the chassis (it did fit btw), we've started to trial fit some more body panels, just to make sure things are lining up or if some of the panels need some tweaking.

The rear valence is bolted into place to check the fit against the engine bay plates:

One half of the rear cargo floor is offered into place to check the fit of the 'C' post and also the fit against the bulkhead panel

We've also got the small rear 1/4 panel side in place here to again make sure that the cargo floor will fit against this properly too.

The Chassis is FINISHED !!

2011-12-08T08:29:00.000-08:00

After months and months of cutting, welding, grinding then hours and hours of prep in the primer stage, the chassis is now totally finished and ready to go back under the van.

Here you can see the main central part of the chassis

From the back looking forwards:

Showing the gearbox cradle, rear torsion tube and the back of the chassis

Front view looking between the chassis leg frame liners - note the correct 5 ribbed fingers. These were used from approx October 1950 onwards, prior to that, 6 and 7 ribs were used.

So after months and months of work, the chassis is finally done and ready to be re-united with the body.

Chassis Gets Primer

2011-12-07T08:42:00.000-08:00

After what seemed like endless hours of hi-build primer, flatting back, more primer, flatting back, we're now really pleased with the finish on the chassis, so its time for some proper primer:

You can see the yellow hi-build primer underneath and we're starting to apply the grey primer on top.

First coat of primer now applied to the underneath. You guessed it, more flatting back.......

More Chassis Paint

2011-11-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

After the acid-etch primer has been applied, we then apply a coat of high-build primer. There's still hours and hours of work to do to the chassis in detailing it.

You can see the underside of the chassis starting to look better now that it has some paint on it.

The high-build primer will show up any imperfections in the metal that we can then deal with.

Once all the chassis has been covered in high-build primer, we can then start to flat back using wet-n-dry sanding papers. Then we will start to get the level of finish needed for the main primer to go on. There will be several more stages involved in this high-build primer phase which all have to be flatted back.

Here you can see the weld join between the front and rear chassis rails. This is how the weld detail will look when finally painted.

Paint !!!

2011-11-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

Paint!! Well, its not really paint, its the starting preparation for the paint.

Firstly any bare metal is cleaned right back and treated to a coat of acid-etch primer. This eats into the metal and gives us a good base to work from.

You can see the grey etch primer being applied to the bare metal areas. We do not leave any bare metal exposed. It very quickly starts to oxidise.

Here you can see the the main chassis rail and now with etch-primer you can start to see the finished detail in the welding. This is the level of detail we want to see when the final paint gets applied.

Rear Valence

2011-11-25T08:00:00.000-08:00

We thought it would be a good idea to have a test fit of the rear valence. We first fitted the rear valence brackets to the chassis legs. All looking good upto now:

The valence brackets over-hang the chassis legs slightly. They are not supposed to be mounted flush. Early rear valence has no cut-outs for exhaust tail pipe.

Front Chassis Parts

2011-11-22T06:55:00.000-08:00

The last few bits of the front chassis are going in now and we've just some final detailing before the chassis can go off to be painted:

Here you can see the front piece between the chassis rails and the horizontal piece which forms the bottom of the tool chest. You can see the cable conduits for the choke and heater cables coming through this piece.

Underneath is like spaghetti junction!!! The conduits are all exactly in the correct places.

The very far conduit is the clutch cable which has two tabs we have made to secure the conduit in place.

Above and Below: the two tabs we have made to hold the clutch cable conduit into place

Detailing The Chassis

2011-11-19T04:15:00.000-08:00

With the chassis virtually finished, we've started to do the detailing that we want to get it to the level we are happy with.

This involves putting on dress welds, grinding back welds so that when they are painted they look like factory spot welds.

Then we are going to carefully mask up each weld and seem-seal it for longevity, but again, when its painted, it will look like factory finish.

The front inner chassis piece you can see in the photo above will be welded in place later today to complete the chassis.

The Front Chassis Gets Done

2011-11-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

We finally got our last delivery of repair panels and we have cracked on with the front chassis.

The front chassis rails are in place, the frame liners are in place (well, tacked into place) and we've check fitted the inner front panel and the bumper too

If you look at the bottom of the frame liner, you will see all the holes that have been stamped out - this is for us to plug weld these panels together. Spacing on original factory welding is approximately 1 inch apart, but this gets closer together on curved sections and near joints, so where the panel curves, we will have more welds.

After some tweaking, the inner front panel is offered into place and the bumper bolted up, again just trying to ensure that the gaps are looking right even at this stage.

All looking in line from the front now.

You can see here more clearly where the frame liner will be welded into place and the spacing we've taken from original factory welding patterns.

Here the front chassis rail is closed off and you can see where the front top hat and the front cross member all join together. The conduit at the top of the picture is the clutch cable conduit.

The return lip on the frame liner with the holes ready for welding - this will eventually join onto the bulkhead panel.

Interior Cab Door Panels Arrive

2011-11-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

The new interior cab door panels arrived this morning. We're really pleased with them.

They are finished in a satin-grey which was colour-matched from a NOS panel. The rivets holding the door pockets on are again identical to the originals. Pocket hole in the panel is more square shaped on barndoor vans than on later ones and the pocket itself is slightly a different size than the 55-61 type. These are the exact interior panels for Barndoor vans.

You can see below the detail on the rivets and the pockets:

The Things We Do......

2011-11-07T02:25:00.000-08:00

The things we do for Vintage Volkswagens....... yesterday (7th November, 2011) we had to go collect a huge batch of repair panels and two new cab doors for the van.......

It was a 19 hour day and we did 630 miles......

Just a tad bit tired today LOL.

1st Powder Coating Batch

2011-11-02T09:25:00.000-07:00

We've had our first batch of parts back from the powder coaters. We've used 3 different finishes, as per VW, these were: High-Gloss, Satin and Matt. The Colour Code for the Black is RAL9005 - this is the international standard colour code system and all painters / powder coaters will know this system and colour.

We used BG Pennys of Coventry for Powder Coating. They are the people that did the blasting of the van too. They also zinc-plated each item before it was powder coated. This gives a better finish and a much longer lasting finish also.

Gearbox side plates - GLOSS

Gearstick Base Bracket: GLOSS

Front Bumper Irons: GLOSS

Handbrake lever: GLOSS

Spring Plate Covers: Gloss

Brake, Clutch & Accelerator Pedals: GLOSS

Gearshift Rod Front Bracket: GLOSS

Steering Column Securing Bracket: GLOSS

Gearshift Rod Joiner: GLOSS

Interior Passenger Grab Handle: GLOSS

Gearstick: GLOSS

Axle Tube Brackets: MATT

Brake Line Bracket: MATT

Rear Brake Drums: MATT

Front Brake Drums: MATT

King Pin End Caps: GLOSS

Spindles: GLOSS

Link Pins (just the ends): GLOSS

King Pin Assemblies: GLOSS

Front Beam: GLOSS

Wheel Restoration

2011-10-26T08:26:00.000-07:00

We have been restoring the 16" wheels. The back of wheel is stamped with the month and year of production. We have carefully worked on each wheel to get it straight (well round really, but you know what we mean!!).

Once each wheel was perfect again, we have replaced all the hubcap clips and rivets. Here's how to do this on your wheel:

First, we drilled out the old rivets leaving nice clean holes:

Next we offer the hubcap clip with the rivet upto the wheel.

Turn the wheel over and rest the rivet onto a metal block. This holds the rivet and clip into place. You can see the new rivet protruding inside the wheel.

With a metal bar, you flatten the rivet down which splays the edge of it over.

Here you can see the rivet head has been widened out.

Now, with a rounded peening hammer, you can work the rivet until it is all flat and peened over

Here you can see the finished rivet all nice and flush with the wheel.

And from the outside edge, the hubcap clip is now perfectly secured.

And the finished wheel is now ready for painting (once we've put the 5th clip on!!)

Parts Stashed Away

2011-10-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Every single part that has been put on the van is first photographed and catalogued so we know every single item that has been used.

We've been buying stuff over the last 8 months and thought it useful to have a quick look through what we've already assembled.

New Parts Arrived

2011-10-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

We've been acting like kids in a sweet-shop again, as more bits arrived this morning for the van

NOS 6v horn. Don't you just love the huge chunky size of early horns.

NOS ignition switch. This fits into the speedo pod. This is the correct 'HUF' 'p' code key for pre 53 vehicles. Its the same switch / key for the Split Beetle too.

This next bit was the icing on the cake for us. A NOS side cargo door lock unit and keys, in its original VW parts box (no, it wasn't cheap). It almost seems a shame to fit it - we just want to put it in a glass case!!!

Here on the side you can see the logo and the part number stamped into the housing. The part number matches the correct one in the VW parts book (we checked!).

Rear Side Panel Supports

2011-10-20T03:36:00.000-07:00

On the inside of the rear side panel are horizontal support pieces. These run from the 'C' post backwards. There are three altogether, here you can see the two upper ones. We have fabricated these and they will be available for sale soon. They are slightly different to the non-barndoor models.

On the photo above, there is another piece that will go in between the wheel arch and the 'c' post, a continuation of the on that goes across the wheel arch. These pieces are important as they give strength to the side panel.

Engine Bay Plates

2011-10-15T04:38:00.000-07:00

We've been busy working on the engine bay. Tidying up the firewall and the holes were the starter cable and wiring loom come through the body.

We've also been putting in the Battery Tray and the engine bay side plates:

Here you can see the battery tray and engine bay side plate welded into position:

Don't worry - we cut off the rear corner once we had checked the radius angle and curve on the battery tray.

The LHS engine bay side plate now in position. Here's something to check out: Notice on the inner side of the rear wheel arch - the ribbed fingers protrude 'outwards' into the engine bay..... well now look on the first photo above - the same fingers protrude in the same direction, but into the wheel arch - therefore VW used the same panel for both sides and just modified the top of the LHS one to accommodate the fuel tank.

Here you can see the Battery tray from the underneath. There is still more work to tidy up the welds here.

The LHS engine bay side pate from the underneath - the captive nut was taken off the original panel and re-welded onto the new piece.

You can buy battery trays and engine bay panels for your split van by clicking here.

Rear Wheel Arch Tub

2011-10-15T03:47:00.000-07:00

We've been working on the rear wheel arch tub now that the rear 1/4 panel has been taken off. We can easily get to the wheel arch and carry out the repairs necessary.

The lower horizontal support piece has been put into place now (we will be listing these support pieces for sale on our website soon). There are more of these to go higher up once the 'C' post as been repaired.

Work in progress: This is the bottom front leading edge of the inner rear wheel arch. This still needs a lot more work to get it correct. Note that the Barndoor ones are completely smooth and only later vans have the 2 ribbed pieces in them.

The lower curved edge of the wheel arch tub meets perfectly with the inner sill. The inner sill is then spot welded to this leading edge (we took the positions for the spot welds off the old panel before it was cut out)

From the 'inside' of the wheel tub, you can see the two panels now in place - again there is more 'tidying' up to do to make this look perfect. The outer radius curve gives you the curve for the complete outer panel and we have trial fitted this too to make sure all the angles and curves are correct.

From the inside looking towards the rear of the wheel tub, you can see the repair piece we have let into the end of the arch and the finishing piece (or mudflap) that attaches to this. Again, we took the spot weld positions from the old panels before they were cut out.

We supply all these small repair panels for the rear arches - click here

Ultra VW Magazine

2011-10-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

The guys over at Ultra VW Magazine are doing a step-by-step feature on our Barndoor restoration, which is really cool. Check our their site here and make sure you buy the next copy of Ultra VW Magazine!

Chassis to Body Trial Fit

2011-10-10T08:25:00.000-07:00

After spending weeks and weeks working on the chassis, we thought it might be a good idea to check the body still fits on to it.

So, we cut the old floor out (it had virtually dropped out itself), raised the van up and pushed the chassis back under.

We lowered the body down and it fits perfectly onto the chassis. Everything lines up beautifully. We're really chuffed. This was a major milestone in making sure this fits and lines up. Now we can push on welding panels into the rear engine bay knowing all our datum points are correct and everything fits properly.

Rear Firewall Strip

2011-10-10T08:07:00.000-07:00

The rubber seal over the back of the engine and above the gearbox slots in place into a grooved recess on the engine firewall. This was in a bit of a poor state:

We cut this channel off so we could work on it properly. Then we could tidy up the bodywork behind it and get this all straight and smooth again.

Once we had re-worked the channel, it was spot-welded back into place using all the original spot welds.

We can now trial-fit a seal into this and re-shape the recess lip back to the original. With this channel back into place, the whole engine bay has become much stronger.

Seat Stripping

2011-10-07T03:49:00.000-07:00

We've started to strip the front bench seat. The seat from the van is an original one that has not been messed with. This allows us to see where the original stitching goes and how the seat cover is fixed to the seat.

Once its stripped, the seat can be blasted, repaired and then powder-coated prior to being re-trimmed.

You can see here the stitching in the side of the seat:

In the bottom right corner of this photo, you can see a wire running through the edge of the seat cover - this is very important - you'll see more below

This wire is stitched into the hem of the seat cover and is what helps to keep its shape.

There are two support bars that run front to back on the seat - these are intact

The wire that you saw above running around the hem of the seat, well in the middle, the wire comes out, and its stretched tight and wound (3 times) around one of the seat springs - the re-trimmed seat will have this also!

This is where the wire comes out of the hem and goes forward to keep its tension

Here the wire is wound three times around the seat spring.

Rear Upright Support Repair

2011-10-07T03:18:00.000-07:00

There is a vertical support bar that runs up the seam where the side panel meets the corner. At this point, there are lots of things going on: The vertical bar joins the top of the inner wheel arch tub, and there is a small retaining bracket at the foot, there are side reinforcing pieces running from the 'C' post backwards to the vertical bar. There was some rust at the bottom of the vertical bar which we cut out and repaired:

The photo below shows the new piece we made. Notice the indent on the vertical part on the RHS edge - this is were one of the horizontal support bars locates in place.

On the inside (visible from the engine bay) is the bottom of the vertical support bar with the small 'foot' just placed into position.

You can see more clearly here the recess for the horizontal support bar. This is just above the very top of the inner rear wheel arch tub.

Full Small Side Panel Comes Off

2011-09-23T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yep, we took and angle-grinder to it and cut the side off the van! Have we gone mad? Well, no (well not totally).

The original side as you can see below was badly damaged, dented and had been poorly repaired in the past. The only way to get it straight was to cut it off and put a new one on:

Then we cut it off:

First Carl cut out a section inside the edges so we can see where the original welds go. The strip left in the middle is where on of the side support pieces is welded.

The inside of the cut-out piece. We can use this to take measurements for the spot-welds when the new panel goes on. The very bottom of it shows the lower side support piece (well, what's left of it).

The pic below shows the upright support and the upper side cross support

There is is all removed now:

The inner rear wheel arch is in really good condition. There is some work to do to tidy up the bottoms of the arch. We can see here where the spot-welds are on the arch to the outer skin. We'll replicated exactly the same spacing on the spot-welds on the new panel.

There's been a small repair on the front edge of the arch, that will need fixing, as even though its not rotten, we're not having any 'visible' repairs on the van and certainly no filler.

You can see the small 'foot' at the bottom of the vertical support bar. This small box-like plate sticks up slightly from the wheel tub and locates the vertical support bar. This is all nice and solid, it wants some tweaking to get it perfectly straight again, but its original factory metal.

Here you can see the upper horizontal support bar. This is not good enough to salvage, but we can use it as a reference to make the new one and take the measurements off it for the spot-welds so the new one is welded in exactly the same position as the original one.

The new side panel is clipped into place to check its position. To buy your new complete side panels, click here!

The seems are looking good for a first fit!

From inside the engine bay (yes, the firewall needs work, but we haven't got that far yet)

From inside the van:

Inner Sills

2011-09-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

The Inner sills are now fitted onto the chassis. They were all drilled first and spot welded into place. The spot welds are in the same position as factory spot welds. This more-or less completes the chassis work for now.

The inner sills are NOT sided, and are the same on all model years of split van. Click here to buy inner sills for your Split Van.

The 'Before' Photos

2011-09-23T02:21:00.000-07:00

We really should have started with these, but here's some pics of the van as we bought it before we did anything to it:

Parts Bought

2011-09-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

Over the last 5 months, we've been busy assembling as many parts as we can ready for the re-build. Nearly all what we have managed to source has been new-old-stock or the very best 2nd hand. Here's a snippet of some of the goodies we've got stashed away ready to be fitted:

NOS Cab door handle with correct 'HUF' keys

1952 Only rear tail lights

Centre brake light / number plate light bulb holder unit

Centre brake light with correct orange brake light lens

Semaphores with large VW logo

Correct pre '53 barndoor only opening 1/4 light catches. These are for the 'piano' hinge type of 1/4 light

25hp domed top oil cooler.

NOS 25hp Cam shaft (still in its box!)

Correct Hella rear reflector

Plain domed hubcaps ready for paint:

Correct flat-topped distributor unit - for 25hp engines

NOS Brake shoe linings:

Rear Jacking Points

2011-09-17T05:18:00.000-07:00

The Rear jacking points have now gone on. These line up with the 2nd outrigger along, and not the very back one. You can purchase new jacking points from us here. You can see the two rear jacking points in place below:

More Cable Conduits

2011-09-17T05:14:00.000-07:00

All the rest of the cable conduits have fabricated and welded into place. The chassis now looks like spaghetti junction with all the conduits now in place!!!

Cable Conduits

2011-09-15T06:40:00.000-07:00

All the cables (handbrake, clutch, heater, accelerator and choke) all run in metal conduits under the van. Of course, these are not available now, so we sourced some exact tubing and have fabricated our own.

The conduits are in the exact same position that they were from the factory. All have been bent and shaped to the original positions.

Front Cross Member

2011-09-15T05:10:00.000-07:00

The front cross member has been modified to match the correct Barndoor style (ie no holes in it) The front top-hat section is now lined up ready as well

Modifying Top Hats

2011-09-06T07:18:00.000-07:00

The Barndoor top hat floor supports are ever so slightly different than the standard later ones. Yes, the later ones would fit ok and do the job, but that is not what this restoration is about. Its about 100% accuracy.

So, Carl set to with some standard split screen top-hat floor supports and altered them to match Barndoor ones. Basically the centre hole for the shift rod requires a spacer tube and support bracket on the inside. This has all be fabricated and the spacer tube peened over to look completely like a factory fitted floor support.

The next two photos show the 'before' stage:

The next two photos show the new centre tube and the inner support bracket.

You can see above the extra 'U' piece support piece and the centre tube.

Fabricating Rear Chassis Pieces

2011-08-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

The last box section that the cables / conduits go through which is mounted above the rear torsion tube was in a bad state. These are not panels that are commercially available, so Carl had to fabricate them from scratch.

The Chassis Gets More Welding!

2011-08-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Both sides of the rear chassis legs are now in place and the rear cross member is in place.

The 'top-hat' section is offered up to check the level

Got rather carried away: 'I' beam in place, 4 rear outriggers in place, centre heater tube in place.

Welding The Chassis

2011-08-16T07:59:00.000-07:00

The first chassis leg is now welded into place. Before this, the chassis piece was measured, cut and then drilled for the spot welds. The spot welds were first measured off the existing chassis to ensure that all the spot welds are positioned in the exact same places as they were from the factory.

In the pic below, the rear chassis leg is offered into place with the closing panel that Carl fabricated. All these are dummy fitted first to ensure everything is perfect before welding:

The spot weld holes are marked in place before drilling after carefully measuring these against the position of original factory ones.

Rear chassis leg and closing panel now in place. The rear cross member is offered up to check the fit.

Measuring Up The Chassis

2011-08-15T08:50:00.000-07:00

Very, very detailed measurements have been taken of the chassis. Datum points have been marked onto the floor to give us the centre points of all the important parts such as outriggers, rear chassis cross member, etc. Whilst this process was VERY time consuming and slow, it makes re-assembly very easy because we know exactly where each piece should go:

Picture below shows the two central datum points on the chassis - this is where the two halves of the chassis rails join together

The angled pen line on the photo below is where we will cut the chassis - everything forward of this point will be replaced with new parts.

Removing the Chassis

2011-08-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

We took the unusual step of completely removing the chassis from the van. Whilst this is not an easy step, we decided that it was the only way to ensure we get the high level of detail we want from the restoration. Carl very carefully cut away the chassis from the van leaving it easy to detect how VW had originally assembled the chassis so we can reproduce it spot-weld by spot-weld

In this picture, you can see where the last cross beam has been cut, but left on the chassis so we can see where VW welded it on so that we can do the exact same:

The rear heater tube has been cut leaving part of the floor on it - again, the heater tube welds to the floor. This can now be repaired properly then when the floor goes on, welded to it the same way it was in the factory:

The chassis removed in its entirety. Most of the front section is wrong for a '52 model, so will be replaced with correct pattern panels:

The front of the chassis had a horrible home made box section for the front cross-member - obviously that is going!!!

The rear part of the chassis is not in too bad repair. There is a split on the nearside rear chassis leg that needs repairing and the gearbox mount wants tidying up where a later box has been fitted

Here Carl is measuing the datum points in the chassis to take measurements to get all the new chassis pieces in the exact postion. Otherwise the body won't fit back on properly!!!!

Collecting the Shot-Blasted Van

2011-08-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

After only 3 days, the van had been blasted:

Back in the warehouse - we were REALLY impressed with the blasting carried out - not one panel was warped - they really took their time doing it properly.

Off to the Blasters

2011-08-15T05:30:00.000-07:00

10th May - with the van fully stripped down to the bare shell. The Shell was securely loaded onto a trailer for the trip to the Blasters:

We used a company in Coventry called BG Penny's to do the blasting work. Here the van is arriving at their premises:

The van was completely blasted using a combination of chilled iron filings, plastic beads, glass beads and finely powdered garnet.

The strip down continues

2011-08-15T03:57:00.000-07:00

22nd April - we continued to strip parts off the van ready for its trip to the blasters. We removed the wrong front beam - a later one had been fitted.

One of the side doors coming off:

Gearbox came out - we think this is also a later one!

First Strip Down

2011-08-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

12th April. Our first strip down of the van. Everything has to come off the vehicle before it can go to the blasters to be blasted to remove all the rust, crud and other stuff we don't want. Here we are removing doors, dashboard, and anything else we can get at with a screw driver!!

The speedo pod off the dash

Collecting the 1952 VW Barndoor

2011-08-14T05:02:00.000-07:00

Here we are collecting the barndoor ready for its trip back to our warehouse for the restoration to commence

Here it is securely loaded onto the trailer:

Arriving back at our warehouse in Rugby, Warwickshire (feel free to visit us some time)

Rolling off the back of the trailer - no brakes!!!

Being pushed into the warehouse ready for the restoration to commence..........

Introducing Bam Bam

2011-08-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

This is Bam Bam, the '52 Panel Van & this shows how we originally found him.

Welcome to the start of our restoration

2011-08-14T04:40:00.000-07:00

Follow the on-going step by step restoration of our 1952 Panel Van as we re-build it from the ground up. We will be using all original parts, that you can buy from our shop. Follow the photographic re-build started in March 2011. We will be giving you an in-depth and step by step account of how to do the same.