65 Split upgrade

[Cleverchap]

Just thought I'd chuck up some photos of my split bus project.
Hope to have it up and running in the next few months. All nearly there but so many mods means lots of time wasted of the small things that no-one, except the very observant, notices.

How it looked when I bought it in September 2003


Then I found this


And this, and it was the same on the other side although I dont have pics.


So I rolled it over



And stitched all new metal in.

In the end it had new rear wheel tubs, new inner sills both side, new outer sill below the load doors, as well as new strengthener panel, new belly pans, complete new floor, all outriggers replaced and new jack points.

[Cleverchap]

Once the new metal was in I ran it for another year whilst collecting parts for the major resto, and big go faster plans!!


First on the list was a Porsche 901 box.


And if your going to go fast you need to stop

[Cleverchap]

And hard work on the bus didn't stop









then the nitromors came out
It was a very good solid shell except the lower nose and the left rear corner.
and thankfully all the doors were in really good condition.













Then the shell went to the media blasters.

[Cleverchap]

The mighty Clio of power hauling waaaaaay above its legal weight (I actually buggered the rad in it towing the kombi home that day. It was stinking hot!!)



All in a very solid bus, worst bits were the drivers side rear corner and the dash, which had been cut

[Cleverchap]

I admit I am no good when it comes to body work, so I dropped off the bus at a little garage up the road from my place. The old boy knows his onions and is determined to get the bus looking sweet as.
First thing he did was replace the nose


And then started on the windscreen surround


Then the rear corner was replaced



This is the majority of the body work finished except for a couple of small repairs needed on the bottoms of the load doors.

[Cleverchap]

In the mean time I have been collecting more parts.

New IFS front suspension set up (new to this bus at least)


New rear suspension mock up with gearbox and a-arms


And the wheels that I have had refurbished


So far this project has taken over 12 months to go from the photos you have seen in the second post to how it is now.


I hope to have it somewhere near running by this summer and possibly driveable by the end of the year. Wish me luck!

[Cleverchap]

Just realised I hadn't posted any pics of the engine




Removed from a 1991 2.2 Subaru Legacy with 107K miles and full service history.
This photo was taken whilst I was replacing the cam belt and cam seals so the induction manifold is missing (in case you were wondering )

[richbaker78]

my sort of project.......subaru engine porsche brakes - your rear mock up looks awesome - I love big fat rear tyres - in hindsight I think I should have revised my whoe rear end a bit more to get fatter rubber under there. alas you have to draw the line somewhere or it will never be finished! good work though keep it up.

Why not turbo scoob tho? or is it on the cards in the future?

[Cleverchap]

Cheers for the comments, I know what you mean about drawing the line somewhere. If I had just decided to stick in a scooby lump and be done with it I would have had the bus up and running 12 months ago.

I did look at turbo lumps but they are a lot of money.
I'm on a very tight budget (I bought the split in my final year at University) and I bought a 2.2 Legacy estate donor car, with 9 months tax and 6 months MOT for under £350
Sold the type 1 engine out of the split for £250 and cashed the tax in and got a refund once the mot expired, so all in the engine, loom, ECU etc cost about £60. The scrappy even collected the shell for free!

[richbaker78]

I havent even considered insurance for mine yet - im 28 which is slightly concerning - however once its on the road im hoping that all the money I wont be spending on the van will go into insurance :-)

fair point though you sound like youve done it all on a good budget - I started out like that and then it turned into a money eating monster.

I keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end!!

[doppelganger]

nice project you have going there ,before you get bored and go turbo there is always nitrous and these engines can take it,knocked nearly 2 seconds of my qtr`s at santa pod in a t25 single cab
_________________
vwdrc class rep




vwdrc AE bugjam winner
11.23@127mph. 1.47 60ft. 2.85sec 0-60mph

[Cleverchap]

doppleganger, I have been thinking about NOS as the alternative to a turbo. Always a little worried about melting heads/pistons and the like. Grew up with NOS during the late seventies and eighties and always remember the horror stories about engines going bang and never in a small way.
Might look into it at a later date so I'll keep your site book marked