Club Kombi (part 4)
 
     
 

Club Kombi - Instalment 4 (2004)

 

2004 was the year that things really came together. The crew took a break over Christmas then got back into the swing of things in January. In truth I think we were suffering from withdrawal symptoms - partly from missing the work, but mainly I think form the company (and the beers of course).

We went back over all our sins - flatting off, re-sanding, repainting until the surfaces were at an acceptable standard. First step was to coat the van in a guide coat of GM black. Then out came the sanding floats and air sander. Don't know how much of the primer ended up on the floor but it was probably a fair percentage. Then on went the finishing bog and back to the sanding. Any small lumps were tapped back in with a picking hammer before being finished off in bog & primer again. January and February passed all too quickly and suddenly we were into Autumn.

 

 

As the cooler weather arrived we turned our attention to the doors. The cargo doors were all pretty sad. We had 6 doors from which we had to choose four- yep its a double door, so 2 doors on each side (the rarity of the double door variant is one significant reason this vehicle was chosen as a project car in the first place). We spent some time trying to match up the various doors we had to find the best pairings. Once this was settled, we marked the inside of the hinges of each one with letter punches to show its intended location. The bottom sections of all doors were rusted.

We had arranged for some replacement sections to be made up but somehow the dimensions went awry. We ended up cutting them into smaller sections than intended and doing a bit of extra welding to make them usable. One door was sufficiently intact for us to simply weld the holes and give it a good coat of protective anti-rust paint. The other 3 required significant surgery.

First step after cutting out the old sections was to fit the doors back on the hinges. The repair sections were then measured and cut to size. Then came the laborious process of checking, trimming and refitting, prior to tacking them in place. When all looked OK, we removed the doors again and welded the bits together completely. With any large repair section, patience and an extra set of hands is essential: patience to stop regularly to minimise heat build up, and an extra set of hands to carefully cool the metal down. Weld too much and the whole thing will distort and never fit.

 

  Weeks passed and we seemed to make painfully slow progress. With the 2004 VolksFest creeping closer all the time we began to worry about meeting our declared aim of having it ready for the festival in its top coat. Jon Kruger matched us up a sample of Dove Blue and it was off to Paint Supplies to see whether they could come up with some suitable paint. Luck was on our side - they had just taken delivery of a batch of Glasurit 2 pack paint. With Rob's eye for colours he found some tins of close colours, then it was off to the mixing bay to blend them to Dove Blue. We were able to pick up the paint for a fraction of the normal cost.

 

 

With 2 weeks to go, all the prep work was completed. We spent a night masking up the outside of the car so we could spray the engine bay and roof. Around this time we received a couple of inspirational visits from Dave Dirk, who had just completed the resto of his 61 Split van. Dave had completed all the work himself - ably assisted by Dave Furlong - and had created a real beauty. Best news for us Kombi freaks is that this bus would be a daily driver not a trailer queen so we could be guaranteed of seeing it on the road.

The following Saturday, we all gathered to watch the first of the paint go on. First step for the day however was a final round of cleaning- first with clean cloths, then with Prep-sol, then finally with Tack-cloths to take up any dust specs or dirt. One of the benefits of Rob's workshop is access to the Mother of all compressors! Huge capacity and air lines running all round the place. Rob managed to borrow a low pressure gravity feed gun; then with paint mixed it was all systems go. One of the best surprises was how well the Glasurit paint went on - smooth, clean and an excellent finish straight from the gun in Jon or Rob's hand.

The next week, we reversed the process: masked off the inside, engine bay and roof and then a final clean. The floor of our work area was wetted down to reduce the risk of dust. Rob & Jon shared the painting duties and a couple of beers/hours later the paint was on. We could only stand back in awe as we watched the paint dry from an initial greenish hue back to its final blue. Last official duty was a drink to our success. During the week, Rob had the pleasure of of removing the masking tape, plastic and paper to be the first one to witness the van in all its glory. The Saturday of the Festival, Ken, Rob & Dave gathered to get things ready. Dave's knowledge of Split screen Kombi's was invaluable in identifying and locating as many parts and trimmings as possible and fitting them to the van. Rob even allowed his project Kombi to be ratted for those essential parts like door stops. Last task for the day was to load it onto the tandem trailer.

 

Sunday morning at 6:00 am we assembled ready to get the van to the Festival. As many items as possible were squeezed into the luggage area of the Kombi - eskies, drinks, ice, flags, bunting etc. Then the trailer was attached to the rear of Rob's Landcruiser and we were ready to roll. As Rob was taking his Karmann down, Pete had the privilege of driving the two car, while Ken followed behind in Barry Lord's T4 dual cab with the remainder of the club gear. Only complication was a wiring problem between trailer and tow car. First time the right indicators were turned on, the electric brakes came on - signalled by a puff of blue smoke from the trailer wheels. A few puzzled minutes by the side of the road, while trying to understand why the brakes were "intermittently" locking and we were off again. Good thing traffic is quiet at 7:00 on Sunday mornings!

On reaching Wigley Reserve (after being over taken by a silver streak on Anzac Highway in the form of Rob in his Ghia), we couldn't contain our pleasure as we rolled her off the trailer and onto the grass. We set the van up along side the Club Tent, so everyone could get a good look at her. We hope that everyone who visited the Volksfest could appreciate the amount of hours we had spent to get the van to this stage.

 

 
...Back to Part 3 or on to Next Instalment...