Due to the amount of visible rust on the chassis, we decided it was probably a good idea to remove the belly pans to see what kind of damage they may have been hiding. Removing the pans, which is normally no easy task, was effortless due to the amount of rust, and nearly fell apart in our hands.
Ouch... 
Tell me those are not the heat exchange tubes?
Initial inspection of the front nose, showed a very small rust hole beginning to emerge. Most shops would merely repair the small hole, and leave it as is. We cut the entire lower front section away and revealed hidden rust. We continued to cut away the rusted areas until there was no rust remaining. New patch panels were fabricated in house to replace the cut away areas and welded on. Then the outer skin was replaced with a new purchased panel.
Having been incorrectly repaired previously, there was extensive rust damage to the passenger side rocker which had to be completely replaced. Here, we cut out the rusted, damaged area and fitted replacement panels in their places.
How many hours do you think you'll have in this restoration once it's all said and done?
NOHOME wrote: Tell me those are not the heat exchange tubes?
Yes that is the heater tube running up the center
Cotton wrote: How many hours do you think you'll have in this restoration once it's all said and done?
Thats always a tough question to answer, but from the way it is looking now I am going to guess around 1500
After removing the belly pans, we could see that the rust damage to the floor would need to be repaired. The damaged areas were cut away and replaced with both new panels and in-house fabricated pieces that were unavailable in the market.
The lower part of the cargo doors' inner structure was rusting away. The outer skin had been poorly repaired and covered with body filler. The lower sections were cut away and repaired with replacement panels.
There was extensive rust damage to the driver side rocker, and had to be completely replaced. Here, we cut out the rusted, damaged area and fitted replacement panels in their places.
Driver's Side Rocker - Continued
I just love watching work like this. Please keep the thread going.
Kiddys_Classics wrote: Thats always a tough question to answer, but from the way it is looking now I am going to guess around 1500
Ouch, even with a super conservative and probably at least 50% low price of $50/hr that's, well I wont print it, but we can all do the maths. I's a good job hippies grew up and became successful business men and women to afford their old vans back 
Signs of hidden rust were showing around the driver's side seat latch. A new floor section and the new latch area had to be fabricated in house.
Similar to other vehicles, the battery tray became corroded from the battery acid over time. The rusted area had been poorly cut away and repaired prior to the vehicle coming to us. Since we have repaired these sections before, we know the reproduction does not follow the body contour correctly. We cut away the center section and replaced it with a reproduction tray, eliminating the body contour issues.
Excellent work. So much detail. I am sure your customer will appreciate all this documentation and it will really help them down the road.
As seen in the Belly Pan Removal, the heater tube was badly rusted. It is common for these heater tubes on VW Buses to corrode due to the nature of their design. Hot air from the exhaust runs through the tubes and once the motor is shut off, it cools which causes condensation. The outside is wrapped in insulation, which traps additional moisture in the area. The entire tube was replaced and the heater tube manifolds were repaired. The tube was then wrapped in a reproduction of the original wrap insulation material, hand stitched and clamped in place.
Sure wish I had the disposable money for you guys to do my F150!
Nice work!
does anyone jet-hot the inside of the heater tubes to keep them from rusting out again? or are these vehicles so valuable now that nobody uses the heaters anymore?
In reply to AngryCorvair:
I have never heard of anyone using jet hot on the heater tubes but this portion of the heater tube does not get as hot as a header, The epoxy will hold up just fine to the heat in this area.
not concerned about the heat, but about the condensation leading to corrosion. ceramic coating should prevent or greatly prolong the life.
Much like you would install Dynamat on the inside of a vehicle, we texture coated the bottom of the bus to help reduce vibration in the panels and muffle sound. This also allows another layer of protection.
Wow looks great!
As with many older vehicles over the years of radio upgrades the dash has taken the abuse of quick installations. On this VW bus the radio opening had been cut and welded to on more the one occasion. With the owner wanting to delete the radio opening little room was left to weld the patch in next to the opening on the dash.
It is very common that the nut plates for mounting on these Classic VW’s will break loose from the tab holding the bracket in place. Once this happens and the nut plate drops down inside and there is no way to mount the side door to the bus. During one of this buses previous restorations a repair was attempted by drilling out the spot welds and folding back the interior panels to quickly gain access. Here we repair the damage caused by the improper previous repair.
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