vw t2 1974 restoration

2 bits of steel flat bar, 40mm X 70mm welded in a cross shape with a socket in the middle should do the job for the diff adjusting rings.
You really need the special socket for the pinion nut.
People do wreck them with chisels, it works, but they need to be re-fitted to a specific torque.
Have a look and ask on the Aus kombi forum. Someone may lend you the tools.

 

are these the two areas on the side the cv joint on to0? if so I managed to un screw them with the harmonic puller and bolts to make a key for it. It is only the centre pinion centre nut socket I don't have a tool of and can't make it up.

 

Yes that's it Dean, the big alloy rings. They move the diff left or right in the case on order to set the backlash which is the gap between the gears as they mesh.
Hopefully you marked them before you removed them because they are set by the factory.
Not the end of the world if you didn't, but it creates more work and requires very specialised tools to reset if you didn't. Two specific properties are measured and set with these, which are differential bearing pre-load and, as I said, pinion backlash.
As you say, the centre pinion nut requires either the correct tool or chisel .

Why are you taking it apart? Was there a problem? We'd usually say leave well alone unless there is a definite issue such as excessive noise or its stuck in gear..

 

I need to replace the bearings but I my be better off sending it to a professional to do as the backlash needs to be set and you need the special tool and I would rather not use the chisel method.

 

looking at options for my engine and gear box.
rebuild the 1.8 and 5 rib all original.
rebuild the 1.8 to a 2l with new camshaft and barrels ect and 6 rib gear box or 5 rib with better 4 or 5 gear.

what would you guys suggest?

 

How many hours would you guys think is left in the body work of my kombi, align a pillar and front, sills, cargo floor, rear wheel arch, front dog legs. only body and panel work.

 

That's impossible to say.

 

How longs a piece of string? It’s your first resto so some bits will take you longer and there’s no fixed amount of time for any of the work really.
My first front arch took nearly a whole day just to get it lined up nicely (mainly due to lack of experience) the second was much quicker.
Just get on with it and stop worrying about time scales.


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yeah you are both right. section by section. I am just bracing it and going back a bit to get it even and square then start lining things up

 

the guys over here on the kombi club are saying my kombi is beyond repair and not worth fixing and a waste. really hurting my confidence and not happy with them.

 

Well, I've been hinting much the same only more politely as you were/are already kind of past the point of no return and I'm not an Aussie.
I often used to advise my prospective resto customers that it would save them money and time to push their £5-10,000 rust pit off a cliff and buy a good one, but as you're providing your own free labour I spared you that. How much did you pay for it? Weigh up how much you'd save by getting a good one v how much you'd lose abandoning that one.

edit: looking back I've been too polite to say "dump it". You could waste a lot of money on this particularly when I see you're also blindly thinking about repairing/replacing the engine and gearbox. Add it all up it will cost a small fortune and what will you have to show for your money and time? A HEAVILY restored bus. The price of parts has risen far more quickly than the price of a whole finished bus over the past ten years, the restoring equation doesn't make sense to me any more. The last genuine front arches I bought for myself were £50 and it was buy one get one free, so £25 each. A good bus was £10,000. It made sense back then.

 

well this will be my last one so I may as well fix it and get it done. why do other people do this restoration business then to their kombis. @JamesLey just did his. He did more or less similar work to his however he did not have to re align the front end with the a pillar. I payed $20,000 for it running. spend another $10,00o in all the parts I need for body work and interior, then paint, $15,000. two separate professionals have sand about 200H do do all the body work or about $15000. so it needs, 15K paint, 15K body work, 10K parts, bought it for 20K. that means it $60K finished. ether way, at least it will be perfect then once finished and new.

 

The only way to restore these busses is if you view it as a hobby.

It will always cost you more money then buying one done and will always take at least 3 times the amount of time you think.

If you don’t think you will enjoy the hobby for the next few years then get rid or it will turn you mad.

 

Dean ... there used to be a place called Volksparts in Canberra but it is permanently closed now. The owner (Nick 0412 345 126) has a property outside of Bungendore full of VWs. He used to export the good ones to England. When I was last out there he still had lots of Kombis...and could probably supply whatever cut you need.

 

Mine took the best part of 4 years to do over weekends and evenings (and a fair chunk of my annual leave). No idea what I spent on it but 15-20K at least. As Zed says it doesn’t really make financial sense to restore these anymore so folk restoring them are either doing it for the love of old cars and treat it as a hobby, or have deep enough pockets to pay someone else to do it. I’m very much in the first camp and find working on them a welcome distraction from my day job and set out restoring mine with the intention of learning lots of new skills knowing it’d be a long slow process.

By comparison the Baja bug I’m building hasn’t really cost too much. £650 for the initial project. I then sold all the non Baja bits I didn’t need and made my money back effectively getting the shell and chassis for nothing. Beetle bits seem to be cheaper and there’s less of it too. So probably currently in it for about £5k. It still makes little financial sense, but that’s not the point of old cars right!


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how did you have the skills are you a panel beater or did someone teach and help you learn?

 

So… Aussie dollars are about $1 to £0.54. About £32,000 finished.

Hobby rather than profit

I’m sure you could sell it in to a novice pommy VW enthusiast looking for a rust free, restored Australian bus for £45,000

 

I did a one day general welding course followed by a one day auto welding course.

Lots of trial and error and the usual YouTube assistance, plus a good helping of guidance from the TLB knowledge base.


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I’m about to “start” restoring mine, btw. The van has taken a backseat while family and health matters have taken a priority over the last few years.

The shiny bus in my resto thread is currently looking in a very sorry state. My starting price for a reasonable van with a blow over was relatively low. I think I will have some previous repairs to undo before it’s painted which I think will be the bulk of the resto cost.

We have previously learned to do the upholstery, which we completed the van for around £750 (mostly material costs) and I can use CAD, which means we did CNC cut units all built for much less than all offerings currently on the market. I think our skills on these two particular tasks really helps keep the budget down to a sensible level.

I’m up for learning the skills and taking my time on it rather than blowing money on restorers… although I’ve had to call upon the skills of our local “garages” when the van was being used daily and it needed to be on the road.

Ultimately, I hope that the restored cost will be significantly lower than your estimate and hopefully lower than James…. But he did his own paint, so I doubt it.

 

well you can tell the difference between a good rust free job and a quick respray with bog. Thanks