1959 VW type 2 Kombi on Air belonging to Cheers

This is Ian's 59 kombi which he imported from Colorado... it's in for some major modification including double tank/compressor air suspension which will see it scraping the tarmac no doubt!



I'll leave Ian(Cheers) to fill you in on the spec and show post more pics...

Well,
at the same as doing the deal on the kombi we were discussing the suspension options. Which is when Tim put me in touch with Derek (DBD), who was working at KCW at the time.
This basically lead me to persuading John Jones into building a one-off air beam for the bus.
Oh, and Nate at Wagenwest to build a set of 5inch drop spindles for me
These took several months to get, but I managed to get them shipped with the bus.

Next bits to get were the air management equipment, shockwaves for the rear, a new gearbox & straight axle kit, CSP Disc brakes for the front, etc

Next job for Tim, though, was to tackle the usual welding jobs

Although she was pretty solid generally there was still a bit of TLC needed: Like, sills, outriggers, holes in panels, frame rail repair, etc, etc

After scratching our heads & throwing some ideas about for the rear set-up (bearing in mind there was no guidance. It was, basically, going to be: devise our own way of fitting the shockwaves!) We decided that the original lower rear shock mounts needed removing in order to fit some new brackets to take the lower shockwave mounts...........
I dropped into the workshop one day to find Tim under the bus with a cardboard template in his hand........So I took the tmeplate and had a pair of brackets plasma cut

Here's one in-situ........

Here's the new beam & spindles fitted up
(After Tim cut some grease nipples in the beam as it didn't have any when it arrived)

THen it was time to drop her back onto her feet to see how she looked & make sure we were headed in the right direction (vvvv D O W N vvvv)

definitely getting there.......

Just look at the ground clearance under the transmission cradle !

(& the weight of the engine hasn't been added yet!)

OK then..the lowest point now being the steering box:-
This had to be raised by shortening the inner & outer steering column by 40mm

Oh, and a couple of "before" and "After" pics of one of the general body repairs.....

Right then...........
Here's the sacriligious part :|

In the quest to achieve true tarmac scraping stance unfortunately needs dictated that the wheel arches needed "tubbing"
BUT, before you pass judgement be aware that this bus:-
Only has 11 windows and isn't anything more than a common kombi (seeing as they are pretty commin in the UK now)
is post 1958 and not a ribber
didn't come wearing orignal paint (& has runs & drips in the finish)
has been paid for by me and the work carried out is being done so to please me & nobody else ni particular

So, the cuts were made to allow the front wheels to travel up

Now, with the new beam in place, the spindles fitted and the disc brakes on it became apparent that the orignal choice of 4.5" centerline wheels weren't going to work ....in fact centerlines weren't going to be a viable option at all:-
The beam had been narrowed as much as possible with the shock mounts in place (UK MOT requirement)
So, to get the right offset to enable the wheels to turn within the tubs AND fit over the discs I had to rethink the options
I was adamant on the centerline or Erco style.... so the only thing to do was bite the bullet and get a pair of 2-piece billet rims made for the front :shock:
Meanwhile the bus had a few new garage buddies while I made some phone calls to wheels manufacturers

The first phone call was to a guy called Harry at image wheels...I emailed a diagram over with the measurements on &, after a few phone calls he repled that it couldn't be done !
I phoned a few more places and the general consensus was that the only guy in the UK capable of this kind of job was this Harry
I re-did the diagram with a load more detail & phoned Harry back to explain that he was my one-shot other than trying to research the US market and then have to pay the shipping charges (IF I could find a company able to do the task)
Harry is the kind of guy who doesn't like to refuse a challenge and eventually agreed to give it an attempt (the main problem was the amount of room needed to fit the rivets and still clear the edge of the caliper)

As a stroke of bad timing...the race seasons were just about to start and harry was flat -out building wheels for various race teams (his main customers)
so my little project took a bit of a back seat......3 months passed and eventually a parcel of bling turned up one day.....
Now this is what you call TRUE Zero offset......

So, that's where we are at the moment......
the next job is to re-fit the shortened steering column, drop the bus back onto her feet and sort out any clearance issues.

Here's the bus on its way back round to the "live" side of the workshop last week.

meanwhile: I'm working on a bit of a steering wheel project.....

As she stands from last week...........

Jacked up at the front, ready for the shortened column to be fitted & the steering box raised and remounted...

So it's up to me to make sure the progress pic next week doesn't look exactly the same as this weeks...

best get chopping then

nice write up and pics dude!

Tim wrote:

So it's up to me to make sure the progress pic next week doesn't look exactly the same as this weeks...

best get chopping then

nice write up and pics dude!

cheers m8,
nice work so far

As low as it will go!

hope it's low enough, if not tough because the beams on the floor

Fantastic work and an Awsome bus....

I love the detail gone into the wheels, out there on it's own.

I do think you need to grind the bottom of the beam down a little, just to get it properly low

Faux wrote:

I do think you need to grind the bottom of the beam down a little, just to get it properly low

Er no because look where the centre link pin is... about 4mm off the floor and it's already raised as much as it can go...

Only messing....Sarcasm is hard to get down into text.

Low is cool but it has to be practical too.
Airbags do seem to solve that problem. Cool and practical, and from what I hear an excellent ride too.

Nice work both.