Author Topic: May 04 05  (Read 4506 times)

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Offline Geoff

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May 04 05
« on: May 04, 2005, 09:15:53 AM »
On this past Sunday I was able to get the late (74-79) Bus inspection hatch instaled.

I took a trip to the wrecker and cut out the upper engine bay hatch from a 76 Bus, After looking at the hatch I noticed the stamping was slightly different than the 69.
The ribs pressed into the 69 are thin and the late Bus has thick ribs. Not a big deal but I wanted them to match. After looking around at other hatches, T3 and Vanagon I decided to go with the 76 hatch.

First job was to pull the motor and trans.

It sure looks big once out!

And the Motor and exhaust.


Next it was time to cut and trim the 76 hatch section, This took a while!


I then marked out the area I wanted the hatch (over the carbs for easy tuning) and cut a rough hole.


Then trimmed back the hole and fit the outer hatch rim, tacked it in place.



After a lot of welding and grinding it's in place. Here you can see the different style of ribs. For the outer small ribs I cut them on a taper and made them look like the factory ends.



And a little filler..


After the hatch was in I had to add some bracing as I had to cut away the orig. You cant see it in this pic but there is now 1x1 square tube bracing.


If all go's well I should have the eng bay painted this weekend. :rockon: