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Another incredible reproduction for a hard to find part

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Really nice stainless steel reproduction of this hard to find piece. 

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Super high-quality 3/4 and Full width Rock and Roll beds made in the UK.

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Came across this really thorough post over on the Samba outlining how one owner has modified his 70′s transporter by installing a full-width riviera bed along with a few other removable camp-ready accessories. So good.

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Super thorough post documenting many of the bits I’ll need to tackle next. 

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This is the worst of the #vanrust yet. I ripped the brittle, crumbling kick panels out and revealed some rusted through areas of the bulkhead behind the passenger and drivers seats. The seam of the cargo floor is rusted through across the width of the cab as well, although the PO patched it with a sloppy fiberglass job. At this point, I'm not sure what my options are for treating the bulkhead rust. Is it possible to cut them out of a donor bus, get actual replacements, or POR-15 what's here and patch weld in place?

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I've been slowly revealing what's left of the OG Brilliant Blue paint. Lost's more on this later...

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Holey. Moley. The PO opted for some quick and dirty fiberglass patches to cover some of the rusted through holes that appear across the top of the cargo bay above the engine compartment. I took to the angle grinder with wire cup brush attachment and started to see some progress after about an hour, but I had no idea it was going to be as swiss-cheese-mode as this. It's still pretty messy looking, but it's starting to clean up nice.

It feels good to have the damage exposed for the time being even though there's about another hour of work to fully clean the surface dirt and remaining fiberglass, but now I need to figure out if it can be patched properly and painted, or if I should opt for a new large panel, cut the damaged area out, and weld in the new piece in it's place. The main cargo floor and front floor needs work as well, but that's for another post. 

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Got a full set of Hankook RA08's installed by the guys at Lovely Tire on 82nd out in SE Portland – was hoping to get the spare laced-up too, but the PO had tossed a 15" inch rim and ancient tire in the mix so it's on hold until I grab another rim. I went with the 185R14 and they feel great so far. Up next is an alignment and possible sway bar to stiffen things up.

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Came across a pretty sick custom fab passenger footrest while lurking The Samba Classifieds – might have to nab one for myself when the time comes.

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Pretty stoked to have found someone selling fully dialed wood-panel kits over in The Samba Classifieds. $645 seems reasonable, but I'm thinking I'd only like to do the headliner and front kick panel in Birch and keep with standard padded front door covers. Great to see this exists as an alternative to doing it all myself.

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If anyone has a recommendation on what to use to remove the remaining insulation and glue, I’m all ears.

Vacuumed the old boy out - really looking forward to having a shop vac in the new house – $2.00 for 3 mins...ain't no body got time for that!

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With the headliner out, it was time to rip out and dispose of the exposed insulation. I suited up with some fresh goggles, gloves, and a mask and made quick work of it – had everything out in about 15 mins filling a full trash bag in the process.

What's left is a layer of flaky paint, a handful of surface rust spots along with the base layer of adhesive and remaining strands of insulation. 

Next steps are to vacuum this thing out real good and get on to removing the rusty headliner flanges. 

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The most worrisome rust the headliner removal uncovered was this strip just above both the driver/passenger doors and above the sliding cargo door.

Not sure if I can safely remove it or if it serves a purpose and will need to be replaced.

Update: After a bit of key smashing and web surfing I came across this detailed post from a bloke over in jolly ole' E that identifies these flanges as nothing more than rubbish tacked on with some spot welds. Off to the hardware store tonight for a fresh chisel and hammer...