Rat look Camper – welded and solid

DragBus Rat Style part two – weld in some funky green panels

So now we’ve identified the Bus we’re going to make Rat Style – a deluxe bus with walk through front seats – its time to make it solid underneath. Our requirement is for a welded solid bus with excellent running gear that on the outside looked like … well crap really.

Starting with that the passenger rear corner – a very common rust area around the battery tray on a VW camper. Here we can see a super fitting green funky panel (called funky green after the colour of the primer that KlassicFab uses) being fitted to the rear corner;

And here is the new battery tray fitted to the other side of that new corner. This particular tray is the version up to 1966 with the stud – meant for the strap version of the battery clamp;

Instead of welding new material to the drivers side we chose to cut, straighten and then re-weld the corner to be straight. Here we see the work in progress with the valence fitted to make sure the gaps are right;

Next is the short rocker panel – called this as its a. short and b. a rocker panel. Its the same profile as the long side but a fraction of the length. Here we see it about to be welded into place – note the use of clamps to maintain the gaps and surface height;

The cargo door sill area seems to be about the most common rust areas on a VW Camper – ours was no exception with perhaps more rust than actual metal. Here we used an inner sill and an outer from Klassicfab – their fit and profile are quite good;

And here the lower lip is being welded – note the multiple holes drilled for plug welding;

Time for the front floor, a post and dogleg – this area on our bus was so badly rusted it was virtually missing or hanging off. KlassicFab again for an outer floor, lower dogleg inner & outer, and finally an a-post lower;

And the ‘after’ picture to show how it all ended up;

Same deal with the drivers side – here we see the floor cut out ready to take the replacement outer;

Resulting in a fully seam welded floor section that hopefully lasts another 20+ years – maybe not in the UK but we can hope. We were able to save the lower dogleg on this Bus – all that was required was a step;