Rocky - a slow slow start

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by mish13

Boy Rocky sure has changed a bit, I have one question Chris "why is the pop top still on" Rust could be lurking underneath it. I take it at some stage it will be painted so I thought it would have come of when you stripped the car?

haha,

Rocky has had the pop top removed while he was being blasted, and yes, there is rust under there alright!!! Not sure why it is on there now, maybe just a convenient place to store it while the work is done on the front.....

Cheers.....

[mish13]

Originally Posted by Rocky

haha,

Rocky has had the pop top removed while he was being blasted, and yes, there is rust under there alright!!! Not sure why it is on there now, maybe just a convenient place to store it while the work is done on the front.....

Cheers.....

Thanks Chris that does make sense, I should have known that if I looked back at the earlier photos.

[Rocky]

Yippee, Rocky has his smile back, better than ever!!!!!






And now onto the rear wheel arches.... And the battery tray and inner wheel arch panel......We just keep on uncovering more!!!!

[Rocky]

My own day was spent chasing bolts, cutting ply, scratching my head and putting the Rock and Roll bed back together.

I had new bases made up out of 3mm steel, to replace the laminated chipboard stuff we had been sitting on, feel much better, just have to sort out a few nuts and bolts, tidy up the timber......

I am also going to weld on some angle to extend the mounting points of the hinges to give it all a bit more strength....

then off to the upholsterers for some beautification!!!!!

[greenbay]

steel is good .i don't feel that the particle board is safe.

[cankombi]

Hi there Chris, looking good with a new rust free face. Did you cut the steel for the rock n roll bed out yourself or find someone to do it for you, and did you use the pattern off the kmbi club website on building a rock n roll bed? We're intending to build one for marchena maxima and hte steel sounds like a far better idea than a few bits of old ply..

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by cankombi

Hi there Chris, looking good with a new rust free face. Did you cut the steel for the rock n roll bed out yourself or find someone to do it for you, and did you use the pattern off the kmbi club website on building a rock n roll bed? We're intending to build one for marchena maxima and hte steel sounds like a far better idea than a few bits of old ply..

hi breeana,
I took the dodgy old chipboard bases to a local sheetmetal mob, who I had a contact for off a mate, he copied the chipboard profile in steel for me and did a brilliant job for a very good price, pays to use those contacts, anyone with a bender and a welder can do it easily, anyone with a welder could still do it.

THis only got me as far as the base goes, the hinges to lift the base of the bed are easy, I can help with these, the hinges to lay the bed back are a little more difficult, could be done fairly easily if you have access to 3mm steel, a decent bench, hammer, welder and probably oxy gear or some heat source.... i can help with meaurements and pics. All this gear I used was the original except for the base and the ply....
having said that, it is all simple except for the hinges mentioned above.

Cheers, Chris

[gsa2at]

looking good chris
a lot of work but it will be worth while..... when we paint our hand prints back on again

i have been having a dilemma re a 3 seater complianced rock and roll bed with Lap sash - preferably retractable - belts - i reckon you would be smart enough to figure that out ??

[Rocky]

Yeah, I know the dilemna, scratched my head for a while about the interior, but in the end we have decided to go for the 2 seater and full length cabinets as we plan some long term kombi travels and thought the cabinets would be great, having said that, a wider bed might have been nice too.
It is no harder to set up a full width three seater though. Pretty sure you could do retractables all round by making a mounting point high up behind the seat (for the middle one) or behind the seat as an alternative, i reckon up high would be safer though. As far as the hinges go, they would work the same, maybe would want an angle iron brace under the seat due to the width to avoid sag.....

These are just what comes to mind in a moment, but should be pretty easy.

Cheers,

Oh yeah, check out the hand prints, no need for new ones, we kept the old ones!!

[Rocky]

Well, Geoff and Steve have been busy boys cutting Rockys rust out, I have continued tinkering, chasing parts and avoiding work.... getting excited now, starting to look like a car and not a wreck again.
No more doggy door!!!! yippee

Sills replaced, both sides


inside the new front, a few bits like the hand brake and steering column brackets need to be picked off the old one and fitted to this one.

[Rocky]

Passenger side rear guard, snuck in there while work continued on the roof sections...


The hole where the rust was, drivers side battery tray...

And the tray itself:

[Rocky]

A decision has been come to here, Rocky will not be done up to drive to work and do the occasional road trip, we are packing up shop, moving into the bus with the pups and some clothes and driving, not sure where, hopefully get away the next few months as Rocky becomes ready and the house is packed up. So excited, have wanted this for years, just sort of forgot for a while there, so here we go. Try wipe the smile off my face!

Planning on heading to Newcastle for a few weeks study and one final exam then off (12 years building up to that!) then August in the whitsundays(pre planned) Other than that, just have to squeeze some work in and keep on driving!!!!
yippee
woohooo

[Miss Leah]

Looks good!
At least it is making progress.

Will be a great kombi when finished! (good luck for the exam)

[Rocky]

Thanks Leah,

Going helter skelter trying to be ready for Bonny Hills, hopefully will get the car back with a few days to put it back together, will not be finished if we get there, but will at least be on the road, can finish it when we get home..... Hope we make it

[gsa2at]

i have noticed late bay front on your crossover model low light
i was wondering whether you are considering having the unique feature of keeping 4 indicators on the frontt - this would be unique i would think !!

[Rocky]

Yeah, unique alright. There will most definitely be infills going in there and the pressed in vw will be cut out to make way for nice shiny new lowlight vw symbol. It is annoying enough that I have to use the late bay grill rather than the curvier lowlight one

[cankombi]

Hey Chris, Great news about the road trip! I was wondering what happened to those plans! Hopefully you can make it down to Cooma, always welcome to crash with us as long as you like. Close to the snow, lots of beautiful camping to be done in the snowys nearby, an hour from the far south coast... Would be great to see you guys and we could do a mini convoy. Hopefully marchena maxima will be a little dressed up by then so we don't look super dodgy next to rocky.

[Cai]

Wow that's coming along fast! i always avoid work when i'm doing something to mine, so your not alone!

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by cankombi

Hey Chris, Great news about the road trip! I was wondering what happened to those plans! Hopefully you can make it down to Cooma, always welcome to crash with us as long as you like. Close to the snow, lots of beautiful camping to be done in the snowys nearby, an hour from the far south coast... Would be great to see you guys and we could do a mini convoy. Hopefully marchena maxima will be a little dressed up by then so we don't look super dodgy next to rocky.

We'll be there with bells on, just not sure exactly when, but will be there for sure, sounds like a great spot, could finally see snow!!!!How exciting. Would be a great way to catch up for a few days/weeks/whatever some time.

Cheers, chris

[Rocky]

Originally Posted by Cai

Wow that's coming along fast! i always avoid work when i'm doing something to mine, so your not alone!

Yeah, its a bit like that, the evil work phone rings and I run a mile!!!! Wouldnt be so pressed, but I got sort of disheartened a while back and have only just picked up the game myself, so is crazy from here on in.