Back to Left hand drive

Probably a silly question but owing to the poor standard of Danbury R/H conversion ie using left-hand drive parts resulting in large holes in the floor without rubber grommets to keep out the draft . Has anyone had thier van converted back to L/H drive

Regards Bob K

bob k wrote:

Probably a silly question but owing  to the poor  standard of Danbury R/H conversion ie. using left-hand drive parts resulting in large holes in the floor without rubber grommets  to keep out the draft . Has anyone had their van converted back to L/H drive

Regards Bob K

I agree with you Bob, that the job they did was pretty shoddy, and although it would be possible to revert to LHD, on the water cooled bus, it would be a huge undertaking. Unlike the earlier air cooled version that evolved from a chassis designed for use with either side drive, the water cooled version was only ever designed for LHD use. This meant a lot of hacking away and alteration to much of the cab metalwork on this version. You'd need to source the body panel to the rear of the radiator, cab floor, front coolant pipes and hoses, fresh air intake parts, the list will be huge with most of the parts not readily available here at all, needing to come over from Brazil. There'd be a lot of invasive welding involved too. Parts (and labour if not doing it yourself) costs would run to many thousands and the end result would be a bus with a lower resale value. (Although this may not be a consideration)  

A much better option will be to go over the work done on your RHD bus and rectify some of the bodges, source correct grommets, make up plates and gaskets as needed to plug holes and such. Annoying things such as the dash top with the LHD passenger grab handle uselessly left behind the instrument panel can be changed to the correct RHD version. Good used and sometimes NOS ones can still be found for these.

So, that was a long answer, but I expect the short answer will be no!

Went through a ford today and had to lift the matts. Looks a fairly neat job but does let water in. Mind you cannot believe the rust which in todays world is a fairly new vehicle (2011).

Chris F wrote:

Went through a ford today and had to lift the matts. Looks a fairly neat job but does let water in. Mind you cannot believe the rust which in todays world is a fairly new vehicle (2011).

Thing is Chris, (and this is a mistake many Brazilian kombi buyers make!) people think because of their age, rust resistance will be comparable to a similar age European VW, but our kombi's aren't fairly new vehicles as far as bodywork and rust prevention go, they're still firmly in the 1970's! Whereas all European VW vans for well over the last 20 years have been built using modern zinc plated steel, and cavity wax injection, ours still use plain mild steel and there's no cavity wax in them, just like back in the days of the original German buses. (Back then a 13 year old bus that wasn't severely rusty, or already scrapped was the exception!) They're also not as well finished, sealed, & painted as '70's German buses were, due to being built to a much lower price point for local utilitarian work in a climate with milder winters. Then Danbury drilled and cut holes all over during the conversion, with scant regard to proper rust proofing afterwards. End result, with UK use, unless a bus has been very well looked after, treated with comprehensive cavity wax injection, and underbody coating early on in its life, (which Danbury certainly never did properly!) you're sadly going to see a lot of rust by now on any bus used year round and/or not garaged.

Thank you both for very interesting and detailed information

By the way, don't get me wrong regarding the above comments, I'm not trying to be down on kombi's, I love them and find them interesting, but they need to be treated just as any other vintage/classic VW would be, as they're very much not a modern vehicle built anything like to modern standards of quality or safety. They're a 60 year old classic throughout with a modern engine. Ownership of one of these means giving the same respect, coddling and regular attention as you would a classic, or they will rust away. I worry that a lot of owners think due to the much newer age, these are just a "cool" classic looking alternative to a modern van and they really aren't!

Favguy wrote:

By the way, don't get me wrong regarding the above comments, I'm not trying to be down on kombi's, I love them and find them interesting, but they need to be treated just as any other vintage/classic VW would be, as they're very much not a modern vehicle built anything like to modern standards of quality or safety. They're a 60 year old classic throughout with a modern engine. Ownership of one of these means giving the same respect, coddling and regular attention as you would a classic, or they will rust away. I worry that a lot of owners think due to the much newer age, these are just a "cool" classic looking alternative to a modern van and they really aren't!

In many ways, owning a water cooled Brazzer is the worst of both worlds - the dated body and chassis design - full of crevice corrosion points and inferior quality steel, with a proper mix n match of relatively new but hard to source technology of electronic controls, sensors, engine management, even a fly-by-wire throttle! Ive got a 1982 944 that I'm currently restoring - its a doddle compared to my panel van, mostly because I dont have to look in south america for parts, or translate sketchy Portugese manuals to understand how it works.

My panel van was in very good condition considering its early life as a daily working vehicle for a London lift engineering company - but the best thing about it was that it didnt have any side windows or roof cuts.  A lot of rust in the lower panels of a brazzer camper is via the side windows, they let water in through the window seals, which then sits trapped behind the outer skin and the inner trims.

I never paid more than £12k for either of mine, but Danbury sold these vans for an absolute fortune, and they are still being advertised for high twenty/thirty thousands pounds - its laughable. I was quite willing to get my hands dirty and have a go at fixing things myself, but for people who bought these vans in a mid life crisis, they will be absolute money pits

Purple wrote:

Favguy wrote:

By the way, don't get me wrong regarding the above comments, I'm not trying to be down on kombi's, I love them and find them interesting, but they need to be treated just as any other vintage/classic VW would be, as they're very much not a modern vehicle built anything like to modern standards of quality or safety. They're a 60 year old classic throughout with a modern engine. Ownership of one of these means giving the same respect, coddling and regular attention as you would a classic, or they will rust away. I worry that a lot of owners think due to the much newer age, these are just a "cool" classic looking alternative to a modern van and they really aren't!

In many ways, owning a water cooled Brazzer is the worst of both worlds - the dated body and chassis design - full of crevice corrosion points and inferior quality steel, with a proper mix n match of relatively new but hard to source technology of electronic controls, sensors, engine management, even a fly-by-wire throttle!  Ive got a 1982 944 that I'm currently restoring - its a doddle compared to my panel van, mostly because I dont have to look in south america for parts, or translate sketchy Portugese manuals to understand how it works.

My panel van was in very good condition considering its early life as a daily working vehicle for a London lift engineering company - but the best thing about it was that it didnt have any side windows or roof cuts.  A lot of rust in the lower panels of a brazzer camper is via the side windows, they let water in through the window seals, which then sits trapped behind the outer skin and the inner trims.

I never paid more than £12k for either of mine, but Danbury sold these vans for an absolute fortune, and they are still being advertised for high twenty/thirty thousands pounds - its laughable. I was quite willing to get my hands dirty and have a go at fixing things myself, but for people who bought these vans in a mid life crisis, they will be absolute money pits

I sort of agree and dis-agree with you there Purple. The appeal of it to me is the old body and chassis, but then I know what I'm dealing with, how to preserve it, and when not to use it! (Hint, winter & salty roads and it lives inside when not in use!) But I feel exactly the same about German buses and my '54 Oval.

I don't agree about the actual steel quality, at least on mine, it's no worse or better than a '70's German bus from a corrosion point of view, they were hideous rust buckets too. The prep and paint differ, which may well lead to easier rust starting in buses that haven't been properly treated for UK use. The steel is different though, it's a more modern contemporary sheet steel, this does differ from sheet steel from a few decades ago. It's not as hard and more pliable/springy, as most modern car steel is now. It will probably dent easier than the classic stuff, but an advantage is it can have PDR done to it. My Dent guy massaged several small dents out mine perfectly just like on other modern stuff. He said it just can't be done very successfully on old VW's as the steel can't be manipulated like more recent stuff, so you have to go straight to paint.

I also like the later engine, it's economical and powerful compared to any aircooled and will last much longer with proper servicing. You're absolutely right about parts, they're a pain in the a**e in time and cost for anything that has to come from Brazil.

I'll keep my eye on the sliding side window issue you mention, no sign of any leaks with mine, but then it doesn't and won't be living outside!

More on PM...