For as overbuilt most '60s-era VW parts and pieces seem to be, Volkswagen's choice of rivets to hold Bus doors to their hinges seems surprising. With the weight of the window assembly and decades of people hanging on the open doors and bangin' them shut, the thin sheetmetal around the hinges begins to crack, then tear.

The problem becomes a domino effect, causing other parts to fail, too. The doors become harder to close, requiring more effort to make them latch, which starts to wear on the latch mechanism.

But metal fabricator Brian Washburn knows it doesn't have to be that way.

After stopping by his shop, Washburn's Metal in Orange, California, we found he really knows his way around Type 2s. He's built up a nice business taking pre-'68 Buses, Oval and Split-window sedans, and the occasional 356 down to the barest bones to do needed repairs, then reassembling them the way the factory did.

There's one job that is standard operating procedure for every Type 2 that comes into his place: repairing door hinges.

Cracked or worn areas around the rivets (which hold the door's sheet metal to the hinge) will affect the door gap (the space between the door and the body) and, the bigger the gap, the worse the problem. Even if the metal around the rivets isn't cracked on a Bus that has come to his shop, Washburn still welds them up. It would eventually need to be done anyway, and this way the doors will stay aligned for years to come.

The hinge pin bore

This repair also addresses the hinge pin's hole. If it's misshapen from wear, it will need to be reamed and fitted with one of two different oversized pins: .317″ or .321″ (a stock .315″ is also available). If you're doing this work yourself, try the .317″ first and only go to the .321″ if necessary. (Note: Elephant-ear mirror arms for late split Buses aren't sold with oversize pins, only the .315″ size.) Don't do this repair with the door's rubber seals in place, and never shim anything anywhere. Shimming is just a bandage for an underlying problem.

Washburn notes that a lot of people try to open the hinge holes with a drill bit rather than a ream bit. Drill bits only cut at the tip — ream bits use their entire thread. When using the reamer, you should push through the hole only once, only downward, and don't bring the bit back up through the hole (remove the bit before bringing the tool back out). Be sure to use an air hose to knock the metal shavings off the ream bit before going to the next hole.

Getting the door back into shape

Sometimes Bus doors get slightly flattened when they've been removed and things are stacked on them or they're otherwise not taken care of. Some doors may take a couple of hours to get back into shape, but bad ones can take six hours or longer — expensive, but absolutely necessary if you want perfect gaps and to close your doors with a finger instead of your whole body! Gaps for the hatch, decklid, and side panels sometimes need adjustments, too.

Small, incremental amounts are best. Increasing the size of the fulcrum by only a little will radically change the amount you'll be moving, so only tiny pushes!

With all that in mind, follow along as Washburn correctly fits a Bus door to its new home, and see the amount of time and effort it takes to make it perfect.