its in the hole!

In March of 2007, I had a post about gaining access to the engine in a 1972 VW bus. I outlined the 3 different sizes of standard openings that VW offered in their aircooled bus (and the type 3/4). After a year and a half, and a decision to swap a diesel engine into Hapy, I've put topside access into my 1972 bus. I didn't come to this decision easily (nor quickly, obviously), but now that its there, its incredible. Even if it is just a hole.

Measure, and then re-measure for good measure.
In the link above, I provided 3 possible stock-ish sizes. I liked the access idea from the typ3/4, so I took those dimensions, and made it a little smaller at 20" deep and 30" across. The hole can be expanded, if the type3/4 cover/lid becomes available. That's a decision for another day. As it is, the right side (facing front) is butted up against the support rail that runs front-to back on the right side. The front side runs along the firewall.

mark it, tape it, mark it again.
Centering the 30" on the latch, draw the lines with a T-square. 16" from center to the right is the support beam, but 15" off leaves just enough space to fit a 1" square tube in the future. 20" from the firewall leaves about 4 inches from the latch (see the picture to the right here). I'll need to weld in a support there along the backside later. Anyway, with a T-Square mark the rectangle with a pencil, over-shooting the intersections. Double check the lengths and the squared corners. Take masking tape and tape over the lines, centering the tape on the pencil lines. The tape will help keep the cuts smooth. Re-mark the lines with a sharpie so you can see them when you're working the grinder.

cut with care.
Break out your angle grinder with a cutting wheel. I bought a 4 1/2" for this job and got a DeWalt cutting wheel. Start near a corner and work one line. Stop before you get to the end and switch to another line. I did the left side then the front, then right and finally the rear. This order allowed me to climb into the bus to cut the front without stressing it. Once the lines were done, I went in through the back and finished the cross-support bar off. Finally, complete the corners, and the hole is finished.

enjoy.
The resulting hole needs to be filed or otherwise protected, or you'll cut yourself up on it. I'm putting that off for now. Same goes to creating a hatch. I didn't realize just how much better it was until I got back to putting the engine in and was able to see the whole thing. As it got dark, I set up a cliplight from the rear door support and it was incredible. Imagine crawling through your front grill to work on your engine for 4 years and then to finally have a hood. Wow.