The Babylon Rat

Oooh yeah baby, pic tastic, keep them coming, looking great!

Rich, I never realised it sounded so sordid! No wonder you kept to your self over the other side of the workshop

Here's a few more from today:


As I said earlier that i popped over to see Neil to collect my deluxe trim & over riders on Monday evening .... well here it is in all it's glory
I've had a fiddle with the overriders & rails & will pop into 'Nuts & Bolts' tomorrow morning before heading over to the workshop with my list of s/s bolts required to fit them all together.


The 'Ashtray is no more! All ground back after Dave welding it up





Hole welded up & ground back in the n/s wheel arch



Sink drain hole in the floor welded up too.


One of my cargo doors had come off a deluxe some time in it's life, so I couldn't resist bolting a section of the trim up on it just for the bling value this shot


Also tackled a job today that I've been putting off for about a year or so ... When I was doing the resto course at Bridgy College I drilled out the bottom rivets on the o/s door as the metal around the hinge was splitting a bit (A common fault as in the original VW workshop manual they list a repair piece with vw part no. & that was the 1964 manual!) So I hacksawed a bit of metal up about 3mm thick to make a spreader plate in the door. It's worked a treat & Sharon can at last open the passenger door now without the door dropping 1/2 a mile


And here's the finished result, to door is now secure & I've hung it correctly, which for me is a real feat!

So after my success with the front door, i turned my attention the the cargo doors. Half of the bolts were locked solid & the other half were missing from when I got the bus & they got a liberal coating of Wynn's freeing spray. I managed to free all but one, who's head totally mangled up so I had to drill it out & use an easi out on it which to my suprise worked a treat

Tomorrow I will be turning my attention to getting the outer shafts off the donor gearbox & hopefully fitted on to my Gt box, ready then to fit on the bus with the straight axle kit.

nice one buddy....

sweet love all the picks rick.. its coming on well. cant wat to see it next, + what train you getting now????

Cheers Rich

Jamo, I finished the job at Mouchel on the 20th dude! I've been a man of leisure since the 21st .... working on the bus.

I start the new job in central Bristol on the 3rd March so will hopefully catch the same one, although I doubt I'll get a seat from there

Can you please remind Si, Zac & Mel that I MUST have their money for Plymfest at the friday meet or they ain't gonna be camping with us

thecrewkid wrote:

Great pics ricky baby..

Babylon Split Rick wrote:

Dave & I worked the accident damaged area down the long side to see if we could shrink the damage back, but after about an hour of beating it with his new shrinking hammer & a dolly

I can still hear them banging in the back of the bus... bang, bang, harder, harder, bang, bang, rick go down, go up, go up, bang, bang, bang, not that far, hang on i'm coming out, sh1t, i'm going back in, bang, bang, bang, dave what you doing now... taking my top off...

.....and after that they did some metalwork!!


Nice job on the van guys;)

Thanks Cliff

Not such a productive day today, as I didn't get down the Unit till 11.30 as had to get haircut & a load of bits from Nuts & Bolts before heading over.

Had to 'not so' Easi Out another cargo hinge bolt which was coming out fairly well until it snapped & I had to drill & tap, but think it's all ok now

Then built up the overriders & when Rich turned up he welded on a nut where the thread was shagged on one of the uprights ... Cheers fella!

Good on ya rick, looks like you are getting on with it now dude...
Cant wait to see it in the flesh again...
Yours and riches buses is the closed thing ive got to a split resto nowadays

will do mate, don worry about the seat ill give you mine.... yeah rght
nah but ill save you one... si is in a bit of a pridicament at the mo bcause he swapped his caddy for a mk2 gti with a vr6 engine and g60 brakes it looked awsume the rim were sex rolling on rubber BUT he crashed it two weeks later, and wrote it off! he is ok but it was completly wrecked, i think him and his dad can save the engine so i think he is going to try and put it in2 something else, but he is quite tied up with that at the mo because the fuzz were involed, but ill try and speak to him.

Rick the work is look spot on dude look foward to seeing it at plymfest!!

Updates from Friday


Got the front overriders on with the new bolts.



Fixed the rear overrider that had a threaded thread, by getting Rich to weld on a nut for me, now looking good as well.


Managed to get the out tubes off the donor box & cleaned them up with a wire wheel ready for painting.


Just got to get the shafts off the donor box & it'll be ready to receive the shorter shafts off sharon's & be used as a transplant for the Vamp

Had a really productive day down the workshop yesterday, as Dave was down to finish the welding.
Just want to start by saying a HUGE thank you to Dave for a stirling effort this & last Saturday... You're a mate


Offending panel that's caused us so much grief


Dave working his magic on the English wheel rolling the new panel from a flat sheet of metal



Grinding out the old metal


New sill level window anyone?



this time Arizona pebbles as well as dirt ... Now I know what was rattling on the bus



Cleaned up panel beaten inner arch ready for new panel


From inside


'Free' smiley Dave with every repair!


Roof hole that used to double as fridge chimney welded up


Side panel repair finished ... Cracking job Dave!


More roof holes from an awning support bracket welded up


Side repair from inside


Floor hole welded up


Sill welded


Final bit of the day's welding pics, the rear 1/4 pin holes welded up.

While Dave was doing the panel work I got 3 coats of smooth hammerite black on the axle shafts, cleaned up the rear spring plates bolted up the straight axle kit to them. Then I welded up all the plates to make it stronger & ground it down ready for painting.

We left the workshop at 8pm last nite totally knackered & I think Dave was going to crash in front of the telly ... but I rushed in washed up, got changed & had to scoot straight out in 15 mins to go bowling for Josh's birthday. Being knackered is what I blamed being beaten bowling by sharon 2 out of the 3 games

Nice work dave/rick looks spot on

top work boyooo's

Looking sooooo good!

Only a couple of pics today as I only popped into the workshop for a few hours this afternoon to tidy up a bit & clean all the grinding dust out of the cargo area of the bus.


The painted out shafts ready to fitting to the GT box & the Type 3 brakes. Just need to get some wheel bearings & it'll be ready for assembly




Various angles of the straight axle kit on the '68 bay window swing arms, that I bolts & welded up yesterday. Still need a few more coats of paint though.

Was thinking about painting the gearbox as well. Can anyone tell me if I need special paint, or can I just use the same smooth hammerite that I've used on the rest of the suspension?

Look good rick, it's coming on nicely.
Glad you're happy with the work dude... I'm pretty chuffed with it too.

Tip top work buddy

Thanks again for the great job & amount of effort you've put in over the last couple of Saturdays mate

When things have calmed down on the baby front I'll get you to have a look at straightening out the dent in the front panel & the door for me, but there's no rush to get them done!

All the best for you & Rach with the impending birth of your little bundle of joy

Well done baby

Now I get to see what you have actually been doing

Oh and Thank you for saying YES last friday

Keep the good work up....

Very productive weekend's work I'm pleased to announce
Yesterday & today I welding up all the small screw holes from various interiors being in the bus over the years and the cleaned all the grinding swarf out of the van.


Here's the footwell plate that Dave did the other weekend with zinc paint on it.














Then I wire wheeled all the old seams in the front wheel arches & along the front underside of the footwell to clean them up. Then I re-seam sealed them all, insuring many more years of rust free seams


Then I seam sealed the repairs that we did to the long side.


I also welded up the hole that was left under the heater when it was removed before my ownership as you could see the floor below And then zinc painted that area as well.


And then seam sealed the other rear arch corner.


I also removed the oil bath filter bracket from inside the engine bay, that had been removed at some time & then re welded back on. Because of this, I had to cut two squares of metal out of the rear engine top deck to remove the bracket & weld & re weld metal into the deck. here's the job done.




The other two floor repairs zinc'ed.




Floor repair by the cargo doors from underside.


Cargo door side rear of side channel, where small plate welded in & original hole re-drilled to drain channel, then zinc'ed.


Rear long side inner arch to repair panel seam sealed. The rest of the rear arches will be cleaned & re-sealed when I have the suspension & gearbox out to make life easier.


Underside of heater pipe repair.


And vanity unit repair.




When air lining out the inside of the bus before sealing & painting on the zinc, I even did the top inner channel areas where the headlining will fit. I dislodged something above the drivers sun visor, so I had a feel around behind the panel & pulled out a replacement wing mirror glass & this paper list that looks like it was some sort of delivery list. Don't know how old it is, but it deffo has U.S. addresses .... Cool though


The offending air bath filter bracket from the engine bay that had to be removed as it would have got in the way of the Dells!



Some of the goodies that arrived from GSF this week, including Urethane gearbox mounts, German quality engine gasket set, wheel bearings, accelerator cable (needed replacing as I had to cut the end off the old one to fit the Weber twin choke carb linkage), new Bosch blue coil & a couple of clutches ... One for Babylon & one for the transplant of her 1600 Mexico engine into Vamp

Excellent progress Dude.

Cheers Scoops

Hope William was okay after yesterday down the workshop?

He was fine fella, he is just a bit nervous of loud noise, bit more sensetive this weekend as he is coming down with a cold. Sorry we disrupted your flow of creative juices!!

Got the bus turned round last nite & had a play with the engine lid hold up catch as I'm gonna have to modify it due to the bus having an early lid & the engine bay has a later bracket.
Got down at a reasonable time tonite so I got the back end up on stands & started taking the shocks, hand brake cable & brake pipes off.
Won't be back down the workshop until Saturday now, but I will finish getting the flexy pipes off & can then get the gearbox & suspension arms off & the new ones back on ... yeay!