rusty nail to sow's ear

Tues 29th June 2010

Seat belt and bench seat back in again.



Fitted the cigarette lighter at last, just need a surface mounted one to put in the back for the fridge.



All ready for CamperJam when I've filled up with fuel.

Tues 13th July 2010

Hooray, CamperJam without any hitches, but still gaffer taped up.

Sat 25th July 2010

Got sent these pics from the line-up. Both the bus and me look a lot better from a distance.



Just don't ask for a rear view...



It was worth staying for a while as well.





Anyway I was bored this afternoon, so decided to have a fiddle in the garage...

Before



During



After a coat of ht paint



Just need to find a cheap quiet pack or similar to make long distance driving slightly quieter.

Thurs 29th July 2010









I think I need to go lower, much lower

Thurs 5th August 2010

Had a go at cleaning up the brake drums as they're now on display.
Seems some parts of my bus are a bit earlier...

Wed 11th August 2010

Had a spare 20 minutes or so earlier, so I thought I'd play around with some more ply.
After an hour of making a cardboard template...



Oh dear, can't really fit it to this can I?
Bloody horrible white gloss, about time it went.



So after an hour of scraping with a blade, bored now.

Sat 14th August 2010

Wish I'd never started this job....
After not making much progress with the scraper, I thought I'd take all the hairs off the back of my hands with a heat gun now the rain has stopped.
The plan worked, but only in removing all the paint and not just the gloss...



I have learnt today that the original VW paint softens at a temperature less than household gloss.
Looks like I shall be carrying out a full repaint inside at some stage.
Anyway, this is what it will sort of look like when complete.



Time for a cider methinks.

Mon 16th August 2010

Say hello to spongebob squarebus....

Chloe was bored so she decided to brighten the bus up.

Sat 22nd August 2010

...and she did the other side today.

Fri 3rd September 2010

Thought I'd better tidy the drums again, as the recent wet weather had turned them orange.
Fronts first, and then when the paint's cured I'll crack on with the rears.

Sat 4th September 2010

Front wheels back on this morning.

Mon 6th September 2010

On with the rears.





While I was in the area, I thought I'd tidy up the torsion bar covers as well, not a brilliant idea really, as the offside cover rapidly developed some holes under the rotary wire brush.
Oh well, another addition to the parts required list.



And then it started to rain, heavily.

Tues 7th September 2010

and the rear wheels fitted.

Sat 25th September 2010

Tues 28th September 2010

Wed 6th October 2010

Stripped and painted dropped spindles and springplate covers without holes.

Sun 17th October 2010

and so on with the show....

Swing out cooker unit in at last.





Next job is to give the cooker and canopy a clean, last used in 1998 and not washed before being stashed in the garage.

Sat 13th November 2010

It's dropped spindles Saturday

before























New balljoint boots fitted as balljoints are OK.
Had some rubbage issues after the suspension had settled due to the WagenWest spindles widening the track slightly, but they'll be sorted with some 155/60/15 tyres on Monday, so it'll drop another inch. The rake will be reduced as well next week with the 4" springplates, although I'm thinking of tubs now for the New Year.
But it drives so much better with suspension travel again, and I'll admit to driving past some large plate glass shop windows on the way home though.....


A few more parked up in various stages of repair this morning.

Tues 16th November 2010

Swapped the 185's for a pair of 155/60/15's earlier and refitted the wheels back on the bus by torchlight.











More pics at the weekend after the rear gets dropped.

Sun 21st November 2010

Lowered springplate day.



Before



After



Notice the difference?
Not much other than freshly reassembled due to the springplates not fitting the torsion bars....
I shall be arranging some correct year springplates this week.

Just a couple of random workshop pics to follow.

Mon 22nd November 2010

Fri 3rd December 2010



Replacement springplates still in Sheffield due to bad weather, so no fun time tomorrow.

Wed 8th December 2010





At last, although they won't be fitted for at least another week.

Fri 17th December 2010

Rear springplates put on hold for a while, but guess what I'll be doing tomorrow.....





Part 1 of the pictorial installation thread starts tomorrow.

Sat 18th December 2010

Part one of the propex thread.

Before I start the rear bench and floor needs to be stripped out to remove the existing heater vents.



The bench seat centre leg will need to be removed to as well.



Between this pic and the next was 2 hours of measuring to miss the chassis legs, floor supports and assorted pipes and cables.
Having a low van and no access to a ramp is making this job much harder than anticipated.





Trial fit.



2x 40mm holes cut through the floor and then the insulation and ply refitted.





The edges of the insulation and ply sealed with aluminium tape to allow the exhaust assembly mastic to fill the hole around the inlet/exhaust ducting and not spread into the floor void.



I cut the holes so that they were right up against the last "top hat" section.



The inlet/exhaust ducting was fitted to the propex unit, copious amounts of exhaust assembly mastic applied to the holes and pipework to seal the openings, and then the unit fixed down.



Gas pipe fitted and Z hinge back in to check clearance. I have plans to duct the fresh air inlet through from the engine bay by the spare wheel well, and then the hot air outlet will be teed off into the original heater vent hole to allow hot air to get to the screen. The vent hole by the propex unit will be sealed shut along with the openings under the van where the heat exchangers connect.



Too bloody cold and dark to carry on today.
Gas pipe install to the swing out cooker and propex unit next.
To be continued.....