rusty nail to sow's ear

Just a thin wipe of filler over the welds and the previous accident damage. It's a bit too cold for applying filler outside, as soon as the filler hits the metal it stiffens. Bit of a mare really.
Plenty of dust for the missus and neighbours to moan about.





Quite a few pinholes and high spots to fill and sand.



But a coat of primer eventually made it's way onto the bus tonight. Bit more stopping and a coat of hi-build primer tomorrow hopefully.



Being an electrician maybe you would've thought that I'd fit a light to see what I'm doing......

Just read all through ya thread dude.. fair play to ya...

Ive got a lot of respect for built not bought dubs...
Ive been there and done it, and it takes some patience and effort!

Good work chap!

Nothing wrong with a bit of filler dust in the air!!

Quite a bit of filler dust.

Had a few hours on the rear corner and arch today, want to get it finished.
Masked up, rubbed back and ready for priming.





1st coat of hi-build





A few pinholes and high spots still



1st coat of L345



2nd coat



3rd coat





Left a few dents and dings to retain a bit of character.
Put it all back together in the dark, paint's not quite hardened right off due to the temperature, but I'm tired now.
And the trouble with being tired is that you forget to fit the sliding door hinge catch so that it flies off and falls to the ground when you shut it......



Oh well, it was on the list to do anyway.

delboy wrote:

Just read all through ya thread dude.. fair play to ya...

Ive got a lot of respect for built not bought dubs...
Ive been there and done it, and it takes some patience and effort!

Thanks.
I'm not trying to make it anything else than what it is, which is a rotten old UK bus, just one that won't need serious tickling with the welder for a few more years.

sparkywig wrote:

delboy wrote:

Just read all through ya thread dude.. fair play to ya...

Ive got a lot of respect for built not bought dubs...
Ive been there and done it, and it takes some patience and effort!

Thanks.
I'm not trying to make it anything else than what it is, which is a rotten old UK bus, just one that won't need serious tickling with the welder for a few more years.

I fucking love this, great sentiment.

I your bus!

This should make it easier to tow the Rapido.



Just waiting to collect the modified 5 rib gearbox now.

Yum yum!!

SA's on. Well, the front ones anyway, need to adjust the rear brakes and handbrake before struggling to swap the rear wheels.





My missus says she prefers the "noddy" red wheels after moaning about them for the last year.....

OK then, now I've got solid chassis legs it's on with the rear bumper and towbar.
well, perhaps not then, I've got a split rear bumper and "new" early bay bumper irons so the bumper sits at a steep angle, rests on the VS exhaust and is too far away from the corners for my liking. You could lose a small child in the gap between bumper and rear corner.
So out with the grinder, and that's better.





Not finished yet as I need to fabricate a couple of brackets for the towbar, bumper temporarily fitted to get the towbar position.







These re-usable cable ties come in quite handy, just need some 10mm plate now....

Looking good

Tues 12th March 2013
Rhetorical question for you, have ever tried to get two 100mm x 100mm pieces of 10mm plate steel?
One place wanted a minimum order of £150, another stockholder had a minimum sale amount of a 2.0m x 1.5m sheet, and another had a minimum weight, 78.5kg, which happens to be a square metre.....
I even went to Tata (I worked there back in the early '90s when it was still British Steel), to get a couple of offcuts, but they've shut down the Yate site.

So I blagged a bit of scrap from down the yard, made some plates up and then they were welded to the modified bumper irons.
The bumper was mocked up again, marked, drilled and tapped, and then a quick clean up with the grinder and a bit of rust treatment, which froze as I applied it so I abandoned any further plans for the day.
Had enough really as it took nearly two hours to drill a broken 10mm taper tap out.





That was yesterday. Today was warmer, but only slightly though, so I managed to get a coat of etch primer on.



Need to get some satin black and then it's reassembly time.

Thurs 14th March 2013
Satin black, and before any smartarse says it, I know it looks shiny but it is satin black.

Fri 15th March 2013
Towbar fitted,







and rear bumper back on. Another job added to the list is some brackets to support the bumper ends.
I'm glad that's done, all ready for Rapido touring now.







Loads of clearance to the exhaust as well.

Sat 16th March 2013
Rear brakes and handbrake adjusted, and the SA's finally on. The offset is terrible though and I've gone back to rubbing the arch lip on roundabouts, etc.
I think tubs may be on the cards along with some adjustable spring plates.
Although I'm not as taken with the SA's as much as I thought now that they're on, I'll see how I feel after I get the red walls done.



Sliding door on the list to do nextish.....
Came home to fit the track covers and fuel filler flap, and finish reassembling the interior ready for a quick dash up the M4 to work at Dub Aid.
No chance of that then.....



Torrential thunder/hail storms, no wonder it's cancelled.

Sun 17th March 2013
Today was a busy day, a few small jobs that needed to be done before next weekend that seem to take much longer than anticipated..
Cleaned and painted the rear corner trim panels. The plan was to cover them with brown leatherette to match the seats but it seems to have disappeared. When I find it that's another job to do....



Removed the starter battery, drilled another drain hole in both battery trays, cleaned, seam-sealed, primed and painted the off-side inner corner. Managed to get a rather long buzz from cellulose fumes while doing this.



Bit of paint on the sliding door whilst it awaits repair.



Found a new rear light unit and swapped the lamp holders over from the og one.



And finally got the filler flaps bungs on.



I did manage to rub back and get some paint on the track covers, but it went so cold so quickly that they've got a crackle finish.

Actually had a days work today, but still managed to grab a couple of hours fettling tonight.
Track covers rubbed back and another couple of coats applied. It's amazing how many little flies appear when you're painting....



Retrieved the engine hatch from the depths of the garage, and as I wasn't happy with the finish that got a quick dose of 600 wet'n'dry and maybe a top coat tomorrow.



On a roll now, so out came the rear valance for an etch prime. perhaps I should've done this before fitting the towbar and bumper.







I think the light's wrong for painting, so that'll be it for today.

I like the SA's

Still not altogether convinced myself, they may grow on me so could only be a short term fitment.
I've found these in the garage today, forgot all about them.



"New" engine hatch repainted, needs a rub back and another coat.



Track covers and rear lights refitted.



Couldn't find the leatherette, so an offcut was purchased today. It looks like a bit of contact adhesive action tomorrow.

Trim panels finished and fitted.



Slightly better than staring at the bare panels though, just need to sort out the headlining where it meets the hinges now.

Evening all, forgot all about you lot.
I suppose I'd better post some updates.

25th March 2013
Went to a very cold VolksWorld Show, as some of you will know
0800 Saturday morning, earlybay.com line-up, Aaron, Pete B and Graham L.












Credit to Mike Munns for this one.

7th May 2013
Just a small update, I haven't progressed as much as I would've liked due to lack of work and money.
It was planned to have the stroker motor and gearbox in and running by now, but that's been shelved for at least a few months.
What I did do this weekend though, as unusually it wasn't raining or cold, was to retrieve the engine hatch from the depths of the garage, give it a T-Cut and polish and replace the rotten one.






Remember this?





I got a bit fed up of seeing the moisture reaction every time I walked past the bus, so after about 4 hours of hand cutting and polishing this was the result.