rusty nail to sow's ear

Monday 27th April 2009

A pillar repair



After the weekend's work, not happy with the top of the front panel cut. Too much filler and repair plates, really disappointed to tell you the truth.



So out came the grinder and off it went. Rather do it twice and properly, than once and bodge it. Plan B.













Stayed on late at the workshop to get it welded and ground back. Thanks very much Nick, if you're lurking, much appreciated.
Post some more pics tomorrow.

tango_van wrote:

More.....:. ?

It's funny how your bay rotted in all the same places as mine....

Loads more.
If yours is a UK RHD then they're all full of rot.

Tues 28th April 2009

Much happier now new front repair panel in.









What joins?







Cab roof cut done, nice to have some metal over the door now.







Found reason why the cargo floor gets wet after rain .



Painting and fitting windscreen tomorrow.

Wed 29th April 2009

At last, under coat and finish colour on the front.











Baking in the sun.







The colour looks a bit washed out in the sun, but is much darker. Windscreen being fitted and the reassembly starts tomorrow, although I want to strip the dash back to body colour before I refit it.

Thursday 30th April 2009

Hooray, windscreen fitted. Had a couple of moments when we thought the opening was too big, but it's in and watertight. :mrgreen:



Just a small rant, why sell a wiper spindle kit without spindle rubber seals?

awsome thread, keep it coming

Are you sure, not boring you senseless yet?


Wed 6th May 2009

Starting to come together, washers, resprayed wiper arms and primer on airbox.



Dash painted, what a pain that was. All day yesterday stripping and rubbing back, got fed up with it really........



....but now it's back in.





Dash top needs repairing, so that'll go back in at a later date.

Thurs 7th May 2009

£10 heater knobs came off of eBay at the right time.



The blue has discoloured a bit, that'll mean a few points deducted at the concours competition



Started on the hidden stuff so I can get the front finished. Fresh air flaps get a bit of tlc.



The seals are fine, but I'm replacing the pivots.

Mon 11th May 2009

Fresh air flap installment.

Painted,



open,



shut.





Cleaned and painted ash tray, fitted heater/flap levers(what a pain in the ass that was, need some more plastic plugs now....), fitted radio cage into oversize hole

Friday 15th May 2009

Tonight Matthew, I've had the disc cutter out again









Guess what I'm doing tomorrow.

Sat 16th May 2009

New eyes in.







Folded panel around A pillars and seam sealed. Put doors back on. N/S side shuts a treat, O/S needs a bit of fettling.
A bit of filler and a coat of primer until I can finish it off properly. Finished welding the rear wheel tubs as well. Had a good day today.
Finished later than expected though, so was served a bit of cold shoulder when I finally arrived home

Wed 20th May 2009

Had a bit of a setback this week, bloody kids at the nearby school decided my bus would look better without windows.
Luckily, they only broke the sliding door glass. But still £85 out of pocket after ordering new glass and rubber.
Sliding door needs repairing before glass can go back in, so yet another job elbowing it's way onto the list.....

Anyway, spent the afternoon working on the front panel filling, rubbing back, refilling and more rubbing back. At 6.30 tonight it looks no different to this.



Other than a bit more primer.

Sat 30th May 2009

Regained a bit of enthusiasm today, and had another go at the front panel. Rubbed back again and another skim of filler.
However, I fitted a new upper front panel to the bus and this has a different size opening for the front grille.
A couple of hours later and some reconstructive surgery......







Doesn't look too bad.
A bit more fine wet and dry and a coat of primer.









Needs a bit more work, I think, there's a high spot under the n/s side of the grille that I need to knock back.

Brought the enthusiasm home and started on the front bumper. There's even filler on this











Might need to get another o/s side step, but other than that it's not too bad. Can't get the bolts undone so I'll be buying some new ones at Bristol Volksfest next weekend.

Tues 9th June 2009

After sleeping in a small tent at Bristol Volksfest, it's time to crack on with the bus again. Determined to get to at least one show this year.

Spent most of today filling and rubbing back many times, but managed to get a top coat on at last.









Plan to get another couple of coats on tomorrow and then refit the headlights and indicators.

Wed 10th June 2009

Slapped some more paint on today. Put quite a lot on to get a decent depth of paint so got a couple of runs, hopefully they'll polish out.















Bit of an improvement on when it first arrived.

Sun 28th June 2009

Seems a long time since I last did some work on the bus. But this weekend it was time to repair the damage done by the schoolkids.
Cutting the rotten window surround out of the sliding door so I can replace the glass.





See how many coats of paint you can count, children.





Got to a stage yesterday where I'd had enough, just like being in a greenhouse with the sodding perspex roof.
Used a JK window surround repair and the centre section is nearly 2" too short.
Used an old door skin to repair the inner skin, as the bulge is nearly the same profile.
Ground the welds down, slapped some primer on and put the window in temporarily until the next time.



Don't think much of these new JK window seals.

Sun 11th July 2009

Hello avid fans, no pics today unfortunately.

Managed to get the bus on the ramp today

Fitted the replacement pipe from the brake fluid reservoir to the master cylinder. 10 minute job, took just over an hour. Got the pipe off of a '69 van, but it was 9" too long and bent in the wrong places. After trimming pipe to length, lots of kettle boiling to reshape pipe and get reservoir outlet into new pipe. I am still astonished after all these years how different parts are between buses of the same age.

It really is amazing how long "little" jobs take. Scraped old underseal and dirt from rear arches (found a couple of "small" holes, but these will be dealt with when the rear arches are replaced), cleaned around swingarms, rear axle, etc, finished seam-sealing the cargo floor and engine bulkhead repairs and sprayed a couple of coats of underseal on the bus and me. All of a sudden, 7 hours had disappeared.



Really need to get the bus home so I can potter around during the odd half hour or so.....

Sat 25th July 2009

Evening all, had another go at the sliding door today.
Not quite a silk purse, but better than a sow's ear.







Just need to take the layers of paint back so I can prep and paint before fitting the glass.

Not too far to go now before the bus is home...

Mon 27th July 2009

Just an hour tonight, repair plate to floor behind bulkhead and a coat of paint.





Rear corner looks a bit more presentable now as well.

Thurs 6th August 2009

Sun 9th August 2009

Progress at home.

Stripped and painted cab floor.





Won't see the black under the cab mat, arches to be body colour.

Started the z-bed fit, drilled the fixing holes, now ready to scrape and paint the floor.

Mon 10th August 2009

I'm still pondering how to secure the bench seat to the hinges.
Can't bolt through the top as this will hit the hinge base, cant bolt thought the side as this interferes with the hinge.
Did think about a piece of threaded stud through the side with a circlip to secure it.

Wed 19th August 2009

Problem solved, going to tack a threaded stud to the bottom of the seat support and bolt through the seat runner.

Another coat of paint on the cab floor and arch ready for the seat to be refitted.





Another coat of paint on the cargo floor and heater vents fitted.



Z bed hinges to be refitted.
Next job, engine out for gearbox change and new shift bushes, and then back in with twin 34's.


Roof and gutter repairs can wait until after OktoberFest.

Wed 19th August 2009

The good thing about having the bus on the drive is that I can fettle for an hour or so....

Driver's seat back in.







Let's see now, what shall I do next...