Tabitha the 73 tintop bay

well, been a while since i had a resto thread so here goes:

you've all seen the pics of this bus in general chat so i will get straight into the action so to speak! lol

havin cut the rot out of the rear quarter/sill on the passenger side Friday night i treated the inner which was pretty solid with some rust treatment & let it soak in over the weekend.........then yesterday my rear wheelarch/sill panel turned up so out came the welder:

pics in a sec

pics in reverse order?? lol

how it finished up.......havent welded for a while so not as tidy as i would have liked.....left a trough for a skim of filler over the weld line:


gettin there


the sill section adjoining was locally repaired:


some short stitches to hold the panel & allow for some adjustment:

then rain stopped play so i moved inside & did this......

tidy white walkthru:


that looked like this when i bought it:

Nice work Impy

Should be on the road in no time

big dave wrote:

Nice work Impy

Should be on the road in no time

thx dave......wanna finish the inner repair today if the weather holds......its all cut out n ready, have cut pieces ready to match up the inner to the new outer.

am hopin to have it legal by the end of November.......i aint had it runnin yet.....am focusing on the metalwork.....if i start makin it pretty n buyin bits for it i will get sidetracked!

more welding today, joined new outer rear sill wheel arch section to fabricated inner section & wheelarch closing panel..... thats that section pretty much done bar priming, sealing & painting.

tacked a patch into the floor near the drivers pedal area & will finish tommorow.

no pics today......will take more tommorow......as yet havent found THAT much welding to do mot-wise (sorry gunge)

Impy Mcdub wrote:

as yet havent found THAT much welding to do mot-wise (sorry gunge)

Welding!! what welding on mine!!

Gungemyster wrote:

Welding!! what welding on mine!!

There's fuck all to weld to!!

nice to see your aircooled again like me looks like a nice find fancy a swap for a beetle lol

been out on the bus again this afternoon.....half the bus underside rubbed down n resealed & i prepped n rattle canned the engine lid & removeable valance in the colour im plannin on doing the bottom half of the bus.......ford ceramic blue.....NO....it aint primer grey! lol

Nice one chicken... Cracking on with it...

Nice one CLifford, keep up the good work

good work imp, loveing the primer grey

dubberatlast wrote:

good work imp, loveing the primer grey

thanks carlos......took the pic in the dark!

it'l look rat-look in the dark & tidy blue in the daytime...kerching.....multi look!

well.....spent a wet few hrs under the bay today.....chasin down dodgy wiring & changing out the starter motor for a kindly loaned better one (thanks Zal)

im not all there though......after strugglin for ages with the starter top bolt behind the fan cowl i remebered i have a removeable valance.......job was much easier to bget at after that! lol

nothin much to see.....am spendin the day going thru the wiring tryin to sort out all the additions & bodges.........i hate wiring.....gimme a hammer & a mig anyday! lol

Impy Mcdub wrote:

nothin much to see.....am spendin the day going thru the wiring tryin to sort out all the additions & bodges.........i hate wiring.....gimme a hammer & a mig anyday! lol

I hate welding and filling!! give me wiring anyday!!

well......after 2 wks of ownership & a lot of fiddling with the wiring (i basically undid all the connections on the fusebox & cleaned/re-attached the wires.....cuttin out unused accessories etc)....this happened:


https://s58.photobucket.com/albums/g263/clarewizard1/?action=view&current=V091109_1556.flv

its alive!!!.....apart from a reluctant 2nd gear its a runnin, rollin project........im bookin it for an mot in a few wks

I had heard you weren't to good at wiring dude, hopefully it's just a fuse or the bulbs...

thecrewkid wrote:

I had heard you weren't to good at wiring dude, hopefully it's just a fuse or the bulbs...

cheeky! lol

im ok at wiring.....just dont like it.....spannering or welding/fabrication is more my style........only need to sort the wipers, horn & sidelights electrics wise for the ticket

Oh sorry i thought you were showing us that the reverse lights didn't work..


Nice one sweet heart..

thecrewkid wrote:

Oh sorry i thought you were showing us that the reverse lights didn't work..


Nice one sweet heart..

no ya big numpty.........bought the van a fortnight ago as a non runner......ive tried startin it so many times since.....put another starter on it but the wiring at the front was/is shocking. (see technical help thread).....after a lot of headscratchin made it run & it sounds like a good un touchwood!

That's cool ....well done dude ..........just one thing ,there seems to be somthing wrong with the suspention LOL

Nice one bud