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  1. E

    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    I had considered starting a YouTube channel, but as I only get a few hours here and there to work on the bus I was worried setting up and editing footage would slow my progress even further
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Yeah that is about what I thought it would be. I am in two minds whether to custom trim the seats or whether to purchase a set of the cream / tan half leather seats from another i3.
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    The motor frame is being made now should be in by the end of the month all being well
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    VW Stamped Flat Hub Caps With No Holes ?!

    Hi Guys, Apologies as I know flat hubcaps are more of a late bay thing (Mine is a crossover) but anyway, I bought a set of hubcaps of a guy on Facebook and they don’t have the holes on the edge for using the pulling tool to get them off! Has anyone seen hubcaps like this before? I have no idea...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Whilst re-building the beam I also bought some new front shocks. I wanted some adjustable damping ones and had seen the GAZ ones sold by Heritage and the like. However I have had bad experiences with GAZ stuff in the past and at £200 a pair they were a little pricey for me considering this was...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    After deciding to postpone going down the red9 route, I wanted a useable temporary solution making use of the original front beam. As part of the resto I got the underside soda blasted with the front beam still in place so it was looking in pretty good condition but I decided to give it a bit of...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Here is the bus back from the painters. I chickened out of doing the windows myself, having heard from people how difficult doing the deluxe window seals is, I got my local vw shop to fit them instead. I'm glad I did as I think the pressure of working on the fresh paint would have been a little...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    I knew painting the bus was going to be a big job and it was certainly something I was not going to take on myself. However I did not anticipate the painter taking four months to complete it! In fairness there was a lot of filler to address and I can't fault the work they did but damn was it a...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    As part of the refurb on the bus I decided to go all out and order a complete new pop top from Space Roofs. The old pop top had cracks in the gelcoat and much of the lifting mechanism had broken off and was missing. Without knowing what company did the original conversion I decided it wasn't...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    With all the modifications and repairs to the body complete it was time to send her off to paint, but of course I had to decide on a colour first! On the V5 the bus was listed as white but are all buses white on the V5? I imagine that the original camper converter bought all white buses and then...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Having seen a number of electric conversions done on buses, one thing that always surprised me was that no one was utilising the fuel filler as the location for the charge port. I guess because most I have seen are late bays where they have the different style of petrol cap. Mine being a...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Having removed the bulkheads in anticipation of having swivel front seats I had been doing some research on what seats to get for the bus. I am not a fan of the originals with their low backs and non-existent neck support so was looking for better options. Having browsed through here and other...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    This is the donor BMW that will be giving it's internals to the bus. It's a 2019 model with around 30k on the clock, with the largest battery BMW offered this car did around 180 - 200 miles per charge in the summer months so I am not expecting great range in the bus but in all honestly I am not...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    The plan was to split the battery pack into two with half of the batteries placed underneath the floor and half in what was the engine bay, I knocked this up on the computer to give me an idea of how the packaging would work. However I found out that due to the size of the batteries, it...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    No range extender, the bus will be electric only. On a good day I could get 200 miles out of the BMW so with the extra weight and poor aero I anticipate to lose about a third of the range. It is an estimate at this point but due to space available in the bus I have the option of putting more...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Next I was left with what to do with the rear corners. Having seen just how much filler was in them, and the fact they were not the originals anyway, I decided it was best to cut them out and put new panels in. After removing the passenger side corner, it was clear the end of the chassis rail...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Haha yes, I think to get a bus to the level I wanted it would be around £50k not including the bus itself!
  18. E

    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    I hadn’t actually seen that bus Mike, but I have seen others by the company that did the conversion. Unfortunately the price they are asking for conversions was enough to convince me to taking it on myself. I think that I can complete the conversion (including buying and restoring the bus) for...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    Next job was tackling the sliding door. Thankfully the cab doors were in good shape, however that wasn't the case for the slider. The sliding door had obviously under gone some previous repair, with bottom third of the door having been cut off and replaced with a new section, seemingly from a...
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    Bus, meet Beamer (An Electric Story)

    So with the repairs the plan was to start at the front and work backwards. With the cab floor being nice and solid (had obviously been replaced at some point) the first job was to tackle the front tubs which were in a bit of a state. After having managed to stick my fingers through the metal...
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