1968 Campervan conversion

[joaonar]

after bending and cuting the metal sheet where necessary, the replacement part was getting the right way :mrgreen:

... but it was getting late, so I returned to Viseu. And once there, the poptop was needing some attention...

... I also needed to fill the holes he had...

... and after I sanded them a first time....

...they were almost perfect!
Other task to do: scrapping what was left of the inner lining:

 

[joaonar]

next day morning, the second poptop was also needing some work on it. First we remove some wood pieces it had:

So I left my father working on it and went to Hugo's bodyshop:

When I arrived the first words Hugo said to me were: "go and see how your doors are!"....
So I did.... :shock:

:evil:

 

[joaonar]

meanwhile, Hugo had already welded the exterior part he did:

... and he was almost starting to weld the inside ...

 

[joaonar]

in the meantime, some last minuta refinements

... and half of the work was done....

.... and while he was working inside, I was working outside with the sandblaster....

 

[joaonar]

the moon was high and the work in Hugo's bodyshop was still going on:

in the end, it was looking like this.

inside:

and outside:

Sweet!
:mrgreen:

 

[gninnam]

Hugo must be a good friend of yours :mrgreen:

Some much to do - the pictures you have must be in there many thousands 8)

Looking forward to the next lot :shock:

 

[joaonar]

Hugo is a great guy and his work is amazing....

so here's the next lot:

the day was almost over. But Hugo wanted to do something else. First, we removed the windshield....

...and after Hugo said: "...This is going to really worth a picture. Are you ready?"

:?
:mrgreen:

When I went back home, the inner wood frame of the second poptop, was already in place. This time glued with PU MAX. It's a extra-strong polyurethane glue

... and the other side was already prepared to be glued...

 

[joaonar]

Meanwhile, I was adding more bolts and nuts to the ones that were already aside to be zinc coated.
I left them inside Marine-clean... is really a good POR15 product:

... even more....

... they were completely clean

... even inside these bolts head...

and some to add to these ones, already zinc coated...

 

[joaonar]

Next day at Hugo's bodyshop:

Hugo was testing the doors after he had cuted the side step:

He had already made the second replacement part and he was going to weld it in place:

 

[joaonar]

and with the replacement part already welded in place....

...it was time to weld the inner one:

meanwhile I was sanding the poptop, that I had already taken to Hugo's bodyshop:

 

[72nu-funk]

Hi joaonar, your thread is great to come and read and look through every other day, fantastic attention to detail and array of pictures.

True dedication and insight into what it takes, hats off to you sir 8)

 

[joaonar]

next day, I decided to use the front of the latebay as a "ginea pig" to decide the best way to mount my Unity spotlights. I was going to ask Hugo to make the holes but I decided that I'm going to do them later:

... and here they are. A couple of years later they were seeing the Sun light again :mrgreen:

I decided to use them in a different place where they are supposed to be mounted ....

some refinements....

... and the necessary holes ....

 

[joaonar]

and after the bracket was in place...

....it was possible to make the hole where the spotlight arm is going to get inside the bus:

They will be in this position, like you can see in these pictures

 

[joaonar]

Hi joaonar, your thread is great to come and read and look through every other day, fantastic attention to detail and array of pictures.

True dedication and insight into what it takes, hats off to you sir 8)

Thank you so much, 72nu-funk!

 

[joaonar]

Another task that had to be done: prepare the poptop to receive a new skylight.
We had to open a larger hole....

... and a wooden frame, because the top of the poptop is round and the the base of the skylight is flat:

... and another frame for the interior....

and it's almost done....

 

[joaonar]

while I was working in the poptop's, Hugo was making progresses in the bus. We had decided to fix this holes in the rear wheel arch...

... but the exterior paint came out :mrgreen: ....

And another area that was requiring Hugo's attention:

and also this one....

not to mention in here...

 

[joaonar]

so we decided to sandblast all these areas:

and the these areas were miserable...

but to be able to clean also the inside, I decided to remove everything that was in the way :mrgreen:

 

[joaonar]

at least, I'm going to be able to solve this mess....

... and the new paint will cover everything :mrgreen:

So, with all the parts removed, I was able to sandblast the inside...

... and in this area....

... and I also sandblasted all the other areas.

These new parts are awesome:

 

[joaonar]

Another task done: I asked Hugo to weld some nuts on the roof so I can use bolts instead of rivets (as it was originally). This way I can remove it anytime I want, without needing to remove the cabin roof liner...

We decided to use these parts from the Westy in my bus. These ones are in a very good shape while the original ones were completely rotten:

 

[easy]

Huge respect dood! awsome thread! 8)