1968 Campervan conversion

[joaonar]

Other task that I needed to do: paint some parts of the suspension that I'm going to use... and some spares I've in stock

A week later, Hugo started working on my cabin doors. After some sandblasting, they were both looking like this:

 

[joaonar]

These are some pictures of what Hugo and André did to one of my cabin doors. Because the originals ones where completely rotten, Hugo decided to use the ones from the blue bus (the same from where we took the entire roof section). They get the chance of living a second life in a different bus :mrgreen: .
After some sandblasting, one of them was like this:

 

[Marriedblonde]

Amazing thread!!! Good work

 

[joaonar]

André had is first experience in this exciting task that's sandblasting :mrgreen:
Of course that, after some minutes doing this much exciting task, he regreted the day he accepted to work on my bus :mrgreen:

... and finaly, it was time to remove the outer skin:

... and to be replaced with these ones, that I bought a couple of years ago:

 

[joaonar]

Amazing thread!!! Good work

thanks Marriedblonde

... but it's nothing compared with a lot of threads around here :mrgreen:

 

[joaonar]

After a couple of years, it was time to finaly use the front doors outer skins:

... and Hugo taking some measurements :mrgreen: :

 

[joaonar]

The front door without the outer panel:

... and a lot of rust beneath it:

How it was, once removed:

 

[joaonar]

but Hugo wasn't afraid with what had to be done. This is what he did to put them like new.
First, he made a small mold:

... and after, he made a larger replacement part:

 

[joaonar]

and after, he cut all the rusted area:

... such a nightmare!
:shock:

 

[joaonar]

and so, to remove all rust from these areas, André went to Hugo's private desert to play with sand a bit more :mrgreen:

After, André started preparing the new outer skins:

... and while Hugo was working on one front door, André started working on the rear hatch:

 

[joaonar]

a couple of weeks later, I went back there, to do some other tasks I wanted.
One of them, was to drill all necessary holes and weld the brackets for the rear safari window, since André was already preparing the rear hatch for the paint job and I didn't want to mess all his hard work.

After taking some measurements and making all the needed markings, we began drilling the first holes and trying them just to be sure all was correct:

 

[joaonar]

and some more holes to drill:

 

[joaonar]

and with the rear safari window already in place....

... it was time to drill some more:

 

[joaonar]

and since I was in here, near the poptop, I decided to get back to it.

Next day, I asked for André's help. With him, we almost finished it (at least, from the outside) :mrgreen: :

 

[joaonar]

After a lot of sanding, André applied some primer over it:

In the end, it looks good although it's not finished. There is still some sanding to do and the surface has some small pores that we need to treat.
The skylight is a most necessary acessorie if you plan cooking inside the bus like I do. My mom always did our meals (specially dinners since our lunch was always some sandwichs :mrgreen: ) for all five of us :mrgreen:

 

[joaonar]

The engine lid, finaly saw the light again. After 5 years, it will be sanded and receive the new paint. But first I had to disassemble all locks and other small parts...

... and with some other parts, I took them all to Hugo's bodyshop:

Meanwhile the bus is almost ready on the outside:

 

[joaonar]

Since this bus is at Hugo's bodyshop, it has been visited by several animals... for instance a couple of birds that made their nest and now a flies killing machine :mrgreen: :

Regarding the bus, the cabin door is almost done. If it was looking like this....

... it's now like this:

awsome!

 

[joaonar]

meanwhile, the interior of my new doors outer skin where already primed:

...and since I was already there, Hugo decided to remove the skin from the other door so I could clean it:

... and you need to have a lot of patience to cut all the welding spots:

 

[Marriedblonde]

Is that the creative engineering rear window?

 

[joaonar]

yes, it is!