1969 tin top bay project

[preston]

picked up my first bay at the beginning of January, trailed it home and began working on her for the mot. took a few weekends to sort out but nothing major to do so all good. went through the mot last month and
i have been using it since mostly on weekends only really doing short journeys and it has developed a bit of a oil leak had the engine out last week and its not looking to good. not sure weather to find a replacement or rebuild the one i have? (never rebuild an engine before)
anyway will get a few picks up of the bus first

how she looked when i got it

few bits of welding that needed doing for mot

engine removal last weekend, couldn't believe how easy it was to take out! (first time) learning as i go along!

dads motorbike stand came in handy

and shes out

and the reason we removed it

been leaking a fair bit of oil on the drive and smoke coming through the dash where its been burning on the exhaust pics of engine partly striped down to follow

 

[Guest]

nice home brew box brace as well 8)

 

[preston]

right been quite busy with the bay. managed to pick up a old Subaru engine EA82T with near enough everything needed to convert it. and so the fun began

 

[preston]

well its all up and running now. just need to lower her, hopefully gonna do it this Sunday weather permitting

Hopefully will get away with going down one spline

 

[dubscum]

strong work mate, now for the burn out vids

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Good work with the engine swap dude 8)

 

[AxlFoley]

thats awesome, how is it running ? did you have many problems with the conversion? what box are you using?

Mark

 

[preston]

Ok so haven't posted in a while so here is a brief update. Photos speak a million words so I will let them do most of the talking.
Now running a 1776

Our last trip in her to Isle of Wight where we got engaged, and the idea came up that we must use her for our wedding car, and so the light restro began

This is where you find out it needs a lot more work than you would have hoped for.

 

[preston]

 

[preston]

 

[preston]

This was one bodge I liked, lets just weld over the top and leave the rusty part under it cause I can't be arsed to cut it all out

 

[preston]

That's as far as I got when I realised I properly wouldn't get it finished in time for our wedding, so I have bit the bullet and sent it of to get all the welding done and a full respray inside and out. Now all I need to do is choose the colour and decide what to do with the interior. I'm thinking of either going with beryl green or birch green and either pastel, pearl or lotus white for the roof, but I just can't decide? What do you all think?

 

[preston]

ok these are the first set of photos i have received from the body shop getting excited now! They want paint codes by the end of the week im thinking birch green but not sure what white will go best. anyone know or got any experience what vw white will work well with the birch green?

 

[preston]

Pic of how it looked before my ownership

Back to the restro

 

[audix]

Loving the clean engine bay

 

[Andy1564]

thats looking good, who's doing the work?

 

[preston]

All the photos with the block paving in the background I done the cutting out and had someone in to weld it. And the rest is being done at AM Auto restoration in Wisbech. I'm glad I chose them as they are doing a top job and quick too at a reasonable price. They have kept a photo diary along the way so will post some more photos when I get it back

 

[preston]

Ok so should have her back in about two weeks now and I have just been sent this over to keep me going. Did I make the right choice in painting the top of the dash Green or should I have kept it black?

 

[burns808]

Hi Preston,

I think its about time you updated this (I am one to talk!!). I saw you on the A1 this morning near Welwyn Garden City - looking really cool.

Apologies for the rubbish pics :lol:





Nick

 

[preston]

Cheers for the photos burns! It's been a mad few months tring to Finnish the bus and the garage conversion before our wedding so haven't had a chance to update. You saw us on route to Cornwall for our hunny moon. I only finished the bay the day before the wedding so was cutting it a bit close lol.