1972 Crossover Dormobile - Full Restoration Work In Progress

[faux]

cheers Jon,

i tried this by myself but it didnt work. i was thinking if i could get the taper to bite then i'd be sorted. i've got the track rods with the nylock rather than the split pin. a guy in work suggested a used a standard nut to get the taper to bite then take it off and put the nylock back on - hey presto! it worked a treat.

It only works with two people :lol:

The non nylock was my second option :roll:

Keep up the good work.

 

[Haveacamper]

ok so i got down the barn last night and pretty much finished off what i had to do on the underside of the bus. no photos, but the front end has been fully rebuilt now with all necessary track rod boots replaced and fitted. i had more trouble with the track rod ends rotating when i tightened but managed to get around it using the same principle as before.

so what did i do:
replaced necessary track rod boots.
fitted steering arm from steering box to idler arm
fitted accelerator cable
refitted oil cooler for the final time
refitted oil thermostat fro the final time.
reconnected the oil cooler pipes up
P clipped the oil hoses to the chassis
replaced some of the kinked air hoses on the engine with formed elbows.

i also fitted the clutch cable, but i think i need to do this again. the rigid clutch conduit that travels the lenth of the bus come out and should go through a welded tab. however, for some reason my conduit falls short. i think i'm going to have to get hold of some pipe and extend this as this is what the flexi conduit needs to fit onto. also i have to try and find the clutch cable support bracket that the flexi clutch conduit goes into on the gearbox. I have no idea where this is :?

anyway. i think i'm pretyy much ready to roll the bus back onto its wheels now. and i only have the following tasks to do:
22. Fit brake fluid hose
23. Roll bus
24. Restore FI fuel tank
25. Fit FI Fuel Tank
a. Connect fuel Pump to Tank
26. Fit engine
27. Modify tinwear
28. Connect fuel accumulator/filter to engine
29. Mount missing VDO gauge
30. Fit seats
31. Fit seatbelts
32. Gear shifter
33. Inspection hatch
34. Refill steering box with oil and replace cap
35. Fit adjustable spring plates – 2 splines
36. Fit Anti Roll bar
37. Raise front of bus
38. Fill brake fluid reservoir
39. Fit Steering wheel
40. Fit New front lights
41. Fit front Side lights
42. Fit speedo Circlip

5 minute job

 

[gninnam]

Not posting pictures on this forum - I'm sure it's illegal :mrgreen:

Wow, sounds like you are starting to see the light - the list which is left I would have give 7 mins.....

Keep us posted (and pics please)

 

[Haveacamper]

i think the biggest jobs are going to modifying the tinware to fit the original overcomplicated shape of the engine bay and getting the inspection panel all spot welded in place.

once its back on its wheels - which i'm hoping will be next weekend - i can rattle of some of these jobs, then get it to the garage for a tune - OMG there is light!!!!!!

 

[Haveacamper]

ok, so a week off work this week but unfortunately, no time on the bus. however, i have been quite busy working around the fringes of the bus.

i have been in contact with the interior company, Kustom Interiors. they were very helpful, bt unfortunately couldnt tell me whether it was going to be possible to look at whether it would be possible to modify the rock and roll bed mechanis m to create a dormobile style storage area above the engine compartment.

i also popped into an upholsters to discuss a getting the doors cards seats and bed upholstered. then popped to the bodyshop and got the guy i am thinking of spraying the bus to order me some samples for Neptune and Dove Blue.

the bus wont be painted till winter, but there the upholster is currently booked til jan and the interior company has about 16 week lead time.

NaFe

 

[Haveacamper]

ok, managed to pop back on saturday and roll the bus back onto the wheels for the final straight.

i was supposed to just pop up roll the bus and leave, but i managed to get a few little jobs done. fitted my new headlights, steering coupling and steerign colum fitted - along with the front seats. i'm down there this evening to hopefully crack on with a few other jobs...

NaFe

 

[kevinhall]

Lights look really good Where are they from??

 

[Haveacamper]

I bought them off a guy on ebay. they are smoked Mk1 golf lenses. if you have an import from the states or a late bay they do actually just bolt straight in as the rim and headlight is seperate

 

[Haveacamper]

ok, so last night the plan was to lower the rear of the bus.

i turned up, set up my extension cable from over the barn and plugged in my halogen spots and they just flickered. worked out it was the extension cable. i searched the 50m cable for a nick in the insulation. found one. when i peeled back the outer insulation it turned out there the brown cable had a strech of about 30mm that was uninsulated. it looked liek it had been like this for ever. didnt look stretched and hadnt melted as the ends of the insultion were as if they had been cut. maybe something in the manufacturing process. also the cable wasnt even continueous. it was if the wire fibres has been sprayed apart and pushed together. so i cut this back, reconnected and re-insulated.

still no lights. worked out that the cable going into the plug was dodge. took back off plug to find that the brass screw for the blue wire wasnt even screwed into the plug and the blue insulation was swollen as if it had over heated. re-wired the plug and voila.

then got onto lowering the rear. i surprised mysefl that i managed to do this in one evenign after the start i had. so i removed the fixed springplate and fitted my adjustable springplates from Creative Engineering after buying them months and months ago. i think i bought them when the adjustable ones were less that £200. followed the instructions (all be it for a split bus, must be standard intructions, and without too much trouble i have a pretty slammed bus.

i have to take the top mount of the adjustable coilover off the be able to fit the wheel, then jack the wheel up and bolt up the coilover. it will need some tweeking once the engine is in. i think i may raise it a little, but its all about getting it on the road at the moment. here are some pictures for you guys who like their buses lowered.

floor to front wheel arch is about 61cm
floor to rear wheel arch is about 48.5cm - without engine and g/box

i know different buses sag differently, but does anyone know the stock height for a bus?

bit difficult to get the how nice the wheels look in false light and with the black wheels against the dakota beige, topped with a phone camera

before...

after...

overall stance...

i was so please to get this done after i wasted 45mins working out the problems with the extension cable. i have now managed to tick off a big item off my list now. they are slowly getting crossed out

back down on thursday and hoping to rent a spot welder and finally fit my inspection hatch permanently

NaFe

 

[gninnam]

Nice rear 'tuckage' you have now 8)

Front look pretty high now - are you going to keep it that high or spend some time paying with the settings?

 

[Haveacamper]

i havent measured the gutter height, but i think there is still a little bit of a forward rake, so the front is actually lower then the rear. i dare say that i will play with the height a little as i have adjustable springplates and its currently on the lowest setting. i will wait until i fit the engine and g/box to see if it level out.

then once on the road i will have a better idea as to how it handles and if the ride is too hard.

i'm pretty stoked that how it looks.

i forgot to say that after 3 years i can now use the handbrake and also use the steering wheel

 

[Haveacamper]

ok, so HSS no longer do spot welders. they dont have any in the UK, but they have some still in Ireland. they are not allowed to ship them over to the mainland... apparently they are phasing them out. so it was back to the original plan of drilling holes and puddle welding them. so this is what we did.

also got the side lights in and the indicator switches on. i'm a little peeved as the wiring was all nice a tidy when it was in a RHD bus, but now its LHD its going to have to be sorted out AGAIN!!! job for when the bus is stripped for pant though i think. some electrical i couldnt test because the engine needed to be runnning, but things like side lights, hazards and indicators were up and running which i was pleased with.

did a bit of measuring up underneath to see how low the bus actually is, and the rear antiroll bar clears the ground by 90mm and the front gearbox mount on the torsion tube clears the ground by 240mm. it will be interesting to see the clearance of the engine when its in.

need to try and restore the FI fuel tank next time i'm down there as this is whats stopping me from putting the engine in now.

NaFe

 

[gninnam]

Looking good so far 8)
Why are they no longer doing spot welders - seems a strange one :shock:

Are you going to put a frame around the lid??

 

[Haveacamper]

apparently there isnt that much demand for them anymore

as for the inspeciton hatch lid, i will probably line the edge of the frame with some thin padded foam and insulate the lid. it can't be too thick though as it would then sit proud. going to screw the lid to the frame using some threaded style pop-rivets which should look nice and tidy.

 

[gninnam]

Fair enough

 

[Haveacamper]

well last night wasnt really a very successful evening. I ended up redoing things for the second time. I had a few things to tidy up on the dash since my wiring loom was designed fro a RHD bus, so i started addressing them.

I started off by of trying to find where i could mount my 4th dash clock (oil and fuel level - an important one i thought). so i took the fresh air blower out of the end of the dash and it almost fitted. As the dash is a bit rough with plently of padded cracks i thought i would just open the hole slightly to take the clock. et voila!

but that was to be the end of the progress. i then started to check the rest of the wiring...in trying to work out why the indicator warning lights werent lighting up on the clock i took the clock out and accidently shorted the indicator out. no indicator, no hazard. i changed the fuse i broke...nothing! so not sure i have broke the relay (my only easy potential fix). so i left that and will buy a relay this afternoon


i then went to try and find a suitable place for the mounting of a few fuses and relays in the engine bay - to find that when i fitted the inspection hatch, I had stripped a load of the wires running between the back lights, so spent the next half hour re-wiring this! typical...not really happy with the hick ups but nothing you can do

Thursday is the next time I will be down, hoping that this will be a little more progressive.


NaFe

 

[gninnam]

Liking the gauge in the vent - looks like it was meant to be there... 8)

A Bugger about all the wiring cr@p though - fingers crossed for you for Thursday

 

[Haveacamper]

ok, so a small update on the bus. went down on thursday eve to work on bus and again had semi productive time. my dad brought his rivet gun home that threads rivets (basically does a neater job than welding nut on the back of a hole). we were goign to use it for securing the inspection hatch. after about 4 rivets the gun broke so have had to order another bit for the end...i tell you, this inspection hatch is becoming more bother than its worth, lol.

we moved onto fitting the antiroll bar onto the chassis rails, which involved welding a block onto both the chassis rails to secure the urethane blocks.

i had friday off work, and planned to restore fuel tank with a kit from FROST and then get engine in. unfortuneately, becasue of the cold weather the fuel tank took all day. this involved, flushing the tank out with a chain and mixing marine clean with boiling water, then poaring out and rinsing tank with water. then allowing to dry (on a cold day) then pour in the metal ready and flush around for 10-20mins, then poaring out before flushing out with water and drying. i had a bonnie idea of using hair drier to dry the inside of the tank thoroughly not mine, my mums...shhhhhh

i then refitted the tank into the engine bay, and connected the outlet to the fuel pump as seen below. also a rubbish pic showing the antiroll bar fitted and the fuel pump etc.

i fitted the new filler neck onto the tank. as for the breather...my FI tank doesnt have the central breather that goes up to the filler neck. i am unsure what to do with this now as i have a breather coming from the rigid filler neck into open air. looking at the position, i'm not too sure whether fuel may come down this when i refuel. on the other hand, i dont want to block it off because if fuel does go down it, it will simply sit there???? any ideas guys?

also, i'm unsure whether the run with the firewall. i am unsure whether the engine will fit with the fire wall. i dont want to fit it, then find out the engine wont go in, cos i'll then have to drop the engine to remove the firewall. conversely, i'm not sure how comfortable i am with running without a firewall. i know the earlier buses didnt have a firewall, but there must be a reason why the started installing one :? again advice please

NaFe

p.s. down there tonight, and hoping to get the engine in!!

 

[Camperdan]

Don't be down about the few set backs you've had with your wiring and riv-nut gun etc, as it all looks like great progress to me!

Ref the firewall that you were asking about, if it were me I think I'd definitely try and fit it for the very reason the name suggests.... Fire! It's no secret that buses can be prone to engine fires and although in most cases it's due to poorly maintained fuel hoses, so not likely a possibility with your bus... there is still always a chance of something.... be it a battery fire or whatever. So in that situation you'd be more than grateful to have some protection and separation of your fuel tank (or potential bomb... call it what you will) from your engine.

Keep the posts/updates coming!

Dan

 

[Haveacamper]

cheers dan! last night I managed to get down the barn after putting it off for a day due to g/f car breaking.

I got down there and started the rivet gun. minus a few scary hick-ups managed to do all of the necessary riveting and the inspection hatch is fully in. then we used the rivets to mount the ignition unit, and i had a brill idea to use one as an earth point...so thats what I did.

then the engine...my dad came down to give me a hand, and boy is it easier when you have another person helping...especially when you dont have a removble valance. this time...no hickups, just a steady pace and voila, the engine is fully bolted in!

thats one of the big things off the list now. the only REAL biggy left is to mod tinware to fit into the space and seal the engine bay properly.

itching to get down there on thursday already to start with the smaller jobs, like drive shafts. connecting hoses etc

NaFe