70 Dormobile

[rotten bus]

Hi All,

Been viewing this forum for a while now and thought it must be time to introduce my ongoing project.
I have had Sydeney (said as spelt thanks to my three year old who named him) for about 6 months & he's a Dormobile conversion - in need of a little love

Anyway here is a couple pics of what it looks like now !!

The plan is to replace most of the back end - the usual suspects corners, arches & battery trays. The top corners of the rear corners have gone as well.
Underneath is only minor work with a couple patches required, and fortunately the prior owner replaced the front arches and lower front panel to a really high standard 8)

 

[71dormy]

good luck with the resto dude :mrgreen:

 

[71Dormobile]

Goodluck with the resto, good to see anotgher dormy being saved....

 

[gninnam]

Welcome - another Dormie so even more happy to see ya here 8)

Good luck with the work and keep us posted (no pun intended) as you go on

 

[dubscum]

i do like to see a drive resto, proving you don't have to have a massive garage to love and work on your camper !

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Looking good, RHD aswell 8) .

Good luck

Rich

 

[rotten bus]

Cheers all,

Been working slowly on the bus for the last couple months - weather permitting, will try and update with some pics soon :roll:

 

[rotten bus]

Once i had gotten the bus home (back of recovery lorry - and hopefully the only time!! ) the first job was to drop the engine out to give me access to the battery trays and corners

not sure what was keeping the battery in!

Started on the passenger side and decided it was easier to replace the rear arch rather than try to repair in part, a new corner and battery tray were also in order

Once cut out i was quite lucky that the underneath metal was all solid and it was just a case of getting the new material to fit

that done and welded in a little filler to hide the weld and a coat of red oxide for protection till it goes to the paint shop

 

[rotten bus]

The only other job on the quarter was to replace the slide cover channel.
As always cut one bit out and the rest comes with it

fortunately JK do a replacement panel, which took some finding and i was worried i would have to fabricate my own

all was going well to that point, managed to get a couple tacks on and the mig died - now waiting for new part till i can carry on :evil: :evil:

 

[rotten bus]

Managed to get the MIG fixed - so no excuses for not being out on the drive 8)

Got the section under the window welded in and the runner guide on as well

also made a start on the drivers side - where there is a touch more of the dreaded rot

had to make up some repair sections to replace the box section at the rear, and patch in the wheel tub. But hope to have arch, corner and battery tray in for this weekend...... hopefully :roll:

 

[71Dormobile]

Looks familiar, keep up the good work :mrgreen:

 

[rotten bus]

had a few more hours on the bus, have now gotten the rear corner, battery tray, arch and inner panels all welded on!!
the panels nearly ready for welding

welded on and first coat of filler in, bit crap on the photies - got my head down and before i knew it was almost finished without a single pic - will try harder in future :? :?

job i want to try and finish next is the engine bay and get all coloured so the lump can go back in and free up some room in my garage.

 

[rotten bus]

managed to do a little more today before rain stopped play.

Rubbed down the engine bay, primed, sealed and top coated all the new panels.

Just need to sort out the fuel sender as it sends the guage to reading over full - think that its either wired back to front or a short somewhere. Once that is done then the engine can go back in and see if i can remember where all the wires go!!

 

[rotten bus]

Hi All

Managed to get a little more done to the bus over the last month, the engine is now back in fully rewired and ready to go - but not quite firing yet for some reason

Have also finished off the arch and given a coat of red oxide

One of the nastier jobs was repairing the corner edge by the tailgate, luckily the PO had sourced two sections from a doner vehicle.

and the finished item

 

[rotten bus]

Also managed to finish they middle panel, this only needed some dents filling and tidying where the PO had welded on new inner and outer sills

Hoping to be back on 4 wheels this weekend so i can turn the bus around and start on the front !!

 

[rotten bus]

Hi all been a while since i have updated this thread.
Jobs now done include finished off welding underneath - with new outriggers and jacking points, then primed and shultz all
new brakes and brake pipes
new front hubs
Finished off the welding on the body and final filling done, so just waiting to get the bus to the paintshop for priming and topcoat. The end bank holiday for Plymfest is looking scary close now especially as i cant get the engine to run!!

So finished off this corner, then had a new section fabricated to replace the top as that was also completely rotten

So this is how the bus now looks

and started to get the interior back together

be glad when its at the painters!!!

 

[surfbus]

Good job! Love it when a Dormo get's another life!

 

[VeeDubMan]

Great job!

UK based Dormies always seem to go in the same places. Take a look at my thread for a similar bunch of pictures (links in the sig below).

 

[outlaw]

Great Job I have a 72 dormi just collecting bits at present nice work

Dale

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[pk1was]

excellent work there, keep going it will be at the painters in no time