can't wait 71 pop top

[user 422]

Ace

 

[hart5lizard]

Evening all

Had a rummage around my new purchase and I must say Im pretty chuffed so far

It even fits in the garage

just!

The child in the above photo may look cute & innocent to the untrained eye, but today he has stretched my paternal love to its limit by acting in a very similar manor to an excited safari park monkey pulling all loose parts from my pride & joy, bless him!

The worst bit about the bus is the paint, which is an original colour (niagra blue) re spray, gone a bit wrong ,crazed & flaking in places & going ever so slightly orange ? but I can easily live with it for now, It is still by far & away the best bus I have ever owned. As it fits in the garage, lowering is not so urgent I do have a set of adjusters that I may weld in if time allows but priorities are mot, registration & some camping!

Cheers for looking
Dan

 

[justcruzin]

Wow, great looking bus! Love the interior!! Oh, and it looks like it "barely" fits in the garage! :shock: LOL Be careful backing in, I made the mistake of not checking my roll up door and backed in to a not fully open door, which in turn ripped the seal off the pop top at the top. Luckily it is old and dry rotted so it will be replaced anyway. I learned to check to door first from now on! LOL

Congrats on such a fine looking bus!!

 

[hart5lizard]

A bit of progress on the niagra, slipped underneath to check out the running gear, to be met with. 4 badly split balljoint rubbers, snapped steering damper & 2 perished track rod end rubbers! so beam off for replacement of worn parts, took opportunity to weld in adjusters for mild lowering. Forgot how much of a puzzle it is to refit torsion leaves :?

No need to lower the rear as I rekon it sits level as it is. Jobs a good un, electrics next :idea:

 

[hart5lizard]

Been a bit quiet on the camper front , a couple of wet camping trips ,a half hearted attempt to sell ,

Bus is running really poor, strong smell of unburnt fuel , I recon the culprit is the not very old brosal carb , i attempted to re build an original vw solex pict 34 i had laying around, using a re build kit & brass bushes from ebay but it made no difference so i have sent it off to gower & lee . they have a 6 week back log at the moment , optimistically i thought id use that as an excuse to sort out the paint while i wait

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3 weeks left WHAT HAVE I DONE!

 

[hart5lizard]

Got well into the bare metalling process, strangely rewarding :| , uncovered some crash damage under ,in places, about 15mm of filler, hopefully it can be pulled out a little better and a bit less filler used this time around.

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tool of choice for paint removal 10 discs should do a whole bus at £7 ish each from tool station

 

[dubbedup67]

Very Nice bus dude.love the colour.

I bought my bus from Darren.top bloke.

 

[hart5lizard]

Very Nice bus dude.love the colour.

What, Niagra blue or Steel grey?

 

[hart5lizard]

stripped almost all of the body now,



had a visit from a local classic car restorer who quoted £4500 to do the bodywork, spray inside & out and waxoil the underside, but, he couldn't start till the end of august and he would need it for a month, I am now coming to realise that i'm not going to get any camping use this summer :roll:

So, change of plan!

Im going to get my hands on a rotisserie & shot blast the underneath, seam seal, epoxy prime, stone chip & paint body colour .
Get it back on its wheels & have a go at sorting as much of the body as i'm able myself before handing it over to a sprayer for a base coat & clear lacquer paint job
ta ta for now

 

[hart5lizard]

Got a bit more done this weekend

Decided to make my own roll over frame, using gate hinges & the vans jacking points







got it over on my own but i wouldn't recommend it !

 

[dubscum]

I looked at this bus before I bought mine (pictures only) and it looked absolutely mint inside and out, I take it this was not the case then, I'm sure it was advertised as og paint, but might be wrong on that.

 

[gninnam]

Wow - looks like you have been busy since getting the bus :shock:

Love the home made van roll over thingy - but trusting the jacking points - very brave 8)

 

[hart5lizard]

I'm sure it was advertised as og paint, but might be wrong on that.

Not og paint but an american "restoration" the paint reacted & crazed so the only option was to remove it, i'm not going to pretend to be happy with what I revealed underneath, but we are dealing in very old cars which have been in almost constant use picking up repairs along the way .

heres the thing: I'm enjoying myself ! that counts for a lot, & im going to eventually get the bus i want

Dan

 

[dubscum]

To true mate!

 

[hart5lizard]

Update time!
Shot blasted the underside, carried out a few repairs, got a bit of epoxy mastic applied, by brush.



removed the rotten cable tube & found a reasonably priced replacment, 25mm galv electrical conduit





couple of repairs carried out by my uncle Ulric











epoxy mastic

 

[gninnam]

Looks like you got away with a few minor repairs after the shot blast
Underneath looks good with the mastic on 8)

Keep it coming

 

[hart5lizard]

Bit of a bulk update

 

[hart5lizard]

Now back from the "paint shop" beng reassembled

 

[hart5lizard]

A few more pics of re assembly

 

[gninnam]

Nice one - looks like it is almost ready for the road!!