Carson - My new 68 project..

[89Rallye]

Well after the disappointments of my 71 project (See here - http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49462" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ) I’ve decided to try and put it all to the back of my mind and move on.

I had this 68 in storage while I’ve been contemplating what to do with it, I was going to put it up for sale later in the year but since I have time on my hands I’ve decided to see if I can get it up and running to at least give me a van this year!

Un-earthed from storage after 12 months,

It’s got a touch of filler here and there and the dreaded rear arches have been cut but after the cr@p I’ve had with paint shops I’m not doing any paint on this at all!!

First up I thought I’d give it a little clean and see what was under all that faded paint.

After a quick mop and polish I was quite shocked to find that under that white there is this Egg shell beige colour, it’s not original and tbh its been put on pretty poorly but it will do for now.

I’ve given the underside a steam clean and although its rock solid there is quite a lot of surface rust which isn’t pretty.

Hopefully the van will be getting rolled on its side, I’ve started to modify my rollers to take the wide 5 wheels and early axle. third van that’s been on these now and they will do early, late and early early now 8)

Luckily I had a spare set of axle plates and wide 5 adaptors which made life easy

First job up though I have to fix the cargo floor, which thankfully wasn’t as bad as first thought.

Id started to patch it up but have now decided to bite the bullet and just replace the front half of the floor. Just awaiting bits from VWHeritage now.

Back on nights tomorrow, so hopefully will be disturbed one day this week with a new floor pan and once that’s back in I can get her rolled over to sort the underside.

Rear wheels are starting to grow on me too but I have read about people having problems with cv joints having them jacked up, and the nearside outer one on this has completely colasped so I might have to drop it down again

 

[rallye dale]

Ha , you must love it :mrgreen:

Looks pretty solid, wtf are them arches about

 

[89Rallye]

Ha , you must love it :mrgreen:

Looks pretty solid, wtf are them arches about

:lol: I know it's a 70's hippy thing, there staying put for the time being so I might have to keep the rear tyres too

Doesn't help that it looks like they have been cut with a can opener or maybe a blunt spoon :lol:

 

[89Rallye]

Well change of plan with the floor, I wasnt happy patching it so bit the bullet and bought a floor pan. They didnt have any genuine ones in stock so had to make do with a pattern one and its as expected a little pants



Started cutting out the old floor, how many spot welds!!!





And before anyone mentions the quality american wiring I knew it was there and its all getting ripped out so it didnt matter that I burnt it. Not sure what its there for, im presuming that the main loom is shagged and that someones repaired it by running a new load of wires rather dangerously by just stuffing them through the chassis.





Little bit of rot at the back of the front arch,



I decided to keep as much of the original floor as I could as the pattern part is like paper,





The fit isnt actually as bad as I first thought it would be,

 

[Mark6455]

Nice work as always mark

 

[89Rallye]

Nice work as always mark

Cheers dude.. as always

More boring floor repairs.. :shock:

All welding is now complete 8)

The rear most key plate was corroded so i decided to replace it with the one from the part of the floor id removed, because as we all know repair panels (Esp repro ones!) are three times thinner than original. Since I had a keyplate on the old floor piece id decided to work that back in.



I cut the "new" plate out of the old floor and shot blasted it to make sure it was all A-ok



In place,





All lined up and welded in..... Then some smart arse told me that it was up side down!





Ah well! better luck next time!

On with prep now and hopefully I can get the wooden floor down.

 

[Mark6455]

Busy busy mark

I fitted my new stock oil filler today hopefully my engine will breath better now

 

[89Rallye]

Well todays little diary update, been a busy boy and juggled quite a lot today.

First up front axle came out, it doesnt look too bad but bits and pieces need doing with it







And the rollers went on,









Also got the side windows out, sliding doors mint but I think I caught the rear just in time.





While all that was going on I was slowly burning my grinder out on the cargo floor, paint stripper is pretty pants and its slow going.



Last job of the day was to get the axle stripped, simply because I couldnt get it in the garage!





These should hpoefully be for sale soon, if anyones interested..



Off to bus-types for the weekend so loosing out on 3 days work before going back oin shift, should be a well deserved break though 8)

 

[Mark6455]

:shock: bloody hell I thought I was good rebuilding my cv joints and doing 2 spline drop

Good work mark although I was expecting it on its side by now :roll:

Mark

 

[89Rallye]

:shock: bloody hell I thought I was good rebuilding my cv joints and doing 2 spline drop

Good work mark although I was expecting it on its side by now :roll:

Mark

Lol, well the plan this week was rolled by thursday and tbh I would of concentrated on that today if the weather would make its mind up. Sunny all morning then crazy winds followed by rain and hail.



Problem is I have to pretty much empty the garage one side to roll it over them move everything back in the other side.

Really dont want to do bus-types now either as I think id rather have the three days in the garage but everythings in place now

 

[68_early_bay]

Cracking on nicely mark :shock: 8)

 

[Mark6455]

You glamping it or hotel mark

 

[Heebee_GB]

Looking good mark.

 

[89Rallye]

Cheers guys, I'm hoping to get this one running :shock:

You glamping it or hotel mark

Camping and hopefully not in a swamp, in Lee's Atlantic so comfort but no style! :lol:

 

[89Rallye]

Well with Bustypes and work its been a long week but that behind me i have four days off to try and catch up with the van,

Having just done all this with my other van its a little deja vu but it needs doing and theres no turning back now.





Its amazing just how far you have to tip a t2 to get it to roll over, third van ive rolled now but the first time ive done it on my own and it was a tad arse twitchy at times.



Over, its worse than my other one underneath but thankfully just surface rust.









Rear xmembers a little battered, not sure if I should bother repairing this or just leaving it?





Battery tray is kapput,



And now my favorite past time, aching arms from scraping of old under seal









Heater pipe needs repairing,



Lots of scraping and cleaning ahead

 

[creationblue]

Once your arm stop aching, and you get the under seal out your eyes it must be very satisfying work sorting your van out yourself 8) nice work!

 

[rallye dale]

You want to try lying on your back 12" below it scraping that underseal off

Top work mark, you cant beat a light resto :lol:

Are you putting discs on the front then ?


Have you still got the steering box in, ive took the arm off mine and don't know where to put it back

 

[89Rallye]

You want to try lying on your back 12" below it scraping that underseal off

Top work mark, you cant beat a light resto :lol:

Are you putting discs on the front then ?


Have you still got the steering box in, ive took the arm off mine and don't know where to put it back

I did consider just doing it on my back :lol: but its a lot more rusty than the other one so I need to treat all of that.


Yeah I've got discs to go on the front, looking into pas/rack pinion steering too but the steering box is still on for the time being.

Would of thought it would just be centre the steering wheel (2 1/2 turns each way or what ever it is.) , centre your road wheels then connect it all up?

 

[89Rallye]

Once your arm stop aching, and you get the under seal out your eyes it must be very satisfying work sorting your van out yourself 8) nice work!

:lol: Cheers dude, this van isnt mine though really.. :shock: im doing it to use but if I ever get my own back from the paintshop this one will go up for sale.

My own van is here if you want to take a look, http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=38541 and like I say this is all deja vu as ive only just done all this on my own.

My van has ended up here... http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49462 and ive not heard a dicky bow since :x

 

[89Rallye]

Cracking on with the underside slowly, the majority of the welding underneath is now done. It didn't need much but I did find a few holes while prodding about.

Under the bumper mounts,

And after shot blasting,

Lol, now I know a few people who would settle at this and fill over it!

Don't cereal boxes have the best cardboard for templates.

Needs a touch much grinding but getting there,

Getting there with the floor too, I've ordered primer online so hopefully that will turn up before the weekend.