Cunning Bus Project

[cunning plan]

Cleaned up the inside of the right cab-door before fitting properly with new fixings.

Not too worried about over-paint in some areas as I would rather have a solid door to paint when I've saved for a proper paint job when the bus is on the road than rust everywhere again.

Got to love fresh fixings.

Put the right cab door quarter light in - WOW, fiddleist job, EVER. :| Not enjoyable at all. looks good though. Just need to tidy up the scraper positioning.

Old wiring loom is out ready for me to use it as a guide to build a new one.

Decided I will run the new loom through some existing holes in the chassis box-section rather than through the chassis legs as it was before as it seems extremely hard to run the wires through without stripping the plastic from them or damaging them in general.

Made up a spacer for the rear hatch alignment wedge to help get the hatch to sit more in the middle.

Works well.

 

[rallye dale]

Looking good

Cant beat new bolts and screws

 

[cunning plan]

 

[Buss69]

Dude, with regard to your new loom, I would seriously route it through all the original route as it offers the safest and most straightforward pathway. It's actualy not that hard to route when you take a little time to do it. I also would take the opportunity to add a few spare extra wires and once you have done that sheath the lot before routing. Most special sheathing for looms is very hard wearing and will be able to cope with most obstacles. Try
http://www.vehicle-wiring-products.eu/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
And take a look at all their products, it's a really useful site. If you need any help or advice give me a shout I've just rebuilt my loom with a few extras along the way. I'm not a pro but have learnt quite a lot recently. :shock:

 

[cunning plan]

Cheers for the comments and offer of help - I will probably have lots of questions.

I spoke to the guys at work where I will be building it and they actually occasionally build looms as part of projects and they said they could lend a hand to modernise it and make it super nice.

They suggested using Raychem wire which is very flexible. I am thinking this will allow me to get it back through the chassis rail without too many issues as the old wiring was so ridged and flakey, it made it difficult to get out, I assumed it would be impossible to get a new one in - but that was before I knew about Raychem!

:shadey:

 

[Buss69]

No worries, I've used thin walled cable, not sure who makes it but it's better than the OG stuff. As far as help goes if you've got local help then grap it. The biggest problem I've had is having to buy specialist tools to do the job, so any help in this area is always really useful. Check out my thread:
The Buss-E '71
For a look at what and how I've tackled stuff so far. It's not finished by any measure but I'm getting there.

 

[cunning plan]

Check out my thread:
The Buss-E '71
For a look at what and how I've tackled stuff so far. It's not finished by any measure but I'm getting there.

Cheers dude, replied on your thread arty0047:


Old headlining all out..

 

[Buss69]

What are you gonna do with the headlining? Replace with like or go for something different?

 

[cunning plan]

Going to speak to my buddy over at megavanmats.com to see if he can make me up something special. :shadey:

If not, I think I will just go for a replacement. :?

 

[cunning plan]

Finished the right-front cab door window and quarter light:

 

[cunning plan]

TransporterHaus Adjustable Lowering Spring Plates arrived, they seem like great quality!

 

[cunning plan]

Still taking each door off to recondition and put some protection paint down on vulnerable areas.

Slider off:

Will clean up components and refit. I have an upgraded slider bearing kit ready to go on:

Left cab door:

 

[cunning plan]

Nothing too exciting at the moment, taking parts off to restore / repair and putting protection down on vulnerable areas.

Working on the sliding door at the moment and I didn't realise how many little parts go into making the door work.

 

[art b]

mrgreen......

 

[cunning plan]

Update:

[*] Sliding Door
[*] Interior Roof Headlining Preparation
[*] Window Fitting Preparation
[*] Interior Roof Sound-Proofing / Insulation
[*] Running Interior Roof Light Wiring
[*] Wiring Loom Rig




Sliding Door

Finished putting the layer of protection paint down, then gave it a top-coat to blend it in a bit.

Re-installed the restored the components, some are completely new.

Interior Roof Headlining Preparation

Cleaned up the underside of the roof with a light wire-wheeling ready for protection paint. Also treated with MetalReady.

Half-way through painting, I ran the wires for the roof-lights as that wiring would need to be in before the headlining is installed.

This meant a little messing around with a coat-hanger, string and a hoover to run the wires through the roof box-sections.

Painted! Which took a while!

Window Fitting Preparation

I also put a layer of protection paint down around the window frames ready for the window fitting.

Interior Roof Sound-Proofing / Insulation

Decided to go for the material that would have the least chance of creating or holding condensation.

But as it was so cold, I had to have a few beers to keep warm :lol:

Fixed using:

High-temperature resistant adhesive spray.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180704440516" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;? ... 1439.l2649

from MegaVanMats :shadey:

Completed!

The more I do, the more gets added to the list:

:?




Running Interior Roof Light Wiring

As mentioned, I knew I needed to run the wires for the in-roof lighting before the headlining install. As I am also building a completely new wiring loom for the bus, I decided to buy a new tool and supplies

Here is my home-made 'wire clamp' to assist the soldering process.

Working well:

Had to use a continuous piece of string to pull multiple wires through the A-pillar.

Nice and tidy:

Ended up with a mini-loom ready to connect to the main loom when that is fabricated and installed:

Wiring Loom Rig

Built a rig to fabricate the wiring loom on. It is around the same size as the bus chassis and it will enable me to run wires to their exact position in the bus and even connect a battery to test the loom before installing it. I think the wiring loom really needs to be correct first time as it will be a large amount of work to remove and problem solve faulty circuits.

An old Table-Tennis table provided the majority of wood. The rest was made up of old spare bits I had stored away.

Next to do:
[*] Sliding Door Hinge - Find a replacement or fix the original.
[*] Buy components for headlining along with the actual headlining.
[*] Fit Headlining
[*] Wiring Loom

 

[Buss69]

Good work my man. with all that insulation starting to look like the inside of my bus

Really make sure that the cabling that runs down the A pillar is well covered with heat shrink especially near the top where it exits. There are a couple of rough metal edges there, they're hard to get at to smooth out. Wrapping the cable with a good insulation is what VW did, so that's good enough for me. You also don't want any short here because replacement will be tough (impossible) once your headlining is in.

LOVE you garage mate, wish I had one like that. :mrgreen:

 

[Dave.P]

just read this whole thread and its superb, great work so far this bus is gonna be around for a long time with all that protection :mrgreen:
love your garage too, its immense 8)

 

[spoonerdtg]

Great thread just ordered a sticker from you..love your work

 

[cunning plan]

Good work my man. with all that insulation starting to look like the inside of my bus

Really make sure that the cabling that runs down the A pillar is well covered with heat shrink especially near the top where it exits. There are a couple of rough metal edges there, they're hard to get at to smooth out. Wrapping the cable with a good insulation is what VW did, so that's good enough for me.

Thanks buddy!

Yep, I noticed the A pillar was a bit sharp at the top. As you have rightly said, I have run electrical tape around the vulnerable areas, but you know the hole behind the front clip where the wires re-enter the cab from the A-pillar - I made a rubber grommet for that out of an off-cut of rubber left-over from installing the door-seals and fixed it with glue. So hopefully that will help as I think those wires will move around in that hole quite a bit.

You also don't want any short here because replacement will be tough (impossible) once your headlining is in.

NOPE! :shock: :shock: :lol:

As you can tell, I have started to copy your processes a bit with regards to planning out and building the loom. I want to get it working perfectly before I install it after reading about all the issues you had with yours :confused0068:

LOVE you garage mate, wish I had one like that. :mrgreen:

love your garage too, its immense 8)

I wish I had a garage like that too! :lol:

My house does not have a garage, so that is my parent's garage which they kindly let me use 8) I do some work around the house when it needs doing in return, so hopefully they do not mind too much

I have attempted to do some projects outside without a garage and it is difficult to get motivated and do a 'good' job. It is still fecking cold though! :sad0049:

just read this whole thread and its superb, great work so far this bus is gonna be around for a long time with all that protection :mrgreen:

Thank you, I often read people's threads from the start and it really motivates me to work harder on mine, so it is nice to hear it about my own bus 8)

Great thread just ordered a sticker from you..love your work

Thanks chap, order received. Will be shipped tomorrow with a little something extra as you're an EarlyBay'er :shadey: :mrgreen:

 

[spoonerdtg]

Thanks chap, order received. Will be shipped tomorrow with a little something extra as you're an EarlyBay'er  


Thanks chap