Delta Green 69 Deluxe Sunroof bus

[StripedHemi]

Hey guys

I don't normally partake in this kinda thing but having read a few threads about other peoples resto's I figured that I'd show you what im up to at the moment.

Had a few campers in the past and a couple of bugs, most recent was a 66 split that I built up from nothing, oddly enough that was also green and had been on fire (you'll get it when you see the pics)

So anyways here is my new bus, its a 69 Deluxe from California..

I bought it around july time this year and have been tinkering when ive had time to, haven't done an awful lot so far but hoping to have it on the road around april for a shakedown year, then next winter it'll go into hiding again to fix the things I don't have the cash for this year and to iron out any problems I come across this year..


The first time I saw it

this is the day it got delivered..

Its not OG paint but is very old and faded, when I went to view it when it was forsale it had been stripped out so im not sure of the extent of the damage caused by the fire but it is very solid and straight which is what I was attracted to, gutted it wasn't original paint as I first thought (till I viewed it) but as I say the paint is very old and look cool (ive since wet flatted/polished some of it)

Its also a factory sunroof bus, something I really wanted, although alas some fool had fillered over it presumably because it leaked or something.. it was one of the very first things I was itching to sort out so I began removing the filler!

I hadn't realised just how much filler was there until I started and that was because the roof had gotten itself stuck in the down position, I now knew even if I didn't understand why they sealed it up!! :/

finally after a long time...

was very pleased to see all the operational stuff was present and correct which ive since stripped/clean/oiled etc (more pics to come)


you can see from this pic its lovely and straight

I need to go thru and upload my pics to the host so bear with me i'll post more of the story so far shortly...

 

[gninnam]

Looks to be a nice project bus you have there 8)
And a sunroof too - looks like the actual roof part of the sunroof is foobar'd though

 

[StripedHemi]

Hi thanks


I gotta admit I was very worried when I started pulling pieces of rotten metal away with the filler but it was only the sunroof panel luckily, the aperture around the sunroof is near mint (there are a few tiny holes) so I thanked my lucky stars!

I managed to get a good solid replacement and have since rebuilt it and its all back in and working a treat! just needs a new seal but will buy that nearer the time I want to drive it..

That really is the worst of it on the actual roof, the sunroof panel was totalled tho


Old and new here built up ready to fit

 

[StripedHemi]

I stripped and cleaned the runners and cables then re oiled them and refitted, the gearing had the same treatment...

whilst it wasn't that important as far as getting the bus nearer to being on the road it was the first job I wanted to get stuck into as the filler bugged the life out of me, now its all done im a happy chappy and I understand how these roofs work too


here it is in place and working

the plastic covers for the front section of the cables have also been refitted, it needs a little adjustment but i'll deal with that later

this is one of the reasons I bought this bus and to see it working was worth all the effort..

 

[StripedHemi]

The more I work on the bus the more I realise how solid and lucky I am to have found one that's about as straight as they come! I wet flatted and mopped the door to begin with to see how the paint was as it appears to have gone untouched for a very long time, however it surprised me that the paint had never been flatted off, no idea how old the paint is but again it bugged me not being flat.

I love dulled off cellulose and had to at least get an idea of what the bus will look like with a few days elbow grease, heres a few pics of what ive done so far (only did some I got carried away with other jobs)

Only done one side but very happy the burnt areas will be left as is with some anchor wax for this year

The rear arches have been cut (as you might've noticed) but have been done very nicely, rolled and perfect and there appears to be no filler in them either nor any deformation.. bit gutted they've been done but I will replace with correct year ones and paint blended most likely..

 

[mattyd72]

Great work on the roof a sunroof bus is on my to to do list

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[rallye dale]

Great bus, good luck with it 8)

 

[Moseley]

Jesus - must be some fair weight in all that filler! :shock:

 

[StripedHemi]

it was 3inches thick in some places !!!! :shock:

thanks for the comments guys

 

[dazza1975]

Cool roof buddy!!! Looks like a nice bus!!!

 

[dazza1975]

Cool roof buddy!!! Looks like a nice bus!!!

 

[Lee C]

That's a S**T LOAD of filler like!!!!!
Looks like the rest is polishing up nice 8)
I blended some metal repairs in, on mine then painted them in 2k then clear laquered.

 

[StripedHemi]

Pulled the engine a few weeks back, couldn't see what actually caused the fire tho...

have put it to one side for the moment but will pull it apart and see whats what later on, for now tho I clean the engine bay and painted it ready for when I put the engine back in.

Also flushed the tank out but its too far gone, very rusty inside and after the aggro I had with my split and a rusty fuel tank im not going to take any chances with it unless someone knows of someone that can restore them? otherwise i'll just buy a new one, not worth scrimping on this in my eyes as I say with the probs ive had in tha past..

couple more pics...

whilst the engine and bay look a mess I was very pleased to find the gearbox looks like its freshly rebuilt! not even a mark on the starter gear!? maybe it caught fire whilst being setup or something but as you can see its like brand new in there, also the cv joints etc are all new too..

quick clean up and a paint in there, I could've spent longer on it if im honest but im not going for a concourse bus, just want it clean and protected..

next winter I plan on painting the rest underneath, I did this on my splitty and its so nice working on something without having tons of crap falling in your eyes each time you touch something haha

 

[68_early_bay]

Nice bus 8)

 

[Grazy]

Good work fella , love green buses 8)

Think i am going to paint my engine bay this winter and would also like to paint underside so i will be interested to see how you go about doing that

Keep at it dude

 

[trebor]

Looking good :!: can I ask how mucho the replacement sun roof set you back ?

 

[StripedHemi]

Morning guys and thanks for the kind comments


The sunroof panel only cost me £50 and it was in very nice condition as it came from an imported bus, the guy had bought a few in his time to gain all the bits he needed to rebuild his own so ended up with a couple of spare bare panels.. my old one had all the working parts so I simply cleaned them all up and put them on the new one and I also have the inner cover panel (needs cleaning/painting) from my old one.


Painting the engine bay was pretty easy once there was nothing in there, just figured for the sake of a litre of paint id do it now rather than have to take everything out again next year, the rest of the underside has the underseal and og paint protecting it for this coming year, when I did my splitty a few years back I think I used about 4 litres of paint over the top of some stonechip underseal.. I don't think i'll go as mad on this one as I doubt i'll use it in bad weather that much, we'll see I might just get a couple of litres mixed up and brush it on under there.

 

[StripedHemi]

Unfortunatly the engine fire spread thru the bus and I imagine caught the headlining alight which dropped down onto the dashboard, only the facia is melted and the clocks, some wiring is damaged also..


Ive since bought a nice padded dash panel, handle & top edge piece and a nice clock surround, need to buy some actual clocks but theres tons of them about. Also need switch knobs (if they come off?) glovebox lid and handbrake handle etc

looks worse than what it really is.

 

[squareweave]

Very nice work, you gotta love a working sunroof bus!!! You have a PM

 

[ratty1959]

That sunroof :shock: good work fella