First Ever Restoration - 72 Crossover Dormobile

[who?]

Nice one Son!

Neat trick to raise the tubes by 10mm..

You don't seem to be phased by the whole thing....keep up the good work and things will all of a sudden come together.

Matt

 

[gninnam]

^^WHS^^

 

[Ebeneezer]

There's about 10mm to be gained normally but there's also a seam on the inside of the chassis rail that can be trimmed away and re-welded which is another 8mm or so. I'll post some more pics when we do it.

 

[cyberdyne systems]

There's about 10mm to be gained normally but there's also a seam on the inside of the chassis rail that can be trimmed away and re-welded which is another 8mm or so. I'll post some more pics when we do it.

Sounds like a good mod, should be interesting to see your pics of it

 

[Ebeneezer]

8th May

Missed a couple of weekends cos of other commitments but both end plates cut and welded together. Spent 3 hours with a 9" grinder getting them both the same size and my forearms are still aching 2 days later.

Cleaned up the ends of the tubes and tried them on the van.

Looks like max protrusion through end plate is about 28mm to allow clearance for the shock leaving the other side like this :-

which if I keep like this means I can chop 62mm out of the centre, so I chopped 50mm out for starters to get rid of the torsion leaf brackets:-

The square section under the end plates you can see will be milled with two holes the same as the end plates to strengthen the beam and the the beam will be welded back together once we decide on the final width. The centre of the beam will then have an access hole machined in so we can adjust the camber of each wheel. Each trailing arm will have a bar threaded into it which will terminate in a welded bracket by way of lock nuts to give the adjustment. The torsion leaves are being removed and air suspension fitted so the two wheels will have independent suspension. New balljoints have arrived and they are being machined this week to give extra travel and to get the thing down in the weeds!

Picked this Audi air tank up on Ebay for £15 and with a bit of a polish it'll look great :-

Ordering a remote servo this week to give the brakes a bit of extra bite!

 

[Ebeneezer]

16th May

No real excitement today. Spent all day mocking up the beam. Looks like I'll be taking another 47mm out. Cut and machined the bracing bars and stripped all the old paint and underseal away. Bearing inserts to be machined this week and everything should be ready to go back together next week. Central heater channel was fouling the braces and since it's going to have a Propex heater, chopped it out completely front to back.

Watch this space.

 

[gninnam]

Looking forward to the update

 

[Ebeneezer]

23rd May 2010

Forgive me father for I have sinned. I've been tempted to the dark side and bought this :-

I'm desperate to have a van on the road for the summer (and therefore still a marriage going into the winter!) and this is so much closer. Looks like all my efforts will be going into this for the next few weeks.

Am I forgiven?

 

[Guest]

are the rear lights of a fiat?

looks like it will go like stink! :character0028:

 

[Ebeneezer]

Yes, well spotted - they're from a Fiat Bravo and are already in the bin!

Not sure whether I'll be keeping the engine though. The amount of work fitting it properly and making sure the panels stay attached when the power comes in may be beyond my budget. May drop the 1955 motor that was earmarked for the Bay into it so i can get a van on the road rather than another project in the garage. Will either sell the Porsche to fund the resto or keep it and drop it in the Bay as it's a bit more solidly built and has a larger engine bay to accomodate it. Trying to find out how much the engine and gearbox is worth today so I can make a decision.

Also, the front beam is off a 68 Bay and I need to go back to K+l pin.

Watch this space!

 

[Guest]

Yes, well spotted - they're from a Fiat Bravo and are already in the bin!

phew! they are fugly!

what is the porsche engine? 2.7?

 

[Ebeneezer]

Spent the last few hours trying to identify the engine. I think it's a 2.2l from a 1970 911 2.2T with the later 5 speed box.

If anyone has any more info, please email me!

 

[Ebeneezer]

Having to spend all my time working on the Splitty to get it ready for Vanfest so work on the Bay has been suspended. Will be back here once it has been done.

Progress on the Splitty is here :-

http://www.ssvc.org.uk/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=66518" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[Barkafer]

A top quality job you're doing Paul. I, for one, forgive you as I find myself in a similar position with my '71 swiss resto! Oh, and a'67 split is on my extensive VW wish list :lol:
I have just purchased another very nice '71 microbus from South Carolina with the plan also being to do the very minor resto in time for Vanfest. Hopefully see you there, eh?