How I built my Interior units for my '72 Bay. FINISHED!!!
- Thread starter Hotrod
- Start date
Help Support Early Bay Forum:
Resto-raider
Well-known member
That does look great, especially those seats. I can't wait till the next update.
Hi guys,
Here's an update on my last visit down to Carl which was a couple of weeks back. I spent a week down there again and managed to get the brake system finished, just needs bleeding.
On my last visit, I decided to bring the calipers home with me so I could strip and rebuild them. When Carl first drove my bus in to his workshop, he commented on how hard my brake pedal was and he said there is obviously something wrong somewhere. This came to light when I came to refurbish the calipers as the pistons were stuck in the bore. These calipers were renewed in the 90's as I have the bill from one of the previous owners and hadn't done a tremendous amount of miles but I think they'd just stood around for a while. The first thing we noticed when we removed the calipers from the bus about a year ago was that the dust seals around the edges of the pistons had disintegrated so this is one for you all to check next time you have your pads out! Two pistons came out easy, the third was reasonably difficult and the forth after lots of penetrating oil, I slid a 3mm punch through the brake pipe drilling in the back of the caliper, laid the caliper flat on the bench and very carefully with just the weight of the hammer head, tapped the piston free without any damage.
The next stage was the clean all the exterior of the calipers which I did using one of those heavy duty wire brushes that go on your angle grinder. If you're using this type of wire brush any time, whatever you do, make sure you wear safety goggles which I did, but still got a few of the wires breaking off and hitting me in the face! Once cleaned up, I then honed out the housings with a honing tool, (you can use scotchbrite and WD40 or wet & dry) then completely washed and blew out the airwaves, making sure everything was spotlessly clean inside.
I then scouted around the shed to find some paint to use on the calipers. I found a tin of gold jap laq, must have been something my dad bought years ago! I then gave them two coats of the gold and they came up really nice and period looking. The next stage was to put the seals on to the pistons which is just a matter of sliding the seal over the edge of the piston carefully in to the groove. I then slid the dust cap over the edge of the piston next and lubricated the bore and the piston with brake fluid and made sure the piston was sitting square in to the bore before carefully pushing the piston back in, taking care not to damage the seal. The outer part of the dust cap then just sits up against the body of the caliper. I then replaced the two seals which fit in the housing to seal the caliper when it's bolted back together. I reused these two seals because they looked ok, but the only place I know that supplies these are JustKampers, if you should need them.
The two halves were then put back together and torqued up (I think it was 25lb, without checking). All in all, it took me a couple of days, taking my time. A very simple job to do, well in the scope of everybody on here.
There does seem to be a vast price difference in price from dealer to dealer in the caliper seal rebuild kit. Mine came from Heritage and cost nearly £40 for the two kits which I thought was a hell of a lot of money considering you just get two seals and two dust covers per kit. I think the same rebuild kit from the likes of Mega Bug was around about the £28 mark so please shop around to get the best deal!
I then returned on my last visit to Carl with the completed calipers and refitted them to the bus. I was really pleased wit the end result. It'll be interesting to see now once the bus is finally back on the road, what the brake system will be like with a completely refurbed system all round plus a Harry Harpic remote servo conversion. I will keep you posted on what this system performs like. If it's as good as I hope then this should be a really cheap brake upgrade.
Here are some pictures of the calipers being refurbed and fitted (if you need anymore info on doing this, feel free to ask):
Another reason for this visit was to push on once again with the Pop Top. Carl had already applied several coats of primer which he then sprayed with guide coat a number of times and flatted, even though no ones going to see this unless you're in a low flying aircraft, but this is typical of Carls standard, it just has to be right.
Once this was all flatted, we then loaded it on to the roof rack on Carls bus and went off to a spray booth which Carl hires from a garage in Braunton. Carl then cleaned the top, ready for spraying whilst I cleaned the booth up. Once all was ready and the roof had been cleaned for the final time, I then left the booth whilst Carl sprayed on the black which has a satin finish. Because we didn't have a lot of the black metallic paint left with the red fleck, it was first given a few coats of satin black as a base and then finally finished with the metallic paint (see photos below). Once this was then dried, Carl then sprayed three coats of clear laquer and was left in the booth to harden overnight. We then went back to the booth the following morning and collected the Pop Top, carefully wrapping it and strapping it back on to Carls roof rack, very nerve racking! Once we arrived back at Carls place, we then set the Pop Top up on two work mates upside down ready for Lee who was coming at 1030 to put the final vinyl around the outside edge of the Pop Top and fit the trim around the black velor area. When the black vinyl was applied, it tucks underneath where the velor finishes so you do not see the edge and then the outside edge was finished by Lee lifting the existing rubber around the outside edge of the Pop Top and applying the vinyl underneath so we ended up with the perfect finish. Where the four corners meet, Lee had prestitched these to give a nice edge and then bonded to the roof cap so it looks like the four pieces of vinyl are machine stitched all around. Very neat as usual (see photos below).
We then decided the best place to store the Pop Top was back on top of the bus for safe keeping so Carl and I then very carefully dropped it back on and could wait to look inside to see the effect of everything in black! It looks absolutely fantastic! We haven't lined it up properly in the pictures but you'll get an idea and be able to see the black vinyl around the edge of the inside. This area will also house the lifting mechanism which has been powerdercoated in satin black but even though the bus isn't finished, it's amazing how quiet it is inside when you speak now the interiors back in with the sound deadining.
Here are the pictures of the Pop Top:
Lee also brought down the cushion for the parcel shelf which he has done in plain black vinyl to match the rest of the boot area. Really pleased. The only part Lee has left to finish now is to make the spare wheel cover in black carpet and finish the carpet in the cab area. All the interior is just loosely fitted at the moment as it's all got to be removed to be fully wax proofed. The roof area was done before it went to Lee and Lee wax proofed the floor area for us so it's just the sides and door areas to be done. Snapped a couple of extra pictures of the doors open to show off the door cards.
One of the next big jobs will be to spray the dash in the same colour as outside. The top section of dash will be done in satin black. Carl has also got to design and build a mechanism for operating the heater controls and air vent so the sliders will protrud down below the dashboard, out of sight but still fully operational. Can't wait to see this dash put back in with all the gauges!
My next visit will probably be just after Christmas where the next stage will be to polish the laquer on the Pop Top and refit all the mechanism with the uprated springs. Just hoping that the springs are man enough to keep the Pop Top in the up position! It works fine on one of my mates but not so good on another mates! Fingers crossed. If these springs are not man enough, then I will have some more made by a company I know.
We are getting very close now to the final big push. It's got to be done by March 2012 because we missed VolksWorld last year but we are now back in again for 2012 so this will then bring the total of the restoration to three years nine months!
Here's one for you Andy, as you suggested last time, it'd be nice to see some round LED lights in the Pop Top, if you look carefully on the side sections of what was done previous, you'll see where the wires hang out which is where my lighting system will go. Would look quite nice in the Pop Top as well but there's no way you can do it without showing any cables but your comment was appreciated.
Just like to take this chance to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Regards.
Steve
Here's an update on my last visit down to Carl which was a couple of weeks back. I spent a week down there again and managed to get the brake system finished, just needs bleeding.
On my last visit, I decided to bring the calipers home with me so I could strip and rebuild them. When Carl first drove my bus in to his workshop, he commented on how hard my brake pedal was and he said there is obviously something wrong somewhere. This came to light when I came to refurbish the calipers as the pistons were stuck in the bore. These calipers were renewed in the 90's as I have the bill from one of the previous owners and hadn't done a tremendous amount of miles but I think they'd just stood around for a while. The first thing we noticed when we removed the calipers from the bus about a year ago was that the dust seals around the edges of the pistons had disintegrated so this is one for you all to check next time you have your pads out! Two pistons came out easy, the third was reasonably difficult and the forth after lots of penetrating oil, I slid a 3mm punch through the brake pipe drilling in the back of the caliper, laid the caliper flat on the bench and very carefully with just the weight of the hammer head, tapped the piston free without any damage.
The next stage was the clean all the exterior of the calipers which I did using one of those heavy duty wire brushes that go on your angle grinder. If you're using this type of wire brush any time, whatever you do, make sure you wear safety goggles which I did, but still got a few of the wires breaking off and hitting me in the face! Once cleaned up, I then honed out the housings with a honing tool, (you can use scotchbrite and WD40 or wet & dry) then completely washed and blew out the airwaves, making sure everything was spotlessly clean inside.
I then scouted around the shed to find some paint to use on the calipers. I found a tin of gold jap laq, must have been something my dad bought years ago! I then gave them two coats of the gold and they came up really nice and period looking. The next stage was to put the seals on to the pistons which is just a matter of sliding the seal over the edge of the piston carefully in to the groove. I then slid the dust cap over the edge of the piston next and lubricated the bore and the piston with brake fluid and made sure the piston was sitting square in to the bore before carefully pushing the piston back in, taking care not to damage the seal. The outer part of the dust cap then just sits up against the body of the caliper. I then replaced the two seals which fit in the housing to seal the caliper when it's bolted back together. I reused these two seals because they looked ok, but the only place I know that supplies these are JustKampers, if you should need them.
The two halves were then put back together and torqued up (I think it was 25lb, without checking). All in all, it took me a couple of days, taking my time. A very simple job to do, well in the scope of everybody on here.
There does seem to be a vast price difference in price from dealer to dealer in the caliper seal rebuild kit. Mine came from Heritage and cost nearly £40 for the two kits which I thought was a hell of a lot of money considering you just get two seals and two dust covers per kit. I think the same rebuild kit from the likes of Mega Bug was around about the £28 mark so please shop around to get the best deal!
I then returned on my last visit to Carl with the completed calipers and refitted them to the bus. I was really pleased wit the end result. It'll be interesting to see now once the bus is finally back on the road, what the brake system will be like with a completely refurbed system all round plus a Harry Harpic remote servo conversion. I will keep you posted on what this system performs like. If it's as good as I hope then this should be a really cheap brake upgrade.
Here are some pictures of the calipers being refurbed and fitted (if you need anymore info on doing this, feel free to ask):
Another reason for this visit was to push on once again with the Pop Top. Carl had already applied several coats of primer which he then sprayed with guide coat a number of times and flatted, even though no ones going to see this unless you're in a low flying aircraft, but this is typical of Carls standard, it just has to be right.
Once this was all flatted, we then loaded it on to the roof rack on Carls bus and went off to a spray booth which Carl hires from a garage in Braunton. Carl then cleaned the top, ready for spraying whilst I cleaned the booth up. Once all was ready and the roof had been cleaned for the final time, I then left the booth whilst Carl sprayed on the black which has a satin finish. Because we didn't have a lot of the black metallic paint left with the red fleck, it was first given a few coats of satin black as a base and then finally finished with the metallic paint (see photos below). Once this was then dried, Carl then sprayed three coats of clear laquer and was left in the booth to harden overnight. We then went back to the booth the following morning and collected the Pop Top, carefully wrapping it and strapping it back on to Carls roof rack, very nerve racking! Once we arrived back at Carls place, we then set the Pop Top up on two work mates upside down ready for Lee who was coming at 1030 to put the final vinyl around the outside edge of the Pop Top and fit the trim around the black velor area. When the black vinyl was applied, it tucks underneath where the velor finishes so you do not see the edge and then the outside edge was finished by Lee lifting the existing rubber around the outside edge of the Pop Top and applying the vinyl underneath so we ended up with the perfect finish. Where the four corners meet, Lee had prestitched these to give a nice edge and then bonded to the roof cap so it looks like the four pieces of vinyl are machine stitched all around. Very neat as usual (see photos below).
We then decided the best place to store the Pop Top was back on top of the bus for safe keeping so Carl and I then very carefully dropped it back on and could wait to look inside to see the effect of everything in black! It looks absolutely fantastic! We haven't lined it up properly in the pictures but you'll get an idea and be able to see the black vinyl around the edge of the inside. This area will also house the lifting mechanism which has been powerdercoated in satin black but even though the bus isn't finished, it's amazing how quiet it is inside when you speak now the interiors back in with the sound deadining.
Here are the pictures of the Pop Top:
Lee also brought down the cushion for the parcel shelf which he has done in plain black vinyl to match the rest of the boot area. Really pleased. The only part Lee has left to finish now is to make the spare wheel cover in black carpet and finish the carpet in the cab area. All the interior is just loosely fitted at the moment as it's all got to be removed to be fully wax proofed. The roof area was done before it went to Lee and Lee wax proofed the floor area for us so it's just the sides and door areas to be done. Snapped a couple of extra pictures of the doors open to show off the door cards.
One of the next big jobs will be to spray the dash in the same colour as outside. The top section of dash will be done in satin black. Carl has also got to design and build a mechanism for operating the heater controls and air vent so the sliders will protrud down below the dashboard, out of sight but still fully operational. Can't wait to see this dash put back in with all the gauges!
My next visit will probably be just after Christmas where the next stage will be to polish the laquer on the Pop Top and refit all the mechanism with the uprated springs. Just hoping that the springs are man enough to keep the Pop Top in the up position! It works fine on one of my mates but not so good on another mates! Fingers crossed. If these springs are not man enough, then I will have some more made by a company I know.
We are getting very close now to the final big push. It's got to be done by March 2012 because we missed VolksWorld last year but we are now back in again for 2012 so this will then bring the total of the restoration to three years nine months!
Here's one for you Andy, as you suggested last time, it'd be nice to see some round LED lights in the Pop Top, if you look carefully on the side sections of what was done previous, you'll see where the wires hang out which is where my lighting system will go. Would look quite nice in the Pop Top as well but there's no way you can do it without showing any cables but your comment was appreciated.
Just like to take this chance to wish everybody a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Regards.
Steve
Sittingonthedockofthe BAY
Well-known member
Happy Christmas to you Steve cant wait to see this in 2012, and thank god i now have super fast broadband your page used to take 10 min to load !!
Sittingonthedockofthe BAY said:
Merry Christmas to you as well my friend.
Yes you're right it does take a long while to load up let alone upload them and work out what I want to say!
I have a friend who's in Bury St Edmonds, his name is also Steve and has a mid 70's bay window with a black top and sealing wax red lower half with a GBH numberplate. Keep your eye out for him, he's a nice guy.
Merry Christmas to you and your family and thanks once again for looking.
Regards.
Steve.
Hi Steve,
Top job yet again by the boys :mrgreen:
I think when you have finished the interior and got the van on the road, it will probably surpass some of the governments heat retension figures for houses.......
I understand what you mean about the wires for the LED lights in the poptop!
Quick question, will the paint on the calipers survive the heat and caustic nature of the brake dust?? or is is just an interim paint job?
All the best to you and your family too over the festive season
Top job yet again by the boys :mrgreen:
I think when you have finished the interior and got the van on the road, it will probably surpass some of the governments heat retension figures for houses.......
I understand what you mean about the wires for the LED lights in the poptop!
Quick question, will the paint on the calipers survive the heat and caustic nature of the brake dust?? or is is just an interim paint job?
All the best to you and your family too over the festive season
surfbus
Well-known member
Great job (Has ever) Steve!
user 14192
Member
- Joined
- Jun 8, 2010
- Messages
- 16
- Reaction score
- 0
Oh Steve,
I do wish you'd dusted a little matt black guide coat on my bald patch before you took the photo of me without a hat!!!
I do wish you'd dusted a little matt black guide coat on my bald patch before you took the photo of me without a hat!!!
cotswoldiver
Well-known member
Another cracking update Steve, always enjoy following this tread - can't believe almost another year has gone by since you were talking about getting it ready Volksworld Show 2011. But sure looks like it is worth the wait, its going to have to be one hell of a bus that beats this to Best in Show in 2012
rallye dale
Well-known member
Looking good , keep it coming
Hey Steve - thank you so much for taking the trouble to describe you woodworking in such detail. It's been a real inspiration while I've been doing my own interior. Mine's not going to be a patch on yours, but it's a hell of a lot better than it would have been without reading your thread and learning to think a bit further ahead and use my router more intelligently.
Wow Steve
Nice work
I just joined EarlyBay and have been SO impressed and inspired thus far by all of the great work on these Bays!!! Yours is definitely Top shelf!!
Once I get a heater in my Garage I'll be in deep with my projects as well!! Canada gets a" little" cold at this time of the year :shock:
Bruce
Nice work
I just joined EarlyBay and have been SO impressed and inspired thus far by all of the great work on these Bays!!! Yours is definitely Top shelf!!
Once I get a heater in my Garage I'll be in deep with my projects as well!! Canada gets a" little" cold at this time of the year :shock:
Bruce
Heebee_GB
Well-known member
Wow!! :shock:
Only just found this thread (Cheers Mark6455 )
Absolutely amazing.
Only just found this thread (Cheers Mark6455
)Absolutely amazing.
Hi guys,
Been a while since my last post! The pressure is really on now to get the bus finished. We've been told by Ivan at Volksworld that the bus is going to be in the show but have had no confirmation as of yet except verbal confirmation so Karl is going to chase this up.
I went down to Devon on Tuesday so I could jump on the bus with Karl on Wednesday morning. We've got 5 weeks left to deliver the bus to Volksworld. We made really great progress this week!
First off was to fit the pop top bellows. Went down to Karl a month a go to do this job then. When we opened the packaging for the bellows, we was missing the ten straps that limit the height of the bellows. I bought the bellows approximately 3 years ago so when I got back home, I contacted the supplier on Monday morning explaining that we was missing these parts. He couldn't have been more helpful, took my name and address and they dropped through the letterbox the following morning, excellent service. As far as I know, there's only one company that makes the bellows for the Devon pop top.
We started by laying the pop top upside down on two workmates. The next job was to lay out the bellows on the pop top before we could fit the lifting mechanism. We spent a couple of hours cleaning out the inside of the tubing of any old debris, grease and muck. To do this, Karl made a flap wheel from a piece of steel rod, cut a slot in one end approximately an inch long and then placed a piece of henry cloth in to the slot approximately 4" x 1" which was then rolled up and placed inside the tubing. The other end of the rod was put in an electric drill and away we went. Surprising how much muck came out and also it polished the inside of the tubing up. We then cleaned off any excess powdercoating on the other tubing which slides inside. Once we had these four tubes moving nice and free, the next job was the make sure all the pivot points on the lifting mechanism was nice and free. We then could pass the lifting arms through the bellows pockets and they could then be bolted back on to the roof cap (see photo below). Once these were on, the next job was to attach the bellows to the perimeter of the pop top. We did this by laying back the steel fixing straps which are the originals which we have had blasted and satin black powdercoated. We knew the original position of these straps so we pulled approximately 15mm of vinyl past the edge of the bar on the inside, starting at one end and working our way along using a pair of dividers so we had an equal amount protruding past the bar to keep the bellows straight. Once it was lined up, Karl drilled the holes and put in the new pop rivets. Once we had worked our way around the edge, the excess 15mm on the inside was trimmed off with a scalpel. You can leave this on but it looked neater trimmed off.
Once this was done, we could then fit the new springs which we gave a liberal coat of grease and slid inside the tubing. Karl then compressed them by hand whilst I put the grub screws in. Once this was done, we could then turn the pop top up the correct way, place it on the two arms on the workmate to check that the springs had enough strength to keep the pop top in its up position with no sagging.
The next job was to tie the pop top arms down in the closed position using rope, this took a bit of doing as you have to compress the arms. Once this was acheived, we could lift the pop top back in position and screw the mounting plates back to the sides of the pop top aperture. We had already marked the original holes so everything went back where it had originally been.
We then removed the rope and pushed the pop top in to the open position and sighed a big sigh of relief as it stayed up! Because it has got the Just Kampers roof cap which adds quite a bit of extra weight to the roof as you all know, you do see a lot of these Devon pop tops which are sagging. This is one of the reasons we had to make everything spotlessly clean inside the lifting mech and pivot points to give it the best chance of lifting with the roof cap on.
The next job was to put the fixing bars around the outside edge of the fibreglass base. This was why it was important to renew all the timber work underneath the fibreglass before it was replaced so we had fresh timber to screw in to. For this we used stainless steel screws. Once again, when it was screwed down, the excess vinyl was trimmed off. We positioned the ten straps round the edge of the pop top to line up with the seams in the headlining, three down one side to line up with the headlining seams.
Then came the job of dropping the pop top to the closed position. We pulled it down, it shut really nice, no need to go around the outside to tuck the bellows back in and it was perfect. We have no popped it up about three times and it stays up no trouble (see photos below).
All in all, to fit the bellows and clean up the lifting mech, took two - two and a half days. We decided not to black out the pop rivets which are visible when the pop top is in the open position because it looked so nice as they were. Overall impression of the pop top quality, extremely good which makes a change when buying after market parts these days as everyone will know! If anyone needs to buy bellows, I can pass on the company details.
You'll see in the photos where I am hoovering the headlining before we fix the pop top and I'm flicking off pieces of debris with a scriber. This wasn't set up for the camera, this is what I was really doing!
The next thing we tackled was the rock n roll bed which was purchased from Blue Bird which also is another good, helpful company. I bought the bed about three years back. Because the theme of the bus is black inside and the frame was silver, it was blasted and satin black powdercoated. On the trial fit with the bed frame in and the seat cushions on, we found that where the bolts protruded through the heads of the nuts and the nuts themselves was marking the sides of the cushions! We could easily have trimmed off the bolt excess which wasn't much but was worried about the nut situation so we decided to modify the fixings on the pivot points by drilling out the pivot point holes and inserting some threaded inserts which had a plate on one end. These were then tig welded in to place. We then reassembled the bed, replaced the cushion and was a lot more happier as it had rectified another problem (See photos). These threaded inserts will then be skimmed over with filler to make them smooth, flatted back and then repainted.
The next problem then was to get the handle which bluebird now supply to get the bed back in to seat mode. I wasn't happy with the angle of the handle when we checked this out a few months ago so Karl and I cut, redrilled and reangled the handle before welding it back up. We then had a much neater position where the handle finished up but then still had a width problem between the handle pivot point and the door cards so trimmed down the nylon spacer approximately 5mm, put a slight kink in the handle and tried it again. It now works perfect. This is no reflection on what Bluebird designed in the first place as it does work under normal circumstances but as you can see with this bus, there is nothing normal but one refinement after another. As you all know it's the Devil in the detail!
We then moved on to the dashboard. As you all probably know we've gone for the smooth look which I think is great. One problem which does arise from smoothing your dash is the fact your slider arms can no longer protrude through your dash plate to operate your heating system. This is a situation we was aware of from the beginning so Karl has completely redesigned the cable mechanism by moving everything back and it now operates from underneath the dashboard so another problem solved! Karl tells me the dash has now had 10 coats of primer and primer filler applied to it and is now satisfied that we're ready for the colour and laquer to be applied!
Karl has now built the motor which is 2007cc which will be detailed in black gloss with stainless fixings.
So all in all, a very good 4 days work. I am going back to Devon next week on Monday for another big push so will post up on my return how we got on.
Thanks for looking and for the comments.
Regards.
Steve.
Been a while since my last post! The pressure is really on now to get the bus finished. We've been told by Ivan at Volksworld that the bus is going to be in the show but have had no confirmation as of yet except verbal confirmation so Karl is going to chase this up.
I went down to Devon on Tuesday so I could jump on the bus with Karl on Wednesday morning. We've got 5 weeks left to deliver the bus to Volksworld. We made really great progress this week!
First off was to fit the pop top bellows. Went down to Karl a month a go to do this job then. When we opened the packaging for the bellows, we was missing the ten straps that limit the height of the bellows. I bought the bellows approximately 3 years ago so when I got back home, I contacted the supplier on Monday morning explaining that we was missing these parts. He couldn't have been more helpful, took my name and address and they dropped through the letterbox the following morning, excellent service. As far as I know, there's only one company that makes the bellows for the Devon pop top.
We started by laying the pop top upside down on two workmates. The next job was to lay out the bellows on the pop top before we could fit the lifting mechanism. We spent a couple of hours cleaning out the inside of the tubing of any old debris, grease and muck. To do this, Karl made a flap wheel from a piece of steel rod, cut a slot in one end approximately an inch long and then placed a piece of henry cloth in to the slot approximately 4" x 1" which was then rolled up and placed inside the tubing. The other end of the rod was put in an electric drill and away we went. Surprising how much muck came out and also it polished the inside of the tubing up. We then cleaned off any excess powdercoating on the other tubing which slides inside. Once we had these four tubes moving nice and free, the next job was the make sure all the pivot points on the lifting mechanism was nice and free. We then could pass the lifting arms through the bellows pockets and they could then be bolted back on to the roof cap (see photo below). Once these were on, the next job was to attach the bellows to the perimeter of the pop top. We did this by laying back the steel fixing straps which are the originals which we have had blasted and satin black powdercoated. We knew the original position of these straps so we pulled approximately 15mm of vinyl past the edge of the bar on the inside, starting at one end and working our way along using a pair of dividers so we had an equal amount protruding past the bar to keep the bellows straight. Once it was lined up, Karl drilled the holes and put in the new pop rivets. Once we had worked our way around the edge, the excess 15mm on the inside was trimmed off with a scalpel. You can leave this on but it looked neater trimmed off.
Once this was done, we could then fit the new springs which we gave a liberal coat of grease and slid inside the tubing. Karl then compressed them by hand whilst I put the grub screws in. Once this was done, we could then turn the pop top up the correct way, place it on the two arms on the workmate to check that the springs had enough strength to keep the pop top in its up position with no sagging.
The next job was to tie the pop top arms down in the closed position using rope, this took a bit of doing as you have to compress the arms. Once this was acheived, we could lift the pop top back in position and screw the mounting plates back to the sides of the pop top aperture. We had already marked the original holes so everything went back where it had originally been.
We then removed the rope and pushed the pop top in to the open position and sighed a big sigh of relief as it stayed up! Because it has got the Just Kampers roof cap which adds quite a bit of extra weight to the roof as you all know, you do see a lot of these Devon pop tops which are sagging. This is one of the reasons we had to make everything spotlessly clean inside the lifting mech and pivot points to give it the best chance of lifting with the roof cap on.
The next job was to put the fixing bars around the outside edge of the fibreglass base. This was why it was important to renew all the timber work underneath the fibreglass before it was replaced so we had fresh timber to screw in to. For this we used stainless steel screws. Once again, when it was screwed down, the excess vinyl was trimmed off. We positioned the ten straps round the edge of the pop top to line up with the seams in the headlining, three down one side to line up with the headlining seams.
Then came the job of dropping the pop top to the closed position. We pulled it down, it shut really nice, no need to go around the outside to tuck the bellows back in and it was perfect. We have no popped it up about three times and it stays up no trouble (see photos below).
All in all, to fit the bellows and clean up the lifting mech, took two - two and a half days. We decided not to black out the pop rivets which are visible when the pop top is in the open position because it looked so nice as they were. Overall impression of the pop top quality, extremely good which makes a change when buying after market parts these days as everyone will know! If anyone needs to buy bellows, I can pass on the company details.
You'll see in the photos where I am hoovering the headlining before we fix the pop top and I'm flicking off pieces of debris with a scriber. This wasn't set up for the camera, this is what I was really doing!
The next thing we tackled was the rock n roll bed which was purchased from Blue Bird which also is another good, helpful company. I bought the bed about three years back. Because the theme of the bus is black inside and the frame was silver, it was blasted and satin black powdercoated. On the trial fit with the bed frame in and the seat cushions on, we found that where the bolts protruded through the heads of the nuts and the nuts themselves was marking the sides of the cushions! We could easily have trimmed off the bolt excess which wasn't much but was worried about the nut situation so we decided to modify the fixings on the pivot points by drilling out the pivot point holes and inserting some threaded inserts which had a plate on one end. These were then tig welded in to place. We then reassembled the bed, replaced the cushion and was a lot more happier as it had rectified another problem (See photos). These threaded inserts will then be skimmed over with filler to make them smooth, flatted back and then repainted.
The next problem then was to get the handle which bluebird now supply to get the bed back in to seat mode. I wasn't happy with the angle of the handle when we checked this out a few months ago so Karl and I cut, redrilled and reangled the handle before welding it back up. We then had a much neater position where the handle finished up but then still had a width problem between the handle pivot point and the door cards so trimmed down the nylon spacer approximately 5mm, put a slight kink in the handle and tried it again. It now works perfect. This is no reflection on what Bluebird designed in the first place as it does work under normal circumstances but as you can see with this bus, there is nothing normal but one refinement after another. As you all know it's the Devil in the detail!
We then moved on to the dashboard. As you all probably know we've gone for the smooth look which I think is great. One problem which does arise from smoothing your dash is the fact your slider arms can no longer protrude through your dash plate to operate your heating system. This is a situation we was aware of from the beginning so Karl has completely redesigned the cable mechanism by moving everything back and it now operates from underneath the dashboard so another problem solved! Karl tells me the dash has now had 10 coats of primer and primer filler applied to it and is now satisfied that we're ready for the colour and laquer to be applied!
Karl has now built the motor which is 2007cc which will be detailed in black gloss with stainless fixings.
So all in all, a very good 4 days work. I am going back to Devon next week on Monday for another big push so will post up on my return how we got on.
Thanks for looking and for the comments.
Regards.
Steve.
68_early_bay
Well-known member
Hi, absolutely stunning bus :shock: the detail in the work, will be a cracking bus when done, any new updates??
Shaun
Shaun
68_early_bay said:
Thanks for your comment Shaun.
Will be putting an update on tomorrow as we just got back from Devon this very minute.
I can see the finishing line in sight now, Karl says hopefully another 4 weeks!
Will update fully tomorrow.
Regards.
Steve.
68_early_bay
Well-known member
Hotrod said:
The finishing line in sight always gives you a buzz on a project
Looking forward to the update
61 stu
Well-known member
love it, lovely work 8)
Similar threads
Vehicle For Sale
Early Bay Deluxe 1971
Vehicle For Sale
1969 VW T2 Early bay - UK RHD - £13,750 ono
Vehicle For Sale
Very rare Oslo edition SO69-01 1969 Early Baywindow £12K Ono
