We've had our bay for 3 years now and the rot has got worse on the front since we bought it. It needed work in the usual places like windscreen surround, front arches and lower front valance. It had been previously replaced with the repro front panel (high indicator cut outs and a bulge for the badge) and early front aches but as we got no history with the van I don't know when. There had also been a spare wheel added to the front which had caused a few dents.
I'm no purist when it comes to my bus but I do want it to look as original as possible. This meant changing it to lower indicators and 1 year only arches.
So I priced up the cost of replacement panels and read up on who sold the best fitting. I didn't like the idea of buying a mixture of all the new required parts from the different year vans and jigsawing them all together. I decided to look at trying to source imported original replacement parts.
Quick call to all the usual guys and realised the parts I needed were all out there but it was going to cost me a lot. The genuine 1 year arches I needed were being sold for £250 each side
Then I spoke to Southeren Kombi Parts and they had just taken delivery of this
It is a complete front clip from a '72 bay. Perfect It cost a little over the price of 2 arches at £550 and it still has the dash, fusebox, wiper motor, indicator units and few other bits that will be very handy. It does require a repair to the lower surround on the windscreen but not half as bad as mine did.
So where did we start?? Firstly I paid someone else to do the thinking for me. I'm quite handy with the tools but have never done any body work before and thought this may be a bit big as my first attempt. We did all the work out side my house with a selection of the right tools. We had no ramps or amazing equipment you would get at a body shop / garage. In fact everything we used fitted in the back of an Audi Estate.:lol::lol:
The plan was to try and remove the complete front, arches and floor from the import in one piece and weld it to the chassis of the van.
I'm no purist when it comes to my bus but I do want it to look as original as possible. This meant changing it to lower indicators and 1 year only arches.
So I priced up the cost of replacement panels and read up on who sold the best fitting. I didn't like the idea of buying a mixture of all the new required parts from the different year vans and jigsawing them all together. I decided to look at trying to source imported original replacement parts.
Quick call to all the usual guys and realised the parts I needed were all out there but it was going to cost me a lot. The genuine 1 year arches I needed were being sold for £250 each side
Then I spoke to Southeren Kombi Parts and they had just taken delivery of this
It is a complete front clip from a '72 bay. Perfect
It cost a little over the price of 2 arches at £550 and it still has the dash, fusebox, wiper motor, indicator units and few other bits that will be very handy. It does require a repair to the lower surround on the windscreen but not half as bad as mine did.So where did we start?? Firstly I paid someone else to do the thinking for me
. I'm quite handy with the tools but have never done any body work before and thought this may be a bit big as my first attempt. We did all the work out side my house with a selection of the right tools. We had no ramps or amazing equipment you would get at a body shop / garage. In fact everything we used fitted in the back of an Audi Estate.:lol::lol:The plan was to try and remove the complete front, arches and floor from the import in one piece and weld it to the chassis of the van.
