Meet Gertie the rotten 72 lowlight crossover :)

[exuptoy]

Spent about 4 hours up the garage today. I didn't like the edge of the floor as the edge wasn't very defined and was a bit of a NON edge due to my welding so I decided to run a weld along it's edge then ground the upper face and the side face to make a nicer edge.

I then masked around the edges I wanted to seam seal to there was a clean edge not just a slap happy brushed finish.

Spent around an hour with a grinder mounted wire wheel and cleaned up the OS window frame and B and C pillar uppers back to the metal and then gave it all a coat of etch. REALLY impressed with a flat finish and fresh paint. I can't wait until this thing is done and all in primer.

Mixed up some epoxy mastic 121 and gave the floor and arch step a coat. What I had left, I painted onto the new chassis section I replaced. No waste. )

 

[exuptoy]

My m8 Darren managed to get off the pitman arm at his workshop with a 20 ton press and a bit of heat so I thought I'd make a start at the new chassis section.

Had to do the same again for the inside skin. Then had Daz make me 4 x sleeves to space the inner and the outer chassis sections to the correct dimensions.

I then opened out and counterbores the holes in the chassis plate to accept the shoulder on the sleeves and it looked good to go.

Just need to weld around the sleeves now then it can be fitted once I have chopped out the old section.

 

[exuptoy]

Also removed the pop top as I need to flip it to weld up the main rear chassis rail around the torsion tube.
Drilled out all the rivet and removed them from the roof after lifting off the top. Much more room and light in there now.

 

[exuptoy]

Managed to squeeze in an hour earlier on and welded up the sleeves and ground it all back and stuck a coat of etch on it. Decided instead of welding in a pair of captive nuts for the bumper fixings, I got some 10mm x 30 mm flat bar and drilled the holes at 84mm centres and tapped them at 10mm so I should just be able to bolt the bumper back on when I'm ready.

 

[exuptoy]

Just been back up for 1 1/2 hours and finished the bumper mount and plug welded it through the box and run a seam along the edge.

Also stripped my steering box and removed the lip seals, so I need to replace them then after giving the steering box a freshen up with some blast and paint I can refill it and refit it to the new chassis section.

 

[Lee C]

Just spotted this thread, that's some good old fashioned brittish rot that mind!!!!! :lol:
Looks loads better than it did tho!!
Good luck.

 

[exuptoy]

Just spotted this thread, that's some good old fashioned brittish rot that mind!!!!! :lol:
Looks loads better than it did tho!!
Good luck.

But getting less and less by the day. Haha,
cheers fella.

 

[exuptoy]

4 more hours into it today.

Chopped off the end of the chassis rail ready to accept the new section. I suppose I could have patched it but now it's done I'm happier. This was the reason for chopping it out!

Made a bit of a schoolboy error in not measuring the chassis replacement sections again. Found that the new stuff is 120mm wide and I needed 109mm -ish. Had to chop off the bottom and rebuild that after taking out a slither of around 10mm.
I then put a piece of plate either side and welded it in place this should allow me to plug weld it later into the original section but now it's done I'm not sure it needs it. I'm not gonna grind back the vertical weld. I'll leave it there for strength.

It was a nice fit and I had to use a club hammer to get it in between the walls of the original.

welded it up.

Still have to weld along the bottom joint (the top is done) but I'll do that when she's over on her side. It'll be easier then and there is loads of strength in there now. It's solid.

Time to turn my attention to the steering box.

Gave the 2 halves a good coat of etch primer then the body had some PJ1 engine case paint so it should be good for the elements and the bottom alloy section had some silver Hammerite smooth. New seals fitted and just awaiting some gear oil now. Joined the 2 halves with Loctite instant gasket for cases (got it from work) :lol:

 

[exuptoy]

5 hours today. Gonna keep putting the time spent in each post so I can sort of tally it up roughly when I'm done.

Sourced a spare bolt to replace the one I snapped when removing the steering box and refitted making sure I used copper slip (this bus hasn't seen any of that for a long time).

Steering working fine with no tight spots.

Cleaned off the old lip on the front inner panel which looked ok but was actually the vertical lip from the old inner valance, which would push my new inner valance out by a further 1mm or so with no need, so off it came. Cut out a few squares of rotten metal and cleaned it back to bare metal then put some paint on it until I get it finished.

Pumped up the tires and with a little help, pushed the bus out and back into the garage on the opposite wall to allow me to fit the rollover frame to the NS hubs. Hopefully by Thursday it should be tipped over to sort out the main chassis rail. Still need to clean the floor of rotten cuts.

 

[68_early_bay]

Nice work 8)

 

[dubscum]

nailing it mate

 

[exuptoy]

Cheers lads.

 

[exuptoy]

Got my new (old) panel this week for ebay and TBH I was a little miffed with the condition of it. The advert stated that it had marks which any regular bodyshop could sort out but when I got it there were some gouges in it which weren't just "marks". Anyway, I got the paint (and filler!!!!) ground out with the wire grinding cup and stuck some zinc primer on the bare metal so at least it should get no worse.

Spent about 4 hours today drilling out spot welds and separating the inner sill and floor filler panel apart from the main panel. I decided to leave the outer sill attached to the middle panel so I don't have to use the crap quality outer sill, and at least the gaps will appear factory. I have also left the inner C pillar attached and will drill out my spot welds and chop my C pillar back to a matched point, which means I won't have to fabricate the C pillar bottom and risk it being out, as I have nothing there to measure so it's easier to fit the mid panel complete with C pillar and maybe the B pillar skin.

Not happy with this like!

Anyway, this was todays work.

C pillar cover unpicked, leaving the pillar.

OG sill removed complete with floor filler.

Leaving this.

 

[Sierragelb1971]

Yer a loon! Well done.

 

[mattyd72]

Great work mate



Sent from my GT-I9100

 

[louismacrides]

hello great thread great work,nice n clear to understand,please cud you tell me ware you got your steering box seals from and what size they are,kind regards

 

[exuptoy]

Cheers for the praise.

Seal sizes were 27-37-7 for the output shaft and 24-36-7 for the input shaft.

I got them from simply bearings, cost about £6 inc postage for the 2 and they were delivered next morning.

The output seal seemed to be the wrong one as it only seals on the inner lip but it is fine. Looks like it should sit in further but there are no leaks. Maybe I would have got a 6mm wide one if I got them again. The sizes are written on the side of the seals.

 

[gninnam]

Loving this thread

Doing some great work there fella - keep it up :mrgreen:

 

[exuptoy]

Found a welding cart on ebay for £60and thought 'I can make one of them'. :lol:

This is what I wanted.

I had some Dexian shelves here which seemed to be the right width for what I needed, so I started cutting and welding. Found a set of castors and 2 bigger wheels for the rear and ended up with this.

Looked ok if a little scruffy.

Ended up looking just how I wanted it.

Sorted my wheels and castors, found a length of 10mm studbar which I welded to the chassis and bolted it all to the cart. Still gotta sort some brackets for the cables. It'll do for now. At least I can keep all my welding spares and discs together. O0

What do you reckon?

Total cost: FREE

Time taken:Around 8 hours including todays work getting the thing mobile.

 

[gninnam]

I like it - very 8)

Can I place an order then - especially if its free