My 1971 bay project...

[Tofufi]

Cheers Saraj

I've now got 2 keys for the locking cap - which fit the other cap too. The one I'm not using is fairly mangled though.

On the plus side, I can now brim the tank with fuel, hoon it round the ring road and now smell petrol at all

Also, I've found the source of the running problems which have been plaguing the van since I fitted a new air filter.

Someone had stuck a self tapping screw into the air filter I'm borrowing from a KDC club member.

I removed that, and now the flap works and controls whether the engine received warm or cold air. Previously, it was only receiving warm air, which was seriously denting the performance. It was giving up all pretence of trying before even hitting 60mph before. I aim to give it a blast at some point to see if it has made much difference

 

[Tofufi]

And my final update before going back to Birmingham and the joys of exams in the next few weeks.

I spent all this afternoon messing around with the brakes.

I noticed that one of my rear wheel slave cylinders had a leak, which was covering the rear wheel with brake fluid.
This explains why my brakes have been so scary the last few months :lol: :shock:

Anyway, I made several mistakes in the process.

First, I decided I had to remove the rear hubnut. All 5x112 PCD bays don't need the large 46mm hubnut removed. Cue 30 mins of struggling later, I noticed I didn't need to remove it. Damn.

Secondly, after removing the drum, I then asked my mum to press the pedal so I could see if there were any leaks evident. Cue me getting a faceful of brake fluid later. And ruined my favourite hoodie and shirt too. I can't explain why I was wearing good clothing while working on brakes either.

Anyway, from this:

to this:

And a quick bit of brake bleeding later... we have brakes. 8)

They are much better than when my MOT garage did them to be honest. Virtually no pedal play at all, and it pulls up very quickly and in a straight line.

Anyway, all should be good for Stanford Hall now. Fingers crossed I'll be there next week.

And before I tucked him back in the garage:

 

[andewilson]

idealy mate you could do with some new brake shoes if you've had a leak as the fluid impregnates the shoes.
i have a complete set of brand new ones if you want them. i bought them for my 71 but am going for audi disks all round. if you're going to stanford i'll lob them in the golf and you can have them

 

[Tofufi]

Wow - Thanks, that's a great offer 8) - my van will be on the earlybay club stand at Stanford hall

If you like, I'll PM you my number.

I did use a whole 400ml spray can of brake cleaner on the shoes etc in an attempt to clean em, but I had to re-fit them as GSF had closed by the time it entered my head I might have needed them. :roll:

 

[Araon]

You never fail to astound me fella with your enthusiasm and dogged perserverance....looking forward to seeing Frankensteins monster on the stand :lol:

Hows the photo board coming?

 

[Tofufi]

Cheers dude

I've printed off 3 A4 sheets, each with two pictures on, showing the roof before, and mid way through the front panel.

I'm just gonna blu-tack them to the windscreen.

 

[andewilson]

i'll chuck the shoes in the boot of my golf and bring them down for you. see you there

 

[sparkywig]

Jeez, I thought mine was bad enough. Got to doff my cap, tofufi, good work there, and in a one car garage.
I'm hoping my bus is eventually going to be a one yarder. :lol:
Back to the top, so other people can see the hard work you've done.

 

[Tofufi]

Well. It's been 2 1/2 years since I updated this thread. I doubt anyone even remembers it :lol:

My poor bus has been abused, passed every MOT first time and absorbed being used as a removals van for 4 house moves since the last update. Not to mention being my main vehicle for much of the time. So I thought it was time for me to get off my backside and do a bit of work to it

The donor roof had been repainted, and a lot of the paint was beginning to bubble and blister with rust from underneath. I had 10 days free from university studies after my final exams, with access to a single garage. So what better to do than to prep and repaint the roof?

Lots of prep led to me being able to get it into primer:

And a couple of days later, it was given a top coat of VW Signal White. I really like this colour, it's quite a warm white colour, not too blue.

You can see just how little room I had each side of the bus. The whole white section of the main body was done in one go, working in the space of about a foot each side of the van. Reaching the middle of the roof without touching the sides is bloody difficult :lol:

It's not perfect, but there is now no rust in the gutters. I deliberately left the dents in the roof from the Passat roofrack, and it's not perfectly straight, but for me that adds to the character and history of the bus. There are also a few runs and a few specs of dirt from the rather makeshift paintbooth (small single garage) but it's better than before

Windows were refitted (some using the old rubbers for now after a bit of a problem with some of the new window rubbers I bought :evil: )

and it was back on the road within 10 days to be used for yet another house move:

And the roof from above:

8)

More metalwork repairs and bodywork to be done after I've painted and reassembled my '66 bug and re-painted a few panels on my current daily, a 1970 Rover P6 V8. I'll update this as and when it happens

 

[uber cool]

looking good, nice to see some updates

 

[gninnam]

Glad to see your still around and the van is being used 8)

The roof looks OK in the pictures so well done

 

[creationblue]

Nice work, wondered where you got to........

Just

 

[philstar]

Dude aside from being an astounding achievement (especially considering your experience at the time and other commitments) it is also a FANTASTIC resource for us here on the forum!

I have had my bay for 1 year now and have just picked up a roof to do exactly what you have done, but I thought best to read through every single forum post beforehand (addicted much) - page 53 in and I come across what amounts to complete Meccano instructions for the job!

How you did all this and kept it as a daily driver is especially impressive, thanks for the thread! If you ever run into any problems around the midlands and you need a hand give me a shout, I feel I owe you a few favours after reading all this info!

 

[gvee]

Just read this thread through from the beginning over a couple of sittings.
Really good work, fella!
How's it rolling nowadays?