my 2nd attempt at earlybay ownership

[bluenose]

So my first early bay was a proper rot box, despite all my best efforts to save it I just ran out of energy and love for it. Previous thread; http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28355

After a couple of years in the waiting i'm finally back in the game again. Got myself a nice not rotten US import 69 bus. Paint isn't perfect but very presentable. I've renewed the wiring and changed a couple of rubber boots and the MOT man gave it a clean pass! So I can get on with the fun bit of using it! shame it's September though :lol:

also stuck an aerial on, black/silver plates, step rubbers.. not reached for the angle grinder yet :mrgreen:

Think i'll have to beat it with the lowering stick though before next summer!


IMG_0174 by bluenose1982, on Flickr

 

[Resto-raider]

Awesome Earlybay. Cngrats and enjoy it this time.

 

[marco]

Tidy looking bus, bet you're well chuffed

 

[gninnam]

Agree with above 8)

Nice colour - looks like a modern colour?

 

[bluenose]

thanks! dead chuffed with it. I made a pretty low offer after the auction ended on ebay and the guy was leaving the country the following day so needed shot. Sounded scam worthy to be honest but I took a flyer on it and desperately phoned around late at night to organise a vehicle loader and managed to get a ride from Birmingham to Brighton the following morning. Got there and relieved to find it was a sweet bus! :mrgreen:

Then spent the rest of the afternoon stuck on the M25 :lol:

 

[RICH-I-AM]

Theres worse motors to be stuck in on the M25 :mrgreen: .
Nice van by the way.


Rich

 

[justcruzin]

Love the color! Looks like a nice bus! Congrats!

 

[bluenose]

getting stuck into some work on the bus now to get ready to roll for a summer

nicely restored carb, a roller throttle tube and a butty's kit should make for a nice smooth throttle pedal

ignition housing was cracked up with a ghetto switch so got hold of a complete NOS one and fitted. New steering column bearing in and also decided to go for a simple kit car indicator switch with a flashy green end like a few on TLB have done. Pig to make it fit though.

steering coupling broke as I put it away in the garage for winter :?

got the engine and tank out and fitted an aftermarket fuel sender.

found a nice bit of OG paint looks like I got to this just in time, paint is completely gone from the bottom of the window frame, next step would of been rotted through! top half of the bus is going to get a respray in a few weeks

next step my red9 wishbone kit is turning up this week! :bliss:

Get that fitted, adjustable spring plates and then off to the sprayers!

 

[Carlyle]

beautiful bus !

are you enjoy Throttle kit ? i wish buying one. may i have your experience about this kit please :?:

 

[bluenose]

beautiful bus !

are you enjoy Throttle kit ? i wish buying one. may i have your experience about this kit please :?:

do you mean butty's kit? not driven yet but fitted in 10 minutes and pedal feels great

 

[Carlyle]

beautiful bus !

are you enjoy Throttle kit ? i wish buying one. may i have your experience about this kit please :?:

do you mean butty's kit? not driven yet but fitted in 10 minutes and pedal feels great

yes, thank you, when your drive, can you tell me your feeling about this kit ! ?

 

[BARKING MARK]

Nice looking Bus....
And you've done some good work on it... I'm thinking of getting a Buttys Bits throttle kit myself... Glad to hear it was easy to fit.

 

[aogrady]

Hi,

whats the story behind the indicator switch,sounds interesting....

Alistair

 

[bluenose]

Hi,

whats the story behind the indicator switch,sounds interesting....

Alistair

The switch in the bus was knackered and wouldn't hold on and contacts were dodgy. It was about £120 for a new one but a quick search of the net turned up quite a few people bitchin about the replacement ones going bad so I didn't fancy the spend.

A few of the guys on TLB had been fitting kit car indicator switches. Search ebay for 'column indicator switch' and they are the ones with the green ends.

It is just a basic switch so it's not self cancelling and doesn't have headlight flash facility, I just put headlight flash on a toggle switch.

Was a bit of a pig to fit in the standard indicator housing as the holes didn't quite line up so took a quite a bit of dremel and fiddling work to get it in. Also the terminal screws were made of cheese and I broke them so had to replace them to.

Now it's fitted though it's working fab and only cost £23

 

[aogrady]

Hi,

whats the story behind the indicator switch,sounds interesting....

Alistair

The switch in the bus was knackered and wouldn't hold on and contacts were dodgy. It was about £120 for a new one but a quick search of the net turned up quite a few people bitchin about the replacement ones going bad so I didn't fancy the spend.

A few of the guys on TLB had been fitting kit car indicator switches. Search ebay for 'column indicator switch' and they are the ones with the green ends.

It is just a basic switch so it's not self cancelling and doesn't have headlight flash facility, I just put headlight flash on a toggle switch.

Was a bit of a pig to fit in the standard indicator housing as the holes didn't quite line up so took a quite a bit of dremel and fiddling work to get it in. Also the terminal screws were made of cheese and I broke them so had to replace them to.

Now it's fitted though it's working fab and only cost £23

Nice score, like the little light on the end, one thing not working on my bus, I have fitted a buzzer for the MOT...

And a great price, and looks stock - result!

Cheers,

Alistair

 

[bluenose]

making bits of progress, got my petronix fitted.

cleaned a load of black gunk out of my air filter and then found the best way ever to set the missus off in a rage

and got exciting delivery today! mail man weren't so pleased as me having to lift this out the van :lol:

 

[gninnam]

Nice package :shock:

 

[sidecargezzer]

cleaned a load of black gunk out of my air filter and then found the best way ever to set the missus off in a rage
:lol: :lol: that would be death in my house !!!!

 

[mike202]

nice van, what made you go for the red9 replacement beam? Are you adding disks as well?

 

[bluenose]

nice van, what made you go for the red9 replacement beam? Are you adding disks as well?

I'd decided I wanted disc brakes and to lower no matter what then looked at my options.

Considered adjustable beam only but the cost of wide 5 disc brakes are extreme and not happy with the ride quality on adjusters only.

I considered drop spindles but weren't happy with lack of any adjustment, so I factored in an adjustable beam and coilover shocks, by then I wasn't a million miles off the cost of the red9 kit. I've had stuck adjusters before as well and think they are a pain in the bum. Also was not happy the ball joints are a wear part and no normal garage will be able to change them with them lock rings, I would depend on T2D and Thaus. Also considered the ever increasing price of early bay steering boxes and how they are a bit wank anyway.

Then the red9, higher initial cost but easy to fit (I hope) with no welding, fully adjustable height from stock to slammed. Wishbone suspension and I expect the steering rack conversion will give a great improvement in handling meaning the mod isn't just for looks. Also spent some time speaking to Simon at red9 and all of the wear parts are readily available standard parts.

Ticked all the boxes for me