My '68 Bay resto - getting somewhere !!!

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@Johnny, I used Polyfilla paint stripper. I didn't rinse yet, just some white spirit to clean it a bit.

I did some welding today, I'l update as the work evolves!
 
i didnt think of white spirit, i suppose it would be good, but would need a fire extinguisher to hand :D
 
Aparently white spirit leaves a residue, ive been told use acetone as it will be cleaner.
 
@Johnny: Actually that's why I used White Spirit for now, because it leaves a silicone-like residue so it prevents mu nude bus from rusting (a bit) while I do my welding.

Well, I managed to do a good amount of work on my bus, got the inner and outer sil in pretty good, as well as the outrigger and jacking point on the driver's side.
I also removed the rear wheel arch and discovered that the left tray was not even welded to the rear arch... I'm really happy I went to this length with my resto, because now I will be sure in the end... I don't like loose ends.

Some pics:
Rear wheel arch cut out:
07042008218.jpg


Some cleaning up to do:
07042008219.jpg


This tray hasn't even been welded to the arch.
07042008220.jpg


Started welding up the left panel, it had a hole or two from vents, I prefer a clean look.
Didn't have a big enough replacement piece, so had to use two :)
08042008221.jpg

08042008222.jpg


This panel will need A LOT of straightening...
16042008223.jpg


Here's some more work I've done. Haven't really protected the welds yet, will clean them up
and seal them with seamsealer from Teroson before painting though. My bus currently resides inside where it's always a nice 15° Celsius and no moisture. So I'm pretty sure any rusting will occur VERY slowly.
16042008226.jpg

16042008224.jpg

16042008225.jpg


All is going pretty well, hoping to straighten everything out as good as possible, don't want to use too much filler, the minimum really - that's what I'm aiming for.
Will opt for lead before polyester when the opportunity arises.
 
Well, I managed to get the left front arch in, but the fit is dreadful.
Either the arches have been replaced before or the repro part I got was poor quality.
I got it in the best way possible, but as you can see in the pics it has a strange flare
where the lower part meets the nose.

A lot of trial fitting was required, and I discovered that I was too careful and tried to cut as little as possible.
Actually that was the main reason I had trouble with it in the beginning, I just had to remove more metal :lol:

Here it is before final fitting:
18042008227.jpg


First I had to weld in a new seatbelt fixing:
19042008229.jpg


Then I had to feed the neighbours hungry cat (ate 2 packets of food at once :shock: :shock: )
19042008230.jpg


Here it is partially welded in, when you look closely you see that the part that attaches to the B-pillar
is not quite flush with the body yet, I hope to improve this sooon ( :evil: :evil: bad panels :evil: :evil: )
19042008231.jpg


Welds flattened and Zinc-primered
19042008232.jpg


This is the best I could do, the line up is ok - but look at the last picture :cry:
19042008233.jpg

19042008234.jpg


I hope I can do something about it, still trying to figure out a way to do this..

So far my update. Have to lay down now cause I burnt my face welding without my cheapo welding mask
(closed my eyes tho :lol: :lol: )
 
After my skin started peeling off because of too much exposure to the arc/uv beams I decided to
treat myself to a (cheap) automatic helmet:

24042008239-1.jpg


Didn't do much last week cause of evening-classes bodyshop, here I am doing some samaritan work
on some poor girl's toyota, it had a nasty crash, the nose is 1mm off but we could fix it. We straightened out the chassis strenghteners and replaced some parts because they died in the crash :mrgreen:
Straightened the fenders and the hood, replaced the bumper and headlight.

29042008244.jpg


This week was also slow, didn't get round to the bus till thursday, so picked up were I left it:
the front wheel arch and the drivers' seat area.

Remember this?

30032008204.jpg


Inner & outer B-post had to be made, aswell as most of the inner "bulkhead", which already had some repairs done by the PO

24042008235.jpg


Lots 'o welding went on there:

24042008238.jpg


B-post part made from a left-over piece of metal:

27042008241.jpg


Fits OK

27042008242.jpg


Welded in the corner where the floor meets the bulkhead, got it from brico at 1€ :lol:

02052008253.jpg


Put some aluminium based filler on, I love this stuff (but using it only where necessary)
it's waterproof, rock solid, flexible and sticks to anything!

02052008254.jpg


here it is sanded and ready for regular filler, but that's for later

02052008256.jpg


Oh yeah, I started a topic in the technical forum about this one - my rear outrigger should look like this:

100_0756.jpg


But looks like this - or do I have the wrong jacking point? I seem to notice a difference.

02052008255.jpg
 
Nate,

the small piece of wire in the dizzy you were worried about would be replaced when you buy a new set of contact points for a service, and the piece from the coil to the dizzy (green in colour ) comes when you buy a new condensor which connects to the points and gives you your LT circuit side and the spark plug leads and the centre plug from coil to dizzy give you your HT.


Great work, keep it up,did you expect to have so much work on the van??how was it discribed??

Cheers

Jon
 
Great work good to see another bare metal resto, theres soemthing quite satisfying about scraping off and getting it back to metal, well for the first few panels anyway!!!

Keep up the good work...
 
@58herbie: thanx for the info! Actually I was such a n00b on buying vintage cars that I just
didn't expect it to be in this state. But the poor repair jobs done on it by PO's was the proverbial drop.
Al the welds were unprotected, some repair panels not welded on completely, small holes just left untreated but al small plate welded over, these are rust traps ...

@71dormobile: I think the bus has been bare-metaled before, couldn't find that OG paint. Only part of the interior was OG I guess.
 
Nate,

i will be out in the garage today to weld in the other jacking points on my van, so i will measure them, but i think looking at the pic you have the wrong one.The part where it curls under to attach to the sill is much higher than my rear.

Jon
 
02052008255.jpg
[/quote]


Nate,

after being in the Garage welding in the outriggers on my bus today, i see what the problem is here, that is a front Jacking point not a Rear. there is a difference on the height from the fold that touchs the bottom of the sill to the top hat attachment section. if you get what i mean.

Jon.
 
Hi there Jon,

thanx for checking it out for me, that's really helpful!
It clearly says rear jacking point, but I'll go back to BBT along with some other wrong parts.
a '68 bay is clearly not the same in some departments as, say a '70 or so...? Is it?

Also the rear ouriggers are too short as I've noticed.

Well, at least I guess this means I didn't make a mistake.

Cheers!
Nathan
 
Hi fellas, I've been busy again after a well-earned vacation. I got the bus mediablasted on the rear end and some hard to reach places. This makes it nicer to weld, without welding bullets ricochetting everywhere.

Here some pics of the sandblasted areas:

Wheels blasted clean:
before:
07042008218.jpg

After:
13072008343.jpg


Battery tray should've been removed before blasting but I didn't have time left to do this.
01072008328.jpg


My bus's butt:
01072008329.jpg


Rear wheelarch extensions welded in, wasn't a great fit but got it right after all.
01072008327.jpg


Got the rear in also, but made sure that the sideskirt and rear corner were a good fit:
01072008326.jpg


This side I've been wanting to replace so now seemed a good time to do so.
I patched it up earlier but I never got it straight.
08042008222.jpg


Measured it up, cut it out and hey presto!
12072008340.jpg


Cleaned it up a bit:
13072008342.jpg


Had this sheetmetal cut to fit : (78 x 78 = 19 EUR :-( )
12072008341.jpg


That's all folks, got to a slow start but hey what do you expect, when the sun is a shinin' my garage be empty!!

Does anyone know if I need this strengthened bolt-plate thingy if I want to put in a
Z-bed?
13072008346.jpg
 
Hey guys, well I've picked up the pace again and I made some nice progress!
let me show you:

I fixed the rear wheel arch from the inside, easy enough little job 8)
13072008346.jpg


19072008369.jpg


Had this fixed already but had no picture taken :roll:
19072008368.jpg


Nice hole in the wheel arch, where the seatbelt mount was, nice and rot :)

18072008352.jpg


Fixed 'r up nicely haha

19072008366.jpg


Left tray welded in and checked if everything lined up OK

18072008351.jpg


Trial fit for rear corner and rear valance

19072008362.jpg


26072008373.jpg


Had some sheet metal cut for the midel section, I cut the hole pretty straight if I may say so :mrgreen: it went in hassle-free.

12072008341.jpg


Tacked in place, to get the bent in at the bottom wasn't easy but got it right on the money!

25072008371.jpg


View from the side, very straight thank you!

25072008370.jpg


Seam-welded and cleaned up nicely, very little warping solely due to impatience :roll:

26072008372.jpg


Then had everything cleaned up with a fibre cleaning disc (hard) and then with a scotchbrite disc (softer). I sealed the welds with debrasel aluminium filler, its hard, flexible and it's moisture repellant. On the inside I'm sealing it with Teroson seam-filler.

04082008379.jpg

03082008374.jpg

04082008377.jpg

04082008378.jpg


Wouldn't it be nice to just make it all shiny like this and put a clearcoat on :mrgreen:

04082008376.jpg


Hope to get the EP on this week so I can start on the right side, which is gonna give me headaches for sure, I have nightmares already when I think about fitting the sliding door track :evil: :evil:
 
Johnny said:
nice work nate, was the media blast expensive?
Nah, as it was only the bottom after the last crossmember, the engine compartment, wheel arches and whatever else is in that area I can't think of right now :)
So I paid 250 EUR for it.
 

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