Slammed/narrowed 1968 devon tin-top (frank)

[ant]

cheers fella, i'm thinking my longboards won't quite look the same on a A8, on well can;t be helped.

Oh and leon a might have the springs off you if the next rebuild goes pear shaped, will let you know next week.

ant

 

[Luci]

Fabulous bus! :mrgreen: My bay was originally Savannah Beige.

Congrats on the awards, winning the Practical Restorer of the Year and also on getting hitched!

 

[ant]

cheers luci

 

[beetlebug321]

WoW . . just read all your thread and love your bus. Hope you get the beam sorted i know how you feel, i had loads of probs with mine! (not the same probs as you though)
Looks awesome though. .

 

[manc]

hi ant Ive got a early 72 and fitted adjusters the same as yours and it does hit the gear shifter to get over this i took the shifter off and lightly hit it with a hammer at the place it was catching and it solved the problem, it sounds abit crude but it works. now as for your suspension when you narrow a beam your suspension will get harder cos the distance from the middle is shorter so the resistance is harder on your torsion springs, if your spring were longer your suspension would be softer if you know what i mean and also i see that you have Urethane bushes instead of bearings and again that will make you drive not as smooth ,really a beam should be narrowed from the middle and end plates moved to ends so you keep your bearings. hope this helps manc

 

[GAS-bus]

Hi there

just my opinion: couldn't the problem be caused by the balljoints that run out of travel when the bus is lowered to the max? I dropped mine 18cm without dropped spindles and the ride was really bumpy. The only suspension I had were the tires and these were 135's (so not very much let).
I switched to 155 and raised the bus about 3cm (1inch) and now the bus is driveable again.

Another thing I know is that narrowed torsionbars have a higher spring rate due to the changed lenght and changed angle they work at also influence the springrate. So that might also cause some stiffer suspension.

Just my opinion.

Greetz

Wim

 

[TinTopaway]

Yo Ant,

I have just posted up some pic's of my bus as it turned up from Cali yesterday!! Sweet........

Thanks for your help with the beam and that.....

I will be getting onto it this weekend!!

See http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7537

Ian

p.s did you get you ride problem sorted?

 

[tintintin]

Still got your eyebrows Ant?

 

[TinTopaway]

Yo Ant...

Just uploaded some pictures of my build!!

A whole bloody day just to get the beam off!

Is you ride problem all sorted or still not right? Was it the springs?

 

[ant]

yup still got both eyebrows

i've had the springs re-stacked(i was'nt 100% happy with them), replaced some balljoints gators and refurbed the torsion arms,

Should be putting it back together tomorrow (tues) hopefully this time with some suspension!!

 

[surfbus]

Just found your story and slammed '68 on the forum.
Love it very much! The 356-rims are very good looking!

 

[ant]

thanks surfbus


Right i put the bus back together last night, this time i seperated(and refurbished the torsion arms), greased the hell out of everything restacked the springs and hey presto we have suspension YYYYYeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaHHAaaaaaaaaaaa

But


Whilst test driving down a particluly bumpy road there was a bang and a very sudden downward shift in front ride height.
Got out and the bus had dropped pretty low as the top adj bolt had come off leaving the van resting on bottom spring only. I limped frank home to find out the reasons for my woes were that i had threaded the top adjuster boss
I'm usually really really careful to avoid threading stuff but the frt suspension has been took apart so many times now i'm not all that surprised. Creative are sending me a replacment, so i'm off now to strip the frt suspension again!!

looks like i won't make the bus stoppover, aiming to sort the suspension and a new oil leak for camperjam.

Grazy mate i know how you felt now, pretty scary really.

The upside of all this of course was it looked so so cool after it broke

just before the breakage

after the breakage

 

[andewilson]

that is aome bad luck your having there mate. i always find that the first time i fit something i go all out making it as perfect as i possibly can. but if i have to take it appart agian i get realy f**ked off and the attention to detail goes down the pan. dropped spindles would give a better ride. cool air claim that they are having their own cast spindles made so no welded increased track wagon west ones in the future though the bloke couldnt give me a time that they would be out.

also i spotted that you chose not to weld the ends the second time around. i too didnt bother welding the ends as the original ones had cracked so i thought that welding them would restrict them in some way. took a bit more effort to fit them though

 

[Grazy]

Ant ! GUTTED for you mate , Proper scared the shit out of me when it happened to me , Hope you and the van are OK ,Jesus about time you had some good luck mate . Hope all goes well putting it back together AGAIN :roll: Chin up son , :wink:

 

[two benders steve]

yo Ant , bummer! don't forget you can always give me a call if you need a hand , and those air shocks have turned up you can have first dibs on them if you'd like, are you still going to make camperjam ? steve

 

[ant]

i did weld the ends this time round andy, i ground them off once everything was fitted up.

I've just stripped the frt end again (in record time i might add, well 35mins) to take the top spring and knackered boss out. To be expected the springs have all seprated so they will be welded again. I was a little narked last night about the whole affiar but i'm cool and the gang now, after the new parts from creative are here its less than an hours work and i'll be on four wheels again. Creative have said to expect my 6 bow westy rack next week yey 8)

i also went back this evening to where the suspension colasped and i managed to find all the parts of the top adjuster that fell off lol

 

[surfbus]

Heavy sh*t :shock: !

 

[Airtime]

Holy shit, talking about bad luck! :shock: I think you can call yourself Murphy from now on, Ant... :wink:

Good luck with the reapirs and hopefully you'll be driving around in your van (with a big smile on your face) in no time!

 

[TinTopaway]

Fuck a Duck......... :shock: :!:

How many times have you stipped the front end now!!!

You could be a world record holder for 35mins!!!

Hope you get back on the road Ant!

 

[ant]

cheers fellas

top spring all nicely stacked and welded just need my new boss and i'm sorted, well i say sorted.... got an oil leak to fix next


Talking about a new boss, i better get cracking as frank is our wedding vehicle next month 6th july and the "new boss" won't be happy if we are not on the road by then. :shock: