Spring Valley Bus meets Corvair

[creationblue]

Well all i can say was 'what a ******* that job was!'

Pretty much took me all day, firstly i took the skin off my index finger with the very 1st spannering!!!! :evil: Thought right ill pull the leaves out the offside so set about stripping the anti-roll bar off, the brake line, and the shock. The bottom of the shock has a inner sleeve and this welded itsself to the bottom bolt :? took grinding and twisting with a set of stilsons and an hour before i could free it.

Next i cut off the bump stops, this was easy

Undid the grubs holding the torsion leaves and set about hammering them out........2 hours later i gave up, they just would not budge!!!!..... and started to strip the other side :evil: .......eventually they started to give

A load more hammering......

**** they were tight!!!!! just my luck :roll:

All that effort for this.......*******s!!!

Out came the leaves..............easy job

In went the new torsion bars......easy job

And on went the trailing arms........fairly easy, a bit fiddly to get then in the bearing housing, and it didnt help that some weld forced the cap off.....will have to silicon that back on!

Tightened up the grubs holding the arms and not forgetting the middle 2, I had to disconned the gear linkage to get to the top one. then fitted the coil-overs 8)

I left this on the factory settings for now as i ran out of time, this is the highest setting.

Next to refit the brake pipes, this was a pig, i eventually worked out that if i undid the union that joins the rubber hose to the copper i could swivel the rubber and get it attached to the drum :roll: Ok all worked well on the near side 8) But the cocking thing snapped off on the other side :evil:

Bollox, no time or energy or parts to repair it so wheels went back on!!!

Looks like there is a T piece thru the chassis leg so I should be able to replace the snapped brake pipe and unions, never done brake lines before so any help appriciated on where to get the hardware and will i need any specialist tools?

Anyway the stance is pretty good seeing as i havnt done the rear yet

Before

After

Just

 

[STUMP]

sorry to hear about the mishap dude. But on a plus side that looks cool as, so keep . love the white bands too 8) . Good to see it lowered with a side step as i have one on each side and was concerned about how low they would be. Good pics will be alot of help to me cheers

 

[gninnam]

^^WHS^^ 8)

 

[Grazy]

Nice work Just 8)

 

[dubscum]

YES!

 

[leon]

Nice 8) . When are the wheels going on?

 

[creationblue]

sorry to hear about the mishap dude. But on a plus side that looks cool as, so keep . love the white bands too 8) . Good to see it lowered with a side step as i have one on each side and was concerned about how low they would be. Good pics will be alot of help to me cheers

Yea i must admit im liking the steels, hope the Rostyles look better or ive just wasted a load of cash and effort on them :lol:

Tip for taking the trailing arms off, get yourself the heaviest club hammer you can find, and for some reason the nearside came off (in the end) but the offside wouldnt budge!!! Smack the hell out of the hubs and be carefull not to hit the grease nipple off the ball joints (as i did :evil: ) good luck!

Just

 

[creationblue]

Nice 8) . When are the wheels going on?

Ill test fit them tomorrow, weather/time permitting. Quite worried now that they wont look as good as the steels.........Ill post up.

Just

 

[Max Power]

Thats a nice clean van like mine,will keep an eye on this thread,shame your so far away.

 

[creationblue]

Thats a nice clean van like mine,will keep an eye on this thread,shame your so far away.

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Thanks matey, shame ur pic didnt show up :? where you at?

Just

 

[creationblue]

Right, test fitted the wheels this morning...............but they just didnt look right, cant put my finger on it :? Gonna wait till the rear is dropped then wind down the front to its lowest setting at try again :lol: Tho i am liking the steels 8)

Just need to get the brake pipe fitted this week so i can see how it drives.

Just

 

[froggy]

Thats a nice clean van like mine,will keep an eye on this thread,shame your so far away.

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Hope this works out

 

[r73]

Hi just
Managed to get hold of a continental bed - but I dont seem to have the bracket that hold the headrest up in the sleeping position.
Anyone got an idea if I can get hold of this or fabricate something that works?? Also missing a bracket to fix to roof at the front to hinge.
Creation Blue you say you havnt fixed bed down to keep original - like the sound of this but do you need some sort of rubber feet to rest on front of roof section or something - pics would be a great help - thanks
Rob



That looks neat, I really fancy one of these.

But how does the small end piece stay in place when the bed is set for sleeping etc?

Im well please with it! The 'pillow' section is held up with little more than a wire bracket that is attached to the space below the end zipped section of the canvas. It is fixed to the roof and folds down to hold the pillow up.

This shows it all pretty well

Just

 

[leon]

Nice 8) . When are the wheels going on?

Ill test fit them tomorrow, weather/time permitting. Quite worried now that they wont look as good as the steels.........Ill post up.

Just

I felt the same when i changed mine over, and i wasn't convinced either. Beauty is you've got the best of both worlds.
I'm sure you'll have no trouble selling them if you don't like them.
Pics

 

[STUMP]

Those steelies and white bands look the nuts 8) As said before you could chop and change when you get a little bored to freshen things up or sell and recoup some beer and petrol tokens for the next show :lol:

 

[joaonar]

In went the new torsion bars......easy job

And on went the trailing arms........fairly easy, a bit fiddly to get then in the bearing housing, and it didnt help that some weld forced the cap off.....will have to silicon that back on!
Just

can I ask you what's the advantage of using this system, instead of using the original one plus adjusters?
and how did you managed to push the new torsion arms through the central pieces the beam has (where the central screw holds the leaves in place)?

(picture from the samba)

What's your feedback on the suspension now? softer, harder?


I'm sorry if I'm bothering you

 

[Guest]

it uses coilovers and swings freely on the torsion bar replacement, the coilover have alot of adjustment in them and come in 2" or 4" with another few inches of adjustment in them. the ride is supposedly alot better although alot of people are frightened of putting the full weight of the bus on the shock supports.

 

[r73]

Have to say that coil over system looks damn good - good luck getting it finished - ant wait to see how she looks!

 

[creationblue]

Froggy/Max Power, that is indeed a good looking Westy 8)

R73, not sure what your asking about the continental bed there fella, probably me being thick :?

Leon & Stump, i will keep the wheels, and detail them then have another go as see wot they look like, but im really digging those steels 8) I think its partly cause they look too shiney....

joaonar, I drove it today to the garage (just round 2 corners with only the handbrake to slow me down ) and the ride was gr8, not at all hard and banging more testing to do when i get it back.

Rang the local garage this morning and they said they can do the brake pipe 8) so took it straight in and left it with them, should get it back tomorow :mrgreen:

Just

 

[creationblue]

it uses coilovers and swings freely on the torsion bar replacement, the coilover have alot of adjustment in them and come in 2" or 4" with another few inches of adjustment in them. the ride is supposedly alot better although alot of people are frightened of putting the full weight of the bus on the shock supports.

This is indeed the theory behind the kit, the torsion leaves are removed and the tie bars fitted and located in the factory way with the grub screws. The coil overs replace the standard shocks. The benifit over an adjuster is that you retain the comfort, especially when like me you combine the Red9 kit with dropped spindles, I get (in theory) full travel and adjustable height and damping. With this 2-4" drop kit (set to 2" in the above pics, im roughly 4.5" lower than stock with a ride that dont excite my dentist

Just