Stick, Twist or BUST!!!

[rob]

easy for me to say as i,m not the one with all that hard work but stick with it ,you,ve done some great work there it would be a shame to stop now

 

[andewilson]

i wouldnt worry about writing snagging list just yet as it only knocks you enthusiasum. my to do list would double my done list but i try not to think about it too much. three to four years is the average time for a full diy resto and most folk get to the point of giving up three times during it (advice given to me when i tried giving it up).

 

[Haveacamper]

i made the list because i was fed up with constantly being delayed and massively under estimated the extent of work and budget required. i did think that maybe i'd gain satisfaction when i get to cross off the things i complete as i go. also i didnt want to find out i missed something so jotted down every single small thing.

really torn as what to do.

NaFe

 

[the councillor]

at least you people have a 'done' list :|

(i'll add it to my 'to do' list)

 

[cunning plan]

Carry on, its not as rusted as some of them out there.

Carry on as you are I reckon, 18 months and you will have the bus of your dreams with all the sentimentality.
Sure OG busses are more valuable but nicely restored modified busses are just as sought after if not more, due to their greater usability.
The only alternative I can think of would be to sell all your bits and buy something like Scotts very OG Deluxe but would you really want to modify such a time warp machine?
Is a rot free import going to last as long as a properly done uk bus? only time will tell, all I know from being on this site is that some folk like to take a dead or dying bus and bring it back to life and others just like to get one thats very much alive and adding their own pesonallity to them.
Follow your heart I say :wink:

Totally agree with this. A bus thats been properly repaired and upgraded should sell fine if you needed to. And look at it this way - say you spend the 20k (massive figure, makes me crap thinking that I have to spend that on mine ), compaired to an original import bus it may not be immediatly worth the same - but the longer you keep it and have fun in it, enjoying all of your hard work - the higher the value will rise!!!!! 8)

 

[the councillor]

there's an awful lot of heart ruling the head replies on here.

it boils down to sentimentality vs originality doesn't it ?

i know it's your first car and everything, but ploughing through your thread that's one rusty bus... yes i've seen rustier but even so it's 'rotten' all over the place isn't it... and i can't see how anything that's been built out of repair panels, even with the most skilled panel work known to man, is gonna be worth anything like as much as a german bus.

no; import buses, for all they're hyped, aren't some sort of mystical nirvana, but there's a huge difference between going through a bus with a fine tooth comb and replacing every perished seal and worn service part... knowing that when you're finished your chassis is gonna be rock solid, and all your panel gaps are gonna be perfect, and basically having to go through the thing replacing steel all over the place; i mean, those chassis rails are solid - they take some rusting out, yet those areas around the shock mounts for instance :shock:

i'm no expert in the field of VWs and i'd never really given much thought to the old resto vs OG debate but i had my eyes opened at a show this summer. somebody i know used to have a '79; nice bus, he'd had it ages, really loved it, got it how he wanted it - i went for a ride in it at RTTS one year and i thought it was a really nice ride; something to be proud of like.

next thing i know he's got an imported '67 i thought he'd gone over to the darkside but no, it was still a bay... a really early bay (in the days before every second bus at a show was a white american import '67 westy :wink: ) i'd seen it at a few shows and that but then he took us to belgium in it and i was able to have a good snoop around it (he'd had two beers and crashed out) and it just felt different.

i always thought it was bunkum but it's true... it felt like a different bus to his old one... the shut lines and panel gaps and the action of closing the doors, the paint, everything.

now he'd be the first to admit that it's not perfect as such but he's replaced the rubbers and 'tidied' the interior, and lowered it, smart set of rims, few accessories and it's fair to say now that it's an outstanding bus, in that it does stand out at shows... it has a definite *presence*.

which was something, no matter how much love he lavished on it, his old bus was never gonna have.

if that makes sense :?

just trying to give you a different perspective, from an impartial standpoint

 

[Graham L]

I've kept out of this one so far but I have to agree with 'the councillor' in his last post, as soon as you start to chop a UK bus about its never going to be the same again, the structural integrity that was there when it was built has gone, not to a point where its dangerous but more about the solidity of the bus.

Having worked for a car manufacturer and seen the tolerances they go to and the order the components are put together to ensure structural rigidity of the whole vehicle this can never be replicated when you are replacing separate elements of a bus but not in the order or the way the factory originally built them.

Don't get me wrong I have great admiration for people who put hundreds of hours into rebuilding a rusty UK bus but its not for me, I looked at a few UK buses before buying Hank (US Westy Campmobile) and although he's not perfect and has had a few minor repairs, they are just that very minor repairs, the same with Patrick (Swedish Panel Van) he's a relatively sound van again with a few minor repairs and a bit of a dodgy paintwork. Both of these buses cost far less than it would have done to repair UK buses to the same standard also I enjoy driving them both and Hank has done 2500 miles in his first year with me and Patrick has done about 500 miles so I'm a happy bunny

Personally I think SA imports are the way forward :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[VeeDubMan]

Dude. Stick with it. I went through exactly the same things (see the thread in the sig) and it's always at this time of year it starts to get you down (post Christmas everything is a massive anti-climax).

At the end of the day, if the van is a keeper, then you're creating exactly what you want and you'll be happy with it no matter how long it takes.

 

[Haveacamper]

i appreciate everyones comments about the structural integrity. i knw that it is assembled in specific orders etc.

i have a guy coming to look at the shell on the weekend to give me a quote to carry out the major jobs and also to do it all for me. i doubt i will take him up on the quote for doing it all as this is only going to add to the cost. he is also going to give me quotes for completing stages of it between just the clip and ready for paint. this will give me a better understanding of where i am. the chap doesnt have any work on at the moment due to the climate so is only doing his own projects to sell and make some money. i will be making as clear as possible the standard of work i expect to pay for (which i know wont come cheap) - maybe any bodyshop guys who are on here could give me a ball park figure for the cost of fitting a front clip and two rear corners (probably up to swadge line, but possibly up to gutter)

if the quote is quite good i may use him to kick start my project again and cut a wad of time out of the schedule - but at a cost.

the dilema i feel i'm in is a sentimental vs time/cost/effort.

maybe even to get an import up to the standard i'm hoping to achieve involves alot more work than i appreciate.

o ye, and i quite like the dormobile roof and LHD is out of the question. therefore, the chance of finding a rust free import dormobile not good. unless i get a tiptop and fit my dormobile roof - again it goes on

 

[VeeDubMan]

o ye, and i quite like the dormobile roof and LHD is out of the question. therefore, the chance of finding a rust free import dormobile not good. unless i get a tiptop and fit my dormobile roof - again it goes on

..then you'll be hearing from the tin-top brigade on how you're sabotaging a tin-top :wink:

 

[Haveacamper]

o ye, and i quite like the dormobile roof and LHD is out of the question. therefore, the chance of finding a rust free import dormobile not good. unless i get a tiptop and fit my dormobile roof - again it goes on

..then you'll be hearing from the tin-top brigade on how you're sabotaging a tin-top :wink:

i'd just not put it in my resto thread and noone would know hehe

the problem just gets more and more complex

 

[Loxy]

the problem just gets more and more complex

You already know what I think, however like I said earlier - its pretty simple, what do YOU want to do? :lol:

 

[BigG]

Theres a tintop brigade? :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[the councillor]

Theres a tintop brigade? :shock: :shock: :shock:

:wink:

 

[Graham L]

No I think 'the councillor' has got it wrong this time :mrgreen:

There is a tintop brigade, they tend to congregate at shows and drink lots of beer whilst plotting how to get rid of all those 'pop tops'

 

[the councillor]

quasi : "the lines... the lines..."

esmerelda : "what are you on about now dear ?"

quasi : "the lines... they've lost the purity of the lines in the original VW design"

esmerelda : "shouldn't you be at bell ringing ?"

No I think 'the councillor' has got it wrong this time :mrgreen:

i'll tell my wife, she'll be delighted... i go upstairs for two seconds to post a picture of a hunchback on the internet, and first she takes my wii fit hula hoop record away from me... and now this

:mrgreen:

 

[Graham L]

the councillor and wii fit hoola hoop :twisted: :twisted: , now thats something I have to see

 

[Araon]

 

[scott wilson]

you guys :lol:

 

[the councillor]

*for everything else there's mastercard etc. etc.*

that's ^^^^^ made my night that has :lol:

not being the most, er, muscular of men, mrs councillor reckons that the sight of me hula-hooping away on christmas morning in my underpants (you have to let it get an accurate idea of your weight don't you) will be one of those sights she takes with her to the grave