The beginning of something beautiful- our '71 bay project

[pow]

So we thought we should start a blog as I'm sure we will need advice along the way and we wanted to track progress. This is what our 1971 early bay camper looked like when we first bought it (and travelled to lands-end to view and pay for)... a bit scary to be honest but completely solid!

 

[Barkafer]

Looks good n solid, you got all the bits for it?

 

[pow]

Yeah got a fair amount of decent stuff with it, a lack of a working engine is the big one that doesn't come with it.

Primed up and a coat put on to find the imperfections:

 

[pow]

We then had it sprayed ford vision blue and diamond white...

 

[pow]

Then it arrived end of July and took its place on the driveway for work to begin!

 

[pow]

First job was to sort out the pop top and make the camper water-tight. We started by cleaning up the roof, that we bought from ebay. It came up really nice with no tears that needed repairing and painting the arms of the pop-top

 

[pow]

It was my birthday inbetween times... (a few camper related things... I'm sure loads more to come!!)

And we fitted the windows..

Nice and tight fit so hopefully no leakages. We also had all the original glass which helps and bought all new seals.

 

[Irishpete]

She looks really good - I like these catchup build threads :mrgreen:

It saves me having to wait months/years to find out how the bus looks now!!!

 

[68_early_bay]

8) nice resto

 

[pow]

Does anybody have any idea what would be best to paint our pop-top roof with? Just the top part that you can't see- not too worried about the finish as long as it is hard-wearing... suggestions...?

 

[pow]

Bit of an update...

Had an engine fitted

It's a 1.9TDI 1Z engine from an Audi A4, 90bhp I think. Had the gearbox completely overhauled, it had all new ring and pinion, syncros, taller 3rd and a VERY tall 4th (really would recommend BEARS Motorsport in Birmingham - the guy was telling me you couldn't get a longer/bigger 4th in the box if you tried!). Not sure as no rev counter yet but to my finely tuned diesel ear - been driving them for years! - it seems to be doing about 2.5k at 60. Pulls up hills like a steam train (was leaving my Dad's Prius behind on the hills on the A30 home!), it's an absolute pleasure to drive for a 1971 vehicle!

Radiator is mounted under the van with a scoop to encourage air flow and protect it from rouge stones!

Engine had a new cambelt, waterpump and ofcourse all new fluids and looks very clean :lol: Few touches of welding here and there and it went in for it's first MOT for about 8 years and passed , meaning this happened (HELLO FREE TAX DISC):

Business end:

(Need a bumper to cover that now :lol: ) - Ignore the odd lights, need to get a nice pair of shiney chrome ones!

All of the electronics went into the wheel well, ECU and everything else needed, covered up:

Couple my mate took on his phone:

Needless to say it was BLOODY noisey on the way home with nothing but half a dash, a steering wheel and two front seats! Like nearly unbareable but we made it in the end. Over the moon with it now

 

[Eeza]

Mate thats looking very nice, love the colour combo "Ford" eh Looks a sweet ride

 

[mattyd72]

Very nice, how much did the engine conversion set you back roughly??

I have a TDI golf begging to be donored

Sent from my VS TOUCHTAB 10.1DC using Tapatalk 2

 

[slowmo]

Who fitted the engine for you? would be interested in knowing how the gearbox performs.

I have a PD130 diesel engine to go in my 67 bay, currently looking at gearbox options.

 

[panchocrossover]

Im putting a 110 tdi into my early at the minute with a 6 rib box from 2litre air cooled t25. Looks great btw

 

[mattyd72]

Who fitted the engine for you? would be interested in knowing how the gearbox performs.

I have a PD130 diesel engine to go in my 67 bay, currently looking at gearbox options.

How will this be fitted? I thought pds were fly by wire pumps. Whereas the earlier pre pds were manual hence ease of conversion.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[slowmo]

They are fly by wire. More electronics involved than the earlier engines
Graham Cotteridge has a 110pd in his split. Uses al gauges and ignition key from donor car. It's now possible to ditch these.
I'm looking at using a passat gearbox mounted upside down, as I could not find ratios in a vw bus box that would be making the best use of the engines power.

 

[pow]

I wasn't overly interested in using a gearbox upsidedown/with loads of modification so I went for the T2 tried and tested route Ofcourse, it's up to you which gearbox you'd like to use!!

Like I said, I had the gearbox stripped down (standard 1.6 one) and had a 2.0 ring and pinion fitted, longer 3rd and a very long 4th fitted by BEARS in Birmingham. Really sound guys... really know what they are doing and really friendly . 2nd to 3rd is a bit interesting and 3rd to four is a great laugh... rev rev rev rev change gear blehhhhhhh :lol:

I'm not sure all the standard A4 gauges would work? I say that as I'm sure that the ECU won't know how fast it's going as there isn't a speed signal from an ABS unit anywhere anymore - I should think that the engine management light is on if it were connected up but it goes well and only used around 40/45 litres (maybe less - who knows, my fuel gauge doesn't work ) on a 325 mile journey so who cared!

I need to get a 52mm rev counter to match the water temp gauge on the dash to see exactly what RPM it's doing, but it's certainely not about 3000 at 60. I recon it's more like 2500RPM!

This also has a fly by wire throttle

 

[BARKING MARK]

Nice looking Bus, and a bit of a sleeper with all that power in the back, i bet youve shocked a few people in the traffic light drag race :lol:

 

[pow]

Certainly shocked a jag when I took off from a T junction infront of him :lol: