Practically Classics Forum

Here my new project, it was suppose to be a quick rolling resto but things have moved on a little already from that...

Apologies as the first 12 months worth of work have been copied and pasted so some of it might not make sense

Collected from Felixstowe January 2012,





We spent Saturday basically cleaning her. All the door gaps are perfect, one key fits all locks and apart from the damage and a few dents its pretty straight.











Few bits of damage





Came up pretty good after a good scrub

Before..







After..





And the only real bit of rust found up to this point was the drivers foot well



Knock up a quick repair (excuse the wonky swaging its the first time i've used my new tool )



Anyway roll on to Sunday and I managed to get the repair plate welded up today



And started tearing the engine out, dogs looking bored as usual







Only to find another horror, not much left of this..





Engines pretty clean but i'm still trying to secure a new 1776 motor



And while I was doing that me dad started to flat down the body because he was bored.







I also got the tank out, since the engine was running THREE! fuel filters so I think it was a pretty good idea. I didnt get any photos but the tank looks mint but inside its corroded and full of sh1t, filler necks also pretty rusty.

Anyway after running a wire brush on a grinder over everything, it didnt seem too bad apart from a handful of pin prick holes.





Now dont get me wrong if I wasnt up against a deadline with this bus I would probably of changed the floors but I tried welding up the holes and it was pretty easy and the floor is rock solid.

It now looks like its got measles



Then treated with a rust remover (this stuff is cheap but seems to work really well)



Well it was a bit disaponiting to get rained/iced/snowed off last Saturday, so I spent the day modifying my roller to take the early bay, when i built the rollers to take my Devon I originally wanted roll it without the front axle in place but since i'd already overhauled the axle on the van I didnt want to take it off again

Anyway here a few boring photos, because the engine mounting is different on the early bay I couldnt mount the roller like I did with the Devon, so I came up with this...

Stay with me, i'll try to be quick

This is the original, mounting which bolts to the engine mounts on a late bay.



This is now a mount for the front axle but I should still be able to use it as I did on the engine bay of a late.



The tricky bit was getting it all to line up square, so I came up with this using a spare axle (thanks Mark ). I can also use this for when I narrow my axle.



Really I should of made two but I was rushing a little to get it finished.



Finished 8)



So I spent this morning finishing all the welding off on the roller, then after a quick tidy up I moved the vans about with the help of the other half.

This will probably be RIP for the x-over



In its new home.



First job up, gearbox came out.



Should be all ok with a clean up, lick of paint and an oil change.



Front axle was next up, for once it came out pretty easy although I had one ball joint I couldnt budge so ended up cutting the chassis which was cutting corners but I was loosing light and it will be a simple repair. I also had to cut the clutch cable but i'm changing that anyway.



It needs work, all four ball joints are shot and for some reason (im assuming the heat) all the grease in the hubs has dried out.





Then the moment of truth, not bad for a bit of hill billy engineering even if I say so myself :rocknroll:









I was home by 4pm closely followed by my dad and after a bit of faffing about we managed to get her on her side.

Was too busy and stressed out to take photos of her actually going over, its a scary moment even though i've done it a few times now.



And boy oh boy this van just gets better and better, I can finaly see that all the stress involved in getting her here was worth it.













Apart from the battery tray the only tricky thing to sort out is the rear corner/arch, im not sure yet the best way to tackle this?? dont really want to cut it out but I cant see it pulling very well either.

Battery tray



Rear corner









Nice bit of penetration



Lots of scraping and cleaning ahead, then hopefully into primer and stonechip.

The lazy way to do it, someone has already very kindly cut the bumpstops off.







Somethings missing here .....



All ready for shotblasting and cleaning up



And my awesome dad at work, he was about 4 hours scraping and cleaning. I managed about 15 minutes max and got bored



And the results speak for themselves. 8)










So solid





Bit of shot blasting done ready for powder coating



Removing the rotten battery tray





And finaly onto my narrowed beam, what a bastard to do I wont be doing another

Remove steer box



Chop out 4 inches







Got to make these fit in here



and ready to weld up again (once that stupid adjusters removed!)



God its gone all quiet in here, 2012 he









And my mate Mark got to grips with the gearbox,

40 years of grime versus 3-4 hours with a wire brush,







Dropped the old oil out which thankfully looks pretty good, Box just wants a little bit more prep and hopefully I might even get it painted today finaly feel like I'm making pregress with something.

I did find a few more holes in the damage on the sill



Then proceeded to make a complete mess of it with a stud welder will probably end up cutting this out I think and patching it.




On a better note the two beam halfs are now welded back together.







Then all braced up too cut the original towers off



This ones seen better days..









Also decided to cut this out in the end,



Yay! 8)

It finaly feels like were making progress, having gotten completely bored with cleaning the floor we decided to prime up what was ready. That being the center section.















And while that was getting done we managed to splash some primer on the gearbox and give that a coat of paint.







It may only be a gearbox but finaly seeing shiney paint made me

Hard to show as the seam sealer is the same colour as the primer but started seam sealing all the joints etc. No show stuff here get plenty on





Some of the floors now got a nice heavy coat of stonechip now,

Still wet here..







Quite happy with the finish, should look ok with a top coat on it.



And today we got the front half primered and seam sealed











And plodding on with other bits and pieces, got some more bits shot blasted and straightened out.





Picking my axle plates up Friday so thought i'd better make as start on these..



Hillbilly engineering 8)



Picked my new axle plates up Friday and while I was there I managed to press my new ball joints in, heat and a 50 tonne press in the end to get them home

Got them home and slapped a bit of paint on them, going to do all the running gear in grey now I think.

Not a bad finish for a trailing arm





Carried on with the axle, took about two hours cleaning it up a right dirty pain in the arse..





Garage needs a good cleaning..



Mocked up..



Welded up..



Refit steering box..





Cut for adjusters..



Weld in adjusters..



Just got to make up a servo braket and it will be ready for paint 8)



Picked a battery tray up dubfreeze and got that all welded in yesterday. Also removed the air filter braket mainly because it was in the way of the spot welder.

Hard to show as the vans on its side.



Still unsure what to do about the damaged rear corner you can see here, as the outer must be full of filler.





Got the rear all primed up, dont like this wash primer.



And now everything is stonechipped and just waiting for a gloss coat.











6 tins of stonechip in total, just saved a little bit to do the fornt splash pan once I get it primed up.

Broke my plasma cutter this week too, so i've had to stop on the front axle until new bits come for that.



and I cracked on trying to finish the axle.



I got on with the axle, made up a servo mount and that all welded up.



My Kerrys there as always, Come on dad stop messin with this VW crap and take me out.



Etched and then a bit of high build primer to try and hide some of the marks (it is only an axle after all )



Then thanks to me dad, he managed to get the axle and a few other bits all painted up yesterday (after I screwed up the paint of the axle) while I was sat in hospital all day with the other half.







This is waiting for some stonechip



I've now started re-assembly brake lines etc are going back on.. 8)



...

Roll on to this week and since we have been very slow in work I got the front axle built up. Just got the hubs and other bits to paint and shorten the steering arms..

No photos though im affraid as they all just came out black

And since I have only been able to do some mechanical stuff the last two weeks I stripped the engine, still not sure what to do with it? its super clean and has a warranty tag on it so I dont think its that old, but I still might look at a bit of simple 1641 actions and some porting and polishing while its out just to give it a little boost







Few repairs to do on the tinware once its shotblasted, the sand/mud/shite cant of been helping with cooling





Today I got the waxoyl out, made a complete mess of myself, floor so gave up. Going to have to buy a decent waxoyl gun and there standard one is pants. so if anyone can recommend a good one?

So we moved onto painting, somehow managed to remove the rear 1/4 window and sliding door with the van n its side. Giving us access to inside again.

So a little bit of etch, primer then probably next week paint.














Million times better just in primer,

I bought the shotblaster second hand off Ebay about three years ago, I havent really use it much and its a dirty pain in the ass which just gets in the way most of the time because of its size but when you need something stripping its awesome and quick!

I would defo recommend one to anyway, maybe not this size but at least a smaller desktop one.

Anything else I usually usr a wire wheel either on a bench grinder or in a drill.

Anyway, have managed to get 90% of the tinware stripped (just the big main cowling to do). Has been well worth the effort 8)








Had to do a few tiny repairs, where they usually crack



And got my steering arms shortened and all finished off



Big weekend last weekend, Due to unforseen problems im a little behind my own schedule (was planning to have her roadworthy for Bus Types) but at least she's finaly back on her wheel 8)



Before rolling it back down my dad managed yo get all the cargo floors painted yesterday, while I had to change a wheel bearing on the daily hack (Yes for those that know me, I've FINALY done it after about 6 months of her moaning about it ).







Once again it was all worth the effort I think,





And Monday night I was left on my own as she was out on the town and me being as impatient as I am I decided to trial fit the front beam. It has to come out again for a little tweaking and to finish the paint missed behind the roller.

The reason for the trial fit? I had our fabricator in work draw me up the plans and when the profiler made them he said that they had added material around the shock mounts by mistake.... the worst place possible hence why I had the cut a chunk out the axle (still have to level and shape this). Brake discs need work too but I have plans for them



And it would be rude not to try the wheels on after going to the trouble of fitting the axle 8)









Not a bad guess with the height, its low but not so low it'll scrape along the floor. Just need to sort my tyres out now, nice skinny one up front 8)

Still got loads of priming and painting to do and going to start prepping the engine bay next.

Managed to get all the axle bits painted and finished off and the axles now all assembled and fitted for the last time.







Which meant I could get her outside properly for the first time in weeks, meaning I could turn her around.. with a few strange looks from the neighbours







Got my air horn fitted, I used to get these out of work (sounds strange saying that now )



Things have now moved on from this being a light resto, we started prepping the cab floor for paint but I decided it would look odd if the inner door frames werent in fresh paint so this meant removing the dash, this then led onto the windscreen being removed, which led to more holes

So todays fun and games,













Doors off, dash out.







I cleaned off and shot blasted the crusty step... which led to a few more holes





Started on the mangled front end,













A lot of pushing and pulling, its not great but its a start.

Couple from today, did a couple of hours this afternoon when she went to work,

Started on the damaged sliding door, like everything else its going to take more work than I first thought.











I've skipped a few photos here as my camera battery was dead, apart from a few holes found and a couple of ripples that need addressing the sliding door its pretty much ready for a skim of filler.

Got the repair panel, shaped (using an argon gas bottle ) welded and ground down. still a few issues but pretty happy with how it turned out.









Found a few more holes I wasnt happy about



And really wasnt happy when I dropped the door and bent the corner again trial fitting it, happy with the overall shape and fit though. I've seen alot worse thats for sure.





Other than that, just slowly getting things ready for a coat of primer.







Finally got the headlining out, I have to decide where I want lights/tv etc now and start running cables.



Well ive spent the last couple of days pulling dents and most of my hair out, its sort of pull one and create two more but slowly getting there.

I'm glad I decided to bare metal the front panel too, I wasnt going to do it as I know the blue paint under the crappy red primer is factory so would be a good start.



Its hard to see but it would seem that every stone chip she had in her 41 years has started to rust under the paint, now am I glad i never missed that!





Other than that just boring photos of dents which hopfully are slowly starting to disappear 8)







Ive spent an absolute age trying to get this dent out of the lower front panel, its hard to see but the steel is stretched inwards. Ive been trying to shrink it back but without oxy acetlene I cant really get enough heat into it. had to pull it in the end and try and shrink it in pieces slowly. Its far from right or perfect but better than when I started which is always a relief.







Impossible to show in photos but its getting there



I'm not sure how to tackle this....

Well got bored of rubbing down so I decided to get some primer on the floor.























Seam sealed



Well just 10 days short of twelve months since I collected her from Felixstowe docks and she's off too paint, certainly not the weather for it! esp with the front in bare metal but thats the painters problem now

But shes on her way, cant believe the next time shes back on my drive she'll be painted.











Despite the snow she arrived safe and sound 8)





Going to be the longest 8 weeks of my life!

While the shells away though there's still plenty to do,

Managed to get the engine stripped down, what I thought was going to be a quick strip and clean....

First up though, got to try some bling on 8)





After a steam clean everything was looking A-OK,





There were signs that the engine was a recent recon/build,



I googled RIMCO and it turned out as expected to be an engine shop, I emailed them regarding the number, which I originally thought was a serial number turned out to simple mean the case has been bored 20 thou and the thrust bearing machined.



Anyway, not good news I was hoping for inside.



Im hoping this will hone out but there are some deep looking scratches in the bores.





Even the lobes on the camshaft look worn,



And im a bit bemused how this has happened?



So not sure now what to do, just plum for a new set of pistons etc 1641 or just bite the bullet and go 1776 1914 etc as I can get everything machined cheap through work.

HANG IN THERE! We're almost up to date,

Those 8 weeks at the paint shop I mentioned turned into 9 months

Here's the over view of those 9 months, the painter only contacted me twice in all that time.. Everything else I had to chase them.

15 weeks to the day it was collected, so I thought I'd check in with the paint shop to see if they had even started it..

It was a pleasant surprise for once.







Here's the couple more I took,







Visited the (slowest but hopefully the best!) paint shop (in the nw) yesterday ( 19/6/13 - for my own use )

Super smooth and nearly ready for etch primer.

































Then came etch primer,
Pleasant little update from the paintshop.

Etch primed,





High build and guide coated,



Guide coated, blocked and blocked and more blocking...

Paid my monthly (actually about 5 weekly) visit to the (slowest) paint shop (in the northwest) not much has changed really but they have been busy blocking... Priming.. Blocking..

























Still no progress in here though





On the plus side the colours have now all been chosen and the paint has been ordered, being told the end of the month but knowing now how they work ill be happy with the end of sept/oct.

Fingers crossed anyway.......

And the first shots I received in the daylight,







And home at last,

Now I commend (and thank) anybody bored enough to actually read through that lot!

If your still awake and interested....

We are now up to date,

Going to be a lot of planning needed ahead but had to make a start somewhere so it was insulation and waxoyl'ing

After wrapping the van up a little







This stuff doesn't come cheap, I just hope it works as good as they say.











Hard to show but waxoyl'ed the doors, probably a bit too heavy but they are a common corrosion point on these vans,







I'm not sure if other people do it but I like to spray the waxoyl in then re-heat it all afterwards (hair dryer works well) until it's running through and out of the door/aperture.







Well you'll all be glad to know that's it for now".

Thanks for creating the thread. I have read through it all, it's not boring at all
You will have to post more updates as you get it back together.

^^^WHS^^^

Excellent, enjoyed reading that - good work!

Many thanks

Cheers guys,

Admittedly most of it was copied and pasted from a vw site I use ,

Long story short (cause I do know I can go on and on and on....) I imported two vans (68 & 71 bays) at the end of 2011, with the intention of doing one and selling one on to pay for the other but as explained here with all the delays at the paint shop with my 71 I decided to see if I could get the 68 mot'ed and registered.

I won't do another thread for the 68 as it's practically identical to this one,all be it with a bit more welding

But if anyone wants to see that one as well it can be found here http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=50024