Steady Eddie 72 Body Restoration

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by SteadyEddie, Oct 10, 2017.

  1. don t knock your self look at what you ve done so far :thumbsup:
     
    iblaze and paradox like this.
  2. Would you like me to come up to yours and have a look over your bus
    You can pick my brains whilst I’m there.

    Don’t think about next year think about the wedding

    The buzz from having it useable for that and the memories,photos etc

    That will give you the drive and determination to keep working on it through the cold dark months
     
    shielsy likes this.
  3. This is true
     
  4. Wow, if' you were happy to that would be awesome. I know virtually nothing about the mechanical side of things (I was hoping to learn when it comes to phase 2 of the rebuild) so wouldn't have the first idea of what the MOT inspector will think of it! I'm worried that if the underside is anything like the bodywork it's probably a disaster zone, that said it was all working when the stripdown started and it hadn't failed the test then. I'm living in hope!

    I have Iain Burns of Aircooled Auto Electric coming up next friday so this weekend's plan is to re-fit the dashboard, steering wheel, fuel tank, engine etc. and get the light clusters ready for him. I'll then try to get windows fitted and similar MOT type bits together.

    Paint wise, I think we're finally doing ok. I've very lightly sprayed a thin coat of yellow over the bad patches and spent a couple of evenings flatting them back, some have blended in perfectly, some need a little more sanding but are almost there. I think we're ready for a final coat of lacquer.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Once that's on I'll call that enough on the bodywork for now, the main focus then is MOT, everything else can wait.
     
  5. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Fantastic work mate! Not far off for Iris either thank f**k.


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  6. Are you at home tomorrow afternoon?
     
  7. Yeah I'm watching yours with baited breath. the main lesson I've learnt is to perfect the spray rate BEFORE going anywhere near your bodywork, even if you use up a litre of paint and lacquer on a test piece it will be worth the saving against sanding it all back again and again!
     
    paradox likes this.
  8. Awesome yeah I'm going to be on the drive all weekend! I'll PM you! Thank you so much!
     
    paradox likes this.
  9. Nice to meet you both yesterday
    I’ve had a look in the shed and I’ve a section of top hat spare and some sections of German cargo floor and a section of vw Brazil cargo floor.
    There yours if you want them mate.
    [​IMG]
     
    SteadyEddie likes this.
  10. Massive thanks are due to @paradox for coming up to toke a look over the underside and mechanics.

    Although we concluded that it would be possible to rush everything back together in time for the wedding, in reality it would all be rather dodgy and there’s no such thing as a quick fix.

    So the old plan of running the van for a year or two before sorting the underside has gone out the window. Instead we’ll get straight onto the underside and just sort everything properly. So, here’s to another year of welding!

    Huge thanks again to Para, it’s great to speak to someone who knows what they’re looking at and who knows what a van actually should look like. All the reference points I had were either bodged or rusted out.

    So, I guess it’s about time I started planning a wedding now!


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    arryhancock, paradox and JamesLey like this.
  11. Ahh awesome! Yes please. That’ll be a great help. Thank you so much.

    Do give me a shout if you need a hand with anything on a weekend and I’ll come down and see what I can do!


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    paradox likes this.
  12. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    I’ve an I beam in the garage should you need one. Not sure what year yours is so it may not have them.


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    paradox likes this.
  13. Ah cool. Well I’m slightly confused but apparently mine has too many cross beans ha ha. It’s a 72


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  14. It doesent have too many mate earlier late bays had more out riggers than later late bays

    I’d take James offer mate as you will need it.
     
  15. Thanks again @paradox and @JamesLey, that's a massive help!

    So if I can remember rightly, I'll definitely need to replace all the I beams, and most if not all the top hats, the fuel tank shelf as well as un-fudge my sills, and investigate the chassis to the nth degree. In that case it's obviously going to be loads easier with a rollover jig.

    I've googled and entertainingly TLB was the first result: http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/building-a-rotisserie-rollover-jig-photo-heavy.5741/ and I've also come accross the rolloverjigs website which looks so much easier than making one from scratch.

    James - did yours mount in the same places? I.e. 3 points at the rear to engine and gearbox mounts and two at the front to steering box and it's opposite?

    I'm perpetually nervous about putting so much strain on small points of the structure :eek: but if it's the 'normal' way to mount it (and I can't think of anywhere much better) then as long as the engine or steering wheel hasn't fallen off before now, I guess it should be strong enough!
     
  16. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Yeah that’s the jig I had. It’s currently on long term loan to @dubanddubber. It’ll scare the crap out of you the first time you roll it but you’ll soon be rolling it single handed.


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  17. ha ha, yeah sounds like it'll be a proper brown trouser moment rolling it over. My neighbour has his mini on a similar jig and it's so convenient to spin around (it also helps that it weighs nothing at all).

    I saw your posts loaning it out which was very generous. In order to get going straight away I'll just get on and buy one. I suspect I might just pay the extra £50 for a fully welded version as I can see myself getting angry at it not going together right when I should be getting angry at the van instead ;)

    Thanks again!
     
  18. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Yeah I got the welded one as for £50 I couldn’t complain.


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    SteadyEddie likes this.
  19. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Here’s ours going over from a few years back.
     
    SteadyEddie, paradox and Marzydj like this.
  20. Brilliant. That’s exactly what I need. You look like you had it perfectly balanced too! I think that may be a wedding present to myself


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    JamesLey likes this.

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