Blue Bertha - '73 microbus turned camper

aitäh

 

Tackled the dashboard. PO did an ugly hack job and it had a good amount of surface rust.





ugh...


some bondo... it's not ideal but the DIN player will cover up the edges... it's mostly just to make the surface smooth again.


primered. rattle can.


First coat. also rattle can.


Refreshed the glove box lid and speedo cluster with some back to black stuff, and gave them a loose test fit (yea I know they're the wrong way)
Universal plastic DIN cover for now.
Looking a lot better than before!


Side by side.. after/before.
Doing the front part next. It's whole, just needs some paint.

 

lovely job your doing

 

Got myself a MIG welder. I've never even touched one before. I'm scared!
Stay tuned for some ugly repairs. (they'll be out of eyesight so I'm okay with that)



At least (I hope) they won't be as ugly as the previous owner's patches:

 

They may not be pretty welds but they look plenty strong.

Mine welds are worse than yours and I went to night classes !

Good work.

Stirlingmoz

 

wire speed to high setting too low good on ye for trying

 

The pictured weld is from the previous owner. I haven't done any yet, I just meant I hope I do better than that Thanks for the tip!

 

Got the passenger side seatbelt mount fixed (LHD):





And the cabin floor patched and sealed:





Two long but successful days!
Stoked to have the absolute mess of a cab floor finally fixed.

 

Made myself a felt undermat.
Cost me a tenner and left me with heaps of extra material for other purposes, instead of the £25 pre-cut one.




The busted up rubber mat will have to do for now. Getting some nice Madmatz later down the line.

 

first quick round of phosphoric acid in the tank is already a huge improvement over the absolute carnage that was left from standing with a near empty tank for 10 years. i'm thinking this tank is reusable after all.

 

Cleaned and primered the tank shelf:









Did the same with the tank:

 

What primer did you use?

 

I have a hard time sourcing POR15 or similar stuff seen on this forum locally, so I use this stuff. Works well, I used it on my T25 some years ago with good results.

 

I’m glad you didn’t use Por 15 it’s not good stuff.
With the surface corrosion in the tank area you have made the right choice with a zinc rich primer

 

Rear tubs treated, primed, and sealed.
A little too liberal with the seam sealer methinks. Oh well, should hold up for a long time at least.





Found some seriously busted up floor supports underneath the small rust holes in the floor...
And PO's fixes are VERY shoddy.. Why bother slapping a raw untreated piece of metal over a rusty patch instead of doing it the right way the first time!??



Very questionable jacking point fix. Out of sight = out of mind, I guess?

Same beast from below.

And removed (partially).

Ugh... I need a break.
To be continued

 

Found the left side Y section is badly rotten. Is there a specific repair panel for this part? Can't seem to find any. Or does it need to be fabricated from scratch...?
It's the outer Y section right in front of the axle beam. With a kind of a bulge, not the straight chassis rail that has repair bits available. Left side on LHD.
Anyone here on the forums done a similar repair?