Hi guys I have been restoring a late bay for nearly two years now, after months and months of welding, it has finally been spray Sea Blue over Cumulus White, looking good, my question is how much more have I got to do, I had no idea when I started the cost and time it would take, I am now broke and trying to work out how much money I have to try and find to finish it, if anyone out there could give me a rough idea of what is left to do, I have the engine all rebuilt and ready to go in, gearbox is ok, she is a painted shell I am guessing the next stage is: 1. wiring and insulation 2. dash board, steering block etc 3. gears and engine 4. brakes and axial 5. spray and fit roof 6. fit bumpers 7. fit windows and rubbers can anyone give me a rough list and rough time frames, it is being done by a professional restorer but its his first campervan, I am really hope to be on the road by April, I have someone else doing the interior so this is a separate part. I have attached a couple of current pictures x many thanks in advance Yolande
Bit of an impossible question to be honest mate. at a guess I would say, Refurbish the front/rear suspension and steering parts New brake pads and lines perhaps Wheels and tyres Paint and fit poptop Fit a headlining New wiring loom perhaps Fit all the windows and seals Sort out all the lights etc Fit bumpers New interior panels, New interior including bed. But if your gonna be paying for all that^ It's gonna be a lot
thanks for the advice guys very helpful, any ideas of time frames? also Baysearcher full seals kit £1,000!! really omg, any advice best places to buy from? I am guessing this is not full window seals but something else? sorry to sound stupid. Matty yes I have spent a lot already so want to get it right but also would love to have her ready for next spring
Altair I hear you but I just sold another late bay I have been using in the hope to through everything at getting this one done for Spring, I do as much as I can but also prefer to pay a professional otherwise it will cost me more in the long run if I mess up
Hi Yolande.....If you're truly broke, you can do most, if not all, the above work yourself assuming you have a basic toolkit and space to work on it. If it's outside, get the windows in first....and fit the roof if you're dead set on paying a professional to do all the work necessary, you'll be looking at several £1000s and (assuming they only work on your vehicle, solidly) about three weeks...perhaps @Beaver will be best placed to offer a more informed opinion....
£1k would get you all the seals you need mate. Doors, windows, lights, handles etc. Custom & Commercial were best when I bought mine.
Best advice I can give is work steadily through your list, as others have said a little at a time & cross of items when complete & add things you come across as & when. Whatever you do, do not sit and add up all of your receipts etc as you will fall off the chair and do yourself no good (I made the mistake with our '73 & it was far from good)!
The worrying word is "broke". If you can't pay for the work no matter how nice the people are doing the work they don't work for shirt buttons . Be honest with them and speak about payment plans and how they can help you save money. If there is tedious work to do that is not profitable for them to do see if you can offer free labour etc. It takes as long as it takes. Good Luck put your mind to it and it will be worth it
One thing I can say is think first about something. can i clean it repair it first, be for you buy it as you can buy it later. just do the minimum to get the bus on the road then in joy and finish latter
This is the kind of thing i do for work and there's a LOT of things you do to make it cost less. When I reassemble a van a good proportion of my time is taken up cleaning things before I fit them. It is not a specialist task and ANYONE can do it. There should be boxes of bits that came off when your van got stripped down, door latches and catches, trim items, light units and lenses to name just a few. Speak to your garage and take them home. Cover a table in newspaper, grab an old toothbrush and get scrubbing. While the seal kit will seem expensive, you HAVE to buy the best quality ones available, the cheaper ones seem like a bargain but don't fit so will you end up buying twice if you want your doors to ever close properly. First priority should be to get it watertight unless you have a nice dry garage to store it in. Then onto running, driving and stopping, then work towards MOT. Interior after that. Stuff like insulation, whilst nice can wait so focus what money you do have on the essentials first. Write yourself a list of jobs then prioritise them, essentials first, working down to finish off with the "Nice to have" items. Lists, whilst initially daunting, can help break it into managable chunks, it's amazingly satisfying ti cross stuff off as you do it. Stick with it, put the effort in, and you will get there. There's no such thing as a stupid question so don't be afraid to ask us if there's anything you need to know. Good luck
The engine / gearbox are a separate issue and could cost a few thousand on their own, but assuming they're useable and you are looking at seals and some general running gear (brakes, suspension, steering etc.) then you're going to be in for a couple of thousand in parts at least. If you want to do it in a rush, be prepared to throw money at the job and expect to find additional gremlins emerging once you do actually get on the road and start using your van. As per @MorkC68's advice, don't bother keeping accounts as it will only depress you.
What Beaver says. The more you do yourself the better. I had customer in a few weeks ago and they fully prepped the pop-top for instance. I'm also sending them away with all the stuff to clean up as Beaver suggests. That simply won't get done at most bodyshops, though like Beaver I also take the time, but I'd prefer not to! What's up with the wiring? I NEVER disturb this other than pushing switched back through the dash to get that off. I aim to have very, very little wiring to do. Same with the steering, why is that in pieces? Yes you can take it apart and paint it etc, but you can equally well paint it in situ ok. All this stuff keeps the cost down a bit, every little helps and frankly there ain't a shortage of work out there so making more helps nobody and anything you can do yourself will cheer up your restorer particularly if they haven't done one before. By now they will have realised to scale of the job and I bet are saying they'll never do one again. That's the normal reaction from a normal paint / repair shop in my experience. Good luck with it. As said if you ca keep the water out by fitting the windows/roof and get it home, you'll find plenty of help on here while you piece the rest back together. None of it is rocket science but all time consumong and time is money.
When it's essentialy together enough to have all the parts fitted that are required for MOT test, rather than starting to mess with the running gear, put it in for an mot to find out what actually NEEDS doing.
I`d get someone to do the essentials gearbox engine/brakes/wiring/dash/steering etc ,I should image you should get change out of a grand and should be able to do it in less than a week ..Then go to plan 2...
I personally was in this situation this time last year funds low just got out of paint shop !! Get a gazebo up on drive and a manual !! After a few jobs are done and u do them yourself you will soon get the hang of it , iv never worked on vws or cars and if I got into trouble I popped a few photos up on here and minutes I had the answer , this forum is better than a manual but the manual will give u a head start going into the job !! I'd say when I got it home painted it's half way , getting it to driving state was allot of work "ALOT" clean up and reuse as much vw part as poss don't buy cheap repro stuff as you will have to buy the stuff again !!! Loads of info on here and resto threads to have a look through !! I got the shell home in December I drove it to volksworld end of March !!
My main question would be this - are you saying you have none of the above - i.e. you have a shell and suspension? Or do you have all of the above and are unsure what to do with it? If you do have it - you've already broken it down into main areas, and I think the previous advice is spot on, asses each bit for it's merits and make a decision on repair or replace - NUMBER 1 RULE - don't balls about with it if you don't have to - not unless you want to spend years on the rebuild. If you have none of the above, then I think I'd keep an eye out for someone else's failed project, or even a donor bus with fubar'd bodywork - but these would need to be complete and at least running. As for cost - as with every project - you have three points to the same triangle. Cost Time Quality If you want to save time you either have to have less quality or more cost. Save cost you either have to more time and/or less quality. To enhance quality, more time, more cost etc etc. I think your first priority is can you store the bus somewhere dry and safe - if not, as advised above, get the windows and rood on, and seals on doors, lights etc.
