Bus is coming along well Must be a strange bike moon thing going on at the moment as i climbed over a style today and a bloke on a bike hit me square on a second later I wont sue as i think his broken nose taught him a lesson Worst thing was whilst we we discussing his nose my dog set on me
i quite often moon whilst riding my bike, very liberating. and yes the bus is doing great, getting excited now.....
Inner arch repaired New arch fitted, but wonky as another assistant stood on it Rotten Headlamp bowl being removed by my assistant Rotten headlamp bowl removed beautifully, well done jezermy One eye missing now New one ready to go in All fixed good as new again
Well I never. Another eventful day at the funny farm. Arthur Crab-Applethorpe did some more wonderful metal mending, while I paraded around in a scuba mask and tight undercrackers, which needed constant adjusting. Having fitted the final rear arch, Arthur proceeded to manipulate an old pudding dish on my head to fashion a reasonable headlamp bowl. Eventually though one of the neighbours came to complain, they could take no more. What with all the giggling, "sizzling bacon" noises, and my scuba mask they couldn't concentrate on writing their court reports apparently. Arthur got quite terse and asked them to "step outside", but when I pointed out that we were all indeed outside already, he munched another choccy biscuit and calmed down somewhat, certainly enough to refit my doors.
My latest fumblings..... Seatbelt anchors in Then fuel tank back in but still need to put in new bolt on left strap With new filler pipes and all fuel breather connections replaced Rear brakes rebuilt with new shoes and cylinders, reusing existing drums Tried to replace split cv boot. Although the grease inside didn't look too great I just wanted to get new boot on so its mot safe and then overhaul all cv joints over the winter. But what did I do as knocked the joint off the shaft? Yep dropped it and got it totally covered in crap. Decided to strip it down quick, clean it up and refit with fresh grease. I've got a can of manky petrol I drained from my tank I've been using to degrease stuff, so grabbed an ice cream tub, poured some petrol in and chucked in the joint to scrub it clean. Within about 5 mins the petrol had dissolved the bottom of the tub obviously, what a plonker. Metal tub next time then. Anyway the joint is well worn - scored, ridged, and pitted. So that's something else to buy.
Did you do anything to hold those seatbelt spreader plates in place? That cv joint is well fubared your doing right to replace it
Today I painted my fuel tank firewall, and reinstalled it. This was it as it was, brush painted white, very oily and looked gash. So I ran a wire wheel over it to clean it up back to its original grey Then a few coats of grey spray primer followed by a few coats of clear lacquer spray Installed back into position WITHOUT the foam strips on the edges because I am a mentalist It's not perfect but it looks a hundred times better and I'm very pleased with it! Also did the paint tin lid thing the same Ordered up some more goodies including new brake calipers from coolairvw. I was going to get the callipers from brakeparts.co.uk as they seemed to be cheapest but they've gone out of stock. Decided to get them from coolair, which was going to work out about a tenner dearer per caliper, but I then found out that coolair include a fitting kit with the caliper which I believe is worth about a tenner, so that's very good I think. Coolair are now my first call for most things, great company to deal with. If you don't use them already you should give them a go.
Things have slowed up now due to work/home commitments but getting there. My main concern was getting some paint on before the weather turned too crappy, so ive been concentratring (not very hard!) on doing filler work on my new panels, and then some painting. However im literally grabbing an hour or a half hour here and there to work on it. Before i go any further - ive probably mentioned this before in my thread - i now dont care what my bus looks like, its just got to be on the road, solid, water tight, and motd. Its a case of having it on the road being used but looking rough , or it sitting in the garden getting worse, so on the road it is. No photos of the actual filler work, im sure youve seen it all before, besides i was rushing so didnt want to stop for photography! I got rattle cans from autopaints mixed up to l21h (?) marino yellow, the code from the plate in my van. however sometime in the past it had had a spray job which im pretty sure wasnt marino yellow so my new paint is not going to blend in too easily. Heres a few shots so far, im going to give it one more coat and then a t cut maybe as its a bit matt finish but heyho. And my engine bay which ive done in rustoleum, cant remember what the exact colour is, but its a very good match for marino yellow Ive also painted under the arches in satin black rustoleum, then i will underrseal them soon. Got my front brakes rebuilt, just need to flush my lines through and then refill with new brake fluid and bleed. Shiney new calipers And new cv joint and boot on today
Cheers it's getting there, just very frustrating not to get enough time to work on it. Yep The paint is rustoleum combicolor. I really like it, it's very forgiving. I did a very haphazard job purely through having to rush and it's come out ok. This particular one is called safety yellow, ral 1007. It's an excellent match for Marino yellow. Up there ^^ is a pic of the front of the bus. The defo panel is done in the combicolor while the bit just above defo panel on the bottom of front panel is the correct Marino yellow spray paint. Another pic ^^ shows the rear valance and inside engine bay. Rear valance done with correct Marino yellow spray, engine bay is rustoleum. Great colour match I think. Better than the colour match between new paint and the old on bodywork!
Bit of a crap update. Refitted my newly rebuilt wiper spindles and associated gubbins, new seals etc to keep the water out. Also welded up all the screw holes and a few little patches in the cargo floor, and a bodgetastic job of welding in a length of right angle steel to form an inner for a b pillar. All primed and a blob of seam sealer for the fun of it.Beware this may be the most interesting photo in the thread. With the wonderful repairs I've been doing, and the fact that I've answered a couple of questions on here of late, I'm ready to open my vw restoration garage. Only need to get my engine back in now I think, then I'm off for mot (or not)
Being a fan of pointless updates (just had a lovely cup of tea), heres todays. Engine in position ready to be bolted in tomorrow hopefully. Wonder what ive forgotten....... Im moist with excitement
Looking good, make sure you have oil in the engine before you turn over, I know it sounds silly BUT a few I know people have forgotten in the past and paid the price
