My 75' Panel Restoration (my first bus!!!)

I can get some locally so will probably get the doors, tailgate and engine lid from them. The slider will need repairing as well.

 

Wow, I slipped all the way to page 3! Not much doing at the moment, most of my jobs involve welding. Starting my course on tuesday, so as the nights pull out I can make a start! I stripped down one of the calipers, one piston is stuck in so is going to need a lot of effort to get out. The other came out after about 40 mins of effort. Anyone got any tips for removing broken bleed nipples? Anyone going to the Volksworld show in March?

 

Morning guys, would this welder be ok to run off a normal household plug?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-CLARKE-13AMP-150AMP-NO-GAS-GAS-MIG-WELDER-KIT-/400266212898?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item5d31b9b622

 

A 150 amp will weld chassis sections no problem dude

 

Cool, been lent a 90amp mig but there isn't much in the way of control for power so wanted to get the Clarke. A 90mig won't do the chassis would it?

 

Cheers Zed, may give that a go. The welder I have needs to be replaced as it's nowhere near good enough. Took it along to welding class and it was deemed a steaming pile of brown stuff. Going to get a Clarke 151EN and borrow the regulator and gas bottle from work. The welding course it coming along nicely, I was learning to weld 1mm steel with 0.6mm wire. While I can weld it without blowing holes, I have to make sure I do shorter runs so as not to put too much heat into it and distort it. However, the guy running it showed me how to fill in small holes. Also learning fillet welding and sure to move on to butt welding and stitching. So all in all it was a wise move to do the course as I would have no clue as to the correct techniques!

 

Your course sounds just the ticket Kenzie. I had a crud 90A welder when I was learning - pants. After a while I got the one I have now for peanuts off ebay - the owner hadn't a clue - it needed a new £5 liner. . Together with proper gas bottle of argoshield lite my welding jumped ahead. The first panel I did was a rear corner. By the time I'd finished I'd welded it so much it had a waist where it'd shrunk! I had to cut off another inch, get a new panel and start again.

More tips - if you have two overlapping pieces and there is a gap between them it's easy to burn the top one away. Conversely if you butt weld, you need a gap the approx thickness of the material or you won't get good penetration.

Welding is fun isn't it?

 

My eyes have been opened by the course! Even getting the settings right is a test. They say it should sound like cooking bacon. Then there is dip transfer, spray transfer, verticle up, verticle down, fillet, butt, stitch, seam...... The list is huge! And not to mention manual metal welding, ie Arc or stick! There are different rods for different welding positions and all sorts of different electrodes. When I started this I was shown by a guy at work how tow weld. I know now that it was totaly wrong.

 

You'll be relearning once you go near your bus though, as the course wont teach you to weld in confined spaces upside down and on your back, with sometimes not 100% clean steel, hot nuggets of weld running into your boots, crackling inside your ears, down your neck etc etc, )

Have fun and theres no substitute for practice and a decent setup of kit.

 

Nice work dude keep going!

 

Do you guys run your vans with the belly pans on or off?

 

How and where did you find your welding course? I can't seem to find any near me. Is there site with a list of locations?

 

Googled it and check my local Colleges. Mines being done at Otley College.

 

Way ahead of myself here, but thinking about wheels, what do you reckon to these? Not a fan of Fuchs as everyone has got them. Also decided I want to paint it Turkis Green, L380 I think.

 

You can't beat Fuchs but everybody and his dog has them nowadays.

Slotmags are a great retro looking rim though. Nice wheel and colour choice. 8)
Its just a shame that theres a much bigger selection of wheels in wide 5 PCD.