Well, it's been a while, but the bus (and I) have moved and I now have a garage. I also have almost 400k air miles under my belt due to a change at work - so work on the bus has been on hold for a while... ...but today I put my big boy pants on and removed the windscreen to reveal the horrors underneath! The front panel has been replaced at some point - that much is obvious, but I've a feeling it was done a) badly and b) a long time back, so now it's time to fix things. I didn't look *too* bad before, but there were obvious holes inside and out (and a fair amount of filler too!) But looks significantly worse inside... The air box has been chopped back on one side and it's only welded in the corners And top of the nearside corner isn't held on my much more than powder...
The front panel doesn't appear to be welded in many places - but I'm going to get jiggy with an angle grinder to see where any welds DO exist... Question: is it best to replace the complete panel, or will I get away with a top-section repair (and removal of the rest to fix the other rot underneath at the bottom), or better just to replace the complete front and have done with it? The inner panel needs replacing too, as well as repairs to the pillars - so I've got my work cut out!
Spent Sunday cutting out rusty bits and glueing new metal in...still more to do, but making (slow) progress! Then got new toys today... ...so got this far after work before I had to stop annoying the neighbours with cutting and grinding!
No photos at this point, but finished replacing brake lines, refurbished rear regulator and new master cylinder. Next step is to fill and bleed the system. ... Then I can more safely move the bus to the other side of the garage so I can remove the drivers door so I can get the remains of the old front panel off and start the next phase!
Cut, fettled and electric-glued a repair to the air intake... then started on the inner 'water bottle' panel repair... Slow but steady progress...
