Wilby the Bay

Discussion in 'Show Us Your Ride' started by vwbusman, Jul 28, 2015.

  1. I have nearly completed a 9 year restoration of my bay which started off as a Devon. As part of the resto work I changed over to a Dormobile roof favouring the extra light they let in.

    Before resto work began back in 2004
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    Fast forward to summer 2015
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    More pics to follow summarizing the resto work carried out.
     
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  2. Stunning
     
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  3. I took Wilby off the road to change the front panel in spring 2005 with the view to getting it completed for Vanfest 2005. I didn't make that deadline and ended up embarking on a marathon restoration which took my 9 years. All work carried out at home in a single garage or on the front garden. Fortunately we have very understanding neighbours! Here's a few pic's to summarize the resto work carried out.

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    More to follow!
     
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  4. bernjb56

    bernjb56 Supporter

    Looking forward to this! :hattip:
     
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  5. Faust

    Faust Supporter

     
  6. I am very pleased with the ride. Compared to the original ride it now seems to have less roll and drives nice & straight on the motorway. (I still need to have the 4 wheel alignment set up... I set this up roughly myself using straight edges and bits of string etc to set my rear wheel alignment!)
    The improvement in ride could be because I have renewed all the steering joints and main ball joints, steering idler etc and not just because its lowered. I haven't noticed that the ride is bouncy that some people describe on lowered buses.

    The details of my set up are: Beam Adjusters (set at original height), Transporter Haus flipped drop spindles, Budget coil over front shocks, standard antiroll bar and 175/70 R14C front tyres. Creative adjustable spring plates on the rear. We have large speed bumps around my way and the bus has no trouble getting over them with the current set up. I have not yet experienced any tyre rubbing on the front tubs.

    So all in all I'm very pleased with the ride, so no plans to make any changes.
     
    Faust likes this.
  7. you have done exactly what I am looking at doing buddy, devon to doormobile, can you give as much details on the transformation as possible? I see you had to make adjustments to the roof size, is that right? Will be following this thread for any advice you have on the subject! What was the condition of your doormobile roof like when you got it? were the parts easy to get hold of at all?

    cheers mate

    Bruce
     
  8. Some body work/prep shots

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  9. Hi Bruce,
    I shall post up as many pic's as I can for you. I would say the roof cap was average condition, the metal part that the hinges bolt to had rusted away so I had to resin in some stainless steel angle. also had to resin in the wood pieces that the curtain rails fix to as they had all come loose. On the plus side the sunroofs came with the roof and do not leak!

    Regarding the hole in the roof, yes, I had to weld in a section of roof as the dormobile requires a smaller hole than the devon cap. Just had to be careful not to distort the roof to much when welding. Then I made up my own frame and welded it in together with a strengthening piece at the rear.

    Here's a few pic's of the process.

    The quality edges to the hole Devon cut!!
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    The hole tidied up
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    Cutting the piece to let in
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    Welded pieces in to support the new section
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    Shaped angle iron pieces either end and welded in place
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  10. [​IMG]

    The next stage was to weld in plates to support the springs and pivot points for the canvas hoops. I spent a long time working out where these should be welded in as I had nothing to go on/dimensional info. I just took as many photos at shows as I could of dormobile roofs/interiors

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    I then trimmed the roof cap to sit on the bus as snug as possible & once happy drilled and fitted the hinges

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    I then purchased some aluminium sections from B & Q to make up the hold down strips for the canvas. Working out where these should go was difficult as I did not have a canvas to measure from. I just made them the same size as the ones on the inside of the roof. I then riveted hank nuts in to the steel roof so I could use M4 button head screws to secure the strips down.

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    I'll post some more details tomorrow evening.
     
  11. Very nice job sir...:thumbsup::hattip:
     
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