Woody my 72/73 bay window resto project .......an epic tale of rust.......

I then stared work on another bit

Zed - LOOK AWAY NOW !!!!!!

 

Im not joking zed ....you wont like the next post

 

This is the last post to bring the thread up to date

all posts after this should be as Im doing the work

And Zed....last warning ;D

look at this lovely cargo floor area



I decided to cut a hole in it for fuel sender access and here is the cover I made



what do you think









ok so its not finished, it will be a neat job I promise

I started off by doing loads of measuring, then carefully cut out the hole for the hatch so I can reuse the cut out bit for the "door"



then cut down the section of flooring so it is slightly bigger by about 15mm each side of the hole

here you can see it cover the opening pretty well



and with the cut out sitting on top



then I cut out a section of the large peice which was slightly smaller than the opening and the "door"



this will be welded under the cargo floor for the cut out bit to sit on top of so it will all sit flush.

and heres what I've got so far



next I cut a small peice of the spare body cut along one of the recesses, this will act a bit like a catch to hold one edge in place



and here it is welded on so you can see the job it will be doing (this veiw will be the underside from within the petrol tank area



and that was another weekends work done.

I did start to fit a lock to the fuel sender door but I've not taken any pics.

I've got to point out that this idea isnt mine, I saw a really neat sender hatch made by lhu1281 and decided to have a go at doing one my self.

Hopefully get it all finished next weekend along with a few other bits
stay tuned

We are now right up to date

 

Love it great work.

 

thanks Mate

 

got enough spare floor section for me to make one .

ps got my van back painted today. woohooo

 

be up and running in no time this matey!...

Gazzebo i got from argos, sides all round for £60.. bargain really, because if i put the clear dust sheets up inside from Wilkinsons, it can be used again and again...

 

Excellent work mate, really enjoyed reading this again, before you started the resto had you used this van at all?

 

could i have enough to do a access flap please .yeah van is back and im sticking bits on as we speak, so before i commit to fuel tank fiting thought i may have a go at a hatch

 

had it done by a place in porthmouth called ERB Motors copnor 0239262244

must say there work is excellent and more excellent, took it to them and it was painted( was already filled and primed) they got it back to me in about 8 working days. finish is superb attention to detail is excellent, all round nice people too. i did pay £1500 for a rub down of the primer and to paint, nothing else. i stripped and am re-fitting it.( though they will do this for you to and anything else ). would recommend them to anyone. happy indeed , they painted my mates samba and that looks spot on too.

 

Sorry I missed you tonight David, hopefully you'll have enough to make an access hatch out of that bit.

I'll definatly have to pop over again when your in to see your bus in fresh paint

 

As the thread is up to date now, its time to add a new one for yesterdays work.....

heres the lock I fitted to the fuel sender hatch



and with Keys....



From the other side you can see the lock body is a bit long, a bit longer than I would have liked but as it didnt cost anything .....

I had to make a new latch for it though and you can see it attached here (not quite finished) in the locked position...



I had to make it so it would clear the bottom of the "door" when unlocked....



there is about 1 - 1.5mm clearance which is ideal

heres the latch I made next to the ones that came with the lock........



next I had to make a catch for the latch to "lock" into. I bent a bit of steel into a right angle, than clamped it onto the body cut "landing" piece to mark the height of the latch. I then cut a slit into it and using a file finished it off. Here it is next to the latch



Holding it in place before welding I checked the latch would clear it......







once I was happy I welded it on



then checked it was working with the lock and "hatch"



very happy so far it works a treat

next I layed the "landing" piece on the bus and scribed around it so I could drill some holdes through the load area in the right place to weld it in



finished it off today and Im really pleased, not uploaded the pics yet so I'll do that in the next couple of days .....still got the long bank holiday weekend to get more done

 

Good work.

 

very nicely done, what a great idea

 

Thanks guys ;D

I have to confess it wasnt my idea originally, I'd seen a few done before that were done with self tappers to hold the hatch on when shut. Then just before TLB crashed lhu1281 posted some pics of his which used an electrical cabinet latch - the ones with the triangle keys like for utility meters. It looked great so I thought I'd try some thing similar

just uploading pics from today so I might get them posted up later...

 

Good job Dale looks almost factory


I need to do the same, i just have a hole cut out and a couple of screws holding it looks well crap

 

Thanks mate

I'll try to get a few measurements tomorrow if it helps you ....or any one else who fancies doing one