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

1700 posts

 

meh ....anyway, I cant put my kids in the back as I've not got any seat belt extenders .....or seat belst, upholstered seats etc. coome to think of it

thanks mate .....it would take too long for me to try and type it all up TBH, there are a few good tips on youtube, and worth reading the how to that carlperkins did in the mech tech how to section (pretty much the same method Mrs Diddymen used)

Depending on what grade of material and scrim foam you use, you might have trouble with a domestic sewing machine. We had an old industrial sewing machine with a roller foot and that still had trouble....we upgraded to a proper walking foot industrial sewing machine which does the job very well .....but they are VERY expensive

Have a go on a few scaps first to see how your machine copes before attempting the finished article, you can then practice some of the different sewing techniques like piping etc.

 

quality & quantity

 

Its been a little while .....again

thought I'd make a bit of time this weekend .....more sitting in the van pondering than any real work

I noticed that the R&R sits a bit lower than the rear shelf .....some where between 1/2" to 1" .....should have measured really! ....you probably cant tell from the pic below



I guess I'll have to go for different thicknesses of foam to make up the difference? ....any one else had similar?

also trial fitted the seatbelt brackets



then realised something wasn't quite right with the belts, turned out they were wrong



....so new ones on order

I realised I'd have to take them off to do the rear panel anyway (which I measured up for)

I've been putting off doing the last section of headlining for some time



so thought I'd at least crack on with that so it will feel like I've done something!



its ......ok, but I'm not really happy with it, saying that I'm not going to re-do it for once, but I was thinking of re-doing the front of the R&R to match the contour of the van a bit better

I've also made up a template for the rear foam



....but I've thought maybe I should wait until the seat belts are fitted to make sure I account for the space they need - anyone got pics of their rear foam?

I might make the rear top locker next to finish off that area of the roof, not really sure on finish or material ....what thickness wood should I use?

also got to finish off the floor with another sheet of 9mm ply, obviously cant do the area in one sheet, where have others had the cut line for the floor?

 

You can do the rear in one sheet , ask good willies they do bigger sheets of ply

 

I'm sure they only had 8 x4 last time I was up there.....might be worth another trip to see what timber they have for the top locker

 

You have to ask, pretty sure 5x10 sheets are available

 

separating goodwillies into two separate words has brought out the child in me

 

It makes my kids chuckle every time we drive past it ....that and to let signs

 

Whatever happened to the Diddy bus?

 

He's hand polishing the unseen side of every pop rivet...

 

Is it for sale?

 

Next year ... as an unfinished project

 

less of the cheak you lot !!

I changed the 6mm bolts on the R&R the other day for countersunk ones ....is that not enough?

truth is I've been fitting my kitchen since November at the request of Mrs D (well you know how long I spend on things!) She did say once the kitchen is finished we should concentrate on finishing the bus .....I nearly fell over, she is normally giving me other work to do before I do anything to the van!

I have got all the ply in for the floow, just got to cover it

Mrs D has been sewing up the last few bit for the rear internal panels .....which I made my self ......by hand I'll have you know, mind you, Mrs D wasnt happy when she spotted I'd cut a corner off the coffee table I was resting on at the time ....thought that hardboard was tough to cut

Once the rear panels are upholstered and fitted I'll get the rear seat belts in, then order the rear foam, and upholster the bed next

I want to get it MOT'd in the next few months .....but I'm still waiting for my neighbour to spray my bumbers, he's only had them 2 yrs so no hurry

 

I thought it was already MOT'd or has that run out?

 

ran out last year doh!!

 

Time for a recap.......

Hand solo, chewie and the others were on Bespin.

3Po had a bit of a run in with a droideka when he mistook it for a pleasure droid, Chewie found 3PO as he was rummaging through some scrap bins searching for an original heat exchanger and some rare Westy parts.

They all get invited for dinner, when they discover their host is none other than Vader. Hand solo tries to put a cap in Vaders ass, but Vader uses the force and deflects his shots ......Vader then has a melt down, ranting how long he'd slaved over the meal, there are people starving on Tatooine etc. etc. etc ....you cant blame him really (he is actually a very good cook)

Vader decides to get medieval on Hands ass, and gets some pliers and a blow torch, put him in carbonite, and the others escape

Princess Diddymen is still on Dagobah getting groomed by Yoda

meanwhile back at castle Diddymen...........

The last rear panels were too short, so I decided to make new ones full length, you can see the panel at the top was the one I bought and the other 2 I made



Mrs Diddymen stitched me some vinyl, which I then attached to the last 3 panels



but wait, that's not all!!!!!

floor trim is fitted back, I think its worth noting at this point, that although I gave it a good polishing, I didn't remove any of the scratches or dents etc for once ......not because I'm loosing motivation, but I think this part in particular holds a lot of the history of the bus in it's scars. Those scratches are where some one has moved house, bought furniture and used the bus to get it home, gone on holiday and had a stone stick in the bottom of their shoe, taken rubbish up to the tip.......



next was to get the side panels on, and fit the new seat belt



the seat belts fit lovely BTW ....although one doesn't seem to lock when I pull it hard (think I might have to get a new one )

every thing was going well, so I thought I'd fit the last panel to the tail gate



....but it didn't go quite as planned



the eagle eyed among you will have spotted the tail gate has 8 fixing holes top and bottom while the panel I had upholstered had 6 clips top and bottom .....so I debated fixing it with screws and cup washers, modifying the panel or drilling more holes in the bus to line up with the clips .....in the end it was a combination of the latter 2 options

 

and now photo bucket is playing up so I cant copy the link for the other pics grrrr

 

Obviously I'd filled up the tailgate locking mech with cavity wax before I fitted the panel







....and then I laid the flooring





A set of spare steel wheels from @bowzer (cheers bro) are now getting 'the treatment' at a wheel specialist, they are being powder coated, sprayed, then a clear powder coat then a new set of tyres

......and my bumpers were sprayed this evening

if I get time I might try to fit them all at the weekend



Yoda: ...there is.....another....Diddymen

to be continued...........