Hi all, this is my 1975 Bay with Sopru pop top imported from Canberra in 2008 by a previous owner. The bus was in a sorry state but sound underneath and as far as I can tell only one panel replacement on the rear passenger wheel arch. I took ownership early 2012 and gave bumblee a new lease of life.
Mmmmmmmmm. Right hand drive Australian van with a Sopru pop top. You have superb taste in vans and are one of the chosen few who have the best vans in the UK. Edit: what's that big black thing above your engine on the near side? And more to the point - why don't I have one?
Hi Sandybay, the big black thing is a cyclone sand/air intake filter which was standard fit for Ozzy buses due to the dry climate. The filter inside is metal perforated cylinder.
Oh that's ok then 'cos we don't have a particularly dry dusty environment here in Cambridgeshire. Maybe I should be looking for a snorkel kit to fit instead.
we had this convo a while ago about the air intake, kinda like the high level intakes you can fit to landrovers etc.
I expect @paradox has one beautifully tractor enamelled and ready to fit to his bus for fording streams and small rivers.
Welcome....another Australian van ! and a lovely looking one as well. Hope soon to be able to raise my roof....the only problem with the Sopru roof is getting the bits when they break.......but everyone says we have a lovely contact Down Under.....just plucking up courage to ask him a favour.....we then see if everyone is right !!
The canvas was pretty poor covered in mould so I sprayed dettol mould and mildrew remover and left overnight which eliminated all mould. Since the orange canvas was also faded I applied 2 coats of fabric spray paint inside and out by Simply Upholstrey Spray - Burnt Orange. On top of that I applied a water proof spray to protect the original fabric canvas. It worked a treat as I know how difficult it is to replace an existing Sopru canvas......looks like new now.
Nope If ive got water in the engine bay to the height of the air intake then ill be in the poop allready as the dizzy would be under water
Hi ya Bumblebee. Nice looking bus and nice to see you are straight into the sharing of information with the tips regarding the canvas.
actually, that's got me thinking, how deep can you wade in a bay? limiting factor is usually air intake on a car but isuppose you're right here the dizzy would fail first? engine in the rear less affected by the "bow wave" effect or worse due to it swirling about round the back?
Id imagine a bit deeper with a type one engine as apposed to a type four The engine cooling fan is a lot lower on a type four engine
