Have you got one of these jigs? This fella seems to have it sorted. I've just rolled mine with a different sort of jig and just in case I used a lorry ratchet strap to stop it rolling away on it's own. I also had a couple of friends there to help support it. If I was closer I'd come and help.
That's the one yeah. I've got the extra weight of the poptop which didn't help (in hindsight I would've taken it off but I don't really have the space for it and wanted to leave it in place). It's in a position now that I'm relatively happy with. Hoping to roll it tomorrow with the wife around. Then I can make a start!
Popped over briefly today. Even with two of us I didn't feel particularly happy with the weight coming over so I'm removing the pop-top now to save some weight. I didn't really want to do this, but hey-ho!
Good call If you're not completely happy don't roll it until you are. I would imagine the pop top weighs quite a bit making it top heavy. My bus is a bare shell but oh my it's heavy. Once it reaches it's tipping point it's hard not to let it roll of it's own accord. I know the jig I'm using is different to yours but I had it partially rolled over and decided I hadn't built the jig perfectly.. Something just wasn't right so I lowered it back down removed the jig and rebuilt it. Second time around it rolled just as it should. A tip, if you can call it that, buy a case of beer and invite a couple of friends round to help support it as it lowers.. I had two friends from work help out, you'll be surprised how excited they get being involved with something like this. P.S. Don't drink the beer until it's rolled over Good luck, be safe and post pictures.
Cheers mate. I had it well past ripping point on my own but mega struggled moving it back up. I also had to raise the jig as the front arch was catching. I'll get my wife and the farm lad whose always around to help too. Quick question, what are you resting the side on once it's over? I was going with some chunks of wood to give about 8 inches clearance? And just for you, a picture:
Quick question, what are you resting the side on once it's over? @JamesLey The jig I'm using is a different type of jig altogether, it rests on itself. With yours I'd put a couple of old tyres down on the floor?? My thinking is tyres are soft and give a bit, wood might be too solid??
We finally got the pop-top off Iris today, in a bid to shed some weight to make it easier to roll. Having it on the roll-over jig made it pretty easy to slide off the roof and out of the way. Once again I owe a big thanks to Max for coming and sitting in the cold car while I arsed around undoing the thing, and for then helping me lift the roof off. I believe she’s displaying the international sign for happiness. [Originally posted on Tumblr]
After what seems like an eternity I finally have the camper on the jig and rolled over! With the pop-top removed I was able to rotate it one-handed with ease (there’s quite an impressive pile of rust under the left side of the jig in this picture; this fell out of the front deformation panel as I rolled it. It made a sound like a rain maker!) Now to the actual task in hand of addressing the underside. This is how it currently looks. I don’t know a huge amount about the history of this van but it has had some repairs done under here in the past (certainly some of the jacking points/outriggers have had work done as the welding is a bit naff). It probably looks worse in the above pictures as it’s got quite a hefty layer of underseal on, I’ve started scraping this off with a wallpaper scraper and paint thinners and it looks like at least on some of the chassis its done a good job of preserving the paintwork (the blue paint below is og). My current plan is to scrape all this off to get a better idea of what needs attention, and then possibly get a mobile shot-blaster in to completely clean up the underside. I’m still not sure if I’ll get it blasted though.]
Great its on its side at last I wish i had a roll over jig for when i did mine it would have been so much easier and quicker Im looking forward to future updates
I’ve got a whole week off next week to work on the van, starting with a guy coming in to media blast the underside (it should save me a fair bit of time and effort, and allow me to get on with the more interesting bits!). In preparation for this I’ve been scraping off as much of the underseal as I can, so that the media blasting gets straight onto the paint. This has also given me a chance to assess what needs replacing. The Good bits The vast majority of the main chassis leg sections are in good condition and so shouldn’t need too much work. One of the top hat sections also seems to be in Ok condition so shouldn’t need too much fiddling (maybe a new end once I get the sill off?).
The Bad bits As I already knew all sills will need replacing, as will most of the outriggers and jacking points (I suspect some of them could be saved, but given I’ve gone to the effort of rolling it over, it makes sense to do them all). The two I beams will need new sections letting in on at least one end, where it has rotten quite badly. The rear cross member has, at some point, either been used by a previous owner to jack up the van or hit a speed bump and sustained quite an impressive dent: The front cross member is also a little pretty battered, as is the heater tube: From what I’ve seen on other restos this looks like typical rot for a UK bus (stupid wet weather), so although it looks a bit grim I’m optimistic! I’ve got a stack of panels at work ready to bring home this week, so should have a plenty to do next week. Once again I wasn’t on my own as Max came down to help scrape off the underseal. To save time we also brought the camp stove down to cook dinner (even when we don’t have a van to camp in we’ll find an excuse to cook on a camp stove) Hopefully my next post will be of a freshly shot blasted underside, with some work started on the restoration proper.
Feel this month isn't going to be a cheap one either. I've spent £120 on a schofield's order for parts, plus some Bilt Hamber paint and a whole bunch of bits for spraying some primer once she's been shot blasted. I got one of the nice looking Devilbiss primer guns, figuring if I ever need the cash back it'll hold its value well.
Doesn't look like anything untoward under there - pretty well unmolested and not too rusty as they go.
