Big Tuna Refresh and Recommission

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by Spacecowboyuk, Jul 4, 2021.

  1. I've been buying panels and storing them for some years now. Eeeking time out of my poor bus. Well nows the time that I finally get on with it.

    I'm starting on the rear since that's the worst of it. Here's how bad it looks from the outside:

    20210704_182347.jpg 20210704_182252.jpg 20210704_182303.jpg 20210704_182309.jpg 20210704_182322.jpg

    Here's a small stash of panels:

    20210704_181530.jpg

    The battery tray is VW Gen item. The surface rusted-out valance is from Autocraft and the inner from JK. There's also a genuine NOS engine lid out of shot. My existing lid is in very bad shape around the seams.

    The outer lower light corners are the usual carp. I'm not wild about them tbh. Is better now available?
     
    vw newbie, JamesLey, MorkC68 and 2 others like this.
  2. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    How old are the corner panels? The recent corner repairs from klokker are pretty good.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  3. A few years I'd say. Probably at least 4?

    Edit: I see what you mean now. Looks like they don't even do these ones anymore just whole lower panels which Inc the light aperture. I may have to reinvest in those depending on just how much I need.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2021
    JamesLey likes this.
  4. Ok so where better to start on a rear valance and corner restoration? That's right, the interior ;)

    For those who aren't in the Midlands it is absolutely peeing down out there. This is then going to be a nice filler project until I can go play outside again.

    The original westy cab headlining has started to delaminate so I've purchased a really good reproduction to replace it. I've carefully removed the birch board that it is glued to. Here it is:

    20210707_203212.jpg

    20210707_203244.jpg

    As you can tell its not in bad shape but does have 2 points of damage. The first is where the screws go in at the front:

    20210707_203226.jpg

    And the second is the 1 inch split:

    20210707_203254.jpg

    Any thoughts as to how I safely remove the glue residue and correct the damage gratefully received. In the meantime I'm going to experiment with thinners on the glue, flexible wood glue on the crack and trying to close up the screw holes :thumbsup:
     
  5. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Yeap, the new ones are quite a good pressing. The creases in the one's you have look awful.
     
    Spacecowboyuk likes this.
  6. Agreed. Dog Marmite.
     
  7. And off we go...
    20210723_163352.jpg
    Let's see what's under this blue scab:
    20210723_163357.jpg
    Oh yeah. That's not clever:
    20210723_164335.jpg
    In the pile of rust the remains of the wax oil plug emerged. You can just about make out the VW logo:
    20210723_170448.jpg
    Let's go a bit deeper then:
    20210723_174801.jpg

    20210723_175632.jpg

    Ok not looking great but still running its original exhaust I think:
    20210723_183250.jpg
     
  8. I'm not wild about this inner rear valance panel from JK either. Lots of missed welds (but punched holes) and lots of wave: 20210723_183749.jpg

    20210723_183753.jpg

    20210723_183756.jpg

    20210723_183759.jpg

    20210723_183803.jpg

    20210723_183807.jpg

    @JamesLey is this the same panel that was available to you when you replaced yours or was a that a genuine item? I don't even think it follows the same pressing details. Might have to go back.
     
    Last edited: Jul 23, 2021
    jivedubbin and JamesLey like this.
  9. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    I got mine from Schofields. It wasn't a genuine panel so it's probably the same manufacturer as the one you have (JK state it's a BBT panel).
    You might just have a got a bad one? Might be worth phoning Schofields to see where their panel is from. I don't remember mine having iffy pressings like that.
     
    Spacecowboyuk likes this.
  10. Checked with Schofields this morning and they confirmed also BBT. They have them in black and grey transit paint but they are identical and from the same supplier.

    Mine is the grey transit paint. I'll be calling JK on Monday to see if they have better.
     
  11. It's the weekend so no work and I can concentrate on the bus. But wait, its raining! Of course it is after week-long 30° plus:mad:

    So gots to make the best use of my time then. First up, a lesson in why good panel storage is so important:
    20210724_103240.jpg
    Time spent with a hand sander to break the back of it but in truth this was always going to be a hand stripping job:
    20210724_131539.jpg
    2 coats of Jenolite later and it's quite presentable and rust free. Zinc primed:
    20210724_134613.jpg
    And it's like stupid never happened. On to the bumper:thumbsup:
     
    Last edited: Jul 24, 2021
  12. So my rear bumper has been banana'd in the past and all sorts of bodges have occurred to make it look straight but whomever did that did a terrible job. It also has a couple of rust holes. Kindly, @Poptop2 donated one to me a few weeks back so I wasn't too concerned but for Marmites and giggles I thought I'd give mine a closer prod. This is how bent it is:

    20210724_160615.jpg
    Which corresponded with the bend on the westy towbar:
    20210724_160554.jpg 20210724_164639.jpg 20210724_164648.jpg
    And here are the holes:
    20210724_164451.jpg
    Surprisingly, all in all, this isnt all that bad. I busted out the bodywork hammers and dolly's and some stout pieces of wood to see if I could improve matters (before and after):
    20210724_165024.jpg
    I knocked all the filler out of it and it's now perfectly straight again. I'll see if I can patch up the holes before I celebrate too much.

    The towbar is a different beast altogether but it all fits and lines up still so unless it interferes with the outer rear valance I may leave it. Or I may get some heat on it...
     
    Day likes this.
  13. A little more progress today. The engine had been bogging down ever since (and come to think of it, just before in fact) I replaced the carbs last year. That stopped me from meeting my deadline and taking it to Devon. I simply ran out of time to sort it. So today I changed the fuel filter. Didn't look massively blocked:
    20210725_191359.jpg 20210725_191405.jpg
    But I needed to see inside so like most of us, I took it apart where food is made:
    20210725_191939.jpg 20210725_191948.jpg 20210725_192015.jpg 20210725_191953.jpg
     

    Attached Files:

  14. Anyway that out the way the other thing I didn't do when I replaced my Solex's was to check the fuel pressure coming out of my standard fuel pump:
    Screenshot_20210725-190057_Gallery.jpg
    This looks to be about between 2.2 and 2.3PSI which is below the max 2.5 so that's good.
     
  15. Little more progress today whilst the bumper is drying - I made up a new 12n socket and wiring harness for the towbar. Old:
    20210727_184826.jpg 20210727_184831.jpg
    And new: 20210727_184915.jpg
    The only thing that is mildly annoying is that this socket is supposed to have "Made in Germany" embossed onto it like this but it doesn't: Screenshot_20210727-184951_Chrome.jpg
    Nevermind, another job off the list.
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2021
    Zed, F_Pantos and theBusmonkey like this.
  16. I'll have to come back to documenting all the things I did to recommission my bus this year. In the meantime, I'm getting the most out of her with a final camping trip before the real work begins...
    20210925_182902.jpg
     
    Last edited: Sep 26, 2021
    Mully_89, Dubs, CollyP and 4 others like this.

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