The main chassis rails were only rotten along the top & inside the bottom, so I decided the best way to repair them would be to leave as much of the sides as possible & replace only the top & bottom. I got some 2mm steel folded to the correct size & started cutting out the rot: Then I started shaping the steel & grafting in:
Then I had to tackle the bit round the bottom of the torsion tube: I started with another folded piece of 2mm steel: Which I cut & welded to suit: Almost done......
I then had to make the outlet for the handbrake cable tube: Finished Repairing inner chassis New panel offered up
I had chopped out the rear inner crossmember & decided make a new one rather than source one off another bus. However, most of the fabrication here will end up in the scrap bin as you will see in future posts but I'll post the photos anyway.
Mate your dedication and hard work deserve massive praise. More photos please. I would give you points or karma or whatever it is on here now, sorry not been on for a bit.
Next -disaster struck! On attempting to fit the engine & gearbox in, it quickly became apparent that something wasn't right. The chassis rails were 10mm too far apart between the shock towers where the engine support crossmember attaches & the rear engine bar hangers wouldn't fit the chassis properly. It appears that something had moved when I was repairing the chassis. After days of head-scratching I decided there was only one way to fix it-chop the whole back end off & fit a new one. I tried everywhere to source a good rear end cut but nothing, & rather than waste time looking-I decided to build my own. So began months of fabrication & what turned out to be the worst bit of the project so far....
With the back end supported & level, I fitted some bracing to hold everything in place & cut off the rear chassis: I had some 2mm steel folded to the correct size then set about fabricating:
