Hi all As I'm looking after my daughter this weekend whilst the other half is on a jolly, I thought I would finally get my arse in gear and work out how to upload pictures to the site and show you my mini resto I did last winter on my bus. Dora is 74 westy that was imported from California about ten years ago and underwent a comprehensive restoration and refit by a rolls Royce engineer. I got the bus via a friend about a year and a half ago. It has amongst other things, a 2.4 type 4 with porche cooling, and various other hings, a freeway flier gearbox with tall 4th gear and even has a bolder with hot and cold pumped water. I'll post some piccies of the engine and interior in due coarse. Anyway, after ten years there were areas of the body that had rusted out again due to poor protection and the van being kept outside, and I tackled these over last winter and then painted the lower half. Next winter I plan to pop all the glass out and do the white as there are a few small bits of rust appearing under some of the windows..... Here is Dora as she stands now Sorry to do this thread in reverse order but I'm not sure what order to go in!
Anyway to the work done First off rear arches and rear outer sill. I let in a part of a repair panel Plus the inner needed a small repair Then I cut out the rot on the rear of the arch and let in a hand made section
The rear of the arch was a bit of a pig to get right but got there in the end with a bit of fettling Next the chassis ends where they mee the rear corners had gone on one side. This is double skinned so is a moisture trap. This is how it looked when I hit the grot with the angle grinder So I cut a big square out to enable me to access the chassis end and then cut out the rot on that. Then I welded up the chassis end. I re drilled the bung hole after... Then rust treated it
Then I cut a piece of scrap to fit the the hole in the outer, again he bung hole was measured from the other side and drilled after And then welded it up in my usual scruffy but strong style.... Ground it back ready for a bit of filler Looks much better from a distance .... Out of interest, I soon became clear that on the last resto lead loading was used extensively by the rolls Royce engineer that done it, as it melted and ran off some areas while I was welding!
Next it was on to both front steps. They looked a little rusty , here is drivers side.. But as we all know once you start digging.... So bought a schofields step of Dubois quality! And cut out the bit I needed and tacked it in
View from above showing the rot went into the top of the step a little.. Don't forget these steps were replaced ten years ago and were not wax oiled properly! Then seam welded it and ground down After a skim of filler and a rub down And while I had the filler out a did the rear arch and sill I repaired earlier I like to fill as I go as gives me a bit of motivation to see the end results.
Anyway over to the other cab step. A bit grottier than the other side.. So out with the cutting disc.... Inner needed repair as well on this side.. Luckily the rot kept well clear of the front valence. So I cut a bit off the remains of the other side cab step to make a repair piece and welded that in and then cut my scofields equally poor right had cab step to the shape I needed and tacked it in I don't seem to have any more piccies if the rest of that cab step repair..
I also had to let in a piece on the rhs rear outer fill and some repairs to the inner sill at the rear but again I only have a finished picture of that
Final filling of the repaired areas and a coat of primer You will see I also had to do small repairs to oth of the rear of the front arches. There is a box section behind shaped like a triangle that acts a pool for condensation and rots through. I had to cut out the rot with a hole saw, clean up the box section and then using the same hole saw, cut an equal size repair piece and let it in.
So then to paint.. Luckily a young lad at my local is a sprayer and he agreed to paint the lower half including paint for 600 quid which I thought wasa bargain! He also painted the rear left window aperture as you will see from previous pictures I took the glass out and ground off the surface rust underneath. So he she is when I get her back from the paint shop... The repaired rear arch The big dent in the expensive exhaust is the previous owners attempt to clearance for the towbar!
Which brings it all back to how it is now... I'll post up some engine pictures ( with the very expensive story behind it!) and some of the slightly unusual interior shortly Jon
nice bus and nicely repaired mate its great to see that you've managed to do it and keep it going at the same time .....top job K+ for a new resto thread
