So, after sitting around for 5 years (3 on the drive, 2 in a garage) I’m thinking it’s time to do some work on my bay and get back to having adventures in her. I’ve thought about this a lot, but haven’t committed to starting for all of the familiar reasons. The bus is generally solid having had the worst bits done by the PO but it is untidy and the sea air has exposed all of the bad stuff and some rot is showing in the this repro panels. There will be some welding involved at some point. My initial target is to get the underside done and renew the mechanical stuff. My question - I’m not sure how best to go about the work on the underside. Stripping the whole bus down and blasting + epoxy primer the underside seems one way; whilst laying on my back with a wire wheel seems to be the opposite end of the spectrum. What I’d like to end up with is a body coloured underside and tidy mechanicals. There is already some POR15 chassis black around the engine bay, which is standing up well. Raptor looks great but I guess you have to roll the van to spray it properly. Quite an open question, but would welcome thoughts / experiences, good or bad!
If it helps I have a rotisserie for sale with self loading mechanism , I used it on my bay and its a game changer , I sand blasted mine myself, i also have a sand blaster for sale , if your interested message me
Given the history and what others have done. If you strip it all down it will probably be years if ever before you finish it and use it. I would get it running and check the brakes then use it then see if you want to carry on
The general problem is that every new panel is unlikely to have been protected on the back side so its likely to be the case that every new panel is rotting from the inside. And when they were welded, strips of bare rust are automatically created. Do you have a work space you can use , and LOTS of spare time. The bits of a bus where you can get at both sides to properly prepare for Raptor or POR-15 are few. Most places you can protect one side and if water gets trapped the rust will just spread using the POR-15 as a plastic bag.. If you dont have time get out on the road and patch and fill it. May be better to sell a project bus and buy one that's already been done if your real goal is enjoying a bus.
You should have a look at the Restorations category and see what people have done. I'm currently doing my double cab I bought in April she's almost there but she's not going to be a pretty show thing and I'm certainly not painting her as she's going to be my daily driver work vehicle, that said I want her mechanically sound and the underneath is now like new all scraped back cut out welded new parts in and hand painted. It's up to you to decide how far or how much money to spend. I spoke to a guy at a show who had owned his 1973 bus since 1994 he showed me pictures the vehicle is falling apart but he's spent over £3000 on a lovely interior on a bus that he's never driven despite owning it for 23 years. Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk
If you have the space a rotisserie will make life 100% easier. That said , think of a timescale and double it , think of a budget and (at least !) double it, think of the grief, stress, worry , family hassles and double it ... You get the idea . Nothing will be simple and quick , I started to put a new cargo floor in but soon realised it was going to take forever . A fabrication bloke offered to do it between jobs so i jumped at the chance but after the floor went in it still took 18 hard months with all the stripping, painting, trimming and new interior when I was hoping for 6 months over the winter !! Not trying to put you off , just being realistic... Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk
And don’t expect to get your money back! I bought mine in 2006. It came with over 6 k worth of receipts for work done. I’ve spent almost half of that, easily, again. Probably needs that much spent on it again, just to get the rest of the rot out and the paintwork looking nice, nevermind the interior. I bought it for £5,400. It’s probably worth a bit more now, just for the work that ‘doesn’t’ need doing. Doing up old vehicles, is great, if you have disposable income. I don’t, that’s why it takes so long for me to do anything on it. They need time, patience and money. Good luck.
Thanks for the replies so far... happy for other comments and sage advice. Some responses... I've had the van for what seems like forever, but it's actually about 12 years. 7 years on the road, 5 years off... I think. There is a build thread which shows some of my experience, but to some it up : Tried engine building, tried a bit of repainting (rattle cans), tried a bit of mechanical stuff, stripped the interior and rustoleum'd it, succeeded in building a nice interior, the Mrs can stitch. The van was always in use and often a daily driver until 2018 so I couldn't really take it off the road to do body work and some of the bigger mechanical jobs required garage assistance (Davidoft Motors of Hayling) to get them done quickly and correctly. After it came off the road life revolved around out little lad, the Mrs having the big C (now all clear), building the garage, refurbing the house and other life stuff. I'm quite practical and will set myself the challenge of learning to do things. I will be learning to weld badly, and hope to learn to weld well. I will try spraying properly although I may consider prep only and paying for this... depends how confident I get! https://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/my-76-microbus-camper-landyn.7900/ I've been watching Dominic Chiminea (sp) restoring the 356 on YouTube and he's demonstrated that behind every seam is potential rot. Unless you take everything apart all you have to make a call on what is appropriate I guess? I have a garage and i designed it to have plenty of width and hopefully enough height to turn the van if that is the way i decide to go. Time isn't in abundance, but my only deadlines are my own. My reasoning for thinking underside and mechanicals then use the van for a bit are really about wanting to enjoy it and having that stage in the process where I can enjoy the achievement and gain motivation for the next step. What I think would annoy me is taking one step forward and a few steps back! Matty's suggestion is a possibility. The van is complete and shouldn't be a big task to get back on the road - although I suspect the MOT man would have a few comments on the rust, which might bring me back to stripping the underside and creating a solid basis for a rolling resto (which is what I think I want). I've been following your resto and James Ley's van(s) also spring to mind. Different approaches, which is great, and I think what I'm kind of looking for is understanding the pro's and con's of those and any other options in between. I think I asked about what paint you were using... something I'll go back and check. We have a lovely interior too... the van has just deteriorated around it in the salty sea air! Yeah, I'm not counting the pennies on this just yet and don't expect to get any money back. We're in it for a few quid already, but she was cheap to buy (£4300). The big bills were the parts for the engine rebuild but most of the labour was mine, The parts for the interior, but again the labour was free! There have been maintenance costs and other little bits of refurb along the way, but nothing out of the ordinary for a van that was being used as a daily. The nice thing now is that we don't rely on her so jobs can be done at a learning pace. I've mulled over the fact that I could sell it now as a "complete" van for a reasonable value or even part it out... but where's the fun in that?
Stripping enough to blast is quite a job (I've never done it), but lying under it is worse and will take longer (I've done that) and won't be so good. I think I'd pay someone to blast and prime - money well spent. However, blasters won't weld and 2-pac so you'd be getting it blasted and primed, then doing underside repairs, then painting it properly which will no doubt drag on but I reckon doing that and getting the mech in good order would be a good approach. It's quite separate from the panel work... mostly. A good solid base for a more relaxed rolling resto but don't underestimate how much work it would entail "just" to get that far. If blasting revealed holes in the rear floor/wheel tubs you'll be taking that interior out and blasting WILL leave the van full of blasting media whatever you do. There's no easy way to restore a van.... apart from fillering it up, shiny paint and sell it quick then buy a good one.
Can you put up some pictures of all the bad bits of the van you’re aware of? The idea to just do the underside is a nice one But if your sills and arches need doing etc it’s going to grow up the side of the van.
The shot blasting and rollover jig route is definitely a more appealing way of doing it for me. That way I get back a nice clean chassis/shell to weld to, and don't have to spend many a boring hour cleaning the thing. When I did Iris I paid a chap to blast the chassis in my unit. At the time I didn't have too much stuff down there so emptying the unit for the blaster wasn't too much faff. Think I paid about £200 for him to blast the chassis. For Myrtle's chassis, and the new split shell I sent them to the shotblasters 20 mins down the road. The bug chassis cost me £150, I've not had the bill for the split shell but it'll be significantly more as they're doing the whole shell and priming it for me. I've learnt over the years to try and remove as much of the time constraints and pressures on myself. When restoring Iris I was desperate to get it back on the road and spent way too much of my time getting it on the road. I enjoyed restoring the baja so much more by just accepting it'd take as long as it takes, and learning to walk away if I was getting too frustrated with anything.
I'll have to grab some later when i pop in the garage and remove the boxes and rubbish that have found there way onto her. I've looked at these bottom 6 inches and the PO had done most of it to varying levels of success. deformation panel is original (i think) and has some rot in either end. arches have been replaced and one is a bit wonky. A spot of rust but nothing terminal. middle cills have been replaced at some point. not entirely straight, but not rotten. I have no idea how much of the middle and inner cills might have been replaced. rear inner arches and anchor points have had work and the remaining original metal might be thin. outer rear arches are also replacements - one has a big bubble. Rear corners and valance have also had work - the valance might need a tweak if I want it to sit perfectly! above this there are various patches of surface rust and evidence of bad prep. It could pass as a cool patina van for a few years. This might be how my thinking is resolving now. "accepting it'd take as long as it takes, and learning to walk away if I was getting too frustrated" is exactly how I operate with these things and why I built a garage... It's difficult to walk away from it when it's just sat on the driveway open to the elements! Your sand blasting prices seem really cheap... i was expecting at least a 4 figure sum. I think I might actually start elsewhere given that I might be leaning towards the strip and blast route. I think I might get some welding practice in first, establish whether I'll be proficient enough and then make the jump into stripping the van for blasting. Once it comes back it should be full steam ahead. Well, after a little more procrastination.
The blasting for the split will definitely be in the 4 figures; he reckoned about 10-12hrs to do it, and then a few more to clean up and prime. The bug chassis is a different beast as all of the metal is pretty thick so they don't have to worry so much about warping anything so it only takes a few hours to do (I've asked them to go gentle on the split roof as it's already a little wrinkly in parts!). As para says get some pictures up and a resto thread going!
Exposed in all of her glory…. So time and sea air have taken their toll. The front panel has been replaced but there’s a bit of crust at the bottom and the deformation panel has a bit in it The passenger door looks terrible, but it’s a replacement door skin. The scrapers are ruined and let water through…. The good thing is that the dodgy door skin may have saved the frame! Spots and surface rust along the covers. The rust under the gutter looks like the PO had prepped for paint badly. The roof shows that it spent some time in a barn before getting a blow over! The irony here is that I intentionally bought a tin top to avoid the trapped moisture that can be caused by pop tops. More ironically, I guess a pop top would now solve 50% of this! I’m less worried about the roof as it has achieved a consistent pattern that could roll with the patina buses. Gutters are solid but a little wavey An odd little patch on the C pillar. The paint is a combination of rattle can repairs I did and the celly coats the PO did. It would all polish up. The white but at the bottom is where the PO paint has flaked off a bit. At the rear the vents look ok… more signs of bad prep before the last paint job. I expect the bottom of the windows will need attention and I know there is a hole behind the track that needs a bit of new metal. The repro wheel arches might need a bit more surgery than I originally thought. I think this might be creeping from the edge rather than coming through from behind. The other side (parked up near the shelves) does have an inside to outside hole. The interior is all a bit faded since we first installed it…. The fabric was sold as UV resistant! The least of my worries and as I say, I think there’s £s in there if I change my mind and decided to part her out (which I won’t). You’ll spot other stuff I’ve not commented on and I’m aware of… bows in the slider, spots here and there. I’m mindful that the underside is the first part of the journey and that’s why doing a rolling or seasonal resto on the body work means that it’s not one huge long slog. I’ve realised I’ve not taken any underneath…
All along the passenger side. Front of front wheel arch Rear of front wheel arch Near side looking forwards. There are patches which will mean it’ll be docked a point in the concours d’elegance. Actually, it has a mix of flat plate patches and ill-fitting repro ribbed panels which might mean a whole panel is a more thorough investment and allows access to the out riggers Back towards the torsion tube with my EHU cable in view A bit more floor…. Rear of the NS rear wheel arch Top of the NS rear wheel arch… albeit a funny angle on wide mode So that should be a rough snap shot. I’m hoping no one’s going to say there’s a lot of welding to do underneath as i though it all looked pretty solid! From memory the rear bull head and the panel below the fuel tank might be rustier than other parts. The heater tube and the Y peice have seen better days, but I’m wondering about alternative heating as Indont need it to be an all year van. I stripped back most of the frame work around the engine bay and treated with POR chassis black about 10 years ago, so hopefully that won’t need any attention.
Amount of work measured in weeks not hours. Hope your garage is heated Sent from my SM-A127F using Tapatalk
paint thinners, razor blade, more paint thinners and invite a mate round for a chinese and the rest is history !!.
