still fabbing Dads bus

Sorry if its a shock to the system for some, but me and dad are going down a slightly different route with our 72 late crossover, it may get a little more radical from here on in This is the first mod, gutterless and reverting back to tin top, still at an early stage though, like i say it wont be everyones cup of tea but thats part of the fun

 

You don't

 

I was going to say exact same.

These buses aren't known to be water tight so can expect water pouring in.

Good luck with it though and will watch what other mods you do.

 

Some have already been binned, we were going to do a 1 inch roof chop, suicide doors and something else on the back end(either chopped down splitty barn door opening or maybe a classic range rover horizontal 50/50 type split)

Yeah we were aware of the risks involved but its mainly for an occasional overnighter type vehicle

 

Should be an interesting thread

 

Yeah, it was going to be too much, plus i remember reading somewhere that a roof chop would mean a re-inspection, but the work involved was so great it wasn't worth looking into that any further.

 

Is it like a 1" punch?

 

I think you'd feel like you'd been hit by one if you tried it

 

Im looking forward to future updates
Its nice to see a custom bus being built every now and then instead of straight resto threads

 

Wonderful what you are doing. Being a bit different. My van is a tintop and I love it. There are a lot of threads and posts about pop top problems.

You will have a solid rust free roof. The lack of gutters will be fun, but lets see how it works out. I think it will look amazing without them as you will get great curves over the roof and down the sides.

Keep us updated with the progress you two are making.

 

Yeah thanks, hopefully another minor tweak pics later today, if it gets finished

My mates got an prototype bay and we put his rubber in the door and gave it a water test, zero leaks

Its going to be different, not something totally original as theres not much out there that hasn't been done before, but we got an overall idea/concept, but it must keep the bay feel/character.

The number one thing when we started the project was to remove the rot, no lumps of filler, no fibreglass or other bodges, like the angle iron outer sills and outriggers we cut off(someones clever idea lol). Some of the mods(like removing the gutters) wouldnt have maybe happened if they were solid, but we took the decision as part of the process and everything we do is a fluid process. we bounce ideas off each other, some totally way out there, some less so, some stick for 5mins before we change our minds, others make it to stay.

Like i say it won't float everyones boat but neither of us wanted another standard lowered van(not that theres anything wrong with that), horses for courses

 

Thanks, yeah, helps having a fabricator who's a hotrod builder, shows you a different angle to the van on even the tiniest areas

 

Lack of light stopped play, still some straightening and whatnot to sort, decided to keep it subtle. Hard to tell from the pics but the bottom is rolled to match the roll on the sides and corners.

 

I'm a fan.....love a bit of custom work - doing a fair bit on my own bus
keep up the good work.....roof looks ace!

 

Coming along great, keep at it.

 

Will you be smoothing the seams out?