As I put in the introduction thread, Vera is the new addition to out family, brought from Brighton, so living near the sea she's got a bit of rust but generally a solid bus. She is now with Fletch at Vintage Auto Repair and he will add some pictures and run through the great work he is doing, so what this space!
Give me a chance Steve's bus has been residing at my workshop for a few weeks now and I've been working my way round it slowly. It's generally a very good van and proof that not all U.K buses are rot boxes. It's had a bit of rough welding in the last few years, just before steve got it, and most of it needs redoing. It's also had new front arches and rear corner bottoms and a respray at some time. First up is the rear end. The inner valance needed to be replaced and a small section of the chassis leg repaired. The skirts on top of the chassis and valance need to come out, but they need attention anyway as water gets trapped between the layers of metal. The repro ones aren't great, so if possible I try to save them. To get the inner valance out, you have to drill these spotwelds out from under the battery trays
Once it's all cut out, it's time to start welding new metal in. D pillar and chassis repaired. The new valance slides in from underneath with the tab at the end of chassis bent back. New captive nut for bumper irons welded into the bottom of the D pillar. All finished. New lower corner repairs going in. Skirts repaired and welded back in and new battery tray also. Heritage were out of N/S lower corners so I couldn't finish the other side and outer valance at the same time.
A bit more. On to the front arches. These have been replaced with genuine ones, but whoever did the work left the bit of metal in place that comes with the brazilian arches and is a sort of splash guard/reinforcer that covers the seatbelt mount. The trouble is that it's next to impossible to paint and seam seal behind, so water gets between the arch and B pillar and rusts it out. Most of the arch was fine, so I cut part of it out, repaired behind it, then welded it back in. This van has belly pans fitted, so I was expecting loads of rot once I cut the outer sill away, but apart from a repair to the front of the front floor support, it's all solid on this side.
Thanks for updating this for me Fletch. We breathed a sigh of relief when you said we had a solid bus. So pleased with all the work so far, looking forward to getting her home and then to the body shop for a nice fresh coat of paint and then onto the interior fit out, exciting times ahead.
Bit more progress. The other arch had the same problem. It had flared next to the B pillar and also round the step bit because the seam hadn't been sealed. The A pillar must have been a bit crumbly when this arch was done last because there was not much left behind the step. A pillar rebuilt ready for the front of the step to be rebuilt. This side was quite a bit worse than the other side for some reason. Who knows why, you'd think the side nearest the edge of the road would be worse if any was, but the sills, pillars and jacking points are worse on this side. With the outer sill cut out, but the belly pan still in place it, you can see the state of the inner and middle sill. With the belly pan off, you can see the state of the inner sill.
Nasty looking patch on the bit above the jacking points Lots of cutting out of rust and patches. The seatbelt mount had rusted out, again because it hadn't been sealed up properly. The repair panel isn't long enough in this case, so I made one up myself. Slowly remaking the B pillar and bulkhead section. The front of the top hat support needed repair and a new end, but the section above the cross-member between the chassis legs was fine. Heritage were out of middle sills, so I cut back up to good metal and repaired it instead. I had to use a new section of arch to replace the bit next to the B pillar because the old one was too far gone. All repaired from the outside.
Thanks for the comments Bit more done. The O/S bulkhead/B pillar from the inside. I painted the seat belt mount area, then remembered I hadn't re-made the mount. Doh! The floor had been plated up. It wasn't too bad, but from underneath you could see they hadn't cut the old metal out, so was rusting out again.
I finished remaking the front of the step once the A pillar was sorted and the small panel which joins to the deformation panel which you can't get as it's one year only on '73s. The klokkerholm panel for the step area is next to useless, By time you've made it fit, it's quicker to make your own and you can use thicker steel. I forgot to take a 'before' photo, but this is the repair to the o/s rear side window surround. The pile of scrap grows bigger!
Last bit from me, I mentioned earlier that for some reason the N/S of this van was in much better condition than the O/S. Apart from repairing the B pillar and bulkhead area, it just needed the end of the inner sill repaired and a new outer sill. The front of the rear arch was original and the C pillar bottom was in fine, so I repaired the end of the arch, cleaned and painted the middle sill/sliding door track before welding the new outer into place. Then it was all painted with bonda primer and it's off to be sprayed.
