Well hello, have another post on this site but due to my lack of computer skills I have started again, so here is my 1972 V W bus
hope you like it.
She has been in the family for about 25 years and some time ago my dad said he was going to sell her as he want using her any more so I sold my Spitfire 2.0l straght six and brought her for £2000, she had been off the road for about 6 years by then but parked up in a garage, so I put her in for an mot and she failed on one tyre not to bad.
But due to a house move from Cambridgeshire to Dundee I put off doing any thing to her for the first 12 months.
I then set about building a 2500 Cu ft workshop for the restoration job this is a bit narrow but what can you do this is 8.6ft wide but 44ft long sorted ;D.
the first job was the strip but due to a computer f**k up I have only three photos of this, and so set about the interior ripping out everything that was old and worn out and ended up with......
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Not to much left to save here but undaunted I caried on with the underside, not expecting to much as this passed an mot 18mths ago........ so off I set with the angle grinder and found some rust here and there have a look for your self
This mot guy must have been blind or stupid...Anyhoo some bits and bobs later I finsihed the major welding two out riggers/two splash trays/two rear repairds and a lull seam down each side for the sills oh and a throttle plate.
Then back to the inside this was just cleaning and painting to stop the rust coming back.
easy job for a change, but inside the 78 bay window I have found a hole host of goodies well have a look
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[http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t264/ross4620/DSCF6309.jpg/img]
Well call me "Betty", I have never seen a full set in such good order I have everything here door cards, seats bench seat, boot carpet, headliner, rubber mat for rear and also the bench seat fixings. Well I had to see if it looked all ok so in it went not a long job here but this will do for now, as I am planning a full on custom interior although I have no set plans for this yet but I do have two 12inch subs and a couple of amps sony XPLOD 6X9's and a dvd player (this is gonna be loud).
I put this set on EBAY and only was offered 99p what is wrong with people?? I ask you??
Before the engine rebuild, this has been a long slog to say the least I have had all new parts for this as the old bits were ok but I am sad to see so many VW's with s sorry looking motor in the back so mine is to be diffrent I have to fabricate an outer tray for this a I am using beetle tin ware and this does not fit the bay bit I have the time to do this set aside in the near future.
But for ease moving the bus aroung the place I have installed a 2.0l vege motor and gear box from a donor bus I brought for £80 not a bad deal there as this had a full set on gen VW bench seats
but this one is well beyond repair now due to being rotten...BIG TIME but she will live on as parts as I have stripped the hell out of it, shame realy as she cleaned up ok
but she is off to the scrappy in the sky this week as there is nothing left on it now.
And so here we are up to date again on RR site she has changed a lot but I cant take the photos as it has no front axel due to the org one being holed but once again the 78 came to my rescue again.
But I cant find anyone to lower this one in scotland so any ideas HELP here please.
So to the best photos this is what she looked like a few months ago still needs painting and lowering but she is getting there
Hope you like her as she is killing me.....lol
Ok it has been some time and ive done a bit more to the ol Vee Dub, we have a local paint sprayer on the job now and he is taking her in for a new coat in september so I have now ripped her down for all the last bits that I can do and well I got bored wating so decided to sort out the odl 2.0l motor as with it sat next to the 1641 it looked like scrap, but this is a quick overhaul as I havent got the money to rebuild two engines for the same car.
The carbs needed a full on clean and rebuild so here we have one done and the other as it was off the motor, but as you can see the motor needed this clean up BIG TIME!!
But with a weeks hard work and rebuilt carbs new plugs and dizzy she looks a bitty better now just waiting for the new back box from JUST KAMPERS and she will be as good as new.
Just one small note the vege motor will not fit the 1600 gear box so if you are thinking of a quick swap think again you need the 2.0l gear box too
Dammit I sold the 2.0l motor but I sold it for £250.00 so now I have some more money for other parts as the list I have in the workshop is written on a toilet roll its that long.
Ok now due to pressure from everyone and no help, I have lowered the bus a bit............Well about 14 inches in total, having never lowered a bus before I was concerned about cutting in to a good axel but it went well, I have new long travel ball joints and new bearings also put in sway ajusters along with re welding the bump stops in a new position so the bus can go up and down safely.
Another good point is I no longer have to wedge up the workshop door to get her in and out as she now misses the door by about 10-12 inches
as you can see here she was a tad high
SLAMMED ME THINKS!!!
I think she looks great now but we have just purchaced a new set of shiney wheels from the EBAY site and am off on sunday to collect from cambridge a nice wee drive of 1000 miles.
I will need new tyres for these as they have 185/80/14 on at the mo but are to high as you can see in the pic so I will be putting on 195//55/14 and again lose another inch from the height.
the rear I have dropped by one spline at the moment due to not being able to put the wheel on if I drop it by two but once I have the new tyres on this will no longer be a problem.
I am 5'11" and for scale you can see the approx ride height from this photo
So off to service me astra van up for the trip and have her blessed by a priest and with fingers crossed and rabbits feet wraped in four leaved clovers I will return................with a bit of luck. LOL
Well I made it and here she is with new shiney rims looks realy retro now cant wait for the painter to give her a new coat to match, I need the bus gone so I can get the roof fixed anyway
Now I having a disater in the way of lack of space with everything off the bus and stored in the workshop I cant move, lol, next up is the paint job so might be a while till I update this, but keep watching.............
ok ok here we go nothing has happened but I now have space in my work shop, she has gone to the painters. This has given me space to clean the wheels up that I got off EBAY
So now I have some space I am working on the devon roof, this has suffered badly over the last 30 years but seemed water tight.
as you can see the outer seal was knackered and the inner seal just bled black all over the roof everytime it got wet.
![]()
[/http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t264/ross4620/DSCF6361.jpgimg]
but now I have some room to strip this down and re seal this.
the plastic bellows are shot split and well unrepairable so I will be ordering a canvas copy costing £125, I could go for the ORG replacment but at £565 this is to much as I still have a lot of money to put in to this van yet.
The roof vent was damages by my Dad who backed it in to the garage door many years ago (I rember the swearing) so I have found another one for £35.00 and the seals are costing me about £50.00, so as I wait for the box from JK with me goodies I am here updating you all.
Here is all thats left of the roof at the moment.
and the vent handles have been salvaged
The next update will be around the end of the month when she is back from the painters and I can get on with the brake fitting and I might have some new low pro tyres by then too.
Save me as a favorite and see the new bus in a few weeks.
Ok guys and galls' I have returned from the painters and am armed with new progres photo's looks like I will have to wait another few weeks as the painter is having some trouble with the body some more welding req'd.
As you can see the body is rubbed down and looking rather tatty but solid, I kind of feel sorry for them as they have a lot of work to do on this rot box.
the doors and deck lid are looking solid but for one small patch that neeed's doing under the lowest part but apart from this solid again.
And round the back its just the engine bay to do this is a sh**y job in here I rember doing it myself some time ago but thats what I'm paying them for.
So dear readers looks like it will be a few more weeks yet............ Ho Hum
hope you like it.
She has been in the family for about 25 years and some time ago my dad said he was going to sell her as he want using her any more so I sold my Spitfire 2.0l straght six and brought her for £2000, she had been off the road for about 6 years by then but parked up in a garage, so I put her in for an mot and she failed on one tyre not to bad.
But due to a house move from Cambridgeshire to Dundee I put off doing any thing to her for the first 12 months.
I then set about building a 2500 Cu ft workshop for the restoration job this is a bit narrow but what can you do this is 8.6ft wide but 44ft long sorted ;D.
the first job was the strip but due to a computer f**k up I have only three photos of this, and so set about the interior ripping out everything that was old and worn out and ended up with......
Not to much left to save here but undaunted I caried on with the underside, not expecting to much as this passed an mot 18mths ago........ so off I set with the angle grinder and found some rust here and there have a look for your selfThis mot guy must have been blind or stupid...Anyhoo some bits and bobs later I finsihed the major welding two out riggers/two splash trays/two rear repairds and a lull seam down each side for the sills oh and a throttle plate.
Then back to the inside this was just cleaning and painting to stop the rust coming back.
easy job for a change, but inside the 78 bay window I have found a hole host of goodies well have a look
Well call me "Betty", I have never seen a full set in such good order I have everything here door cards, seats bench seat, boot carpet, headliner, rubber mat for rear and also the bench seat fixings. Well I had to see if it looked all ok so in it went not a long job here but this will do for now, as I am planning a full on custom interior although I have no set plans for this yet but I do have two 12inch subs and a couple of amps sony XPLOD 6X9's and a dvd player (this is gonna be loud).
I put this set on EBAY and only was offered 99p what is wrong with people?? I ask you??
Before the engine rebuild, this has been a long slog to say the least I have had all new parts for this as the old bits were ok but I am sad to see so many VW's with s sorry looking motor in the back so mine is to be diffrent I have to fabricate an outer tray for this a I am using beetle tin ware and this does not fit the bay bit I have the time to do this set aside in the near future.
But for ease moving the bus aroung the place I have installed a 2.0l vege motor and gear box from a donor bus I brought for £80 not a bad deal there as this had a full set on gen VW bench seats
but this one is well beyond repair now due to being rotten...BIG TIME but she will live on as parts as I have stripped the hell out of it, shame realy as she cleaned up ok
but she is off to the scrappy in the sky this week as there is nothing left on it now.
And so here we are up to date again on RR site she has changed a lot but I cant take the photos as it has no front axel due to the org one being holed but once again the 78 came to my rescue again.
But I cant find anyone to lower this one in scotland so any ideas HELP here please.
So to the best photos this is what she looked like a few months ago still needs painting and lowering but she is getting there
Hope you like her as she is killing me.....lol
Ok it has been some time and ive done a bit more to the ol Vee Dub, we have a local paint sprayer on the job now and he is taking her in for a new coat in september so I have now ripped her down for all the last bits that I can do and well I got bored wating so decided to sort out the odl 2.0l motor as with it sat next to the 1641 it looked like scrap, but this is a quick overhaul as I havent got the money to rebuild two engines for the same car.
The carbs needed a full on clean and rebuild so here we have one done and the other as it was off the motor, but as you can see the motor needed this clean up BIG TIME!!
But with a weeks hard work and rebuilt carbs new plugs and dizzy she looks a bitty better now just waiting for the new back box from JUST KAMPERS and she will be as good as new.
Just one small note the vege motor will not fit the 1600 gear box so if you are thinking of a quick swap think again you need the 2.0l gear box too
Dammit I sold the 2.0l motor but I sold it for £250.00 so now I have some more money for other parts as the list I have in the workshop is written on a toilet roll its that long.
Ok now due to pressure from everyone and no help, I have lowered the bus a bit............Well about 14 inches in total, having never lowered a bus before I was concerned about cutting in to a good axel but it went well, I have new long travel ball joints and new bearings also put in sway ajusters along with re welding the bump stops in a new position so the bus can go up and down safely.
Another good point is I no longer have to wedge up the workshop door to get her in and out as she now misses the door by about 10-12 inches
as you can see here she was a tad high
SLAMMED ME THINKS!!!
I think she looks great now but we have just purchaced a new set of shiney wheels from the EBAY site and am off on sunday to collect from cambridge a nice wee drive of 1000 miles.
I will need new tyres for these as they have 185/80/14 on at the mo but are to high as you can see in the pic so I will be putting on 195//55/14 and again lose another inch from the height.
the rear I have dropped by one spline at the moment due to not being able to put the wheel on if I drop it by two but once I have the new tyres on this will no longer be a problem.
I am 5'11" and for scale you can see the approx ride height from this photo
So off to service me astra van up for the trip and have her blessed by a priest and with fingers crossed and rabbits feet wraped in four leaved clovers I will return................with a bit of luck. LOL
Well I made it and here she is with new shiney rims looks realy retro now cant wait for the painter to give her a new coat to match, I need the bus gone so I can get the roof fixed anyway
Now I having a disater in the way of lack of space with everything off the bus and stored in the workshop I cant move, lol, next up is the paint job so might be a while till I update this, but keep watching.............
ok ok here we go nothing has happened but I now have space in my work shop, she has gone to the painters. This has given me space to clean the wheels up that I got off EBAY
So now I have some space I am working on the devon roof, this has suffered badly over the last 30 years but seemed water tight.
as you can see the outer seal was knackered and the inner seal just bled black all over the roof everytime it got wet.
but now I have some room to strip this down and re seal this.
the plastic bellows are shot split and well unrepairable so I will be ordering a canvas copy costing £125, I could go for the ORG replacment but at £565 this is to much as I still have a lot of money to put in to this van yet.
The roof vent was damages by my Dad who backed it in to the garage door many years ago (I rember the swearing) so I have found another one for £35.00 and the seals are costing me about £50.00, so as I wait for the box from JK with me goodies I am here updating you all.
Here is all thats left of the roof at the moment.
and the vent handles have been salvaged
The next update will be around the end of the month when she is back from the painters and I can get on with the brake fitting and I might have some new low pro tyres by then too.
Save me as a favorite and see the new bus in a few weeks.
Ok guys and galls' I have returned from the painters and am armed with new progres photo's looks like I will have to wait another few weeks as the painter is having some trouble with the body some more welding req'd.
As you can see the body is rubbed down and looking rather tatty but solid, I kind of feel sorry for them as they have a lot of work to do on this rot box.
the doors and deck lid are looking solid but for one small patch that neeed's doing under the lowest part but apart from this solid again.
And round the back its just the engine bay to do this is a sh**y job in here I rember doing it myself some time ago but thats what I'm paying them for.
So dear readers looks like it will be a few more weeks yet............ Ho Hum
