Hows it going? Thought it was about time i started a thread on here, after i bought my first bus in august this year.

I recognise a few names from over on the SBS forum so some of you may have seen my build thread already, if not, here it is……….

So a few months ago, i decided i needed a replacement for my lowlight i sold 2 years ago (actually only sold it to pay towards the renovation of my house)

I also dabble with watercooled VW's too, mk1's and a couple of mk2's, so my mk2 golf has kept me occupied until now.

I was pretty specific with what i wanted, either a panel or 11 window, preferably dove blue or mango, small rear hatch, lights etc, bonus if i could find a pressed bumper van but not fussed if not.

After a few months of searching the samba i found pretty solid looking 11 window mango (sort of) Its been painted at some point and has started to be stripped back to OG, but all the door shuts, engine bay, interior, dash is all still mango. So after a few emails a deal was done and it was on its way to the port……. this was back in september.

Anyway, heres a few of the pics that helped me decide to buy it...….
















And some bits I picked up from busfest.....


Plans are
Steering box Raise
4.5" Narrowed beam
Dropped spindles
Tubbed arches
Strip the paint back (hopefully) to OG Mango
1500 type3 gearbox and SA set up
Decent stereo as i love my tunes..... My JL/Hertz set up from my golf is going into this.
And any metal work it needs, so far only been told it needs the sills doing, but im sure ill find some more

hi dude and welcome


Im loving the look of ya bus dude ..... and the start of another cool thread

good luck on the bus and keep those pics coming as it keeps the pervs happy


Laters
Mark

Cheers Mark, got plenty more pics to bring the thread up to date, just going through them now

Heres the cave before the arrival
There was another type34 in that space which we ended up having to chop up as a donor car.......


And the day i picked it up.... this was the last weekend in september i think.

Left northampton at 6:30am to collect the car transporter i hired and drove down to felixstowe.
On first glance it was pretty much as the seller described, which is always good.

After a poke around i found a few other bits that need attention, nothing major though luckily, but it did need new outriggers which i didnt know about... no biggy, and the sills need replacing that i knew about and have already got.
Apologies for the iPhone pics, and it was a bit late by the time i got back so some are a bit dark.

On the truck!!


Cool stickers







Offered up my tubs

Looks like its spent some of its life in hawaii

And onto the paint stripping.



Another layer of dark green under the red, but it's only thin and comes off with a bit of wire wool.




Got a couple of mates in to help


And a bit of motivation


Long side panel offered up


Wet sanded this corner, love how the mango comes through the the seagull grey, just needs a machine polish.


Bottom of the rear hatch.


Then worked my way round the other side.



Not alot of red left now.

The front panel isnt so great, There wasnt alot of paint left underneath so i took it back to bare metal. Going to paint up to the bottom of the windows and age/blend it in to match the rest of the van.

So after 2 weeks of ownership it looked like this.

After a little poke around it turned out it needed a bit more welding, not too bad, just a couple of outriggers, both frame cross members and some work to the top hats, oh and some floor repairs above the outriggers.

Anyway, managed to get all the red stripped.......


and most of the blue.


Front wasnt so good, so ive decided to stip it back, re-do it, and try and age/blend the paint in.


Also dug out a bit of filler and found a load of drilled holes (Now all welded up and lead loaded, but forgot to get pics lol)


Shot of the rusty sill


All gone...


Outriggers not too healthy either, pretty much the same story with all 4, looked fine from the outside, but seemed to have rotted from the inside and where full of sand


This is what came out...


Needed a few minor repairs to the floor edge, but we didnt have any panels, so decided to make some.


And another one


New outriggers front and rear


New inner sill and replaced the ends of the top hats.


And finally outer sill going on.... love a bit of funky green!!



Oh i also made a start on the beam as you can see in the last pic

So thats how it stood after 2 weeks

Rusty cargo sill


Outer, sill strengthener and inner chopped out


New one trial fitted in place


Got it up in the air to drop the rest of the running gear/gearbox out etc




And had a little mess about with the front ride height


Also bought myself a spit!!

New toy turned up

Wow what did you use to reveal the original paint?

well done ... lots of work been done in a very small time frame .... great job dude


Northampton Hu Ditto .... another splity rolling in Northampton soon

woooop woooop


roll over jig's ....worth they weight in gold hu ..... so much easier to work on the bus that way


Over and Out

Mark

Cheers dude. I used a combination of oven cleaner, graffiti remover, wire wool, and fine sanding pads on an orbital sander



I honestly can't imagine doing the work off the floor without the jig!! It definitely would be taking a lot longer. Excellent bit of kit!!

More pics on the way

Out with the old....





In with the new.....





And had a little go on the roof

So with help of my mate (he's the one doing all my welding), We started building the beam.
I've narrowed it 4.5", raised centre pin (having a new pin made by my mate who owns g23 engineering) one on one restorations end plates and a pair of Avis style adjusters.

Pretty pleased with how it came out considering we where both hungover from the night before.

Looks like you are doing a great job - will be a nice bus

Where did you get your rotisserie from or did you make it yourself? I made my last one but yours is a better design...

Cheers bud, got a load more pics to go through to bring it up to date. I'll sort some more in a bit when I get a chance.

The rotisserie was from a guy on eBay, it's pretty good for the price to be fair. It bolts to the front bumper mounts, and at the rear it bolts up to the gearbox forks and rear bumper mounts.
I was originally looking for one like yours when I spotted this one.

Hi and welcome from a fellow cobbler.

Looking like a nice project on the go there and will be nice to follow another local thread.

Good luck with it and keep posting

Steve