Yeap... I'm liking and learning also... still need to finish my father in law 62 panel... But now my trekker is first...

For me the rat look doesnt mean rust look... We need to preserve asd many of this ladys we can for the next generations... well, until we have petrol...

Keep us post, please!

Some more work done


Repair section not available for the curved section of chassis - This is one I made


Made from 2 sections welded together



Welded in place - along with a repair section like I fitted on the other side



The front section of the chassis all cleaned up



All the I beams but 1 will go again and are very good



The same cant be said of the sill - c post and the rear outrigger



Outrigger removed - showing more holes in the chassis rail



All the rust cut out and treated



Welded in place



All clean and ready for new outrigger

Look forward to watching this one

Great work once more...

The under side of a split bus is also a real pain to repare... so must rust... and missing metal also!

Hi we are the guys who are painting this bus , you can follow on the progress here
http://www.midlandpaintwerks.co.uk/Gare ... ba/B51.htm


www.midlandpaintwerks.co.uk

HI - Stu / Drew
Its looking good

Cheers, Jon
Hope you dont mind us posting on this thread.
Stuart/Drew

Not at all Guys - thats what a forum is for .
Merry Christmas BTW - will speak soon !

some more progress

Another repair section removed



this time from the section at the bottom of the rear wheel tub



Here you can see how the repair was attached - then buried in filler



This will need to be cut out



inner sill fitted



welds penetrating through



front outrigger fitted



Beginning to look more complete again



Outrigger from below

More progress .

The sill under the cargo doors was a little worse for wear so way cut out completely



This allowed the fitting of the rear outrigger on that side - Rule used to check for alignment



Top hat can then be spot welded in place



The sill removed



One of the I beams needed the end replacement



Top hat welded to the chassis rail at the back



Front outrigger welded in .



Outrigger at the back cleaned up



Front outrigger cleaned up



centre section of rear Top hat cleaned up .

It was at this point that I suggested that we have a quick look around the rest of the bus . This was because I and, I believe, the owner had been advised that other than the chassis and a bit in the floor it was basically rust free .
Because there were signs of further repairs ( black gunk ) else where I asked to strip the usual rust places to have a look - This is what we found

Holes and previous repair to rear corner


Damage to back by the valance

This was matched on the other side by a similar repair ( hole filled with bondo )


Cargo door inner - lots of filler



The outer of the same door



The other cargo door was worse


Filler below the paint in the front screens



The roof peak



Bottom of the front clip


The front has gone right across

So after discovering a load more work , time to get on with the chassis .

Off to the front of the chassis again - here you can see the inner strengthener from the chassis rail has gone and I have started to take out the top hat and the centre chassis cross member - these were in a bad way



No repair panel available for this bit so a cardboard template was made and then copied in the correct gauge steel



This can then be welded in place



This then allowed the fitting of the centre chassis section



This was then cleaned up and the lower section of the bulkhead was also removed and cleaned - the lower section of the bulkhead had rotted out along with the top hat.


You can see here that the top hat has now been fitted and the lower section of the bulkhead has had a new centre section fitted and has been cleaned up - This allows good fitting and as its all butt welded will not be visible as 3 panels when finished

Have you just stolen all the pics from my Samba thread?

They look identical!

Least your not just filling over!

A liitle more of the chassis - not sure that these shouldnt have come before last update but off the phone so loaded after - also quality is poor - Sorry

Inner sill section offered up at back



Lined up at front



The rotten section of I beam cut out



New section fitted



rear area cleaned ready for the rear top hat



Rear top hat fitted



And that my friends is the basics of the chassis done !!!!!!

No Buddy , I guess they all need the same when you really get into them - Its the only way to make a great bus .

Hopefully all the rust will be cut out and will be all shiny new metal .

Workshop doubles in size at the end of the month and my bus will be back down from the roof so looking to get some progress on that too - Oh and the Chevy is now registered