the next step after doing all the little fiddly bits on the front was to flip it on its see and get working on the chassis.


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...and breathe.

now the bus is on its stand we can access the underside and see what is going on.

a couple of pics of the work carried out up front.



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and now to start strengthening the chassis to support the new engine and running gear.



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the rear bulkhead is cut out to be replaced with one from a t25 which has a removable deck lid for better access to the engine.

Wow

Have I missed something here


All that x bracing ?


What engines going into this bus ?


Works coming on nicely


Well done


Mark

Hey Mark, the X bracing is there for the subaru boxer engine that will be going in. We are two to three weeks out from getting the red9 front and rear delivered and have some nice wheels ready to go on. The idea has always been to build a modern performing bus on the original look.
Andy, who is doing the work, has been working through the logistics of the wiring harness and the air conditioning the last little bit and I believe he has come up with some pretty good solutions. The relentless heat here in the Cayman Islands makes air conditioning absolutely mandatory. We are discussing seat belt configuration right now and how best to have three point seat belts throughout.

ok now I understand

Thanks

well done and keep going


Mark

A couple of things I am looking for:
- Does anyone have any leads on a great quality/looking roof rack? I am open to size but want something really nice.
- Same thing for mirrors on the bus.

yes mark, the amount of x-bracing may be a touch overkill but i'd rather have too much chassis rigidity than not enough. the 2.5 N/A engine we are using won't be as torquey as the turbo version but better safe than sorry.

a few pics of the underside whiles the bus is tipped over.





the primer is simply a weld through etch. this will allows us the paint the tops of the chassis and frame but still spot weld through it to fit the floor, which is happening now.





the chassis rails are drilled through every couple of inches and the floors clamped in place. then the holes are filled with weld and the floors secured.





the floors are all secured in place and we move onto the panels....

pretty much all of the panels are missing the lower couple of inches due to rot. so we fabricated new bottoms and began cutting out the old ones.



the thing that concerned me about this is the amount of rust hidden between the inner and outer skins of the panel. its not exactly surprising, (I've worked on early ferraris that had been built up before being painted at the factory, so when you took doors off there were no paint behind the hinges!! and don't get me started on 80's lancias!!) but it is worrying, as no matter what we do to paint and protect the car we will never be able to thoroughly prep and paint in cavities. and waxoyl only covers the problem. if theres already rust there then waxoyl anti gonna do a whole lot. so after speaking with rob and hearing his horror stories about 3 week old chrome work getting rusted up by the saltwater next to his house, we decided to send all the panels off for dipping and electrocoating. it should give us the best chance to kill all the rust and stop it coming back in the future.













and a touch of primer to protect it in the meantime..






now on to the rear of the bus and its raining new panels in the workshop....

New work dudes

Things are looking good



Well done and keep those pic coming



Mark

Knock knock


Resto police on ya door



What's happening guys


I love this thread ..... Let's see some pics and some bus porn



Loving ya work

Keep pushing guys ya building a one off bus here and we want to see more



Laters

Mark

Aka resto police

A bit of stuff showed up this week that should help the bus ride a bit better than original. Red9 makes absolutely gorgeous gear. They have been fantastic to deal with. A few pics:

I think Andy will post an update right shortly of where things stand on the restoration. Its a long slow process as everyone knows and its pretty exciting to see things like the red9 delivery.

Love the red 9 kit


Looks so sweet ... And drives even better than it looks


Come on Andy ...lets see some filler work getting done .... She must be looking good buy now





Mark

yes, sorry mark, I'm a bit behind on updates at the mo, just trying to sort through thousands of pics. but here a few..

new panels arrived.





sill on,



arch on,





the replacement rear bulkhead from a t25,



and now the replacement of pretty much all the panels in the engine bay,







and the fitting of the t25 rear bulkhead,





more to come today as i sort out my photo collection.

you do know you've put the l/h bottle tray in upside down? just looks a bit odd in the pictures.the flange on mine faces downwards. good chance i'm wrong.
mik