I'm very much up for challenges but I'd have turned that away from the Grumpy Towers workshop had it darkened my doors - don't let my comments put you off though - that's a very brave save for a home restoration & you have my full moral support
Cheers Chris. As said stupidity or idiocy may be more appropriate than bravery but I’m into it now so there’s no turning back.
Yeah, as others have said, that's seriously impressive. I/brother scrapped a westfalia version that was probably similar in state to this and of a similar age (WWW 750L) - the clue was grabbing hold of the chassis to pull myself underneath and it came off/disintegrated in my hand!
On the plus side we still have a few spares knocking about so if you need anything just shout.
Oh, that’s very good of you. I will need a fair bit of items to get it back in one piece but that’s a way off just yet.
I was going to make a 'brave pills' quip but Strikey struck first! I will therefore simply observe that your wheelbarrow must have heavy duty wheel(barrow)bearings!
Look forward to more
Cheers
Matt
Haha, yeah the bearings are holding up but the tyres have burst.
Out of interest I’ve just put a deposit on a 2007 Danbury Brazilian T2 water cooled bay running a 1.4 VW Fox three cylinder lump. Once my T5 Camper goes I will be collecting it. They’re 90% identical and a lot of parts are interchangeable. At least I know my way around one now!
Yeah, as others have said, that's seriously impressive. I/brother scrapped a westfalia version that was probably similar in state to this and of a similar age (WWW 750L) - the clue was grabbing hold of the chassis to pull myself underneath and it came off/disintegrated in my hand!
On the plus side we still have a few spares knocking about so if you need anything just shout.
Great plate for a web designer with a V12 Siebener!
Before getting in to the serious stuff on the chassis (yeah, the other work prior to this was just practice for the real work!) before I cut out the floor I removed the units and bed and found this in the side. Which turned out to be a bit of gloop to hide the damage! I have one word.....why?
Oh
I scanned the worlds favourite auction site and found this side panel from a left hand drive bus. The run out on the swage under the side window runs the other way, Not a problem as the upper part on mine is solid, which meant I could recoup funds selling the upper section with the all important rust free gutters and offset some of my costs.
It’s solid at least although it needs done dolly work. The whole panel cost me £125 and the upper piece put £90 back in my bin.
I had a bit of a tidy up and a loan of my mates roll over frame which bolts to the hubs. With a couple of pair of hand from my brothers it ended up like this.
As soon as I had found the chassis corrosion I had been on the lookout for a chassis clip and came across this solid piece from a Californian bus for £150.
A session with the grinder and some Kurust and then etch primer saw it look like this.
The next bit of work gave me the impetus to look for a cheap plasma cutter. I found a Chinese Cut-40 which looked like it had never been used for £90. When you consider this was 2013-14 I think lucked out.
I cut the brackets from the new section and wafted the old rails from inside the original brackets trying to keep it all intact.
I was quite surprised how well and easy this slotted between the hanging brackets.
I went a bit overboard with the spot welds and seam welded it all.
All that was left to do was to weld it back to the torsion tube the using a bit of curved cardboard I made some shame plates to tidy up the finished article and put some strength in the joint. These busses are renowned for snapping the end off the torsion tube.
Not sure on the purpose of these 4 sections but the rotted sections were still there so I could make some templates. You can see some of the repairs behind them which needed replacing first.
A couple of localised repairs and the odd bit of mild steel conduit let into the rails as cable ducts and it was almost ready to flip on to the other side.
A bit more tomorrow. Battery had taken a hammering!
I'm slack-jawed... the canal is definitely distant with this one!
Haha, not sure what that means but it at least resembles a chassis now. Honestly the difference from above to how it currently sits is night and day. It owes me around £2k now but I would at least come out of it in pocket now.
I'm slack-jawed... the canal is definitely distant with this one!
Haha, not sure what that means but it at least resembles a chassis now. Honestly the difference from above to how it currently sits is night and day. It owes me around £2k now but I would at least come out of it in pocket now.
OK - here goes - pronounce it slowly... - 'Far Canal'
My caps are not only doffed, but quite probably also sobbing!
Haha, not sure what that means but it at least resembles a chassis now. Honestly the difference from above to how it currently sits is night and day. It owes me around £2k now but I would at least come out of it in pocket now.
OK - here goes - pronounce it slowly... - 'Far Canal'
My caps are not only doffed, but quite probably also sobbing!
We all love a weld-a-thon coupled with flawed purchasing logic.
Keep up the good work and the story.
Good to see your welding improve, and you've managed to dial out something that has affected us all - out of focus pictures
Can't wait for the next installment
In fairness re-the welding, aside from natural progression, is probably more about the set. This thing has seen 2 X Clarke's which were ok, a sip 170 turbo which was SH!t and an old German Taskmaster which had issues, things improved the moment I bought the portamig 185 and it goes down to 15A!
Oh
