Cunning Bus

[Andy]

Is beige the new Black/silver/White now?

RK- jump on this bandwagon with the Caddy!

[Cunning Plan]

After getting in from a long day at work and commuting, I was out in the garage for 3 and a half hours taking the dropped spindles apart to fix the leaves which weren't allowing the other side to go on properly, then putting it all back together again.

Anyway - done now  :msn4:

I'm pretty pleased with the kit - quality is excellent. The height could have been down a little - like 1/2" - but it's fine. I plan to take the over-all height down (not wheel arch height, I mean bus height) by using skinnier tyres on the front - pictured here with my old 14" with 185/70/14s on.

I also let a bit of air out of the front tyre for the last shots just to simulate having smaller tyres on.











The suspension travel is amazing - it is like a bouncy castle compared to before. However, dissapointly, as andyo11 pointed out - the Red9 Spax coil-overs are not tall enough to use with the d-spindles, so I am going to have to buy some better suited coil-overs. So, looks like my entire Red 9 kit is up for sale!!  ;)

So, yep, pleased with the height. Compared with before, I think it's raised about 1".





But as I say, I hope to regain that 1" (or close to it) by putting skinnys on the front - like Graham L's:



I never set out to have a slammed bus, just a lowered one that drives well, so hopefully this is the solution - a low 'over all' height of the bus, but still have lots of suspension travel - the one compromise being you can see a bit more of the inner arch - so the wheel doesn't fill it as well.

[Andy]

Andyo11 sounds like a safe bloke, not sure about Graham though... :msn4:


Looks good, wouldn't you get that half inch once you load the suspension? I take it's bare of interior? Or just start eating some pies?

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Andy

Looks good, wouldn't you get that half inch once you load the suspension? I take it's bare of interior? Or just start eating some pies?

Yah, it should go down a tiny amount once glass is in etc, but obviously with the engine in the back, there isn't a lot else to add to the front

Just worked out smaller tyres will drop from 122mm to 80mm - so there is an inch already.

I might add adjusters to the beam at some point to reduce the wheel to wheel arch height - but that's when it is back on the road..

[philoldsmobile]

looking good! I'd be inclined to go with shiny beige myself, gloss paint takes a lot less looking after.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

RK- jump on this bandwagon with the Caddy!

You know Beige makes sense.

[Cunning Plan]

Andewilson's rollers are on (with adapters to wide-5) ready for rolling.



I just have to move quite a bit out of the garage to make the space and double check that at the highest point the bus won't hit a low storage rack suspended from the garage roof joists.

[Incursus]

Mind your toes!

[Andy]

Ah this is where you get some money back, all that lost change down the seat will come flying out!

Rather you than me though dude. A lot of potential for Murphys Law to kick in lol!

[Cunning Plan]

A few pictures..







Amazing how much more you can see when it is rolled. Although there are a lot more dodgy patch plates on the chassis than I first thought. Which puts the project behind again      

[Andy]

LoL'ing at the ABDOMINATOR balancing on the door... So random.

How much strain does that put on the running gear / suspension / brakes etc?

Is it bolted anywhere else except the hub?

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Andy

LoL'ing at the ABDOMINATOR balancing on the door... So random.

Yah it does look odd, like someone has just stacked it in the garage and abandoned it!

Quoting: Andy

How much strain does that put on the running gear / suspension / brakes etc?

No idea. I presume as other people have rolled their bus with a full camping interior, glass, engine and gear-box with no issues, mine should be wayyyy lighter than theirs. The one thing I would maby think about stessing too much would be steering arms - which weren't connected when I rolled, but will be to roll back, then roll again, roll back then roll again

Quoting: Andy

Is it bolted anywhere else except the hub?

Just the hubs!!

[Cunning Plan]

With the bus rolled, Jason from Dubs and Classics came over again to assess yet more welding to be done on the chassis  :?



So, Jason left me with instructions to get cleaning and grinding ready for when the bus goes to his workshop.



The plan is to grind out all rubbish ready for fresh to be welded back in and wire-wheel / clean / metal ready / POR15 all everything else.



Took out the centre heating pipe along with the cables etc. Plan is here to connect up a Eber / Propex heater using a modern flexible pipe into the original front section heating system so you can still direct heat onto the front screen and have efficient heating ad-hoc.



Wire-wheeeeeeliiinggggg..



Hmm dodgy steering linkage!!!!!!!!

[Cunning Plan]

Grinding, wire-wheeling, de-greasing, grinding, wire-wheeling, de-greasing etc, etc.





Some new parts have arrived for the steering mechanism:



But I am reusing the idler arm, so that gets wire-wheeled then put in the vinegar until I paint it.

[Cunning Plan]

Took a day off yesterday to tow the bus to Dubs and Classics.



Fecking beautiful day, sun was out all day.  8)



Now Jason can get stuck in and finish the structual work that the old UK '68 needs  :|





Andewilson's rollers coming in useful again  :party0006:



Some of Jason's other customer projects and his own super cool roof-chop Beetle - stunning work  :mrgreen:

[Cunning Plan]

Manky!









A repair was also needed to the axle tube  :?



Jason starting to do what he does best.





See, this is why I have gone to a professional restorer - I was tempted to get all the kit myself and have a go, but you just don't get these skills over-night - that is a tidy repair  8)

[F Body]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

See, this is why I have gone to a professional restorer

Indeedy - Nice work

It's unusual to see Body work done first and then the chassis

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: F Body

It's unusual to see Body work done first and then the chassis

Yah, that was my fault really. I had it shot-blasted then had a 'quick' look at the chassis and I evaluated all the areas that needed to be done and at that time the shell was like a collender and the rear roof was non-exsistant, so I wanted to get it up to a base standard before continuning - so that's where Andyvan in Wales came in - he bought the shell, roof, doors, window edges and sections of the chassis up to a reasonable standard.

Fast-forward, I rolled it, then got going with the wire-wheel and sections that I thought were OK were in-fact OK but the bus has gone from 'just get it on the road' to a nut and bolt restoration (minus the shiny shiny paint and good engine for now), so I knew painting over the dodgy welds would have been alright for a few MOTs, but you would have ended up patching again - which is the issue with the bus, it has just been patched - so now Jason is just taking all that off and putting it back to how it should be.

[Andy]

If a jobs worth doing, it's worth doing right!

[Cunning Plan]

Update from Jason:

Quoting: "Jason"

I can foresee a problem in that the inner sill thats up in the air at the moment has been welded on too far away from the chassis, hence all them extra bits that have been welded to it at the end of the top hats etc. (if you look at pic 1777, where the top hat ends is where the inner sill should be) This appears to have been done to bridge the gap that would have been there. I will look into this further and see what our options are and get back to you.

[Cunning Plan]

[Roadkill]

That's some smooth work.

[Cunning Plan]

Jason is hammering along with the bus. :character0036:

It is starting to look straight and solid now  8)



You can see a section of flat floor at the top closest to the sill instead of the corrigated metal. This was a previous repair which was solid, but needed tidying. Jason gave me the choice of whipping it all out and putting the corrigated stuff in or save a little bit of time and tidy it all up - which is what I chose to do, so Jason has progressed with that. OK it won't be 100% original, but it is looking 100% more solid than it did.







This is what you get for owning a UK bus. Stuff has been bodged on top of bodges, which means you end up with inaccurate spacing  :| . Big gap here on the rear-arch corner. Jason is going to have a bit of work to get this back to how it should be.





















Jason is also going to protect the entire chassis and his work with a couple of coats of Schutz which I am real excited about (sad I know   , but this will mean the bus gets excellent chassis protection which also looks good and is more like the protection a modern car chassis gets.  :mrgreen:

Take a look at this Beetle chassis restored by Dubs and Classics and painted with Schutz (not the shiney bit, the rougher bit on the bulk-head is Schutz).  8)



Front 'chin' section, front arches, floor tubs and passenger side sills left to do.

[Cunning Plan]

Played with the stickers on the rear window. Helps to get the motivation up  :mrgreen:



Went back to Dubs and Classics to flip the bus over to do the other side of welding.







The workshop is getting quite full now!  8)  A nice cross-over was in there, unusual colour, but it worked really nicely.

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

This is what you get for owning a UK bus

Same with my old Humbers . . . Chicken wire and fibreglass . . . Yummy !

Nice work - I'm assuming he tackles other stuff, too, other than VeeDub stuff ?