Cunning Bus

[Cunning Plan]

Finally completed the headlining, it was an epic mini-project!

I now just need to work my way down the sides and around the windows with the same material, then find a nice and tidy way to join sections together.

Hopefully, my choice of custom material will be worth it in terms of insulation and sound-proofing as it is quite thick, yet still a material as opposed to a vinyl.














Started to install the adjustable rear spring-plates.

In the Bentley manual, it states a measurement of 23° + 50' is the stock / default setting of the spring plates for a 'Station Wagon' Bay. So I went for that:









A snap shot of the build so far:

[Roadkill]

Loving the headlining . . . it looks stroke-able.

[Incursus]

Quoting: Roadkill

Loving the headlining . . . it looks stroke-able.

 

[art b]

nice work mr cp....

Quoting: Cunning Plan

I have made a nice rig to fabricate the wiring loom  

so how far did ya get with wiring ...

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: art b

so how far did ya get with wiring ...

Still yet to really get started. Need to plan it all out with a diagram first

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

Still yet to really get started. Need to plan it all out with a diagram first

I'm working on it when I can..





It's starting to get messy! This is just the front lights and spot light.. LOL

Where's Incurus, he's an vehicle hardware engineer isn't he?

[Cunning Plan]

Ugh, Photobucket keeps resizing it!

[Cunning Plan]

Better!

[Cunning Plan]

But I WILL have my toggle switches!!!!!!!!!!

[Roadkill]

Yeah.

I don't understand that.

[art b]

Quoting: Cunning Plan

Better!

the indicators look a bit low...

[Cunning Plan]

Lots of parts on order!

Starting to put things together now, which is always nice.


Had to modify the spacer-plates for the adjustable spring plates as the holes were not exactly in the correct position.  :?
Used my new favourite tool with a grinding attachment - Dremmel!  


Zinc prepared, primed and painted.


Fitted and bolts torqued. I need to do the other side to push the torsion bars through properly.



Found a replacement sliding door middle hinge on VZi for a reasonable price. Started to take it apart to clean it up.


Replaced the bushes with some special copper ones I bought a while ago, which are supposed to greatly improve the mechanism operation.





Pulling the rear hubs apart.




Cleaning up.


Zinc prepped, primed and ready for paint.


Here is what was on the work list:

• Sliding Door Hinge - Find a replacement or fix the original  - In Progress (Waiting for the new parts for the hinge to arrive so I can finish reconditioning it).
  [/] Buy components for headlining along with the actual headlining - Complete
  [/] Fit Headlining  - Complete
  
• Wiring Loom diagram
  
• Wiring Loom component purchase
  
• Wiring Loom fabricate
  
• Fit Rear Adjustable Lowering Spring Plates from TransporterHaus - In progress

[Roadkill]

GOOD SHOW !

[Andy]

Nice work buddy! So are you looking at 'completin' this year?

I say 'completing' as I'm pretty sure you guys never finish tweaking these things.

[Cunning Plan]

I'd like to get it on the road as soon as possible, but it is slow going

[Cunning Plan]

Completed the reconditioning and rebuild of the sliding door middle-hinge, all greased up and ready to be refitted (quite proud of this):





Fitted the second spring-plate (this is mid-way through as I was applying rubber grease on the arm end ready for the bush):



Rebuilding the OS/Right rear hub with new bearings and fresh grease etc:





Even a reconditioned stud-axle which was very expensive (and I needed both   )





Then I made myself comfortable and took the Diagonal / A-Arms off to replace the bushes:



Old bush out:



Red-Rubber grease:



New one pressed in with the assistance of Record.



All done, ready for the arm to be repainted (yes, I know I could / should have repainted the arm first before fitting the bush, but I knew I would need to be quite rough with it to get the old one out and the new one in and I did not want chipped paint, so I did it this way around):



[/] Sliding Door Hinge - Find a replacement or fix the original - Complete!

• Fit Headlining extra material around windows
  
• Wiring Loom diagram
  
• Wiring Loom component purchase
  
• Wiring Loom fabricate
  [/] Fit Rear Adjustable Lowering Spring Plates from TransporterHaus - Complete!
  
• Replace A-Arm / Diagonal-Arm bushes, repaint and refit - 50% done
  
• Rebuild rear hubs - 50 % done
  
• Rebuild rear brake drums - 25% done

[Cunning Plan]

Shiny new stuff!

So, here we have LateBay backing plates (as you cannot buy EarlyBay backing plates) with standard EarlyBay '68>'70 cylinders, shoes, hand-brake cable and arm and the fitting kit. However, the shoes have been modified to allow them to sit in the angled adjusters.

[Roadkill]

Looking very tidy.  RK approves of this.  

[Cunning Plan]

Continued work on the Headlining around the windows in preperation to install windows.

Protection paint


Insulation


MegaVan Mats have been amazing for the supply of material, adhesive and answering my trimming-related questions!  


The longer side without the slider. I did not want a break or joins, so I have had to use a really long piece of continuous material.




Measure, cut, glue, stretch, press. Repeat


Completed fitting the rear left brake-drum shoes and hand-brake parts

• Fit Headlining extra material around windows - 60% done.
  
• Wiring Loom diagram
  
• Wiring Loom component purchase
  
• Wiring Loom fabricate
  [/] Replace A-Arm / Diagonal-Arm bushes, repaint and refit - Complete!
  [/] Rebuild rear hubs - Complete!
  [/] Rebuild rear brake drums - Complete!
  
  New tasks:
  
• Paint rear drums
  They are new, but I want a different finish as I don't want to have hub-caps / domes. I am going for the black, white and chrome look with original steelies.
  
• Fit rear drums
  
• Plan and purchase complete Hydraulic braking system
  
• Fit Complete Hydraulic braking system
  
• Fit Accelerator Cable

[Roadkill]

Looking like a bus, now . . . although it looks like there's a duvet in there, too . . . . have you been sleeping in there ?

[Cunning Plan]

Quoting: Roadkill

have you been sleeping in there ?

It's an old party table-cover thing that I'm using to stop the glue as it spurts sticky mess everywhere............................

[art b]

^



yea yea.. we get it ....

[Cunning Plan]

It was starting to get a bit messy during the headlining side-install.





Now mostly complete apart from some tidying of edges, installing the hinge covers for the tail-gate and hiding the join between the top headlining and the side.







The list now looks like this:

[90%] Fit Headlining extra material around windows (Need to tidy / Hinge covers / Cover joins)
[0%] Wiring Loom diagram (This was 10%, but now back to 0% for a change in direction.
[0%] Wiring Loom component purchase
[0%] Wiring Loom fabricate
[0%] Paint rear drums
[0%] Fit rear drums
[0%] Plan and purchase complete Hydraulic braking system
[0%] Fit Complete Hydraulic braking system
[0%] Fit Accelerator Cable
[0%] Rear Windows Tints
[0%] Rear Windows Install
[0%] Revise Front Axle / Brake Drums / Track-Rods / Re Torque all

[Cunning Plan]

So I am currently on a self-imposed spending freeze, which is making work on the bus even slower than it was before. I am only fitting parts that I already have 'in stock' or other tasks that just require time rather than new parts.



I have had these hinge covers on the shelf for a while, which to be honest, I am not totally keen on, however, they are better than the metal hinge of the boot hatch and cover the necessary headlining cuts.



The other side for comparison - Open.







The other side for comparison - Closed.











Half-closed.







Clear and closed.







The screws I am using are nice stainless ones, but I did not like the contrast between the headlining material, the plastic of the cover and the screws. So I found a number-plate cap-screw-cover and tried it on one of the screws, which I think looks better.







I only had one cap though, so I will have to get some more  



I will probably also try to put some more material into the gaps to make it look more integrated. OR I guess another option could be to cover the hinge covers in the same material as the headlining...... I might have a go at that.



___



[92%] Fit Headlining extra material around windows (Need to tidy / Hinge covers / Cover joins)

[0%] Wiring Loom diagram (This was 10%, but now back to 0% for a change in direction.

[0%] Wiring Loom component purchase

[0%] Wiring Loom fabricate

[0%] Paint rear drums

[0%] Fit rear drums

[0%] Plan and purchase complete Hydraulic braking system

[0%] Fit Complete Hydraulic braking system

[0%] Fit Accelerator Cable

[0%] Rear Windows Tints

[0%] Rear Windows Install

[0%] Revise Front Axle / Brake Drums / Track-Rods / Re Torque all

[Cunning Plan]

I went ahead and covered them with some spare headlining material.

It took me a few goes as it was difficult to stretch and press the material down to prevent ruffles, air-bubbles and ridges, especially on the corners where you have to stretch the material in different directions due to the convex and concave shapes. For such small pieces, they were quite 'technical' to do.  :diy:



I mock fitted both covers before covering them and I am a little disappointed in the quality of the covers considering how much they cost (£45/50 IIRC). The right-side one was pretty good, but as you can see above, the left was not moulded correctly where it is skewed out of position, meaning that the holes do not line up correctly.





- A fork. Useful tool.



Right-side complete.



Left-side complete.



Both sides installed.



I used black number-plate screw-caps to tidy the screws.





I think that looks much better than the dodgy white plastic covers. They looked a bit 'cheap'.   :rasp:
____

[100% Complete] Fit Headlining extra material around windows (Need to tidy / Hinge covers / Cover joins)
[0%] Wiring Loom diagram (This was 10%, but now back to 0% for a change in direction.
[0%] Wiring Loom component purchase
[0%] Wiring Loom fabricate
[0%] Paint rear drums
[0%] Fit rear drums
[0%] Plan and purchase complete Hydraulic braking system
[0%] Fit Complete Hydraulic braking system
[0%] Fit Accelerator Cable
[0%] Rear Windows Tints
[0%] Rear Windows Install
[0%] Revise Front Axle / Brake Drums / Track-Rods / Re Torque all