67 Panelvan

[Dutch_Diver]

I need 2 of those clamps too for my rack. If I find, I will buy 4 and send 2 over in the post.

[Donovan D]

I need 2 of those clamps too for my rack. If I find, I will buy 4 and send 2 over in the post.

Thanks Dutch


After doing nothing on the bus yesterday, I went into the garage today to find this,

My original Safari window in bits
Looks like the frame is bent, why would the window just break apart ? If I was to sit behind that while driving I would have been full of glass


But we managed to get the front lifted

[Donovan D]

Drove the fleetline today for the first time, it was just around the block, but it put a smile on my face

Update on Panel:
Grinded steering mount off and made way for the new one, Mocking up the set-up to see where to weld.








New section in




With steering box attached:




Side view, the steering box just sticks out

[CooP]

Neat work, nice job

[Dutch_Diver]

Lovely.....why the steering box so high..... you planning on slamming this lovely bus?

[Ron&Gill]

Did you get the steering wheel off, and if so how?

[Donovan D]

Did you get the steering wheel off, and if so how?

Yes we did, we used a three legged puller with some flatbar at the bottom to protect the steering wheel,
It was really stuck on, we tightened the pulley but it did not look as if the steering was going to come off,
We just left it under pressure for a few minutes and it popped off

[Ron&Gill]

OK, thanks. Hey, i'm no wepert, but that broken glass looks very weird... I wonder what happened to make it break the way it did. Doesn'[t it look strange to you?

[Donovan D]

Yes dont have a clue what happened to that glass. It went into the frame with no problem, maybe it had a crack already and just ran through, it is second hand
Ill get another one cut this week, hopefully it will work

[karmakoma]

You mention the frame was bent on the Safari, now afaik, glass under strain, like the bent frame would cause, just needs a little "nudge" in the right place, and it's in pieces instantly. Exactly how tempered/armoured (whatever you call it) glass works, not the laminated glass with the plastic inbetween, proper tempered glass. It is placed under surface strain during manufacture, which makes it very hard on the large surface area, but knock a piece like that even mildly hard on its edge/thin side, and watch it explode.

Now if your frame is bent, placing more stress on the edge of the glass, just a small knock could cause it.
But I am not in the glass industry, so call it a semi educated guess. (Had to read up on glass after some flybynight installed our shower incorrectly...)

On that note, your front windows should be laminated glass, not tempered/armoured glass. For exactly the reason you mention! Only side windows are usually the armoured kind.

[Donovan D]

You mention the frame was bent ......

Yes, getting laminated glass and going to straighten the frames, the frame thats already on the bus with glass in is also a bit skew, I just dont hope I get there one day and its also broken

Lovely.....why the steering box so high..... you planning on slamming this lovely bus?

I'll just say lowering

[Donovan D]

Started getting the brakes back together

[karmakoma]

Looking good. You dont want to come and do my fleetline's brakes while you are in the swing of things.

[Donovan D]

Finished my brakes last night,
While doing the steering box raise I found a lot of mods done to the bus, with loads of wires running everywhere.
I decided to rip them out, The brake fluid reservoir was underneath the fuse box and the electrics is a mess. Need to tidy everything up nicely
So its one step foward and three back




Some dodge handbrake mod.


Seats removed and messy wires

[Ron&Gill]

Yey-ek-sê- where's your bulkhead?!?