My mid life crisis !

[stuart1]

Hi new to the site, bought my baby "Bumblebee" a couple of months ago,, got her home and started right away,,loving every minuite of it!This is the dream,, will get here in the next few month's,,,I hope




This is the reality at the moment !

[stuart1]

The bus came with a toyota TD motor with a blown head, have removed it and will be putting in an 1800 golf unit which I have purchased and am in the process of rebuilding as well,, the bus had been painted with yellow enamel paint which was a bitch of note to get off,, put a sanding disc near it and all you got was yellow cobweb's flying everywhere,, there was a bit of rust but nothing crazy,under the windscreen, under the two back windows and around the battery housing,, little bit's here and there which I have cut out and fabricated parts out of .8mm steel and welded in, there was a fair bit of body filler around which I have removed ,beaten and re done,, most of it 2 or 3 times as this is a huge learning process but I'm getting better at it as I go along, I will say I'm spending most nights and free weekends in the garage and loving every moment of it !!

[Merlin]

'76-'79.

[stuart1]

Thanks Merlin,, any idea how I will determine the exact year?

[Merlin]

Thanks Merlin,, any idea how I will determine the exact year?

The third number of the the third row of numbers on the ID/M-code plate. I don't know my Bays that well, but it's probably in the vicinity of the manufacture plate. Check the bulkhead/under the cab seats.

[Drusky]

Nice! I like Bays a lot. Was it necessary to take it down to the metal? How do you keep the surface rust away? Have you used paint stripper or was all the paint removed by abrasion.
If you want non standard how about this:

or this:

or if you really don't like domes, what about:

[Bugger]

Great work there bud you have put some serious hours in the project keep posting

[arnocill]

This just goes to show that a mid life crisis are'nt always a bad thing.

[Golfmad]

Oh my . . . !! Where is the droooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool smiley ! I think I wet myself !

[stuart1]

Those are seriously sweet van's there,, one thing I have learned is that it's only work when it aint fun,, I'm having a ball and loving the "therapy", one fortunate thing is that I have a small steel fabrication business so I can do the patching myself,, also want to get pics of propper roof rack's so that I can make one but really loving doing this !

[stuart1]

@ Drusky,, decided that I wanted to only do the van once so thought it best to start with a clean canvass, have used very little stripper(just in the really crappy places) used a heat gun, wire brush and sanding discs, I will use deoxidene soon just to remove any surface rust and coat the steel before spraying, this is the first time I'm doing anything like this so it's a serious learning curve for me,, looks so much easier on you tube LOL !

[jolas]

Congrats on your bus, and welcome to the best that a midlife crisis can offer, don't worry about the Harley

That looks like a nice solid bus. That first pic of the blue and white bus, is that what you are aiming for ?

Best of luck with the rest of the project, keep the pics coming, where about is your steel fabrication business ?

Cheers

[stuart1]

@Jolas,, yes thats the look and colour I am aiming for,, my business is in Centurion !

[IMPI]

Hi Nice work
Do support the gearbox in a horizontal position, You run the risk of damaging the cvs but more importantly the gearlinkage
Regards
Armand

[sean]

Keep up the hard work! The worst part is over now, you going to be seeing your results soon.