When you get a chance old son would you mind putting up some more pikkies of the tools that you are using- I am interested in the sanding drum attachment with the die grinder.
As usual you are doing a great job.
Peter
VW Toys
64 Beetle - club car - Herbie
RSK 718 Porsche Spyder
76 Southern Cross Offroad racing buggy. "Manx Buggies"
77 Cobra Offroad racing buggy "RipOff"
68 Country Buggy KO200
64 Manx swb
70 Dual Cab kombi
74 Dual Cab kombi
74 Micro bus
Wow, second to none job done as usual Das! 👍 Well done, can't wait to see the finished Bus. It looked like a sweet base to start with.
You make those fiddly repair jobs look so damn easy. 😁
When you get a chance old son would you mind putting up some more pikkies of the tools that you are using- I am interested in the sanding drum attachment with the die grinder.
Peter
Shall do Peter - with the die grinder I just use sanding flap wheels, but with the dremel use the little drums (wil try and remember the pics next time I'm on the tools (forgot today!).
The rear hatch opening corner was pretty crusty - here it is before the bad area was cut out:
Seeing though I couldn't find a donor piece in time, I cut it from flat steel, bent the 90 degree bend then made some pie cuts which enabled the radius bend to match the area that was cut out - holes are so it could be plug welded in place as it is too hard to weld and grind the top edge due to the recess it sits in:
I still haven't had a chance to get my mig serviced so welds aren't as neat as I like (gets a slight intermittent 'flat spot' 😉 - welds will be ground down this week:
After grinding all the welds flat and smoothing the metal out, I shot some etch primer quickly. Will continue with much the same on other parts of the bus now until it is ready for high build primer.
Derek and Lee requested the holes in the sliding door and drivers side that originally housed some vents be filled so I got started on the slider today.
A replacement piece was cut from a donor sliding door that was cactus (thanks to Cam) and cut lines marked:
When you take time and care, you can get a good fit with minimum gaps which helps to reduce the risk of warpage.
I tacked it in place today but forgot the pic - will update when I get the welding done.
If this is going to be a camper, don't you need to keep the vents to comply with Australian Standards regarding venting for gas leaks and sleeping etc ?
"If this is going to be a camper, don't you need to keep the vents to comply with Australian Standards regarding venting for gas leaks and sleeping etc ?"
A guy died from CO2 poisoning in his van at Bathurst car races when I was there a couple of years back. No vents for his fridge I believe
I know Derek has looked into it and I am unsure how much of the camper stuff they are retaining (in the first instance it will just have back seat until they decide what to do with the fitout next year - ie for now it won't be a true camper).
Regardless though, I've passed the info onto Derek so he can sift through the regulations etc. Cheers for the info.
Alan
Back onto the camper - the front panel is covered in stone chips that have progressed into small surface rust spots. Rather than trying to treat each chip individually I've decided to take the front back to bare metal.
Paint stripper to get it back to the primer as it was proving hard to sand regardless of grit discs used (clogged up even coarse discs/flaps etc). Taped up seams etc to prevent any stripper getting into the cracks 😉
Front is super straight so that is a relief (not a stitch of bog or a hint of a dent!). Happy days.
Nothing too exciting - just a bit more assurance to Derek and Lee that it is slowly progressing!
I spent more time getting the centre of the front panel back to bare metal with the stripper so I don't have to hit it so hard with the d/a sander (tomorrow after work) - the rest will clean up nicely and will hopefully be in etch tomorrow as well.
Nose was hit with etch primer then high build primer (white), after which 3M dry guide coat was applied and then sanded with 240 grit dry paper. This showed up a few small dents (nothing major) that required a bit of a tickle and some fine filler (all occurred after this pic)
Miscellaneous other little bits received primer as well after being sanded down.
Same deal with rear hatch that had a few minor dents as well.
Here is the guide coat (exciting hey?) 😉
Bit more welding happened today - hopefully some more tomorrow to keep things moving along.
Fair bit achieved yesterday - both doors are now done (a lot of sanding, guide coating, sanding, filling, sanding, priming, guide coating, sanding etc).
So now the nose and both doors are ready for colour (after the rest of the body is done) - slowly but surely getting there.
Cleaned up the inside yesterday and finished drilling out the pop rivet remains from the interior, plus scraped off glue residue and just a general tidy up. Both rear panels are primed along with the back of the bus - today I'll guide coat, sand (see above for process!) etc.
The rear quarters aren't too bad - just a few scrapes and bumps here and there. Next is finsihing the roof, and continuing to fill the vent holes and lpg cylinder hole as Derek and Lee are ditching gas altogether and going electric fridge etc (Derek has checked Australian Standards/regulations re. venting and has it under control).
Nothing exciting today but did manage to fix this problem area:
Forgot to take a pic of the repair patch fully welded from the outside before the skim filler was applied so here is a pic from the inside to show it was fully seam welded (not just tacked or stitched and bogged)
Here is the old crap cut out. Surrounding the cut out section was some very minor pitting which didn't warrant total removal, thus it received a thorough grind, then rust converter, followed by a good clean and prime:
Kinda tedious work but the inside of the doors were cleaned up to get the crusty stuff out, then rust converter applied again where necessary.
All this stuff is ideal to retain moisture and promote rust:
Rust preventative paint was brushed in all seams, joints etc to prevent rust for as long as possible. After paint goes on, wax will also be sprayed in for further prevention.
This job sucked, but all the glue remnants had to be cleaned off the inside of the doors and the channels where the seals sit...took ages but a top coat is only ever as good as whats underneath it, hence the effort is worthwhile.
Thanks for the good pic's and explanation as you go it's been a great learning curb for Lee and me, keep up the good stuff and don't be afraid to get right into all those awkward and hard too reach spots!! Ha Ha
Hey Derek - good to see you on here keeping track of progress!
Today I had to tackle the patch panels for the vent holes and lpg cylinder cavity. After taking extreme care butt welding in the patch in the sliding door, there was still a little too much warpage for my liking. The panel shrunk in the corners of the patch (despite only spot welding one spot at a time and cooling etc (plus using hammer and dolly to try and stretch it back whilst welds were still hot)). It can be fixed of course and will be, but I decided to use a single lap weld for the patches on the drivers side.
Using a punch/flange tool (air powered), I punched a flange into the patch panel so the ouside skin would be level with the surrounding original panel.
Although I like to butt weld everywhere possible, I had to try the lap in this instance to avoid warping. I post these pics as I like all my work to be transparent. Before lapping the joint, both meeting surfaces were painted with weld through primer, and the inside join will be seam sealed.
Bear in mind there is no less work for me taking this approach as it is still fully seam welded and ground smooth. It is not just tacked and bogged over (not my style).
Just cause I love welding, the water inlet was to be filled as well to clean up the lines of the bus on the sides.
Patch piece was cut and filed to fit
Magnet held it in place whilst it was tacked
All smooth. The remaining water inlet will be left just behind the drivers door.
Sorry for the plethora of pics - I do it more to show people how stuff is done, so if you know it all already apologies for taking up bandwidth!
More tomorrow maybe if time permits.
Alan
Back onto rust repair today....the gutter section above the sliding door was cactus due to the sail channel sitting in place and corroding:
After having no luck bending up a section myself I resigned to trying to track down a donor bus to cut up....but didn't realise they reproduce sections new! So it was cut to size and welded in place using the clamps to keep it tight.
AFter the welds were ground down, a bead of seam sealer was run in the gutter to seal the joint (couldn't seam weld as I couldn't get to the bottom of the gutter to grind down the welds so this was the best option. All primed up and looking good.
The inside of the doors received a couple coats of primer as well ready for final finishing before paint goes on.
No further progress till next week (away for a conference)....
After a weekend away at conference I've been getting back into the bus - lots of time consuming niggly sanding, filling, sanding, priming etc etc.
Both rear 'quarter' panels have the same high spot from the factory as evidenced by sanding guide coat from the long board (thick flat balsa wood (thick enough not to flex) with 240 grit dry paper stuck to it with spray adhesive).
The vertical attachement to the inner bracing is what caused the high spot on the large flat panel.
A thinner and shorter 'long board' is also used in tighter spaces or like in this instance in the vertical plane to show imperfections. The thinner balsa allows some flex to account for curvature in the panels.
After beating the high spot down as well as possible without causing too much further panel work, more guide coat was applied (3M dry coat powder) and more sanding with the long board (I use a variety of boards, not just these two by the way) shows low spots. These will be gently tickled further tomorrow and minimal filler used where required to smooth it out (ie. more sanding and guide coating before more primer goes on!). Yes it takes lots of time to get right!
Yes it takes time and your doin a fine job Das!
Like the balsa long boards. Try Bris Refinish Supplies for deliv to your door. Sam is good rep to get to know. He's been around since VR days and sells the brands your using. I can give you details if you like. Been using same undercoat lately with good results.
Cheers
Matt Berry Motorsports...air cooled advice, repairs and mods Ph 0408 704 662
OFF-ROAD,CIRCUIT,DRAG,STREET,ENDURANCE
