Rear Repair End Repair Part Deux,

Right then peeps, last time we had any movement i had basically stripped down the rear end of the bus and undertook the correctional works to the damaged over-rider, Over-rider is still on bench waiting to be painted. No rush cor blimey charlie.

Right then what have i done recently Lots, well enough, its all the pressure i get from Mr Spike Hughes, Every time we speak he asks done the bus yet he's killin me really killin me. Well i have been at it with the old air chisel and grinder, had a good Chopin session. lots of trimming and trial fitting till i was sufficiently happy with the fit then out with the welder and reality to the immortal words of hack hack cut weld. I wasn't happy with the metal i had to work with as the majority of people i associate with are aware it was hit in the same place two years ago, and as such the metal i would be welding to was a little thinner than i would want so i had to put a section in to give some integrity to the repair.

The pictures below are there to tell all.



Stripped ready for the repair.

Tim doing what he does best applying humour to the proceedings.

The last repair.

The damage under the tin ware that was'nt really visable.

Thats what were talking about hack hack, see the previous join line, like i said was not happy with the fact that i would have to join here again so this was removed.

Old and new for comparison.

Eventually GSF managed to get the bloody battery tray, better late than never.

Old battery tray cut out.

The old air Chissel i love this tool !



This is the section i made up to make good the plate in order to have good plate to attach the new rear quarter to.

Close fit just needs to be tweeked a little when fitted.

The damaged area behind the crushed inner frame works.

The ols crap cut out and the replacment sections made up and ready to fit.

First section welded in place.

Outer pieces welded in place thats the inner frame repaired.

The first of many trial fittings.

 

Battery tray finally welded in place, along with the new section of plate requiered to undertake a proper repair.

First of Many trial fittings before welding, trial fit as much as needed till you are happy with the fit.

Yepp fits inside nicely as well.

Last of the trial fittings now then to weld in place.

Welding Done, Check for sqaure with a suitable flat surface.

So far so good.

Now agood clean up with a fine sanding disc.

Good penetration marks, a good sign means the welds are done well.

And plenty of welds to ensure the battery tray is sufficiently fixed in place.

Now then all thats left to do is the final prepping a smidge of filler and a coat of paint HHMM well redoxide anyway.

Catch up with you all soon peeps.

Volksworld 2012

Well where to start, HHMM History is always good, a little insight may help understand, for a number of years now i have been making what some would justifiably perceive as another idol threat, yeah you got it to get off my arse and got to the Volksworld show, worse than that i am a regular reader of the mag and every year i said I'm going next year, I had my bus for thirteen years Lets do some simple maths, NNAA lets not bother makes it look even bloody  worse. Well i finally went all be it in my Focus yeah yeah yeah. i know sacrilege, but to you regular lookers you know the bus is in the work shop being sorted out & the bugs got running issues, Lazy Bastard i know.

But who gives a monkeys! the show was cracking, went in through the door with Dave, you will have heard his name before, My son Tim he pops up regular as well and Amelia my girl you have to produce the spark of interest early. got in half way through the first floor and had already flattened one set of batteries on the camera, Dog with two Dicks comes to mind, Ha Ha Ha.

well I'm not as quick as some to enter on my blogg with so many pictures to trawl through it not easy to choose, So the following are some of my favourites, i have noticed i have a affliction for sign written buses.

The Square back was Clean sweet & very Low,High Top Split was built to go fast & looked very good to go with it.

The Early Bug V38 was the star of the show, i followed the build through from the original pictures of the find in its butchered state to it's current guise.

I have got to be honest, i did not actually like this my initial thought was god that's bloody hideous but i suppose it grows on you, Slowly, but i can appreciate the Craftsman ship.

                              I did not quite get the picture i was hoping for but i still like it.

I f my memory serves correct this does belong to one of the volks world team, did like it very clean and looked tough.

Very clean very straight attention to detail was excellent.

            Hot rod & Salt flats cross is how i would describe this but it was a stunning motor.

Very Low, very clean daily driver think not, i can not understand why you build a car then not drive it Madness i tell you, Bloody Madness.

Every body loved this, understandable.

Cool Flo Vintage were there alway look so cool.

           Nice line up of early bugs cant beet them, amazing realy how they can all be basically the same but again be so different.

Absolutley the dogs bollocks, want it.

The level of engineering on this was at a new level.

Well you just cant get better than a nice Early bay with some sign writing on the side, especially when its this low, got dinks & dents and in its og paint, Nuff said.

Ho and im back on me bus be ready in a week or so and you'll never know the twat hit it.

At last i started the repair to my rear !!

Well after i finally finished the heater channel on the bug well finished enough to put it back together and use the bug again, i must admit this took way to long i suppose with Xmas's in the middle and me old aching back, it was to be expected. Well it was quite some time ago now when me bus took a shunt up the arse by of all things a souped up bloody Megan, so i shoved the bus into the garage and took the bumper off so i could have a better look at the, the point of impact it ain't pretty & if i have to be honest actually worse than i thought, any one who actually knows me bus will be aware that it has got overiders on it, the problem was these were only bolted in by one bolt not the pair IE one through the middle and the one that goes through from the  bottom was missing.

When Mr Megan hit the old girl it actually twisted the Overider up and cut a perfect Overider shaped cut in the rear quarter & while cutting actually done quite a bit of damage to the battery tray. The rear hatch has been dented although it is hard to show in the pictures, The rear valance has taken quite a shunt, these did need to be replaced. enter Spike Hughes of House of Dub(www.hodimports.com) if you are looking for early bay parts a restoration or a complete van give them a call. Sales pitch over any way spike managed to get me what can only be described as two superb items to replace the damaged ones.

Pictures below Not many as usual i get carried away then think oh shit no pictures.

Bumper removed, You can see the cut just below where the light fits.

Added this one as it shows the overider shaped cut a bit clearer.

Like i said it not overly clear but you cam make out the dent just below the latch plate.

This pic shows the latch is not at the angle it should be.

 This picture shows the damage to the battery tray, this picture was taken again after i had knocked it about a bit.

 Ho these are the panels i got from house of dub picture don't do them justice these are really good panels.

So after this little play i turned my attention to the offending overider that inflicted the damage we have been looking at, this in its self was damaged and i hasten to add that both people that quoted for the works wanted to replace, so i though about it long and hard took at least two or three possibly at a stretch four minutes, NNAA i can can straighten that, so i did pictures below.

 This pic shows the impact damage to the overider and you can see the impact has bulged the side out as well, the mating edge to the bumper is also out of shape.

 This image shows the dent from another angle.

 A good rub down prior to tackling the offending dent, and all because the fucking Megan driver couldn't pay attention and whack, What a twat.

 Right then i will say at this point the over rider is made of decent gauge steel being original items, so i did use proper source of heat as you can see.

 I used a large wooden block as to rest the over rider on while applying force via a suitable sized set of ball end hammers.

 And if i say so when comparing the repaired to the original that's a pretty satisfactory result, i think it should pass.

 And from another angle just to show it really is straight.

The last picture is just to show what tools i used to under take this task, simple tools we all have, i like to do these things and put them on as i believe it does show what we can achieve if we make the effort and apply some though & effort. And although i am not sure of the cost of a repro part i would bet money I've saved between £30 & £50 to me that's a result, and it took about two hours.

Again to all that look, Thanks it makes it worth it, Feel free to comment i do for one like & enjoy the fact that people have had a look and read the entry's.

Thanks again.