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Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:56 pm

Well its taken nearly 2 years after first purchasing & posting pics on here about the bus, as i said first time round i am in no way mechanically minded, nor have i ever worked on any vehicle so please chime in at any time to correct my mistakes, the more help i get the better and i will be asking a load of pathetic questions that im hoping you will all help me out with. So here she is once again, this the bus as i got it:

I have replaced the brake lines all round in the past and today i started to remove the rust to see the extent of the damage and panels/parts needed. My bus is now a lot lighter and currently sits in this condition:

I removed the sills that were rotten and found a whole load of shite tucked away in there

So the first of the stupid questions, how do i remove the rest of the cargo floor from these pics, i have tried a flap wheel to remove the paint & rust but cannot see any spot welds, help please.

The work will be slow going as i dont get alot of time, having an 8 year old daughter & being a single parent does not leave me with a lot of spare time or money but the time has come to start this project, my panels list to order starts with this:

B Posts both sides
C Post
2 x Side Supports
Inner Sills
Front & Rear Outriggers & Jack Points

Hopefully this will get most of the rear area sorted, I have the sills for both sides & drivers side Wheel Arch, half the Cargo Floor & Bulk Head that needs some attention, both rear wheel wells & all the glass. I will be placing the order tomorrow night & hopefully pick the panels up in the week. I am awaiting a few lessons of a friend to teach me to weld before i steam into this.

Sat Apr 14, 2012 4:50 pm

At the lip on the front and around the rear wheel wells, put a twisted wire wheel on an angle grinder (wear gloves, a face shield, and ear protection) and take them down to bare metal. After that, you will see the spot welds and you can carefully grind the heads down with a disc cutter or cut around them with a spot weld drill bit. After that, use a thin flat punch/chisel and a hammer to knock it off.
For the rest of the rear, the transaxle will have to be removed, then lie beneath the body and you will see where the floor tucks underneath the wall at the rear, and it goes up a ways where it is spot welded to a lip at the rear of the wall. It is difficult to see in there so I think that I carefully ground down the sheet metal with my disc cutter, then hit a thin flat punch with a hammer along the seam to to knock it off. If there is a heater pipe at the rear of the floor, you will have to cut around the welds that hold it to the floor.
The lip on the left edge of the cargo floor has to be removed from the lower wall. I take it that, since the right edge has already been removed, if you removed the inner and outer rockers.
The front and rear sections of the cargo floor halves that you left will have to be removed from the top of the cargo floor supports (two spot welds in each trough of the floor).
Someone will let you know if I left anything out.

Sat Apr 14, 2012 10:23 pm

Looking forward to watching the progress on this.

Sun Apr 15, 2012 3:04 pm

Well i had an hour spare today so i did i bit more, thank you Campy for your advice, i hit the top hat with the grinder and chiseled the remainder of the old panel off, unfortunatly i also cut through it a bit!!

The top hat isnt in the worst of conditions, once the surfaace rust is sanded off the steel underneath is quite good. Whats your opinion, do i weld where i cut it and use it as it is or replace it as i will have to replace the lower section of the bulk head anyway i think. How hard is it to replace the top hat as it looks quite complicated?

I also got a bit carried away and fittted a side window, i plan on using the 4 front windows as fixed and the 2 rear as pop outs.

I know its not much but i was happy, its my first window install ha ha. Shall be ordering my first lot of panels tomorrow and hopefully pick them up this week.

Sun Apr 15, 2012 4:28 pm

Yes, you do have to be extra careful if you are going to grind down the top of a spot weld instead of using a spot weld drill bit (care is needed with the drill bit, too).
I did to my 1957 bus what you are going to do to your bus: I cut off the lower bulkhead. The front of the panel has sheet metal that slants down from the seat pedestal (between the frame rails) and is spot welded at the bottom to the bulkhead. Those spot weld have to be removed. The hardest part was where the bulkhead is located outside of the two frame rails: the front side of each jack support is welded to it at the top.
Regarding replacing that front top hat, I replaced all of them on my 1957 and 1958 buses. You really need to replace everything, like I did: jack supports, outriggers, cross members, rockers, and top hats. It is all spot welded together and it is too hard to take one piece out of the "puzzle." Besides, like your rockers, those "sealed" panels are full of crud, which needs to be dealt with while the cargo floor halves are out. This is no time to try and take shortcuts.

Tue Apr 17, 2012 5:47 am

Ok not much to report on today due to long working hours. I managed to drill most of the spot welds out on whats left of the cargo floors before I went to work. Is it safe for me to completely cut the rocker & inner rocker panels out without having the new panels to go back on for a few days, will the sides still be rigid enough? I want to remove as much of the rust as possible so I'm ready for welding new metal back in?

Thanks again Campy, looks like your stuck with the task of walking a novice through this build if you have the time & patience!

Tue Apr 17, 2012 11:23 am

Protect that glass when grinding and welding. Those little red hot bits of flying metal will burn themselves right into the glass.

Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:13 pm

Thanks Major W, god I have a lot to learn! All the windows are popouts that were purchased separately and just taped I to place to keep the rain out so they can be removed with ease, the one I installed I will get covered up. Thanks for the advice.

So looking at the limited pics above will the list of parts I quoted at the beginning be enough to be getting on with or is there anything glaring anvils that I'm missing?

Tonight I will attempt to take apart the rusted old popouts and see if I can salvage them.

Thanks for all the help

Tue Apr 17, 2012 12:15 pm

Predictive text on this phone is a pain in the ass, I meant to type glaring obvious, not anvils!!!

Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:06 pm

Crap weather has put a stop to any further work as i only have a small garage and have to push the bus outside to work on it. Hopefully going to pick the panels up tomorrow ready for when the rain stops. Eager to get something done i turned my attention to the rusted popouts, i can work on these indoors!

This is what i had to start of with:

Some parts were worse than others but all had to have the screws drilled out to halve them. i am in the process of sanding them down to bare metal before etch primer. They havent come up too bad:

Will post pics when i have done more, only other news is i got hold of some 15" wheels instead of the 14" that are on it, not from an early bus but i cant afford them right now. Maybe i opted for too thin tyres but i think it will look cool, they can always be changed later on.

Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:45 am

Small bit of progress inbetween the rain showers & work, cut a bit more of the rusted sills out:

The outriggers seem to be solid with just surface rust on so i may try and cut around them if that is possible, the jack points arent that bad at all but not sure what to replace and what to hit with a sander and primer. Some advice on the outriggers & jack points would be appreciated, as im on a budget i wanted to keep what ever metal is still ok. And does the front top hat spot weld straight to the bottom of the bulkhead?

I picked up the 2 side supports, C post, inner & outer B posts but need to go back for a few other panels later this week when they are in stock. I know its slow progress but i work long hours & the weather is non stop rain at the moment. I have a couple of hours spare tomorrow morning so hopefully the weather will stay bright in the morning.

Mon Apr 23, 2012 11:56 am

thats a really nice bus, best of luck with it, I gather you're just going to take care of the rot and drive it as is? I like that

Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:12 pm

Yeah i aim to take out all the rust and rot and replace with new metal. But im learning my trade as i go. Scares the sh@t out of me when i take the cutter and grinder to the bus as i never done anything like this before.

Mon Apr 23, 2012 12:22 pm

Just ask as many questions before you cut, that way you don't end up cutting what you don't need to cut, you seem to be in the right path though. Best of luck

Tue Apr 24, 2012 3:03 am

Anyone got any tips on removing jacking points, they are proving a pain in the ass. Looking at it I am going to have to replace all the tophats, would you replace them completely or just the outer 8-10 inches that look shot?

Need to get the jacking points off before any further work can be done!

Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:55 am

The jack point has more than just spot welds you have to grind the weld off the bottom where it attatches to the outrigger. Just take your time, and before you just remove all of the rust all at once. Best advice I can give you is just take it one job at a time. Also test fit everything more than once. Sometimes I have to test fit things 3 or 4 times and go and make small adjustments every time.

Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:13 am

If you're gonna replace the jack points, might as well cut the out rigger and jack point all in one piece and replace the outrigger too, chances are if your tops hats are bad, your out riggers are bad too. That will save you a ton of time.

Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:24 pm

So after trying to cut corners i have listened to the advice previously given and bit the bullet and placed the rest of my order, list of new panels so far reads:

2 Side Panel Supports
2 Inner Sills
1 C Post Inner
2 B Post Inners for both sides
1 B Post Outer
3 Top Hats
Complete set of Out Riggers

I already have bolth sills & rear wheel wells, I will replace the jack points when i have the funds, for now should this list sort the cargo area out?

The thought of removing the tranny to remove the shift rod and other tubes is scaring the life out of me but i will read up alot on this over the next few days.

Please stay with me, alot of help & advice will be needed!!!

Wed May 02, 2012 2:12 pm

Finally the rain has stayed off for a day, its been pouring down for nearly 3 weeks now so i couldnt do any work which was very frustrating. I got a bit more done today. All the inner sill & jack points are out:

Getting a bit ahead of myself and trial fitting:

Next up is to brace the cargo door opening before removing that inner sill, cut both rear wheel well fronts out, cut the last bit of cargo floor out nearest the engine & remove the tophats. Any tips on removing the front and rear most tophats, do i have to remove part of the lower bulkhead?
Will update depending on the weather over the next few days.

Wed May 02, 2012 2:58 pm

Good going space cadet. Just keep checking out all the resto threads on here and you won't go far wrong.