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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Mon Aug 05, 2013 10:04 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks chaps. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
People who are allowed to have signature lines annoy me. |
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Scotty Samba Member
Joined: July 02, 2003 Posts: 1525 Location: Northampton - Uk
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Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 6:09 am Post subject: |
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Congratulations on a good find!
The fact the dash pod has dove blue on it makes me wonder if it was delivered in primer as that wouldn't have been painted either. I guess you need to do a bit more digging to find out what's going on with the paint. A birth certificate will really help for sure.
Good luck _________________
EverettB wrote: |
I'd be curious to know the length of his tip.
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http://scottys-stuff.blogspot.com/ |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Tue Aug 06, 2013 8:32 am Post subject: |
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Scotty wrote: |
Congratulations on a good find!
The fact the dash pod has dove blue on it makes me wonder if it was delivered in primer as that wouldn't have been painted either. I guess you need to do a bit more digging to find out what's going on with the paint. A birth certificate will really help for sure.
Good luck |
Thanks Scotty.
Hopefully I'll be in a position to get myself a certificate later this year. I should think there's a good chance of me finding some blue, somewhere else, with some serious hunting. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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rikki james Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2000 Posts: 128
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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 10:10 am Post subject: |
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Sweet bus fella..... now just get it roll'in _________________ www.buseswithattitude.co.uk |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Aug 09, 2013 1:12 pm Post subject: |
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rikki james wrote: |
Sweet bus fella..... now just get it roll'in |
Thanks Rikki. I'm doing my best to do so.
We've actually met, briefly...many years ago, at a Volksworld show. I doubt you'd remember me though. That was the first time I saw a barney in the metal. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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rikki james Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2000 Posts: 128
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:48 am Post subject: |
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Indeed, there has been.
I'm well aware that I'm overdue to post here... Sorry.
We discovered the cause of the seized steering...
It's pretty bad in there, but it does have slight movement. I'm currently trying to loosen it up with chemicals before giving it another go with presses, tools, etc. as it is worth fixing, obviously. I am fortunate enough to have a good spare though, which is what will be fitted in future.
The biggest news is that my bus is now in the safe and secure hands of my very trusted metalworking guru. This chap started as an appy with his father, in 1955 and has been doing it ever since. He is an old school metal guru and outputs truly mind-boggling quality, no matter what he starts with. I have had him in mind for his job for a long time now and wanted him to do it before he no doubt retires, so we've sped up the schedule and he's now tapping away on it...
Getting the bus to him was another story in itself, but we'll leave that for another day.
In the interim, I have discovered that the majority of the hardware is pretty much toast. I really would like to have the correct nuts & bolts on this bus, but as yet, I'm not sure how to go about replacing all of this, accurately, and affordably.
I stripped the binnacle/speedo' pod and found both of the switches on there to be toast. More to find...
I've also polished up the binnacle with paint restorer and an el cheapo polish and am now 100% certain that my bus arrived in primer.
It will go Dove Blue.
My trusted engine guru popped past a few weeks ago to help me tear down my original 30 Hp engine and with great delight I can report that my sub is virtually new. Everything is in excellent condition and absolutely no machining is required. We'll be replacing the big ends with standard bearings, when I can find them, and closing it up. We did however discover a riverbed's worth of oily sand in the bottom of the case.
I also sold an unnamed body part on the black market and now own a lovely '54 air filter and a correct set of excellent telelever shocks with just 16,000 miles on them... One of my original ones is cracked right through the housing.
That's about it, for now.
Nearly a year later and I still have the same daft grin on my face. I want to drive it! _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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Ian 68 Samba Member
Joined: March 14, 2011 Posts: 176 Location: From Bristol UK now in Australia.
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Posted: Fri Dec 27, 2013 3:18 pm Post subject: |
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Glad that you have managed to make a start on both the engine, body and sourcing parts, good progress.
It's always ( unless you have huge amounts of time and $$ ) small steps and little wins, finding that " impossible to get hold of " part , it's 1/2 the fun i reckon.
Keep going and you will get there for sure, maintain the momentum and do what you can when you can and that 1st drive or fire up of the rebuilt engine won't be long coming round.
Great work so far and I will continue to follow with interest.
best
Ian |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Sat Dec 28, 2013 7:36 am Post subject: |
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Yep, it's progressing as best as possible at the moment. It feels both near and far from 'completion', if that makes any sense.
Thanks for the interest.
Kind regards,
Nic _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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rikki james Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2000 Posts: 128
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Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 5:13 am Post subject: |
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That's great new! Whats your plan with the bus..... totally stock re-build? _________________ www.buseswithattitude.co.uk |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Sat Jan 11, 2014 7:24 am Post subject: |
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rikki james wrote: |
That's great new! Whats your plan with the bus..... totally stock re-build? |
Absolutely. I want it as it would have left the factory and matched to the order specs. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:50 am Post subject: |
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PROGRESS!
Please excuse the small photos; they're all that I have at present...
I was horrified to see the extent of the rust damage. It's a lot worse than what any of us expected.
At any rate, good progress is being made and the metal chap is confident that he's got it sorted.
Short of large folded sections, like floor ribs, etc., all of the work is being worked by hand & tool, old school.
We still have a very long way to go... _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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Ian 68 Samba Member
Joined: March 14, 2011 Posts: 176 Location: From Bristol UK now in Australia.
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:48 pm Post subject: |
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Good to see progress. Its pretty scary when you open the up and see damage far worse than what is visible but it's worth doing properly and the bus is good for another 60 years.
There is no better way than the old school way, keep at it.
Ian |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Feb 21, 2014 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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Ian 68 wrote: |
Good to see progress. Its pretty scary when you open the up and see damage far worse than what is visible but it's worth doing properly and the bus is good for another 60 years.
There is no better way than the old school way, keep at it.
Ian |
It's definitely the largest project that I've taken on (read: managed) thus far, so seeing this quite scary, but having followed this 'site for years, I know what's possible.
I'm still super motivated! _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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Stetoppingphoto Samba Member
Joined: February 15, 2012 Posts: 475 Location: Darwen
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Posted: Sat Feb 22, 2014 5:04 am Post subject: |
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Great find and story!
subscribed. _________________ stetoppingphoto |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2014 6:01 am Post subject: |
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All of these panels are being formed entirely by hand. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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rikki james Samba Member
Joined: September 23, 2000 Posts: 128
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Sun May 18, 2014 11:09 am Post subject: |
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I managed to get out to my bus recently, so here's the latest...
Just marking some of the holes that need to be closed. Both of the these top holes will now be closed. If you have accurate measurements for the hole that should be here, and where it should be located, please let me know. Thanks.
...just screwed together, for now, until we get the doors hooked up and everything correctly measured.
...we sampled the nose on one of my '67s in order to the correct shape of the 'V' 'point', as the original metal was not usable. If a later bus' curvature is different, please be so kind as to let me know. Thank you.
...the rear floor is being pressed soon, but we have no 'mounting boxes' to sample from. Are later bus sections the same? Can we sample those?
...both of these holes shall be closed.
The cargo door bumper holes were mistakenly closed. Do they work with captive nuts, threaded holes or Can any of you assist with info' and measurements for these, please? Thank you.
...marks left from shrinking the plethora of dents out of the engine lid. In addition, all other mounting holes have been closed. I'll happily tape my registration plate onto it in future.
So, all in all, a lot of work has been done so far, but much more lies ahead of us.
It's still putting that same daft grin upon my face.
Hopefully these photos will allay some of the thoughts that came my way. It is rougher than it first appeared and I'd like to give it a new lease on life, not just an extension of its deterioration, despite how much I too didn't want to see the patina go.
Thanks for your interest.
Kind regards,
Nic _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
iowegian wrote: |
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Mon Jun 23, 2014 7:36 am Post subject: |
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Getting jiggy wit' it...
I have a replacement set of lever shocks, but this one shall be repaired.
here's a LOT of abuse to be undone...
The entire chassis will be repaired to factory spec' and then prep'ed for paint.
The future home of 30 rampaging teutonic stallions...
The temporary lower LHS cab door hinge. It's been repaired, but shall be replaced.
"It's a dry climate. There's no rust..."
We also picked up this heap o' sh1t last week, to use as a partial donor. It's a later 30 Hp, but will provide some usable parts.
The original engine has proven to be quite an interesting mill; somewhat of a "zwitter": it has no drilling for the oil filler bracket, has 25 Hp con-rods and a 25 Hp oil pump. The fuel pump is theold type, with the threaded spring cap, etc.. _________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
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Merlin Samba Member
Joined: August 19, 2004 Posts: 2103 Location: South Africa
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Posted: Fri Sep 05, 2014 1:25 am Post subject: |
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It's been months since I've seen my bus, so whilst I can't offer up any current status pics, I can tell you this...
We have a distributor!
...still missing the correct 383 rotor though.
I stumbled upon a NOS 25 Hp cap a while back, but it was missing the centre pin. After some quick magic, my engine Guru had that sorted.
I acquired a second 30 Hp donor block...
It's also a heap of sh!t, but it will offer up one or two usable parts. 25 Hp parts are near non-existant here and decent 30 Hp stuff in anywhere-near-usable condition are also incredibly difficult to source.
This Solex 28 PCI carb' was pinched from a '60 bastard 1200 that I have. We think that that housing is usable on my barney's "Zwitter" engine, until such time as I can find and afford to import an early-style non-vacuum-port carb'.
We're only using the housing from it, as the other carb's housing is pitted something awful.
After ten months, we finally have the missing panels required to complete the metalwork, bar a forthcoming RHD-only BD pedal box. I'm told that there's a lot of green in them thar boxes...
_________________ the3rdrock.com - …musings, discoveries and postulating, by a restless itinerant in search of enlightenment.
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