TheSamba.com :: View topic

Wed Jan 15, 2014 6:13 pm

Lookin' GOOD!

Wed Jan 15, 2014 9:01 pm

Congrats. Looking forward to the transformation.

Thu Jan 16, 2014 6:38 am

We know this one is in good hands :popcorn: I will definitely be watching this one as well.

Sat Jan 18, 2014 4:16 pm

Thanks guys. I am hoping the experience and lessons learned from the Westy make this one not as stress full. I paid more than I should have for this bus but I am hoping to salvage as much of the attachables and take my time running down parts instead of over paying. HA yeah right!

Even though I want to try and save the bolt on parts, I had a Engine lid as a wall hanger that is actually very straight and solid. The OG one is pretty gone on this bus. Even though the lid is solid the hinge mounts had been ripped out over time so I had to make some repair patches.

And had the same issue with the hinge carrier. I will have to make the lip that holds the gasket as it is pitted badly and has some holes in it. I did not want to replace the hinge carrier or the panel behind even though I have a brand new autocraft part in the basement. When I did the Westy the hinge carrier really was not bad but I replaced it with a new one since I had to pull it to get the corner installed. I thought why not hack up that one and graft in the mounts to the Mango.
Things must be bad when parts from that bus are better than this one.
Sacrificial hinge carrier

And removed.

And welded up. You can see I cut the lip out.

And for the first time in who knows how long a functioning engine lid.
It was getting dark so sorry for the dark picture.

I will start cutting out old metal to prepare for the new metal. The Plan is to fix the Long rocker, the cargo area then corners and then move to the front.

Sun Jan 19, 2014 6:13 am

Sweet Mango...looking great...keep up the hard work!

Sun Jan 19, 2014 7:00 am

Thank you Jack.

A little better pic of the rear.
Also while asking for the best way to protect the exposed metal Paul mentioned a mix that was in his 15 Window thread from Jeff Power. I decided to give it a try, so thanks Paul and Jeff. I am thinking of blending the Mango spots below the beltline (still up in the air) so I did not do any of that metal yet because I do not know how hard it will be to get this off to prep for paint. At any rate it consisted of Boiled Linseed Oil, Mineral spirits and Polyurethane mixed equally. It took a few hours to dry but it is dry and not tacky and looks pretty good to me. It also repels water very well.

Sun Jan 19, 2014 2:31 pm

Started cutting out rot. Have both front outriggers out and cut some floor. Have to get the spot welds off the top hat before I can install.
I also thought about fixing the emblem that was on the westy and let this bus wear it. I like the other emblem but figure it can wear this one while I work on it. I don't really like pulling in to the driveway and looking at the outline of the emblem missing so I welded some threaded rod on the old one and mounted it up.

Also got my shrinking disc back and started playing with the rear corner. I will peck away on it as it will zap all my enthusiasm trying to get it perfect in one day.

Mon Jan 20, 2014 12:55 pm

Hopefully some metal to replace will come in. After messing with the Outriggers yesterday, I decided to make my own flush clamps for the work on this bus. I used the Harbor Freight ones and while they work I got annoyed with them on the long panel. For one the face side of the clamps are not always flat, since the groove is cut all the way through one side can lift higher than the other, hope that makes sense. Also the part that slides through to catch the square pin seems a little wide on some so the gap for the welding to me was a little too wide. I decided to buy some tube and make my own. This way I could make longer ones for holding flat panels up higher and have a better footprint and to always have a flush face side, I will still use the other ones but figured why not give it a shot to have some variety of sizes to use. All in this will cost less than 2 packs of the HF ones and I have a thinner sheet metal tabs to allow for a tighter seam to weld to.
Raw materials

Homemade medium length clamp

Normal and medium. I did not cut through for the part that allows it to slide in and out in hope the tubing holds it's shape and the surface is always flat. I was thinking by using the round rod I could contour it to match on parts like short rocker and long rocker.

And the nose on the Westy.

Fri Jan 24, 2014 3:49 pm

Not sure how much work will get done this weekend with the freezing temps but during down time this week I made a patch out of the westy floor to fill in a few holes in the rear of this one. I really do not want to do a full floor and it really does not need it but it had some wood mounted contraption in the rear seat mounts that helped it rust out. I cut out that section and grafted in the westy floor. It has a few small holes at the front that will get some patching hopefully this weekend. Once that is done the outer green sections coming should close it out ok. I did clean the frame and rails to be ready to receive the new metal.
Carnage with recycled floor waiting.

And patched up. Still have some work to do on the rear lip but a little cold to finish outside.

Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:46 am

If you keep up this rate of speed, you will be ready for no dough.

Looking good

Sun Jan 26, 2014 5:01 pm

zuggbug wrote: If you keep up this rate of speed, you will be ready for no dough.

Looking good
Ha not hardly I am hoping to be ready to BUY parts for it at No Dough.
Patching away. What looked like two or three quarter size holes turned into a few quick patches. I was happy to see paint on the ledge for the walkthrough section. I purposely use floor sections from the westy and deluxe, so it has the DNA of 2 others in the floor. In hindsight, I wished I had been more careful pulling the floor from the westy as it had good sections that could have been used on others.

This thing has plenty of bruises so I can keep busy knocking out little projects until the metal shows up.
I messed with the motor a little by draining it last week and letting it sit in some mystery oil this week. It turns over pretty easily with the plugs out but alas the starter is dead so I guess I will pull it and decide to either break it down or run down another motor.

Mon Jan 27, 2014 4:18 pm

Hoping to get some seat pedestals this week to actually start some real repairs.
In the meantime it has a decent radio and speedo. Figured I would lightly clean the radio.

Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:20 pm

Plugging away on small parts prior to some real pain arriving. I went ahead and made both sides but only put in the passenger side since I could match up the contour.

Sat Feb 01, 2014 2:27 pm

Looking good Phillip.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 6:26 pm

Thanks Joey,

Since we have rain coming this week, I decided to pull the engine and tear it down so I can have some work to do inside. No surprises and starting to lean towards building this motor since I have it. Thinking it will need a big nut tranny for a little better cruising speed.
Engine was super nasty.

Getting ready for a soak.

With all the grease on the drivers side there was actually some paint on the apron.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:20 pm

If you plan to run that 40hp motor, i would reccommend sticking with the small-nut trans. That's the combo i have in my 61 and it sucks going up any type of hill.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 7:53 pm

StockNazi wrote: If you plan to run that 40hp motor, i would reccommend sticking with the small-nut trans. That's the combo i have in my 61 and it sucks going up any type of hill.
Good call, I am having to study up on combo's with the 40Hp since I am unfamiliar.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:24 pm

It's highyway speeds where it really becomes an issue being under-powered. My speeds drop from over 65 to under 40 on some hills, which can be an issue when the speed limit is 70.

It's ok around town

Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:30 pm

type47fan1 wrote: Plugging away on small parts prior to some real pain arriving.

This made me laugh!

I like the approach you're taking on this bus.

Sun Feb 02, 2014 8:49 pm

Nice!! good job goin w this one man!! Grayson said he was lookin out for a friend when we spoke about this one ? man he looked out great find!!
im glad you got it you are doin a great job dude keep it up and if I see any mango parts I will keep you in mind and text ya
Later Brandon Berg