Crusher - next to go in when saved

[ImAddicted]

[Jetfxr69]

Been hit and miss to get some more bodywork done over the last couple months. We had just got the pax side rear arch and corner welded in, and then had to make an emergency roadtrip out west.

Once the box repair was done, cleaned up and hit the whole area with some Masterseries before welding big panel over the top. Hit all the weld seams with some Allmetal and then after grinding and sanding, a skim coat of filler to finish.

Took alot of sanding and refilling before I was comfortable with the reults.
About the time I got that done, my kid in Tahoe called that her jeep died just as the snow was starting to fly. Found a decent little Subi here locally that got head gaskets, struts, exhaust repair, etc, etc, etc. and some brakes. Made a 3200 mile roadtrip to deliver.

Of course we had to get in a few days of skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood while there.

Anyways, got back here a couple weeks ago and started tearing into the left side. The learning curve has definetely started to flatten out with this welding thing.

Drivers side box post was just as bad as pax side, so it got rebuilt as well. Also both bumper mount attach points were toast, so they got cut out, new nut plates and doublers were welded back in. I didnt take any pics of that as my welding is ugly and didnt feel like laying on my back one more time. Trust me when I say they are rugged, as im sure at some point, she will be towing it out of a hole in the dessert by the bumper some day. Ryan has talked me into adding some tow hooks just to the side of the box frame.

Hope to finish up driver side, and then the rear valance cover last. Once all that rear work is done, engine bay gets painted and tank goes back in. At least thats how the dream goes anyways.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[cmonSTART]

Nice work - looking really good!
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS

[Abscate]

Looking great. Keep those little piggies warm.

See you In the Fall, may the Creator so allow.
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.ssS!

[orwell84]

Are you spot welding or seam welding?

I find grinding as I go helps. Turning the welder up a little to get the welds flatter. Still ugly but I’m good at grinding

[Jetfxr69]

[orwell84]

That’ll work. Looks great.

[Jetfxr69]

heres a look at the doubler from the inside. as you see, the penetration is great on some, and not so great on others.

working on being more consistent with the puddle. will be hitting some of them from the inside again.

the gap is intentional and will be filled in as i said above. probably should have used some seam sealer underneath, but wasnt sure if it would create voids or inhibit weld penetration.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

Took the next plunge by diving into,the cargo floor rot.

Its as bad as expected, but have a parts bus out back to cut the replacement floor piece out of.

The three piece sill below the slider is pretty bad. The main structure that holds the lower track in place is ok, but the inner and outer are both junk and getting replaced. Along with the lower section of the forward bulkhead. A couple small crossbeam repairs as well. Pics of that to come.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[ImAddicted]

Keep it coming, Jay!!
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1979 Transporter (sold)
KC1MUR

[Jetfxr69]

Made a small patch for the rotted crossmember and lower inner corner of the post.

The corner was tricky due to the multiple planes involved. Made a little multi-piece part to go inside the box and pick up both the interior vertical and bulkhead piece. Once in place and welded, the lower bulkhead panel will go on to close up the big opening and tie it all together.

Everything in the area got ospho’d last night and I will wait till the “ real” welder has time to come zip it together for me. He works for beer, so how do you loose on that deal?
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

I shouldnt be uodating right now, cause ive been drinkin, but what better time to show what I spent all day doing. This 76 is already a bastard bus, with the early model interior and such, so why not build in a convienent table setup.

I figure that before the floor gets closed up, i might as well build in a workable table system. I cut the OG pipe end off, and rewelded it back to the opposite end. It would have been way to high in its standard height to work outside the bus.
This height change also allowed the arm to act as a stowage arm for transport. Punched a hole through the bulkhed for the table mount base stem to protrude, and create a flat, stowable, secured table. The hole in the bulkhead is in dead space at the lower back of the pax seat, so no interference there.

I had the benefit of needing to repair this whole floor area, so why not screw around a bit? Im digging this set up so much, that im gonna source a spare westy table and arm setup to add this to my camper.
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You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

[calvinater]

Hydro cork , if you can find it. Never used it in a bus , but have had good luck in high traffic residential use .
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"Albatross"!

[Jetfxr69]

Got the frame repair and bulkhead work mostly done.

Ground out the welds and covered with allmetal to smooth out. That area will get covered with some vinyl anyways, so wont be seen. Just want it smooth. The floor I cut out of the parts bus wasnt in as good as shape as I thought. Had to build a small angle shelf for the floor to ride on because the edge of the donor was pretty weak.

Finishing the inner sill piece while I have access from above. Almost done with that and then the floor gets welded down. Outer sill will get tacked on last.


Also worked some small areas in the back. Some wicked shitty PO hacks needed addressing. They attached the bed brackets with some sheetmetal screws that ripped out big holes. Had to fab some steel nut plates and welded them in.

And cut the fuel sending unit hack out. Cleaned up the old area and created an access panel for the future. When ready to close up, will just rtv the access panel down so its easily removed later by someone.

_________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[Jetfxr69]

Moved back to the cargo floor refresh. Everytime I turn around, more rot bites me right in the ass! Crusher indeed. Its crushing me.

This little section of shit had to be dealt with. Its only part of the floor tray and floats just above the frame rail, so luckily the frame underneath was uneffected. It still had to be addressed.

Cut and bent some replacement pieces and then cut all the garbage out and welded in. A copious slathering of allmetal nicely hid all my horrible welds.

Got the aft section of the pax side, sliding door inner sill plate cut and welded up.

Put a jog in the repair panel and that made easy welding back to og steel.

Things got real when I cut up the pax side dogleg today. Wasnt planning on going back to seam, but found a nice crease in the seat frame pan that was caused whenever it got hit. Without cutting the leg out, I wouldnt have been able bang out the crease cause the leg tension aouldnt have allowed it to go back to shape.

Once the dogleg was off, the crease banged right out and kicked the whole pan back out a bit where it should have been.

Since the floor was solid, decided to leave the factory attach points in tact. I will use some doubler straps to reattach the new piece back to solid og metal.

Once the replacement floor panel was welded in, went over all the seams and gaps with some all metal. Will sand smooth and then lay a strip of fiberglass over the top of that to finish.

_________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[orwell84]

You’ve got a good thing going with your welder friend. You are really moving along. Shit, if I lived down the road, I’d come over and weld it up after you did all the hard part. I love just running beads on stuff all set up making little pieces one big piece.

[Jetfxr69]

Ive been weening myself off needing his welding skills. I do call when something real important needs attention, like structural items, but for small pieces and re-spot welds, I have been learning and doing myself. The biggest hurdle is trying to weld inside the cab, and catching the undercoating on fire below. This stuff is so flammable that after a couple seconds of heat, I have to jump out and look underneath with my spray bottle of water. Had my daughter sit on the stool and fire watch for me the other day. This one is about as good as I get right now.

Learning where to drag the heat/puddle between 1/4” plate and 18 gauge sheet without blowing through and getting proper penetration has been fun. Frustrating at times. Thank god for my sanding discs and Allmetal.
_________________
You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer. Zappa

‘77 westy Seamus
‘76 tintop Crusher
‘77 westy The Judge
‘72 tintop bastard westy Hudson

[orwell84]

Your welding will improve with practice. I have found that even with thicker metal on the bus, the welding technique is the same; tacking it in place, adding more tacks, then joining them with short beads. Thinner metal is mostly adding tacks until it is all welded. It is always stitch welding. The only thing that changed is how much I turn up the welder.

I tried out a “push” welding technique on 2mm deformation panel I was welding and it just burned through. That’s more of a plate technique and everything on a bus is too thin to be considered plate.

For places where burn throughs are likely or the joint has big gaps, I back up with copper.

Also, changing the arc length and tip angle will make a cooler weld. The more it is angled, the less penetration you will get, which is good for filling a hole or building up a thin area.

[cmonSTART]

Hey that looks pretty good!
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'78 Bus 2.0FI
de K1IGS