Gertie the 73 VW T2 bay window

About time I got the bus on here as I tend to spend some time here.

Found it looking a little sorry for itself.



Got it home and gave it a scrub. Looked salvageable. Usual rot but wasn't expecting what I would later find!





Battery tray non existant.



Rear inner valance.



This is supposed to have a bottom to it!!



And this is!





Strangely the other side isn't too bad.





Made a start by removing the windows to find this.







Started cutting out the rot.





Got my little one involved too.

Jacking points and sills missing!





Chopped out the rotten ends, jogged, plug welded then seamed the repair.





Careful measurement started to give me back the dimensions for placement of the sills.



Some old, some new, some fabbed.



























More tomorrow. I'm off to bed.

Holy crap! At least it'll be financially viable to repair I love old vans and it's only a lack of space at the moment that stops me from buying another one (Had a Commer 2500 for a couple of years).

Yeah, they are fetching reasonable money now!

Got my inner sill in place,





Then my middle sill.



Then had to sort out this.





Ended up looking like this.







Which meant I could get my arch roughly in place, but not before I sorted out the driver side cab floor and what was beneath it!

Mental amount of work, kudos for not fainting. Best of luck with the project mate.

inchpincher said:

Mental amount of work, kudos for not fainting. Best of luck with the project mate.

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Most of this is during the last 6 months as before that it was a little now and again. I just look at what needs doing as many small jobs or you can get seriously disheartened.

Right then, before sorting the floor I had to repair the chassis sections and drop in the floor panel. It wasn't pretty! Don't be too critical of my welding as anything which isn't up to scratch will get another going over with the new welder now I have the Porta.

I had to first repair the A pillar lower to get an idea where things were going to fit as there was no metal for the lower 6-8 inches along the bottom of the bus, so I had no datum point to work to.

I had to roughly fit the arch and tack it into place to find the lower extreme of the pillar.












Then, after cutting out the floor I had to attack the chassis y section. The repair section from most of the vw shops are just plain 2mm folded pieces so I had to modify one to produce this.









Then I had to repair what was behind it.





I had to get 2 steel bushes turned as the existing ones for the throttle linkage has lateral wear.






All fitted and plated for strength.





Next port of call was the other part of that chassis section holding the steering box in place.

More updates to come!

Had to remove the steering box, so decided to strip, clean and redo the seals then refill with fresh ep90.

I found no wear in the box which is strange as these are renowned for it, so I just got 2 new seal and filled with fresh oil, after a repaint.









The problem is that the chassis where it lives is poor so I had to replace that before refitting.





Started by transferring my measurements to the new section and cutting the holes. Not very round but it doesn't matter too much, they're close enough. I then got my mate to make me 4 stepped sleeves to allow me to over drill the holes and put the sleeves in against the shoulders then weld up. These are required to stop the crush forces from the steering box.











Had to put in a plate to take the bumper brackets.





Then found I had made a schoolboy error in that the chassis section at the front isn't as tall as the repair sections so I had to section it then re-weld it back together. Doh!





I sleeved the joint to plug weld then welded across the joint when finished.









Seat belt mountings and arch edge repair next.









The next piece needed slitting to curve to follow the arch.







Floor in next before the final arch repair.








The arch was thin in places and it blew through a bit so it looks a little scrappy.





And finished off with epoxy mastic.



Trimmed up the front valance. Looking a bit better now.

Next I got it on a rollover frame and with the aid of my 2 brothers tipped it over.









Next up was the remaining jacking points on the offside.







Made a tunnel for the cable.



I had to make the 4 jacking point box sections.









And the near side one.











And the rear near side.









Next job was to worse on the bus and the one I've been fearing.

Trimmed up the chassis cut I bought and hacked off the brackets to use my existing chassis hangers to be welded to the cut.



Cut out the rot and started cleaning back to the hangers.





Had to cut one of the hangers and repair with a cut piece.



Just popped in place for now as I still have work to do in the petrol tank area and its easier with it out of the way.

That's pretty much where I've got to. Back to work, so no progress for the next 2 weeks.

Bet your well pleased with the progress, and a nice surprise on the steering box, well done. Also well done on the photos, easy to see what you've done and a great record. Sleepless nights thinking about the bus while you'r away?

Yeah, I can't wait to press on! I have over 600 photos lol. That's where the mobile is so handy, always in the pocket.

Exuptoy said:

Yeah, I can't wait to press on! I have over 600 photos lol. That's where the mobile is so handy, always in the pocket.

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Can you upload them to the forum server?, they take so long to download from photobucket I normally skip threads with lots of pics

That may take some time, then I'll need to edit all the threads but I suppose I could. I am back offshore tomorrow. Maybe I'll try when I get home.

Are you on a platform? Might have some of our gearboxes on....

Epicyclic said:

Are you on a platform? Might have some of our gearboxes on....

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Working on the Maersk Curlew FPSO off Aberdeen.

OK, don't think we're on there. Usually on compressor drives behind a Siemens gas turbine or similar. The co. I work for is Allen Gears, we specialize in epicyclic boxes.
Just refurbished a couple of parallel shaft gears for FSPO's off Newfoundland and East Africa before I went off work.
Have a good and safe trip.
Cheers, H.

Epicyclic said:

Have a good and safe trip.
Cheers, H.

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Cheers H, just in heathrow T5 now awaiting my flight up to ABZ! We have 2 x Typhoon turbines but our old contract for their maintenance was with Siemens. We do it in house now. Gearbox from our 'B' Typhoon has been out recently for work but don't know who did it.

I'll still be popping in here from time to time over the next fortnight anyway.

Exuptoy said:

Cheers H, just in heathrow T5 now awaiting my flight up to ABZ!

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You should have knocked on my door for a cuppa, I'm 2 miles down the road.

Wallace said:

You should have knocked on my door for a cuppa, I'm 2 miles down the road.

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Train to the door I'm afraid. Love to meet some of you on here.