Hatty our '73 Bay

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by tom-bex, Aug 12, 2018.

  1. Thought I'd start a thread here documenting our progress on Hatty our well loved '73 bay. Sorry for this long intro - I promise future posts will be (much!) more concise.

    First some background. We bought Hatty about 15+years ago, primarily due to the price and having an LPG conversion.
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    She was used as a daily driver, with us doing bits of work on her as and when required, including a basic respray just in time for our wedding in 2005. All work carried out in a communal back yard much to the amusement of the neighbours!
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    Hatty was heavily used during her first 8 years with us, both as daily driver, weekends and longer holidays, with particularly fond memories of our winter tours of the highlands. Very rarely did we use campsites.
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    Around 2010 we bought a canal boat to live on that needed complete refurbishment, and Hatty started to get a bit neglected, showing signs of her use on heavily salted roads every winter in the highlands. She failed her MOT in 2011 and was parked up, being replaced with a boring, practical escort van. Later that year our friend John who has his own garage picked her up pending a decision on her future as we needed the space.

    We soon decided to ask John to restore the bodywork and and do a full respray to the original green and white again. This he reluctantly agreed to do in his spare time, despite his insistence that the scrap yard was the best place for her! Despite supplying panels in drips and drabs over the intervening 7 years, we began to give up hope of ever getting her back. Life moved on, with the biggest and best change being the birth of daughter Lily in 2016, and thoughts of Hatty slowly faded.

    Suddenly we were given a surprise glimpse of hope late last year as we saw pics of Hatty in a nearly finished state!
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    Unbeknown to us Hatty had spent time at a friend of John's who completed the work. Unfortunately our optimism was short lived - the finish was not up to John's exacting standards so he decided to sand it off and start again!
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    That brings this post almost up to date and we finally got Hatty delivered back at the start of June as can be seen here: http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/finally-got-our-bay-back.78236/

    I promise the next instalment will be much more concise and more about restoration than reminiscing! Next post will start to detail the actual progress we've made since getting her back. Still a very long way to go though.

    Tom and Becky
     

    Attached Files:

  2. First 3 days

    Well the first evening of 3 days in Somerset to work on Hatty was spent carefully manoeuvring the van around to get it precisely lined up on the driveway.

    This was more difficulty than it sounds, having to leave enough space to work all around her, enough space to park a car alongside and work on the car, avoid hitting the trellis, and avoid sticking out into the road too far! All this by hand, with seized brakes, on a slightly sloping drive that is about the same length as the van! And we normally only have 1 vehicle on the drive if doing any work due to lack of space.

    Finally settled on the best compromise, and got Hatty up on axle stands for the foreseeable future, then removed the wheels to go off for blasting and painting.

    By the end of day 2, the engine was out, and I'd started to strip out the redundant (read horrible mess!) wiring. I also began a mental list of jobs to do, but gave up as I became overwhelmed and disheartened.

    Some of the removed wiring - more still to do!
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    Engine removed and on the bench
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    Some of the ancillaries removed from in and around the engine bay
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    Day 3 and the LPG components were gone, most of the wiring mess removed back to the stock wiring, fuel tank removed, and a start made on an initial shopping list.

    LPG kit had to go to make space and simplify the engine bay setup. LPG setup may end up for sale at some point as can't bring myself to bin it.
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    Fuel tank ready for removal
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    I think this may be why the petrol preferred to be on the ground rather than in the tank!
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    I think this heat exchanger has seen better days! The other side was not much better.
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    My first 3 day stretch was over far to quickly, and it was time to head back north ready for work the next day.

    Next instalment coming soon!
     
    bernjb56, Valveandy, MeelisV and 6 others like this.
  3. Baysearcher

    Baysearcher [secret moderator]

    Good work.
    That’s a lot of excess wiring!
     
    tom-bex likes this.
  4. Well the next working holiday has no photos I'm afraid!

    The list of parts acquired is growing rapidly, unfortunately the list of parts still required is also growing but even more rapidly:(

    This time work concentrated on the brakes. First off the front calipers were removed, stripped and rebuilt. Unfortunately the pistons were so seized there was no way they were coming out without destroying them:mad:
    A quick eBay order ensured replacements were delivered the next day so the rebuild could continue.

    Luckily the front pads and discs look like they'd been replaced just before the failed MOT (7 years ago!) so other than light surface rust on the discs, were in near perfect condition.

    Master cylinder was next to be renewed, along with the connecting hose to reservoir. Both rear cylinders replaced.

    Then it was just the brake pipes to make up, and the flexi hoses to renew. Luckily 1 roll of brake pipe proved just enough to complete the job.

    Finally ordered some rear brake shoes and drums ready to fit next time.

    Short 3 days this time as had to take time out for family day in the middle!
     
    gninnam and arryhancock like this.

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