Meanwhile, I had rented a unit so that I could complete the 63 mini and Lenny. Unfortunately for my parents and Lenny, a "Dawn of the Mini" had arrived and the unit was FULL. Sorry Mum. The bare metal shell was the 63', the red 1999 Cooper was my sons and the green one was a 2000 Cooper Sport CAT 'C'. I now realise that, if you put a cover over something, its forgotten!!
Fast forward to home number 3. I've given up on anything being permanent now. A Buddhist taught me that . August 2014 saw the solid 9-5, 2 weeks of work that have never been repeated. i cant remember how many cutting disks i went thru and still have the imprints from my ear defenders to this day. Property prices in the area, strangely, went down!! Here's what I faced.... The floor had to go for obvious reasons and to gain access to the chassis Both front tubs and B pillars were the same, no future. Both arches were shot, not really a problem until i found out... I had a CROSS - OVER (not crossdresser). a '72 only part. I can remember now but im sure i paid £600 for a mint Californian pair. Im not sure if that seat belt anchorage still conforms to BS AU 48:1965.... hmmm The B Pillar on the sliding door side. Some of the rust here is front previous welds that have not been protected after the work. Sorry pic is rotated 90 degree left.
The next set of pics are all from early June 2014. I was assessing the task ahead. im sure most 42 year old buses at this point in time had suffered the same UK weather abuse. Outside of the colour change from " Brilliant orange" Brilliant Orange" L20B (assumption made as its a '72) to a yellow paint job, I saw no evidence of previous restorations. As I was soon to discover tho, there was evidence, damming evidence, of accident damage!!
I think that's a similar story for a lot of us. Check out my profile pic, that's me and my bro' in 1973 camping in my Dad's 72 cro ss over. Merino yellow i think. You're jumping to conclusions there i think. I expect its more likely he had a valuable crook look he didn't want to lose - best way to ensure the crook lock wasnt stolen was to attach it to an immovable object..
Assessment complete, it was time to introduce the subtle noise of my angle grinder and cursing to the neighbours.... for the next 2 weeks :0 With the front panel off previous repairs to the inner windscreen were seen, along with what was accident damage to the right lower a post. I later discovered that this was not aligned correctly when i was fitting new doors and panels, it was 3cm left and 2cm back!! The cab floor had plates on top of plates. it had more armour than the Tirpitz.
Believe it or not but that's not soil underneath the bus. its mainly RUST !! The front tubs and arches are off both sides, the calafornian replacement doors are hanging. You can now see the colour difference in paints. Im really tempted to go back to stock. Ok, enough of working with a tarp. Its time for Clarkes garage #1 This is a complex section to repair, but im warm and for the 1st time, dry
All of the following work was done between June and August 2014, I was too busy to take pics, sorry. Front right tub was replace along with arches. Tub was JustKampers and arch was Californian. I painted the bare metal with EM121 EPOXY RUST PROOFING PAINT and then covered that with Dinitrol 4941. I carried out this process on the whole underneath. Left hand side
This next photo deserves a slot on its own. I mentioned the accident damage to the lower a post nearside, and this caused me so much grief. You can see front, the door gaps that its not true. the top of the door was also sticking out by 1cm due to the bottom being in. The new front clip would not fit, the door would not shut. The solution was, a piece of string... I made the assumption that the B post dimensions were correct (or so I hoped). I braced a piece of metal between the driver and passenger bulkheads, at identical heights. Using a builders string I measure to the drivers A post lower hinge to give me a ball park figure. I then cross referenced this with other measurements from the drivers side using what remained from the ball of string I then detached the A post lower from the rest of the body. NOT to my surprise, it pinged forward and out by a fraction. A couple of hours messing around with clamps and heaven knows how many door on door off episodes, I cracked it.
Still in August 2014, things were starting to come together. I could approach Lenny without rust falling off. Actually, looking at this pic reminds me that the days between the tarp an the Clarkes garage were false economy days. Lenny is actually in a garden gazebo. I thought, why spend £400 on a tent from machine mart, eBay have gazebos tents for £100. The Gazebo lasted 7 days, courtesy of what I remember Hurricane Arthur. the front chassis rails repaired and rust busted along with dinatol The body parts no longer wanted and awaiting the scrap man The whole cab section was now complete and ready for paint.
So, 2015 arrives and passes, as it did. Fast-forward to 2016, Lenny and I are on the move to a 1000 foot unit, he's on the drive awaiting his lift. Im on the home straight, more room than i can imagine now and all the time in the world. its gonna be easy... But hold on, what's this youngster doing on the scene??? Yep, eBay to the chaos again. The unit, Lenny is out of shot on the right. I'll just start AND finish this one and then I'll start Lenny, promise The T4 actually stole Lennys paint!! Completed T4
2016/7 saw Lenny move from the unit to Warrington. Lenny was buzzing, he was doing 80mph on a breakdown truck. He was so happy at a speed his never done, he popped his roof open at junction 10 of the M6. I'm not sure what was the most astonishing fact that day. a) a T2 can do 80mph b) its never tipped the breakdown truck over being as aero dynamic as a camel racer uphill c) that you can reach a speed of 80mph on the M6 at, or anywhere near Jn. 10
So … 2017 saw Lenny return from Warrington to my mates place to complete the welding whilst I sprayed his T4. Neither happened Lenny has for the last 2 years been sat in Clarkes garage #2 at my home in Walsall. I have created a work space and decluttered as much as i can so as to focus. That I believe, has brought me up to date. Ok, maybe I have told a little lie. Last year I bought something off eBay (I may have an addiction, im not sure!!) Welcome to Abbey, a 1.6 JX T3 Syncro. After a trip to UTMB in Chamonix last year, Abby may need some attention. DONT ALL VW's
I was hoping for “now she’s complete” guess we’ll have to encourage you to post some pictures of more rust.... we love it!! Some good reference material for the cab steps and alignment issues
Yesterday, Lenny squinted at daylight. AND i squinted back. BECAUSE I had forgot that back in 2017 before I moved to Warrington, I spayed the front half in order to protect him from the Northern winter to come. He looks good and the paint looks amazing :_ 20/10/20
Today, I decided to tackle the engine lid as this has been in bare metal for a while now and needs sorting. I choose the lid because I want a quick result to inspire me to move forward. This will be followed by the tailgate later in the week (here comes the self imposed pressure and the plan is then to move onto the 2 rear upper window areas. This will then allow me to fit all the glass. That's the plan :S The engine lid looks reasonably solid for 48 years old. I used a degreaser to get rid of as much of the factory wax I could so as not to contaminate any areas of paint that will remain. I didn't take a pic of the lid before degreaser but it was a heavy brown wax all over, not anymore!! I then cut away some of the seam edge that was proper rotten. The pic makes the lid look a lot worse than it is. I will treat it with jeolite later. The outside had been in bare metal for probably 5 years i guess, so had started surface rusting. I discovered these disks a few years ago and they are simply fantastic. As can be see . So I will treat the rust over the next few days, etch prime and filler prime. The lid will then be kept indoors while the tailgate following the same process. both will be top coated next week.
Yes amazing, as long as you get decent ones. The last set of 5 i bought this year lasted less than the current one disk I'm using. I've added that seller to my favourites on eBay
Here is todays effort. The tailgate! This is how it was left in 2015 ish. the main rust is surface and from storage, or lack off! Apart from the section that I cut out years ago the gate is in amazing condition. I would normally leave the paint on and not strip back for a couple of reasons. 1. Its original and the primer that VW used and the process is going to be far superior to what a DIYer like me can achieve. 2. I normally use the existing paint as a filler guide. When sanding it shows the high and low points. There is a time limit to point 1, even though the paint looks solid, after nearly 50 years its going to show wear... I couldn't see this scab until the topcoat was off A bit more sanding and I would have wanted to prep and paint over that monster, so out with the poly disk Now that I know the basecoat is compramised, it all has to go. I found many more rust spots in the end, so to me, it was worth the effort Those are my rather warn trainers in shot :0 I've started fabricating the repair sections. I was going to go for a lower outer panel replacement and spot weld it just below the swag line. I decided against this due to 1. The heat generate from any weld would result in a few skims of filler to make good. Even tho the join would be near the strength of the swag line, I could only spot weld so far and then have to mig the rest. 2. Folding the edge is to me, a lot of effort to get a pleasing result, especially the corners and making them watertight. 3. the lower panel is glued to the frame and would need a similar solution. 4. Other than the section that is cut out, the gate is solid.
