Wow, it looks quite solid. I've seen plenty of splits come back totally, pepperd. He was definitely worth saving. Sent from my SM-G981B using Tapatalk
Look who’s back! Project Stevie is now back from the shotblasters and ready for me to start assessing what work she needs. Winter is definitely on its way now as the track to the workshop is covered in mud which The Baja bug absolutely loves.
Stevie is back on the rollover jig so I can make a start on the chassis repairs. First up repairing this monstrosity of a previous repair someone made, seam welding a 5mm thick plate to the chassis rail (they did this on both rails!). I’ve chopped that out as well as the section that always rusts out on the chassis rail behind the front cross member and outrigger. I’ve rust treated inside the box section and fabricated the repair pieces ready to weld in next weekend, I’ll then need to repeat this on the other side.
First chassis repairs for Stevie all welded in yesterday. Now to flip the bus over and repeat on the other side. An interesting cycle out to the workshop with more flooding than I’ve seen in recent years. This car was up to the top of its wheels by the time I came home (pic taken on the way there) and there was another car floating down the road further up.
Not too much to go from when making this repair piece for the other chassis rail! That’s both chassis rails repaired now so I can start thinking about the floor supports, outriggers and sills next.
Starting to trial fit a few panels to the splitty. A few floor supports resting in position to see where they’ll fit relative to the sills and to work out if any adjustment will be needed. It’s not looking far off in most places but I’ll probably end up just using the centre line of the van to make sure everything is even. Trial fitted the front inner valance too. The drivers side meets up nicely with the A pillar, the passenger side however is out by a country mile and confirms my suspicion that the A pillar that side will need bending out. I think the headlight bowl panel will get chopped out and replace too as it’s quite bent that side. Another panel to add to the parts list!
When I was on the hunt for a splitty project Simon at NOSVW warned me not to buy one that was missing too many bits, so naturally I ended up buying one that had a whole bunch of components missing! It’s taken a good few months to track down this part, the clutch lever, which I managed to find on marketplace but I now have one and it’s already been powdercoated.
I suppose if certain unavailable parts can't be sourced if you could borrow one if possible to make .
I wasn't far off debating doing that to be honest. It wouldn't have been impossible to make but I think I'd have had to get my mate to fire up his lathe as the pivot itself has a stepped section that accepts a bushing. I spotted this one for sale as part of what looked like a full RHD pedal set, but turned out to be a RHD clutch and LHD brake, so I managed to convince the seller to split the parts and just sell me this piece.
Starting to get some metal back on the ‘65 project. Floor supports all tack welded in to give me some much needed reference points for the main structure. I’m not going to fully weld any of this until I’ve trial fitted a lot more panels to make sure everything is looking in shape.
Looks great , when I was looking for a camper 30 years ago I looked at a 60s complete Devon split @£2300 a 21 samba @£5999 and a 72 westy @£1100 ..I bought the westy ..what an idiot .. Are you planning on stock or any mods ?
Crazy isn't it! I suspect you still made the right choice though, I expect this to be like driving an old tractor. It's staying relatively stock, but any mods made will be stuff I can easily switch back at a later point if needed. Currently planning some tubular bumpers, big ol' roof rack and side ladder. Possibly fitting an prototype bay beam to it for a bit of a lift.
