Darwin '67 11 Window Resto Project

[FrankenCab]

Good list for starting out , I use copper pipe squashed flat bent into shape with a timber file handle attached as it tends to get hot even doing small screw holes

[gregdonohue]

All Good advice there you can use a carbon block also if you have no copper works great.

[Cam Biscuit]

Hey Tony

Good to see you on here mate. Great minds think alike - after about day two of working on the bus I went out and bout another andle grinder to make 3!

I use a bit of old copper pipe for filling holes, one end is just flattened and the other end I cut and opened up as you can bend and shape it to get into nooks and crannies.

The Phillips head on the air chisel works a treat for loosening screws as well although some have been literally welded on with rust and need to be drilled.

[D-Train]

Hi Cam
Finally got on here to see your machine. Looks great.
I see you’ve got my little brother on the job there.
I learned a couple of tricks doing the metal work on the CB, sent them to a bloke just starting out recently. Here’s the part of the list relevant to a bus:-
Put a piece of copper plate (available as “Bus Bar” from industrial electrical suppliers) behind holes while you fill them, takes the heat away and keeps the back of the weld flat.
Do (literally) 1 second of TIG or MIG welding, then blast the metal with compressed air while it’s still red hot, don’t let any of it cool. This will shrink it back straight away, shrinking warped flat sheet afterwards is very, very hard. This method takes a looong time but it’s worth it.
Get a G clamp, cut it up, get some metal and make a long reach one, or two.
Het some 10 or 12mm square bar to help clamp things, like the channels around the engine lid.
Cut some holes in the closed cavities to let the dirt out and to let the rust proofing in. You can put plugs in them later.
Get at least 4 grinders. Grinding wheel, 1mm cutting wheel, cup wire brush, flap disc (and large flat wire brush for some jobs) Changing the wheels will drive you nuts, they only cost a few bucks. I had a bench on wheels with all this on it following me around.
Make up a rotisserie, you’ll do your back in reaching it all otherwise.
Use 2 electric drills, 1 with an 8mm shallow ground drill, and another with an 8mm flat ground drill. That’s the best way to drill out spot welds, with 2 drills, 1 to start, the other to cut the front sheet away only. Polish the panel with the wire, find the spot welds, punch them with a sharp punch, tapered drill until you get full diameter, then touch it with the flat one, now that it has a guide hole, which takes it out flat and doesn’t damage the back panel, much, depending on how shallow the first drill is.
I have a hand held sand blaster too. Buy the right material for it. It’s next to useless on a standard air compressor but with a little patience you can get the tough little bits done, don’t try and do a lot.

As you saw the other day, my CB has been to the blaster and is in undercoat currently. I intend to straighten it, seal all the joints with acrylic sealer, paint it, then while it’s still on the rotisserie flood the cavities with Waxoil, in every position, until it runs out of every hole or joint. I’ll clean the Waxoil off the paint after that. It may have been built to rust but it’ll never rust again.

Good luck.
Tony Beven

Good info there for him tony!
welcome to dsk too mate.

Dion

[Cam Biscuit]

Still Beavering away feverishly

D pillar is all sorted - curved section is all new and the lower part is also sorted.

WTF a piece of sponge was doing in there is beyond me....no wonder it was rusty.....

The Klassic Fab section is a much different profile than the original and took a couple of pie cuts to make it all line up but it all lined up ok.

[Cam Biscuit]

I also had to do a bit or work on the parcel shelf rear corner with the other D pillar work, usual cut and shut.

Also lots of panel beating on the parcel shelf itself to take out some of the bends and dents. Handy to have a long jack

New section of swage as there were a heap of pin holes in the old bit

[Cam Biscuit]

And lastly some drivers side window frame repairs and fixing some horrors around where the pop out latch mounts on the passenger side....

This piece took about 3 hours I think - cut out old piece, get the 3 broken screws out, cut off the captive plate, get captive plate moving again, shape repair section and put in crease to match the original section, weld captive plate back on and test fit with pop out frame and latch to make sure everything is in the right place and you can open the bloody window!

Not hard to see where the bucks go on restos........

[Cam Biscuit]

Whoops wrong photo.....

[morts]

You're smashing it out Cam - great stuff

[Cam Biscuit]

Its been a while time for a catch up! Nice to have a few days over Easter to get stuck in to things

I took a break from the routine a while back and retrieved the seats out of the parts bus and pulled the crusty covers off and gave them the wire brush treatment and a dose of POR15. I shudder to think how much sweat has gone into those covers over the years Word of warning - the wire cup brush on the grinder works well on skin as well. Must stop wearing shorts!

Also gave the engine bay a sand blast and all primed up

[Cam Biscuit]

After that it was time to do the short side panel and rear corner. The short side went on with a combination of plug welds and sikaflex bonding compound. As the rear corner was off still it meant that I could get in and weld a couple of plugs behind the swage line.

The rear corner took some doing and I reckon i put in on and took it off about 40 times. in the end I had to section it in a couple of places to make it work.

I'm not 100% happy with the join line at the bottom of the two panels and in hindsight should have sectioned the bottom of the rear corner to allow it to pull in tighter with the side panel but too late now!

The gas bottle tray is also not quite level despite the photo!- I managed to bump it with a clamp without realising when I was welding it in. At least its out of sight!

[Cam Biscuit]

Thought I'd show a photo of the side 'brace' or whatever its called. This part holds the side panel and rear corner from being pushed in. Both panels sit to the left of this vertical piece. You can just get your arm up there high enough do do some plug welds.

Now on to the other rear corner, have to fix the pillar but its much better than the other side was. Rear pillar triangle on this side also needs to be replaced.

I'm really hoping to get the other corner and long side panel on over the ANZAC long weekend but its a big bite.....

I should add that I would not join the left rear corner at the swage line if I didn't have to....its a bugger of a place to weld and will be hard to get right when it comes time to paint it. Unfortunately I didn't have a choice as there was a few holes in the left swage line.

The other side will be done differently!

[splitbus]

Some very nice work there mate, except your leg ffffffffffouch

[Ged]

Yep great work Cam, and nice mangina.... No poking it, it'll never heal

[Luke62]

nice progress there.. nice injury too did the wire wheel attack you.. glad someone is making progress even at the cost of some flesh