Evie Bus - 1966 Aussie Standard

[68BUS]

I decided to restore my steering wheel over the weekend as it was pretty badly cracked.
I got some epoxy putty from Supercheap and used a dremel to cut open / widen out all the cracks throughout.
Gave it a blast with air and them filled them all. It took a couple of turns to get everything and once there was 1 coat of primer on it I found a few more that I could not see.
It took me about 4hours all up and $40-50 of material.
Used Septone Acrylic high build primer and Septone Gloss Black from pressure packs and some wax and grease remover in a pressure pack too.
I still have to wet sand with 2000series paper and cut and polish it to bring the gloss out but it is pretty nice for now.


Cracked cut open / ground open.


Epoxy Putty round 1 of 3.


All painted up but not yet cut and polished. (does not really need it but still a little orange peely).

[68BUS]

The only down side is that the outer ring of the horn button was badly cracked and had already been glued together by a previous owner. i was hoping I could fix it better but it cracked straight away and just after this photo was taken the whole thing sprang out.
So I will hopefully be able to find a replacement. If not looks like I will have to buy a complete unit.

[kombi niko]

For that crack use loctite 406 it won't crack again

[68BUS]

Thanks Nick.
A DSK member has been nice enough to help me out with and outer ring (Thanks Shane).

But if all goes to pot then I will keep the loctite in mind.
I was hoping the putty would work as it claims it has a strong bond but I guess as a semi-solid material it cannot soak right into every bit to grip.

[68BUS]

Went and checked in on the bus last night. Looking good.
Should be going into colour in a fortnights time.

This photo does not really do it justice but side all prepsolled to give the wet look.
It has come up very straight.


Door gaps are all looking very even and lined up well.


Roof still needs a fine filler and sand for sanding marks but the shape is there now.


And the front that was previously un touched has been taken through bulk shaping and filler. And will be onto the next round of finer work soon.

[Cam Biscuit]

I wish mine was where yours is right now...

[kombi niko]

oh the joys of sanding, and I'm not even there yet.

[68BUS]

Fortunately I am not doing it myself. Mind you I am laying a paving slab today to earn the money to pay for the sanding to be done by a professional.
I think I have the wrong end of the stick today, but his skills on body work produce twice the results per hour then I could do so it all balances out I guess.

[kombi niko]

I hear ya, i wish I didn't have to do it my self but no choice as the $$ has to go towards engineering.

[68BUS]

I wasn't going to post these as I know you all hate colour shots but I figure I will anyway.
When we started to choose the colour we really struggled to find accurate samples to base our decision on. I got Glasurit to mix me the colours and they just didn't look the same as other busses. Now I no how big a difference the camera makes.
There are two colours below. The lighter green is off my big DSLR. The darker colour is of my mobile phone. Ironically the mobile phone (darker colour) is more true to real life.



This photo especially shows colour up.

[68BUS]

She is spending a bit of time at Custom Vee Dub to get some new wiring and mechanical fit off and servicing. Hopefully she will be home soon.

[rabidkombi]

Looks amazing congratulations
The finish line is in sight

[kombi niko]

Nice Brad, amazing what color does hay!!

[spl65t]

liking that colour, nice one
linz

[paul willans]

nice