59 Split 11 Window - Resto

kombi1976 · Post by **kombi1976** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:26 pm

I'll tell ya, this scares the piss out of me.
Amazing attention to detail.

chillax · Post by **chillax** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 10:13 pm

Hey guys,
Here are some more progress shots.

Little spots of rust in the cab floor had to be repaired

Small sections were cut out...

...and new sections were welded in

Left B-pillar has had a good whack at some stage which damaged the dogleg outer

Inner arch removed

Part way through the inner arch repair

Obviously the Gerson sill and strengthener were used, along with an inner b-pillar support section

The short sill was tacked in place after aligning the outer sill. Final welds to occur after outer b-pillar repair section arrives.

Will get to go down and see the bus this Saturday and visit Al to see how it is all going. Cant wait

Jack

chillax · Post by **chillax** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:18 pm

Here is what Al got up to today

Cab floor has been ground smooth, now ready for a skim of filler before primer

Both lower a-pillars needed replacing like most of the other lower 6 inches of this bus!

A trial fit of the repair sections yielded a fairly good alignment

Welded into place and ground flush

Same on the left side...

The lower seal retaining lip had to be fabricated (was rotten) and then welded in place....all these fiddly bits chew up the time pretty fast!

Jack

chillax · Post by **chillax** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:17 pm

Hey guys,
Sorry for slacking off a bit in posting updates, so here is what Al has gotten up to

The engine lid has some pretty bad stuff on the inside including stripped hinge threads....

.....missing hinges and hinge plates.....

....and lots of cracks and rust.

After a few trial fits the inner valance was welded in place

The nose will be shot with paint before the outer valance and nose skin goes on

New hinge plates were cut from 5mm steel, drilled and tapped

Now the hinge plates are done, the rest of the decklid can be rebuilt

Headlight buckets were removed from the old nose carefully (no major rust fortunately)

The indicator holes had to be filled so filler pieces were cut and formed to shape, then tacked in place

Controlling the heat as welds were laid down, and beating to shape as it progressed it turned out nicely on boths sides.

...

Inside view, nice and smooth

After the headlight buckets were stripped back to bare metal, then the mating surfaces painted with weld through primer, they were welded in place as per factory welds.

Both the inside of the nose skin and the inner nose structure itself were etched then high build primed, and hopefully painted in colour tomorrow or saturday before nose goes on next week.

Jack

nicko · Post by **nicko** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:30 pm

How hard is it to weld the 5mm plate to the 1mm engine lid metal or is there a secret for doing this??
Nicko

Dasdubber · Post by **Dasdubber** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:48 pm

nicko wrote:How hard is it to weld the 5mm plate to the 1mm engine lid metal or is there a secret for doing this??
Nicko

I guess everyone's mig and techniques differ but I found medium setting on my mig (WIA 10mm) with slightly lower wire speed aiming the bulk of the heat/wire at the 5mm plate and carefully pulling the molten pool onto the thinner guage metal....hard to explain but hope that helps a little.
Al

nicko · Post by **nicko** » Thu Sep 11, 2008 10:55 pm

Thanks Al

chillax · Post by **chillax** » Mon Sep 15, 2008 11:20 pm

Some more progress has happened today, so here are the updates.

The passenger side short sill was prepped and welded into place today. Butt welded and ground smooth

The long sill was riveted temporarily over the original to give a cut line that would not move.

Whilst riveted in place, the original sill was cut out using the repro sill as a guide (like a flush trim router cutting bit)

From a side view, there is a chance I had the wrong Gerson inner sill support as it was too long (wrong profile)

As a result the section had to be pie cut and rewelded along its length to get it to match the inner profile of the original support correctly

This shot just shows the inner view of the welds of thepie cuts.....its little things like this that rack up the hours!

Jack

chillax · Post by **chillax** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 11:16 pm

Hey guys,
Sorry for taking away to update the thread, I have been overseas for a couple of weeks.

Al and Steve have been flat out working on the dubs, so here are some pics.

Steve fabbed up a new inner arch closing plate with the flanged edge that sits inside the long sill

This was one of those "previously repaired" areas that took a lot of work to repair properly

The inner section of the closing plate was tacked in place

Steve spent a lot of time getting the welds right on the curve that is seen from inside the bus

The left rear arch closing plate also required repair

After lots of trial fitting, the long sill was tacked in place

Got the sill fully welded in today and groud smooth but forgot to take a pic - will do so tomorrow

Jack

byronbus · Post by **byronbus** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 12:26 am

Who is that dude hiding behind the gates leaning up on the wall?

Dasdubber · Post by **Dasdubber** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:26 am

byronbus wrote:Who is that dude hiding behind the gates leaning up on the wall?

Name, Austin Danger Powers....Sex.....Yes Please!

Ahhh its too late, and I don't know why I know quotes from that movie!
Al

byronbus · Post by **byronbus** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 7:16 am

ah, thought it was him, those gates hoves or do you have some spares?

Dasdubber · Post by **Dasdubber** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 12:55 am

They are Hoves' gates Bruce. No spares unfortunately.

shark · Post by **shark** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 10:01 am

Great work guys interesting reading ggrrroovie baby

splitbus · Post by **splitbus** » Sat Oct 04, 2008 11:01 am

Looking the goods Jack, looked at this bus at Al's, doing a fantastic job. Cheers, Mike