[chris161190]

72 Bay Resto

So I've had a thread going for quite some time now but i thought id put up the full story if anyone fancies a read, these pics are going from when i bopught the van off ebay in 2007 to present day and updating as i do anymore, (and theres more to do!) the welding and spraying was done professionally at a autoworks near to where i live we went down a lot and did wiring etc whilst they were working and so there are pics as it has gone from what it was to present day at present i have about 123 different photos so ill be trying to upload the majority of them if i don t get too bored... happy reading...
Chris.

Not quite as empty as the photos suggested he used us as a mobile tip to get rid of all his old crap, there was beer and ketchup from the 70's back there!

All looked ok n pretty sound, i was new to the scene at this point only being 16 so really didnt have a clue what i was looking for, we began to give it all a good old cleaning out to see where we stood.

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Engine looking a bit sorry for itself, still ran though...

Bloke was even kind enough to chuck in some brand new seals... from some other random car!

TailGate and Engine lid looked pretty shot near the bottom.

Usual rust patches on the Front Panel

Good clean out seemed to be doing ok, turned out to be cleaner inside than we have first thought.

After driving it to the autoworks...

Paint removal revealed the lower six inches of most panels needed replacing

Again more pics from another angle they were pretty well hidden by any old crap someone had tried to repair them with.

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

New Front Panel Welded in, Looking better already

divider put in where the lexan roof will be seated... Never much liked Pop-Tops...

Gonna need some looking at!

New panel welded in.

Panels were alright on the drivers side, Maybe it was sat at an angle in a big puddle

 

[chris161190]

IN FOR PRIMER!

Was flattened off n shot again with more primer then repeated to try n achieve the highest level of straightness they could, looked very straight in the booth but you never can tell till your in nice natural daylight...
So what seemed like an eternity passed and the van was left primed with no real clue when they were gonna spray the thing, eventually after weeks of going round every week to 'check progress' (egg them on a bit ) we turned up one saturday with my dad to complain (well no one takes two 17 year olds seriously) and it was being painted as we arrived!

Its A BMW colour if anyones interested, space grey i think it was called, looks really nice in the sunlight, got a nice sparkle to it and hides and minor ripples in panels etc

 

[chris161190]

Getting the lights plumbed in and sorting out the mess of a wiring loom, luckily my best mate did A-Level electronics and knows his stuff with wiring so weve pretty much roped him in through the whole project... Cheers Ant.

Nice bright halogens should keep us seeing in the dark

bought some empi 5's and tyres for £400 from midlands wheels, not a bad price, they do look a bit swamped by the size of the van, i wanna lower it in the not too distant future but only by 2-3 inches or so just to make accessibility easier ha!

Rear lights and Hazards working nicely

That most important thing installed, the radio.

Out in the day looking rather nice

And all lit up nicely...

Right off to work, somethings gotta pay for it, more updates if i have time later tonight...

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Cheers guys apreciated, got some more pics to follow...

 

[chris161190]

Some general tinkering in our own garage after all paint and welding had been done, fitting the washer jets, seals windscreen etc, also found some mirrors on ebay for about £13 each not sure how well the 'chrome' will last but at that price i really dont mind replacing!

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

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engine removed for an overhaul going completely stock with it for now cos of insurance two 19 year olds ain't cheap!

Finished on the bench ready to go in... Loving the Neon Green tin!

And in!

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

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[chris161190]

these are pretty much up to date of present day (feb 2010) more work tomorrow the van is MOT'd and were scrimping for insurance atm lol really wanna get out n about in it, were lucky enough to have an economical daily so we can go for a low milage policy until the NCB starts coming through ha...

Whilst chnaging the brake system fluids we took the calipers off and painted them in high temp paint and lacquer to give them a fresh look, think it goes well with the anthracite empi 5's?

Well thats all so far will update more as we do stuff probably within the next few days theres coverings for the sofa and some strip lighting along the top also got some xenons for the headlamps as there a bit too dull for my liking

Cheers Guys,

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Looks pretty dang cool boys!
Nice too see something new & fresh, some good ideas.
What did you do for the headliner?

Not done the headliner yet, am gonna get some aero ply and wrap it in headlining material and pin the boards up, it will make a seemless join throughout the whole thing, the cab area will be as normal with the steel rods holding it in place, cheers for all the comments guys...
Getting to work on it now...

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Wish i had the money to do a bay like that! im 19 and struggle to do anything to my beetle! looks sweet thou lads

Dont worry dude moneys the same here luckily im doing a uni course in furniture design, means i can make a lot of my own stuff to a very high standard for peanuts, just time, but hey im a student so i got plenty of free time

 

[chris161190]

UPDATE!

OK so theres a few post for an update so ill fill you all in on the progress...

The van has been insured for about two months now and weve been driving it round here n there its first trip was 90 miles from the midlands to oxford at its new home in kidlington this journey was a sucess and so we had the engine out anyway to shim the end float correctly, after this we took the van back up to the midlands for a trip up further to blackpool, i know lovely place .
On the way there we lost power and stopped at a petrol station to investigate, one the the inlet manifold gaskets had gone and so did a quick fix with liquid gasket to get us home on the way home we snapped the fan belt resulting in a black mess all over the engine bay and a costly tow back to my parents house in the midlands :S

The guy on the tow was surprising funny for saying it was one thirty in the morning, said us camper n beetle drivers keep him in buisness lol!

So got towed back and a week or so later took the van back up to oxford home. well we got 70 miles there so only 18 to go and a loss of power occured..
another tow for the last 20 miles or so and got it home. took to engine out to investigate and this is what we found...

This was all on number one cylinder remarkable the cylinder wall is still perfect and this was he only damage to the overall engine, there was however masses of metal shards in the oil and round the engine so first thing in the bin was the cooler as wed never get it clean again...
got on the phone to stateside tuning and took the remains over to him for some work, tell you what that man knows his stuff n seems like hes gonna do an ace job for the price going for a 1641 full flowed and fully balanced, more for engine longevity than revs maybe with a mild cam engle 100 or 110 or scat c25? with some twin carbs later down the route, speaking of which what dizzy will i need for twin carbs?

With the engine off away for machining my attention turned to the general underside of the van the mechanic who did all the work covered in in waxoil, which dont get me wrong is great stuff for protectio however you cant do anything under the van without getting plastered in the stuff n it dropping in your eyes so this current plan is to strip it off and go with stone chip.

 

[chris161190]

Update!

We removed the gearbox which to our surprise only has three of the four bolts holding it in, the one on the passenger side of the bell housing was missing which resulted in the gearbox being flexed anti clockwise when the engine was running, you can see where the fly wheel has been grinding slowly away.

It was removed and cleaned up with a wire brush and three hours at it at that, then sprayed in tough black paint by simoniz, (ill see how the stuff holds out)

This result is this, and the bolts where all changed for new shiny ones too

Looks loads better and gonna replace all the gear linkages whilst its all out to give a much more responsive feel, JK do a kit including a scat Locking reverse shift for around £110 anyone got one? any good?

CV joints and drive shafts removed for cleaning up my bro accidentally placed them face down on gravel so i guess we had no choice but to dismantle for cleaning Thanks to www.type2.com with there walk through guide this was a doddle n looks loads better New boots n grease on the way from JK as well as new screws to hold the buggers on as we knackered the others removing them

Drive shafts painted up in tough black waiting for there new shiny CV joints and boots

After everything has been cleaned and or painted it was wrapped in bubble wrap and stored in a big box until its needed again to protect it all.

Clean and shiny waiting for a dirty helping of grease...

More updates as stuff happens....

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

done some more cleaning of various bits on the back end today got the gearbox mount out and cleaned it up remarkable the original paint or coating was still on under all the crap so that just needed smoothing off and then fresh coat of tough black

also got the front mount for the gearbox cleaned and painted

sorry bout the crap photos it was getting dark and the camera on my phone isnt brilliant without a flash

finally did the thick steel bracket for the front of the gearbox again sorry bout the photo quality will find out the digital camera

the gearbox mounts (rubber ones) seem in pretty good nick (the ones that go on the chassis with the nuts in them) can i just clean them off in warm soapy water?

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Thanks, thinking bout doing the seals again though os have figured out a neater way, they do keep the water out though which is good!

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

More updates!

nice shiny new box of bits came from JK (great fast service BTW)

All laid out on the table ready to be assembled

And twenty minutes later...

Not put any grease in them yet but wrapped in bubble wrap till i need to reinstall them probably in a week or so...

Thats it for now.

Cheers,

Chris.

 

[chris161190]

Got the rear trailing arms and hubs off tonight basically everything out from the rear end bar the spring plates ready for cleaning up and painting tomorrow will post photo updates up tomorrow night...

Chris.