You are some man for hardship Kevin

Between those pair and the mk3 I don't know how you are still any way sane

Best of luck with the projects anyway, I saw the caddy when Ken had it, I didn't think the pillar was that bad either

 

QUOTE (Geo @ Jun 30 2008, 12:47 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>You are some man for hardship Kevin

Between those pair and the mk3 I don't know how you are still any way sane

Sane? My argument is that I was born sane in an insane world, George...

 

fair play Kevin, work cut out for you!

I'd say your neighbours love you

 

Who's Keith??

The caddy looks alot better in the flesh.

Good luck with the build KEVIN

 

[quote name= Posted Today, 10:18 AM
fair play Keith, work cut out for you!

I'd say your neighbours love you
[/quote]

I certainly have Jim

.. bus was 're-homed' in the unit there on Saturday - that pic was taken on friday evening... I have to move all my welding gear (welder, argon bottle, grinders tools etc, once i have done that bit of welding on the caddy... theres another patch needed on bottom of the passenger side door pillar; not as bad as the drivers side, but the wing also has to come off that side...
...the neighbours always have a cheery hello for me

... actually had a big bust up with the neighbour next door; he tried to get the council to get it removed n crushed and when they 'refused' he said he was going to take matters into his own hands himself; a right 'Victor Meldrew' type

, needless to say i soon put him right on that....

 

A few more pics of the caddy I took before my mate 'reposessed' his digi camera....
small rust hole repaired on rear window 'lip'...

Front wing off (liner's captive screws were a fecker to get off...)

door off the old 84 is straight and rustfree despite how it looks (thick acrylic blue coat covers the original white)

Cant wait to scrub off them layers of blue paint

The tiny 'olde school' steering wheel i want to fit (once I get a boss for it -anyone got one??); its aparantly 30 or so years old; originall off a mini...was given it when I used to smoke around in my 69 Beetle when I lived in Edinburgh...

Caddy's owner manual/pre-delivery inspection/service history etc etc.file

I am well happy that's still present...

 

Small up date without pics (will try to blag a camera again...!!)
91 Caddy
trying to get a move on on this as driving a Nissan Almera daily is soul destroying...

Got some new outer cv joints from the local motors factors ("NO Returns EVER!! -the managemnet is in possession of the catalogue, and will not be questioned!!!")- E52 +vat vs GSF @ E60+vat.. it all helps!!!
getting the inner from GSF as local motorfactors say 'they are not available or made anymore!"....
Got the drivers side pillar all repaired back to 'original look' all butt-welded, edge to edge, after I cut out numerous plates from the previos 'repair' as a result it didn't leave much of the original lower pillar, the rest was considerably out of alignment after the previous bodged repairs... the inner wing has also needed few other patches, nearly 85% done with them...

77 Bus
After drying out a bit, the bus is very solid, which is a surprise, well in comparsion to other Buses Ive seen being repaired... i did 'poke about' and chisel some of the filler 'layer cake' off... some of its was 1.5/2inches thick... layer nearest the metal was like concete and was obviously from 'back in the day'' - a lot of the filler troughs seem to be pointless filling of old dents; extreme laziness!! and much of the metal underneath is lace like and flaking....

thats all, pics hopefully to follow

 

update with pics...
Smooth'd scuttle

just filled (not much filler-I hate the stuff!!) and etch primed...
Door pillar repair

a bit of stopper before top coat goes on; was surprised how little filler was needed here; pillar was in a right state before I started welding (distortion!!).. about half the bottom part of the pillar is 'new' (84 section). It also need a few small patches where the pillar curves down to meet the sill.
All welding is butt welding.

Was raining hard earlier this week, and as I am outa work just now I decided to build up the driveshafts I had earlier painted up...

New inner Cv joints are hidden by the plastic. I thought I was very clever saving E16 on the price of a pair of outer Cv's buying them locally, rather than GSF. They turned out to be a pain; the clips for the gaitors were crap, and I managed to cut my hands to bits trying to get them to tighten... they were abandoned in favour of the bodger's favouite 'tie wraps'...!!

Thats about all the progress, mainly due to me going 'off on a tangent' and getting distracted by other stuff...

Heres one of the main distractions, delivered last sunday..

Its my uncle's and he wants some new sills fitted to it. apart from the dodgy sills its body is really mint ( apart from the paint of course). Engine is not there, but he's already sourced another rotten MGB for engine, radiator etc etc. I really have no space for this but as its work, I can turn it down....

 

dug this tread up from the depths... not to the 'standard' of a lot of stuff on here, and been a project since moses was a boy, but I didnt really have much to work with (caddy); took awhile collecting parts, and still am... those that 'dig' a shiney new paint job may look away now...
axle flipped and painted up...

As it stands -recently...

...everthing underneath has been detailed-painted/welded reinforced wishbones and nearley everything has been replaced bar the steering rack which 'look new'... just fitted a 9 servo and 22m/c and hope to have it ready for fermoy... need a doe first though; just got the passenger side bearing squeezed in by a mate so its a matter of relocating the brake switch, doing some more rust repair etc etc

 

Good stuff Kevin, I'm looking forward to seeing it. When are you hoping to doe it?

 

Good stuff, Nice to see it coming along

 

...Ive brakes to bleed and a few other 'essentials' to get done for the Doe; the uncle was round the other day and was telling me 'where is the best place' to get a Doe, if you know what i mean, he reckons its 'good to go', but I want it right as this is more or less a car/pick-up that was a shell built uo from a bunch of parts from about 8 to 10 different car's parts...

 

[I have the T4 clutch to do this week but I am hoping to get a doe in the next 2 weeks hopefully; thanks again for supplying and fitting the 'proper' tyres for this car; cant recommend you lads enough!!!

 

She's coming together nicely Kevin, looking forward to seeing her in the metal at Fermoy!

 

Looks cool, love the Zoro windscreen surround

 

when you get the bus Kev?

 

Loven the caddy man ,some goofd work going on there too!! Hopen to have mine within the next two weeks and to get stuck in, will finally have my own project thread. Keep up the work and keep us posted on whats happening with it, would love to see whats being done

Best of luck with it too

 

...cheers lads; theres a black 'badly painted' bonnet to go on to go with the 'zoro' screen surround... a few more plans for 'the asthetics' that may or may not be to everyone's taste, but I'll focus on getting it on the road, finally, for the time being.... I say that, I am just back from helping a mate out with some spannering in exchange for promised 'big twin air -horns' for it....

 

@TGI i have had the bus since Noah started building that boat... a long time ago; chassis has had some welding; original Irish Bus; full of filler and newspaper garnishings on rust... I'll get to at some stage...

 

still going through the various pics on photobucket;bit of rust repair I did to the floor awhile back... the only holed part of the floor was in the most inaccessable area
'k-rust' with pin holes wasnt cutting it...

had to cut the x-member to gain access, twice the welding...

new matal, hand beaten patch welded in (mk1's have very 'intricate' floors in terms of pressings; lots of double cureature panels)...

fully seam welded wishbones...

new bearings and daftly painted up suspension bits...

I have done some more bits, mostly small rust repairs in the bed; tailgate closing area which I have yet to take pics of...

 

What are you planning to do with the bed of her, you going to paint it and leave it open or will you be making some form of frame for her to close her??? and if so how you going to go about it and what paint do you think would be good for the bed, something that would stop ruct and be fairly good and strong??? Sorry i know it may seem like a strange question but its only 11 days till i get my own and the nerves are starting to kick in cause i dont have a clue, haha

Might pick your brain a fair bit in the next few weeks if thats ok

Oh and great work so far man, cant wait to see this when she is finnished up, will be fairly cool to have another caddy at some of the shows and what not

 

just a idea for ya if you was going to leave bed open would be to get it sprayed with load liner. its really tough stuff you could beat it with a hammer and it be ok. it can be any colour you want is well i nearly sure? and it will keep the rot away.

 

...the bed is pretty mint and what 'swung' buying the caddy originally, and the previous owner didnt take to handpainting it like he did with most of the rest of the car; its got the odd scabby bit and needs a patch welded in; 1 euro coin sized rust hole; the tailgate 'shuts need a good deal of repair and are a bit lacey though... I am not going to use bed paint; a chap I used to work with did his hi-lux with it and he didnt recommend it; I think he brushed it on and couldnt get 'even coverage' but there is sprayable bed paints now; I am not a big fan of the finish TBH...I dont really fancey chequer plate either; was planning on gathering up a few thousand old ali number plates and screwing them to some thick marine ply in a sort of 'collage effect'...lol ...its not going to get worked hard, or at least thats the plan...

 

Haha, i love it, sounds like a plan and a half. Im the same now, been lucky with the bed of her, will stick a link on up of the actual caddy im getting for you, not a bad bus at all and a few bits done to her all ready. Iv been racking my head trying to think will i paint it, but some sort of wood like ash or teak in the back or plate it, so was just wondering what way you were going to go with it, im a nosy git, what can i say

Any idea on butting something over it tho to keep it covered, like a sliding cover or something, i havent had any joy looking for the likes at all!!!!

Any how here is the link to the caddy if your intrested

http://vagdrivers.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=29857

 

Ive met gixer750 (I forget his name name now, to my shame) selling him some bits; nice lad, and his caddy seems real sweet from what he told me; had a camper rear in its previous life, according to what he was telling me, so its obviously led a charmed life; lot of these got worked to death, and 'good survivors' are few, even though production lasted well beyond the mk1... his seemes to have a lot of the work already done; axle flip, 1.9TD AAZ and the original sliding rear window is well desirable; I'd have it if I didnt have this one already(and spunked so much coin into it)....

I had some Rover hinges at one point and was going to fabricate and install a lift bed cover; metal frame with fibreglass moulded 'skin; not a big fan of wood... I am not afraid of a bit of welding but I hate to chop the ol caddy about too much; even if it is just to mount them hinges; most of the daft mods will be of the unboltable variety is the plan...
... a truckman top is a solution to protecting the bed, as the holes are there from factory to latch it on, but they can look a bit 'weird old batchelor' (pot and kettle etc)....