garys_66_double

Hi guys, this is something that I had to share with all the splitty fans out there.

Firstly, thanks to Mornè for helping me lug this sexy beast home. 1966-67 Split window RHD Double cab. ( The reason I say 66-67, is that there are no papers, and as of yet I have to guess)

She is neat, VERY neat, for almost 40 years old, she has little or no rust, when last did you see an active bus with a nose that looked like this? It has some paint that's been thrown on, but on the inside of the nose, you can see that she's been looked after. Here are some pics of when we picked it up.

I had my previous bus, (Stan the single cab) that I was planning on going big, but unfortunately I had the house to complete, so the bus took a back seat for a while. The good news is that I sold the bus to a new found bus mate James, who'll give Stan, (formally FLO) a new home. ( sex change is seems).

The double cab was sold to me for the huge sum of £ 320-00. Which I picked up on the spot before even looking through it. Seeing that I started at the front, I'll keep it going from there.

I think that these pics also show some of the worst rust on the DC. The floors have slight bubbles in them, which will be grinded off this weekend and treated, as I want to do the bus first and enjoy it for a while, before I strip him/her down for a full resto. The floors are solid, the brake pedal is rock solid and I suspect that I'll have to install a new master cylinder in there, the pipes all still look good, hopefully I get lucky.

Man this is sexy, rear suicide door, as you may well remember fig mentioning a while back, RHD DC's have a suicide door at the back.

The floor here is also just as nice, a few bubbles, but nothing to cry about. The front and rear seats still sport the original covers and These will have to do for a while. Still nice to have though. I never knew how much storage there is under these seats.....

I think that this helped the bed stay in such good condition. The side loading doors are amazing, and all of the hinges and locks still working great. One Problem, as you will see looking down the side of the bus, you'll note that there are no rear vents leading into the engine bay, this is making me a tad bit worried as there are NO VENTS whatsoever going into the back of this bus. The previous owner had these home made vents installed, which I'd like to remove, but can anyone help me out there with this problem?

This is the only major rust on the bus, just at the bottom of the B-pillar, which I'll be attending too soon. The engine lid is just bent a bit, which I am hoping to get fixed ASAP.

UPDATE 31 JUL 2004

Been a while since my last update, don't ask me how long but it's been long. My Bus (Frank) has been through hell the last 8 months or so. SO here goes.

As you lot may know, my bus was parked at a mates house so he could do some work on it as he wanted some extra money and I needed space at my house. ANYWAY..............after spending most of a Saturday stripping a motor to do the oil seals with him, it was all in vain. You see, my *friend* decided that the motor should stand out in the rain with nothing covering the intake manifold. Soooo, after having enough of his BS, I decided to pick up the bus and carry on myself, with the help of my long time mate Dirk (who also has his 15 window on bigbulli). After about an hour of trying to start the motor, this is what we found.

YUCK, Rockers were dirty as poo and the heads looked like someone had pinched a loaf down one of the intakes. 3 Days cleaning and about 2 hours seating a valve that wouldn't seat properly. But it's done. Motor runs way cool, just the exhaust has to be changed to a freeflow with a great header job as I want this bus silent......The main idea with the bus now is to get it complete and mechanically 100% and then drive it for a while before I tear it down and re-do the whole bus...top to bottom...

My new Carbs.........36 DRLA Dellorto's, I have 5 all told and have just landed another deal for 2 weber 36 IDF's as well. Got the 5 carbs for about £60 and the IDF's for free. Going to have these put on and do a few other mods, P&P heads and the cam and bigger valves. Anyone out there help me with linkages for these things??? Got the Manifolds for free from Chris at Volkspares in SA. Great guy.

The bus is almost clean...............4 hours of scrubbing oil and paraffin and God knows how much engine cleaner, it looks WAY better. Man that bed looks good.

Next week is inside..........that should be fun............this week is the exhaust and put the back bumpers back on.

And some updates on my crew cab, new exhaust fitted and a few other goodies.........take the motor out next weekend and pull the gearbox to sort out the reverse gear and the oil leaks.......