1975 & '79 Bay Busses

[Dazz]

Good day All

As you may know I have bought two Bay Window buses from John Cloete.
The first one mentioning is Big Bertha We fetched Her on 24/05/2014. We drove to Nelspruit arrived at 13:00 Did the deal had a kuier and before we knew it, it was pointed out to me and John that it was 17:00.

My wife jumped in the Merc and me in the Bus and off we went. needless to say arrived home(Centurion) around 22:00. the Bus drove smooth the only thing that delayed us was the carb linkage popping off between the two carbs. We had a few extra chances at stretching our legs is how I see it.

So here is Big Bertha she has a 2000L Type IV.

bertha front.jpg

bertha front.jpg

Bertha interior.jpg

berta interior 1.jpg

This weekend 08/06/2014
We went to fecth AvO The bus is called this because its a lovely shade of Extra Medium Mint Avocado Groen.

This bus is complete and has quite an interesting story. John got the bus from an old Oom on a farm just outside Nelspruit. The Oom apparently bought the bus with 2000km on the clock and drove it for years until the heads pulled valves. He then parked the bus and took out the engine to have it repaired. When John saw the bus the Uncle said it had been standing like that for 8 years. John told me on Saturday that the Oom said the other day that it may be 15 years that the bus stood he can't quite remember, but it was for yonks and yonks.

My plan is to get AvO up and breathing again. The only bad bad rust I can see is on the front right hand gutter. Left front below the bumper. the floor right behind the driver and passenger seats and of course around the windows especially the middle windows. i would like to get a new motor, get her running and maybe seal the Paintwork. just repair the bad areas for now and give her a coat of clear.

The dash is uncut and the seats are mint.

Avo front 1.jpg

avo rear 3.jpg

avo rear1.jpg

avo Dash.jpg

How to properly check the OEL

avo oil.jpg

The Interior

Avo interior4.jpg

Sorry guys it seems I can only attach 10 pics.

Please feel free to comment.

Cheers
Daryl

[hendriks]

Hi Dazz.

Congrats man!!! Both busses look good. I prefer the look of the second one. Good luck with your project/s!

Keep posting pics. By the way. If you wanna post more than 10 pics, just reply on your own post the you can attach more pics.

[Dazz]

Here are some more pictures

Side of the road.jpg

DSC01141.jpg

avo Rust.jpg

avo interior2.jpg

Avo window rust.jpg

avo interior.jpg

[MrT]

Well done! Will be following these busses with interest!

[Dazz]

Hi all. So I am toying with the idea of just flatting the rust spots and treating them with rust convertor and maybe doing a clearcoat. Leaving the small original dents etc. I will just put new winfow rubbers in and respray the bumpers like new and refurb the wheels.

Or would you go for a full respray?


What are all your opinions.



Thanks

[jolas]

You might be in for a shock when you remove the windows and rubbers but I hope this is'nt the case for you.

Are you using the bus ? Where is the worst rusted area ? Try keep the bus running while you tackle one thing at a time, don't strip everything in one go.

Perhaps once everything has been done then the time will be right for a full respray

[Dazz]

The worst rust is on the sliding door window and the opposite window from the sliding door.

[jolas]

Have you removed the windows yet ?

[Dazz]

No not yet. Only the bumpers.

[calooker]

If rust is showing in the window rubber edges, then the area under the rubber is completely rotten thru, guaranteed. A real bastard to repair.

[Dazz]

@Calooker can a person buy those window section. im sure getting them to line up again will be a massive issue. what is your advise?

[jolas]

I'm sure you can get those repair sections, google "classicfab" to see if Gerson makes them. Jacques in PE might be able to order for you - keep us posted

[sean]

Hi all. So I am toying with the idea of just flatting the rust spots and treating them with rust convertor and maybe doing a clearcoat. Leaving the small original dents etc. I will just put new winfow rubbers in and respray the bumpers like new and refurb the wheels.



What are all your opinions.



Thanks

Oh no, this is a bad idea, clear coat is no different to a normal base coat in terms of paint covering, if you simply want to flat the rust and spray over it, its just going to rust underneath and make it look worse than it is. There is no simple fix for rust.

My personal opinion on this bus, is that there is no patina on it, but rather a badly neglected rusty body. I would rather do it one time properly. Your major work is going to be fixing the rusty area's anyway, the rest is going to be easy.

[Dazz]

Hi

So I swopped the wheels from AvO to Big Bertha. I like the look. the wheels have 205/70R14 tyres on and looks a lot more beefy.

I wanted to transfer the front seats also as Big Bertha had Hilux seats bolted in. I noticed that the original rails look different between the two busses. Were there different versions of seats as the years progressed the 75 seats doesn't fit onto the 79 rails. the lever mechanism for locking the seat hits the rail. the rail has a raised center section lika a halftube where the 75 rails don't.

When ive driven a distance and stop I can hear the oil dripping inside the engine. is this normal or would it be down to the viscosity being to little? I also notice a slight tappety noise at medium revs when the engine is warmed up. I doubt that its overheating as I can still touch most of the tins and the fan housing without it being extremely hot.

Any thoughts?

thanks
Daryl

[retrovan]

I would not drive it till you done a full oil change, You do not know what the PO has put into the bus, also, after the oil change, do the tappets, as most guys are too lazy to do tappets so that may be your only problem.

Put in a good oil

Herman