That'll buff out ;)

I spoke with a fellow bus enthusiast just prior to Xmas as he had some Belly pans for sale over on DSK, I need a set of these for when I get around to doing the splitty as I am planning to convert it to a double door. The reason for the belly pans is that the bus is left hand drive, and so to make it practical for use as a family wagon, it needs to have cargo doors on the kerb side, as adding in an extra set of doors seems the simplest way to go. Unfortuately the double doors weaken the structure and so the belly pans are used to add in the additional strength.

I spoke with a fellow bus enthusiast just prior to Xmas as he had some Belly pans for sale over on DSK, I need a set of these for when I get around to doing the splitty as I am planning to convert it to a double door. The reason for the belly pans is that the bus is left hand drive, and so to make it practical for use as a family wagon, it needs to have cargo doors on the kerb side, as adding in an extra set of doors seems the simplest way to go. Unfortuately the double doors weaken the structure and so the belly pans are used to add in the additional strength.

I spoke with a fellow bus enthusiast just prior to Xmas as he had some Belly pans for sale over on DSK, I need a set of these for when I get around to doing the splitty as I am planning to convert it to a double door. The reason for the belly pans is that the bus is left hand drive, and so to make it practical for use as a family wagon, it needs to have cargo doors on the kerb side, as adding in an extra set of doors seems the simplest way to go. Unfortunately the double doors weaken the structure and so the belly pans are used to add in the additional strength.

Unfortunately I missed out on the belly pans, but he told me that he had some other stuff available, including a pair of cargo doors. So I arranged to go visit him over the xmas break. Unfortuantely, I didn't get around to it and so ended up going to see him this weekend instead.

As usual he had a few projects on the go, a S/C Barny and a D/C lowlight, as well as a few more waiting thier turn. He manages to turn around about 5 busses a year - and all in his spare time as well. i wish I had his skills / enthusiasm / time / whateveritis that makes him work.

I missed out on the pair of cargo doors, as one had been used on another project, but I did manage to get a very straight rear valence, it had a couple of minor holes that have been made by a set of extractors rubbing on it, which are no issue to patch up, but is very straight and is one of the panels I've been looking out for.

As well as a valence, I managed ot pick up a rear decklid as well, it's a brakelight style decklid, which will fit in with my plans for an earlier style bus (early bumpers, lights, etc). Unfortunately it's been in a bit of a smack, so it's a little dented, but is nothing that some TLC and a set of metal finishing skills could not fix up. Fortunately it was a lot cheaper than a straight one too. An added bonus is that I managed to also source a light and number plate lense as well.

We discussed my plans for the bus, and the double door conversion, and what would be involved in doing it. We also discussed the possibility of simply swapping the doors to the other side and fitting a new long panel where the doors used to be. Originally I was pretty sure that double door was the way to go, but I've now a bit of a doubt about this.

Having now decided that I want to get the bus back on the road rather than do a full resto (at this stage). Cost is a factor to be considered. This is mostly due to other commitments such as house extension and new baby, which mean that a full resto is simply out of the question. I guess I now need to weigh up the cost of each option and decide on which is most feasible.

In the mean time I will keep an eye open for thos bits and bobs that I need. Another interesting thing I learned is that Wolfsburg west now produce a lot of repro stuff for busses that simply wasn't available a few years ago. I can now get all of the handles and jewelery that I need for the bus, rather than having to search for good S/H stuff. Cost wise this is also reasonably affordable too - especially witht the great OZ - US exchange rate that we have at the moment.

Guess I need to sit down and work out a budget for the bus and see which way I need to go.