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Intorducing.... The Fag Bus

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  • Intorducing.... The Fag Bus

    Introducing the Fag Bus...

    I’ll work on the name but it suits for now.

    Admittedly this is going to probably going to be a carbon copy of a lot of builds which is to take an abused ex-workie van and turn it into a plush family friendly home from home on reliable(‘ish) wheels.

    So this adventure started last month when this sorry looking example came up for sale local to me with a reported knackered gearbox. This suited me as I had a spare gearbox for it, sadly the gearbox wasn’t the cause of the lack of brum brum..

    The previous owner had owned the van for ten years almost to the day and was genuinely gutted to see it go.

    I think I gave too much for the van in the end and since I’m juggling other projects (like most of us!) I’m going to try and build this up on a very tight budget.
    So here she is as bought,

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    Since the engine wouldn’t turn I knew the issue wasn’t likely to be with the gearbox. So first job up was to take the sump off and start checking the internals.


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    Difficult to see from a photo but this isnt right, hard to tell if the rod is bent or not but it shouldnt be sitting like that.

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    So there was no avoiding it, the head had to come off.

    BUGGER!...

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    In-between crying over broken valves, I started to take a look at the inside... funky was the only word that springs to mind and not in a good hippy psychedelic sense.

    The guy was a dirty pig! He admitted the van had never seen a bucket of water in 10 years so really I should of seen this coming.

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    I mean WTF?

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    The Dirty B@stard!

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    And the cleaning continued, another good name would of been the creepy crawly bus. Since it was used as a gardening skip I think every nook is stuffed with garden debris. Ideally I would of jet washed this out but since the vans stuck inside and I had nothing else to do I started at it by hand.

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    Last edited by 89Rallye; 6 October 2017, 10:05 PM.

  • #2
    That's some work you got yourself there bud, keep us updated on the progress 👍

    Sent from my SM-G901F using Just T4s

    Comment


    • #3
      Wow love this...ehat a project...just like mine was...except me engine was running...keep up the good work pal...well worth the end product....

      Come rain or shine im out in mine!!

      Sent from my SM-G935F using Just T4s

      Comment


      • #4
        That's rotten, how bad is the rot underneath? Check under the door steps (lift them up and out sharply) and check under the sliding door.

        Look for a Golf engine (even a non turbo one) - swap your ABL bits over, sump, oil pick up, turbo

        Comment


        • #5
          Cheers guys,

          I'd like to say im enjoying it but at the moment I'm really not!

          Lots of ideas running though my mind though while I get on with cleaning,

          Im slow posting this lot up as I'm getting used to the photos on here and have just had to flick through the album resizing everything to get them small enough to upload so bare with me

          Its slow, very dirty and itchy work but I think shes grateful of some tlc and is responding well.

          With the panels off and front carpet up, everything looks ok apart from a little bit of rot in the front of the passenger and drivers steps.

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          Havent had chance to complete it yet but its actually really clean underneath.

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          Back to the mechanicals... and after a bit of thinking I went and bought another T4

          Step in the donor vehicle,

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          As ive stated elsewhere tonight im new to T4's and although I knew there was an early and late I didnt realise there was early and late AAB 2.4L engines. Knowing this and doing a little research I dont think I would of bought the doka.

          However we have to play with the cards were dealt so plodding on,

          The 1.9 came out...

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          Then and I believe heres lack of experience again... out came the 2.4L, knowing what I know now I would never try and take a 5 cylinder out without the gearbox again.

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          The 2.4 ran well apart from a squealing belt which ive traced the likely suspet being the pas tensioner, which is proving very tricky to get hold of in the country at a sensible price and I dont want to wait for delivery from France or Lithuania.

          So today I pulled the gearbox out of the Fag and attached it all together with the engine, thats all I can do now until I source the above pulley...

          So it was back to the inside,

          I got all the rusty ground up and treated then some nice primer ontop (we use this stuff in work to paint cranes next to the irish sea)

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          And lastly for this week, oddly this was the first thing I bought when I got the van home.

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          The sliding door and tailgate locks were knackered and this seemed the cleanest, cheapest and most useful option to repair it. The van has factory locking which made this a pretty simple install (around 2 hours) although I still have the wiring to run in and complete.

          Was too busy installing so didnt take too many photos.

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          But the best £13.49 I ever spent!

          I stayed late Thursday night just to do this, simple but so satisfying at the time lol

          https://www.facebook.com/mark.lloyd....5017439205886/

          And thats me up to date, I only started last Sunday dinner time and I intend on having it up and running by the end of the week (although donor didnt turn up till Wednesday) dont think I can keep this pace up! luckily (actually not but it is in this case) I'm olff sick at the moment from work.... so if you know my boss dont tell his shhhhhhhh....


          Now for some questions if anyone has managed to read this far and can help,

          So far everything has lined up with the gearbox ok although it looks like im going to have problems with the offside engine mount but im hoping using the 1.9TD rubber mount will solve this but time will tell.

          The other issue is the power steering pump, the donor doka's pas didnt work ( I actually believed it didnt have any, until I saw the fluid bottle) and I'm not sure if it was the rack or pump at fault. So I'd like to use the 1.9 pump which looks the same its just the pipe work wont work now. Im hoping to get away with using just one pipe (pressure from pump to rack) but havent had chance to weigh it all up yet.
          Last edited by 89Rallye; 6 October 2017, 11:31 PM.

          Comment


          • #6
            You gonna use the long nose bits? Wanna sell them?

            I really fancy a crew cab with a RWD conversion - I'd love the whole lot.

            Comment


            • #7
              Originally posted by regcheeseman View Post
              You gonna use the long nose bits? Wanna sell them?

              I really fancy a crew cab with a RWD conversion - I'd love the whole lot.
              When I find the time I will be breaking it, the front end and provisionally the gearbox have already gone. Someone wants the drivers door and offside front chassis leg ent come back to me yet so I'd listen to offers on the rolling shell if its of any use (although I'd imagine the cost of getting it back to Devon would well over price it), I also have a sliding door, tailgate and a pair of lower quarter panels as the previous owner was creating a custom pickup jobbie.

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              Last edited by 89Rallye; 6 October 2017, 11:47 PM.

              Comment


              • #8
                I spotted it wasn't a proper pickup so not interested but.....tailgate....pm me a price

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by regcheeseman View Post
                  I spotted it wasn't a proper pickup so not interested but.....tailgate....pm me a price
                  It is a proper crewcab pickup, or was.. someone was just collecting parts. With everything off the back (still got another floor on it in the photo from a moblity van) its a standard pickup chassis.

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                  I know everything is salvageable and in 15 years time this would probably be a rare beast but I think its too far gone to make it worthwhile anyway.
                  Last edited by 89Rallye; 7 October 2017, 12:12 AM.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Great thead mate 👍 its guys like the previous owner that don't deaerve these wonderful vans.

                    Sent from my LG-H870 using Just T4s

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Good thread mate, the last bloke really cared for it didn't he, thought ours was dirty inside but not like that. Dredd to think what his house was like.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by regcheeseman View Post
                        You gonna use the long nose bits? Wanna sell them?

                        I really fancy a crew cab with a RWD conversion - I'd love the whole lot.
                        Do I sense Mr Cheeseman is gotten a little excited there?

                        Sent from my SM-G930F using Just T4s

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Sounds a bit like it!

                          Sent from my LG-H870 using Just T4s

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Might have done a bit of a sex wee - so what.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by regcheeseman View Post
                              Might have done a bit of a sex wee - so what.
                              Just to give you the idea of what it would look like ..... although why stop and one engine in the back RWD when theres plenty of space for twin engines and AWD.

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