Mercedes vario 814 self build bus to FLT palace

[bigtree]

I never implied anything as this thread isn't about you or what you welded.

You mentioned the welder in the photo ,you then said " i thought you were a coded welder " with that emoji that suggests you somehow doubted that fact.

I then explained the welding plant in the pic isnt up to the job AND that despite i was a coded welder ive not done that work in over 15 years ....

Hence why id prefer to get that job done by someone else .....safer than it failing and potentially causing an accident.

I didn't think it was hard to follow but i dunno it seems unless you type every detail like giving evidence in court theres always some bugger looking to pick holes in it.


The chassis is 10mm thick the bars coming from that to the rear of the van for the platform to sit on will need to be a similar thickness.
Compared to the body panels which are 1mm thick thats heavy duty and a 160 mig isn't suitable for doing it ....might leave a nice looking weld but the penetration will be shit.

I know how thick chassis's are, the company I worked for made truck and bus chassis and axles. I maintained the machines and equipment that made them. Personally I don't let anyone do anything that I can't do myself and if I was building a van for myself I would be doing everything ,but that's just me.
Sure as the Sunrise.

 

[Northernraider]

Have you thought of having the rear carrier removable? We had one made up which I designed for the back of our first 'proper' MH - it already had a strong rear bumper bar fitted with box section securing it to the existing chassis, so my design incorporated 2 pieces of box section on the base of the carrier at 90 degrees that were 'threaded' into the existing 'chassis' bumper box section and held in place with bolts and padlocks (so the rack and bike couldn't be nicked!). It meant we could remove it when not needed, in fact I've still got the carrier in the corner of the garage despite us selling that MH in 2001!!!

PS: make sure you keep those cuts clean, you don't want any rust or other stuff getting into them and end up with sepsis!

Yes the plan is too have 2 long lengths of angle bracket from the chassis that will protrude from either side of where the number plate currently is. They will come out about 6-8 inches and the bike carrier which will be made from box section will bolt to those. When/if its removed im hoping to have a bumper bar that will bolt on in its place.


Had the chassis ran to the very back of the bus it would have been much simpler. But for some reason this converter buys a mwb vario and then they extend the body to 300mm longer than the lwb vario. Everything from where the chassis ends is made by the converter. And you can see the difference in the quality of work ... untreated welds etc. Of course i never knew that when buying it or id have probably bought a different base vehicle.

But what i have planned to get around it should work as the converters added a 70x 40 5mm thick length of box section along the entire side of the van so i can have a cradle welded to that near the back to support the angle coming from the chassis.

 

[Northernraider]

I know how thick chassis's are, the company I worked for made truck and bus chassis and axles. I maintained the machines and equipment that made them. Personally I don't let anyone do anything that I can't do myself and if I was building a van for myself I would be doing everything ,but that's just me.

See thats where I'm different i do the things i can do myself and those i cant for whatever reason be it lack of skill ,lack of tools ,lack of time i get someone else to do it. Theres quite a few jobs on this van i won't be doing myself but that will ensure it turns out how id like it.

 

[Minxy]

Yes the plan is too have 2 long lengths of angle bracket from the chassis that will protrude from either side of where the number plate currently is. They will come out about 6-8 inches and the bike carrier which will be made from box section will bolt to those. When/if its removed im hoping to have a bumper bar that will bolt on in its place.

Just one thing you'll need to 'budget' for is a few bevvies ... you'll need to have a couple of mates to help remove and fit it as it'll be ruddy heavy!

 

[Just smiffy]

It’s looking good Tam, all that work really brings the outside in....

your doing a great job, you know what you want and being an engineer myself, in my opinion your doing it properly and your going along nicely....

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[Northernraider]

Just one thing you'll need to 'budget' for is a few bevvies ... you'll need to have a couple of mates to help remove and fit it as it'll be ruddy heavy!

Yeah but to be honest as ill be fulltiming in it i probably will never remove it unless permanently as ive nowhere to store it

 

[Northernraider]

It’s looking good Tam, all that work really brings the outside in....

your doing a great job, you know what you want and being an engineer myself, in my opinion your doing it properly and your going along nicely....

You're as bad as my mum lol she keeps cracking jokes about the state of it ...fred Flintstone etc

 

[Minxy]

You're as bad as my mum lol she keeps cracking jokes about the state of it ...fred Flintstone etc

That's bad enough ... I was thinking you were more Barney Rubble!

 

[Bustup15]

Northernraider
Someone on Facebook selling a couple of coaches. One that has had a lot of welding done already for £5k. Don't know if that's good value or not?

 

[Manic]

I would have thought you could buy an old arc welder , much better for thicker metal than a MIG welder.
I made the tow bar for my van using an arc welder with no trouble and it’s been good for 10 years.
( this is only my thoughts)

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[rnb100]

Like others have said, hire the welder and have a go yourself. If you're struggling to get someone to carry out the fabrication work, surely it would be easier to get someone to carry out some non destructive testing for your peace of mind?

Good job on the work so far though.

Arron.

 

[Jamesh]

Northernraider
Someone on Facebook selling a couple of coaches. One that has had a lot of welding done already for £5k. Don't know if that's good value or not?

View attachment 492078

Not exactly weekend campers!

Looking good northernraider well done!

A few pints of Newcastle brown ale will soon take off the aches!!

Cheers James

 

[jongood]

looking at the picture tam do you even need sills on the last section of the van ?could the rear section be raised for clearance your frame for the rear would take the supporting role

That was what my post about chequr plate, done nice it could look quite rugged and really protect the rear corners

 

[jockaneezer]

You'd need to hire a genset if you went down that avenue as your Ma's hoose will only be set on a 13amp supply. My transformer based 180amp mig blows 13amp fuses on full power, so I have a 16amp socket in the garage just for that, but as Manic says you could consider a stick welder for the heavier jobs ? The new type of DC inverter welders are very good and extremely lightweight. Parweld do some nice models but a cheap Chinese one from ebay would probably last long enough to get the job done ?

 

[Northernraider]

That was what my post about chequr plate, done nice it could look quite rugged and really protect the rear corners

Id like the sills done right though as i think it will look better in the longrun.

You'd need to hire a genset if you went down that avenue as your Ma's hoose will only be set on a 13amp supply. My transformer based 180amp mig blows 13amp fuses on full power, so I have a 16amp socket in the garage just for that, but as Manic says you could consider a stick welder for the heavier jobs ? The new type of DC inverter welders are very good and extremely lightweight. Parweld do some nice models but a cheap Chinese one from ebay would probably last long enough to get the job done ?

One of my problems here is I don't have storage for all these extra tools etc at the minute i have to lift a welder ,a generator and a few toolboxes out a now floorless van every day to work on it.

Im still trying to find a blacksmith or welder to build the rear frame even if thats not for a few weeks as ive plenty to keep me going till then with cleaning up the rest of the floor struts etc and priming and painting them.

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[Onemanandhisdog]

It's not just a welder though, someone who does it full time will have all the cutting gear for that size of metal, while I'm sure you could chomp through it with something, they will have all sorts of cutting equipment.

 

[Northernraider]

It's not just a welder though, someone who does it full time will have all the cutting gear for that size of metal, while I'm sure you could chomp through it with something, they will have all sorts of cutting equipment.

Exactly ...also need metal bender etc .

 

[Jamesh]

Have you looked at agricultural engineers they are used to welding heavy stuff and farmers are often tighter than a Yorkshire man of Scottish decent you might get a good price.

Just a thought!

Cheers James

 

[Northernraider]

Getting there.

 

[monzer]

Is that a case of getting all the old floor up, scraping any sealant or glue off and buffing the steel down?

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[Eggs]

That isn't as bad as it first looked, when you first started cutting into the back end I thought he's dropped a bollock with that one. Won't be long before you can start putting it back together.

 

[Wissel]

Looking good Taf

Starting to wonder if I should go for a Vario next as well

Out of interest, do you know the rough internal length and width off the top of your head?
(excluding the cab)

 

[Lenny HB]

Thats cleaned up well, the chassis looks in really good nick.

 

[Northernraider]

Is that a case of getting all the old floor up, scraping any sealant or glue off and buffing the steel down?

Yeah pretty much ...cut out the extra steel the bus converters had welded in and not painted or treated. The rest is pretty solid and cleaning up ok ...loads of sikaflex though which takes an age to remove.

 

[Northernraider]

Looking good Taf

Starting to wonder if I should go for a Vario next as well

Out of interest, do you know the rough internal length and width off the top of your head?
(excluding the cab)

The standard lwb is 4700 from rear of cabseats to back door ...this one is 5 metres .. width is 2.2 external and 2 metre internal.

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[Northernraider]

Thats cleaned up well, the chassis looks in really good nick.

Yeah the chassis is perfect and the original floor supports etc are all good ...ive a couple of small bits to repair but nothing drastic. Bit more buffing to do then i can get all those bars in to red oxide to protect it till i repair the sills etc.
Finally found a blacksmith to do the rear frame for supporting the bike rack ...he should be doing that in about 2 weeks time. Got a few leads for a fabricator to make me the sill panels too ... hopefully speak to them tomorrow

 

[Northernraider]

That isn't as bad as it first looked, when you first started cutting into the back end I thought he's dropped a bollock with that one. Won't be long before you can start putting it back together.

The very back section behind the wheels is definitely the worst ...but once the inner and outer sills have been replaced and the new floor supports welded in it will make a big difference. Fortunately its all repairable.

 

[CazPaul]

How many miles did you say it had on it?

 

[Northernraider]

How many miles did you say it had on it?

Its in km 445k but converted to miles around 275k so good for another 750k

 

[Northernraider]

Theres a new program on channel 4 with Johnny vegas restoring old busses for a glamping site .... he has the same budget as me to convert an old maltese bus thats completely rotten some cool old motors on it though

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