the MEGA project begines... episode one...

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hi all you bedford nuts out there! i am not much for typing and forums but thought i would introduce myself... my name is andre and i have a terrible addiction... BEDFORDS!!! it all started when i was 15 and on the 1st year of my mechanics apprenticeship, one day a bedford come in and i was assigned the job... it was love at first sight! so it was not long before i had my first project beddy and made all the great mistakes, but worked on her with any spare time i had and in the end turned out alright, served me well for many a year, till left it out on my mums property and long story short she sold it on me!!!!!!
so now many years later i am doing it all again, but properly with great care and detail. and hopefully with some advice from the knowledgeable people on BUGA.
so now introducing the new baby, a 1978 LWB CF duel wheel bedford van...

 

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hi, would appreciate any advice on this project. i want to get this van perfect as its going to be the keeper.
so first question is HELP!!! what have i got myself into. the plan is a full strip down, engine, gearbox, tank, so on, done by myself. then sent to get soda or sand blasted, rust repairs which i am lucky is not that severe, and full inside out and under respray and denner. any info on price, honest shops in brunswick or melbourne, and guesses on time frame would be awesome. have read some good posts on the subject but could do with more info.
the rust is in the seams is minimal, with the front floor pans and edge of gutters being the worst plus a bit of bog in the rear panels. would it be best to just remove the gutters? hopefully getting some fiberglass from ben such as bonnet, cargo door, front air dam spoiler, so no repairs there.
cheers for taking the time to read my post, and here is some photos of the damage...

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photos

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and the parts vehicle, which may sell whole if some one wants it.

[walzaher]

Hi Andre hope your project goes well it will look amazing after you are done with it!! Can you please tell me what are some of the "common" beginner mistakes? Thank you sorry I'm no expert can't help u!

Waseem

[Hobbit]

G'day Andre,

Welcome to BUGA, The best place to be, for anyone with the Bedford Bug. 

[taggraphx]

Welcome Andre, doing up a van for the second time will be easier and a better result, we don't usually make the same mistakes that we did when we were younger and less experienced, well some of us don't lol, good luck with the project and keep us posted of your progress

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cheers for the welcome!
yep will be posting updates of the build as i go. hopefully have learned some tricks over the years to make the project easier.
as for the mistakes i made Waseem it was many, mainly not doing things in the right order and not doing it right the first time. such as rust which i treated as it showed, so chased my tail around for ages till it was out of control. other things like biting more than i can chew with a mostly total rewire, which ended up in many pieces then sent to a auto elect. also i used cheap nasty spongy bog!!

[Zeeman]

Big project you have there! Are you keeping the bodywork & mechanicals standard? What is your budget for everything?

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so thanks to some great posts on here which been researching, i will either be cutting the side of the gutters off and welding a strip of steel along. or doing the 5mm rod line.
still would like some heads up on good honest shops around, that do soda blasting, minor rust repairs, respray and dont mind LWB bedfords. hoping to get this work started straight away as i have bit of a dead line to get to the sunshine coast with my son.
one other thing how hard is it to service the brakes, is it hard to find seal packs, slaves and masters, and other components, or are they standard items?