How doos folks. I'm mack and I'll be your host for this thread.

I'm currently residing in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Got myself several projects on the go:

'65 RHD split bus - the long slog

'90 8v Golf Gti - just taken off the road for some treats

'87 mk2 polo breadvan - rolling resto as it's the daily hack

and a '73 type 412 LE variant (auto) tucked up the back of the garage waiting for some love.

that's just the car stuff - got 2 or 3 bikes half built and just putting the finishing touches on a wood burning stove i've built - the plan is to use that to heat a ghetto style hot tub in the back yard :)

I'll get some pics of the fleet up when I get home

take it easy

mack

would be nice to see your mk 2 beadvan pics, i have a mk 3 myself as u might have guessed

owdo!

pics of all of the above please.

owdo!

pics of all of the above please.

X2 :p

I'll be your host for thsi thread

Best entrance ever!

We need pics, especially of the bus

Alreet.

Get some pics up mate, and welcome

Hiyaaaa. Do you mean motorbikes or push bikes?

Pics

Hello, I see your from the best part of the country

Hello, I see your from the worst part of the country

bit harsh mate.

a brief history of my dubs (and something for the picture whores :p)

in chronological order - here's how my bus looked back in '98 when i bought it:

of course - being a RHD bus, it hid its fair share of horrors under the skin. so about 4 or 5 years ago it was crunch time - patch it up and keep running it into the ground or tear it down and rebuild it from the tyres up. the second option won out naturally...

to cut a long story short - found this place after a year of looking for somewhere suitable (that's my GTi and Driver [RIP] parked out front)

knocked up a rotisserie to access the underside better as the chassis was toast:

and pretty much replaced everything structural

some time later and this is pretty much the current state of play.

panels are expensive so work tends to get done as and when i get cash and motivation. eventual plans involve air suspension, tubbed arches, willwood 4 pots and discs up front, fully built and balanced 1776, independent rear suspension conversion and a few other treats.

that's not to say i don't have plenty else to keep me busy

so onto the GiT - this has been my daily for the last 3 years.

as bought:

then fitted smaller bumpers, removed the side mouldings and filled the holes and done a few other bits on this one (never got round to taking pics), but the main focus was the ICE install.

knocked up some FG builds for the doors

and a FG/MDF box contoured to fit the wheelarch in the boot.

false floor hinges up so the spare wheel etc is still accessible. LOTS of soundproofing (second skin damplifier and spectrum sludge) in this one so it's pretty quiet from the outside yet massages your innards from the inside. tap the outer door skin and it sounds like oak!

just taken the golf off the road as petrol's getting steep and i have air suspension waiting to be fitted. if there's room under the arches i plan to roll with fully polished 928s, chrome strip small bumpers and chrome trim window rubbers. colour tbc

Edited 24 June, 200917 yr by macksimus

412 LE =

And i bet there arent many people on here that know what one is

VW Type 412LE Variant Automatic is a bit of a gobful so i call this one the Fugly. here's a couple of pics back when it was on the road and the same model from one of the VW museums i think:

there's something about a 2 door estate - the juxtaposition of practicality and impracticality that i like - it's just a bigger version of a breadvan really. only this one has a cavernous boot under the bonnet and one in the back too. lots of potential...

the purists won't like it but i plan on water-cooling this one (anyone got a T25 engine lying around?) and slamming it on it's arse. maybe even converting into a van. it's on the back burner tho as i need to start tackling projects consecutively rather than concurrently.

and so onto the lopo. i only really bought this as some of my mates wanted me to teach them how to weld/bodywork etc and it cost less than a couple of nights out. figured i could turn this one around fairly quickly and cheaply and tool about in it for the summer. hopefully i'll get some enthusiasm back for the bus as a result.

i'll start a build thread of its own soon enough, but look past the surface and see a 55,000mile car that's barely run in :)

Hiyaaaa. Do you mean motorbikes or push bikes?

Pics

push bikes all the way. me and a mate (the Reverend mad frank) designed and built the first northumbrian longbike about 10 years ago. learned a lot from it - like never EVER build a bike from stainless steel!

looks cool tho

bloody hell! thats one awesome split mate!

that first photo of the bus is very flattering. in reality, under the (brush) paint (done in the rain by the PO) that bus was rougher than a bear turd rolled in fish hooks.

but i was young, eager and foolish. i grew out of the first two...

easy now

mack

Edited 24 June, 200917 yr by macksimus