Leyland opd 2 double decker

Lang wrote: Just been to the Bright Adventure Film Festival

one of the great movies (about 3 hours split in two) was "Pillock Conquers the World"

The story of a group of 9 poms travelling in a double decker bus from UK to Australia then across the USA. Limited motoring skills, only two could drive the bus but over 3 years a great trip. A couple of the , now geriatric, blokes were at the festival to talk as well.

Pillock Conquers the World (1969-72)

Pillock Conquers the World
A folk group buy an old rt bus as the ultimate ‘band van’. They load up their instruments and drive it to India, around Australia and then across the USA. This spectacular film comes from the pre-Shoreditch era when the fuzzy beard had but two legitimate homes: on either a lumberjack or a folk musician. […]

Sounds like a interesting movie Lang will have to keep my ear to the ground for that one

Paul

Here you go Paul , Short film clip from the movie .
www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-hampshire-34870526

Hi all.

Sorry for such a late reply I had to wait to be accepted as a forum member.

Thanks for all your advice and knowledge it's been very helpful.

I know how much work I am in for with the bus and was planning on taking all the panels off the exterior and interior and also the floor boards. repair all the rust (which doesn't look too bad at this stage), and replace panels with new sheet metal.

I have decided to keep it original and re-build the engine, gearbox and diff (and anything else that needs it) I have spoken to a fuel injection shop and they said I can use their test bench and open the pump up a little, just so I have a bit more revs (if needed).

So.... I know it's totally bonkers, expensive, time consuming and makes much more sense to get a more modern and reliable bus or coach, but the world would be a boring place if everyone was logical. And hey if I don't do the old girl up it'll just be stuck in some field used as a "teenagers retreat," rotting away like it was when I bought it.

I was worried about holding traffic up with a slow vehicle but if I pick a time to travel when the least traffic is on the road I'm sure it will be ok and I was only planning on doing a couple hundred km's at a time anyway. If anyone has feedback on this I would apreciate it.

I'm not too worried about breaking down. I'm a diesel mechanic and served my time in a heavy recovery/Foden truck garage with a lot of old style mechanics. so no problem getting my hands dirty (also less cost as I will repair/re-build everything myself).

Thanks for all your valuable advice and hope it keeps coming

Well one thing for certain if you are travelling slow people will be able to see you ok :woohoo: :woohoo:

It should be a good fun project I reckon, from what I have seen over the years getting rid of all the rust and fixing the body work is the biggest part of the job, but at least your bus has nice simple flat panels unlike some that curve all over the place


Paul

Having recently finished (cupla years ago) an extensive rebuild on a slightly more modern coach (84) I know what you are in for.
We had to cut VP off at the floor and replace everything above that, including the 50 x 50 above the bin doors that runs the length of the coach, what a job unpicking that !
I hope you have lots of years ahead of you, big cojones, strong marriage (if married) and a bucket of money, you will need all of them.
Bus converted to motorhome does not make much sense financially, although in this country a well done conversion can still attract big dollars.
My fear for this one is that no one will want it when it is time to pass it on (assuming it ever gets finished), so at that time it will. as you say, end up as a teenagers retreat as anyone looking for a bus motorhome conversion (that is anyone that has reached the stage of life to be able to afford one) will not be wanting to sit out the front in a 40+ aussie summer day getting cooked by the motor heat and the ambient.
Sorry to not be as enthusiastic as you are but I have talked to many that have said "I know what I am in for" only to see their half done project on ebay some time later. Think hard about the massive financial and time hit this will take out of your life, and for what ?

Thanks for that and for being frank.
I am being enthusiastic and a bit of a dreamer at times. I've spoke about the issues you have brought up with the mrs and just about everyone I know and thought about it a lot. It's a massive job but I'll do it one thing at a time but at the end of the day it's only nuts and bolts. :dry: and if I don't do it I will always regret it

Welcome, Mr hall.
Now that you've joined up I've moved the Thread in to the Restoration Section. & hope you keep us all updated with your progress..........

You are asking the right questions and are taking the cautionary responses on board so I think you will do OK, the more so as working on oldies is not new to you.. An article in an old Leyland Journal gave a description of the then new bus service depot at Chullora. At something like every 100k double decker buses (single deckers came in at a higher mileage) went in and they took the thing completely apart. So it would seem that the outside skins are designed to come off easily (the inside lining stayed on). It is also likely that they got rebuilt with parts from other buses.
Given the the previous comments maybe a good plan is to do the original stuff up first and leave the actual conversion until after she is proven to be solid and a runner.
Where are you located?

Thanks for that yeah that was the plan. take off all the panels, repair rust and do all the mechanical stuff while the panels are off so it is easier to remove and work on stuff and also easier to replace air pipes and wiring along the chassis. then when it's all running good put the panels back on (replacing damaged ones) and fit out the interior.

I am in Perth and have joined the WA bus preservation society but it's a bit hard to get there as I work full time. I have a day off on tuesday so was planning on spending the day there helping out with what I can and talking to some of the old mechanics there. I reckon theres a wealth of knowledge there so I'll have my ears wide open :S

One thing to consider about 'being slow'. I have found that in Victoria at least people won't exceed the speed limit even if they are on the wrong side of the road with oncoming traffic. By sitting at 80kmh rather than 90kmh I actually get a smaller line of vehicles behind me as I have opened up more overtaking opportunities.

It doesn't help with the drivers who don't know how to overtake and sit at a distance that makes overtaking difficult for others as the gap between you and them is too small for someone to slot into safely but too long to make overtaking easy. However I got them at 90kmh too