evening all, im tom not been on here long but thought it was about time i started my thread for my 1972 panel van called pasty smasher little about me im tom 26 years young i was a mecanic for 4 years when i left school (city and giulds leavel 3)) but then left nottingham to go live in newquay for 2 years to surf and be close to the sea. then i moved back home but missed the see so now i live on a narrow boat in derby yes water jipsey before anyone say he he ive always loved vw owning two beetles one a 1969 bug first then a 1967 ragtop, i always wanted a van but could not aford one untill 7 monthes ago when i found my 1972 panel van that i picked up on a low loader from clethourps. it came with mot and tax but to be safe picked it up on a low loader. i new it was a project and have been working on it the last 7 months here some pic for you sorry to all about my spelling as im not grate all feed back and comments welcome, hope you enjoy hoping to get the body work done bye the end of the year plans are abit rat looking but a solid van riding quite low so when it done i can put my surf board in and just go off for a few days when not working. pic to follow just uploading them
Hello and welcome dude Living on a narrow boat and owning a bus your a lucky fella Dont worry about your spelling sometimes my posts dont make any sense even if they are spelt right
thanks for all the welcomes. right heres some pic of when i first went to see her ready to come to her new home/ well my folks drive that they didnt no about untill they got home from work and home
paradox. yes i do feel lucky, never even thought about living on a boat untill i meet my current girlfriend who had one, and then love the life style so much went and got my own 4 monthes down the line. we now live next door to each other so we have our own space but she can still pass me my tea and dinner to me
finally i got her home and on my folks drive was time to start taking the interior out and have a good poke around to see what needed doing under passenger seat going to need work got rid of the rock and roll bed but keeping the hinges to make a new one cargo floor not too bad going to need new new jacking points and cargo floor supports
n/s rear ach looked ok until i got dinging and found it was full of filler about inc thick why why why so after going round worked out what panels i need to make a start so order a few and made a start on the n/s rear next was to remove rear corner
going to make a repair on rear support and also remove the rear valance outer skin to see what nasty are hiding on the inside cutting the rear support until finding some ok metal started removing rear valance that was coved with fiberglass new inner rear valance getting tacked on. got work to do on the chassis rails before fully welding cleaned all the cr*p off the n/s rear chassis rail to see where to cut out the rot and re plate [ next post will be putting metal back on and removing lots more
cut out the rot and putting in new plates tin that holds the engine bay seal on was doomed so going to either make one or try find a replacement hummm but one solid chassis rail rear support being fixed battery try sorted and few bit on rear tub then next door kitty cam came to help with welding lets hope he didn't get arc eye
carring on with inner tub mud flap and getting it ready for rear arch started to clean before seam sealing, zink primer and red oxide just to protect it and made a seal between tub and arch panel thats it for today off to my folks to do some work on the van. see you all later on
Your life style sounds pretty amazing... I have Rosie and Jim who live in my camper... Just need boat now x Great work on your van too x
