79 ex-tv van

Discussion in 'Show Us Your Ride' started by Rez, Apr 15, 2012.

  1. Rez

    Rez

    Progress.

    Eamon wasn't happy repairing the previous work done by the rear right tail lamp so he picked up a rhs bottom corner.
    Now is the only chance I'll get to prevent it against rust so I primered and painted the inside.

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    The old was cut out

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    ....and we discovered a replacement battery tray had previously been badly inserted.
    It was left hanging after the old corner was removed.

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    Some tidy repairs were also done by the bearded wonder. Look at the rust hole by the bottom corner of the engine hatch...

    Before
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    After
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    The tray itself was rock solid so this was welded back in and I primered and painted it while I had access.
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    The corner was then fitted
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    Eamon has also fitted a complete rear left corner so this is how the van currently sits.

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  2. Rez

    Rez

    I've STILL been focussed on the large interior fibreglass panels.
    Both sides are now filled/sanded and the smaller one is primered.

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    I've turned my attention to the smaller time consuming/fiddly little bits like the dashboard vents. They were pretty rough but you can see they came up nicely when bare metalled.

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    My yellow lenses are stripped back and along with the chrome surrounds they are tagged/bagged and put away.
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    I bought a second hand dashboard from Johnny Mickey a few years ago so this was repaired, filled and primered. I'm waiting for better weather to shoot everything with top coats.

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    and I found another fibreglass panel (the one which covers the rear tailgate hinges) which I had forgotten about. All the staggered holes were glassed, filled and sanded.

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  3. good to see it coming along ...:thumbsup:
     
    Rez likes this.
  4. Rez

    Rez

    Yesterday afternoon. i had just pulled the dash out.
    Left enough wires attached so I could move the van out of the garage to sweep it.

     
    Spacecowboyuk and Merlin Cat like this.
  5. Rez

    Rez

    This is SOME of what has been done since I last posted.
    Plenty more has been done but typically I haven't taken pics.

    I think the van is looking about as bad as it's about to get. Hopefully from here on it will start getting fresh primer as we go from panel to panel
    Here's how it looks at the moment with the whole LHS back to bare metal.
    The sliding door which is now in some rough red oxide has a few dents but at least it's solid with absolutely NO rust. This took ages lining up and it's opening/closing better than it ever was before.
    A section has just gone in under the rear side window and the lines are not looking too bad at all.
    I've spend about a day just on the rear valance but it's finally flat.

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    Both sills and side steps are back to bare metal and I'm delighted to report that they are solid.
    Not a great pic but the sills on both sides actually look factory fresh!
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    I removed the dash, bare metalled it and I got Eamon to weld up the butchered radio slot. I use a blu tooth speaker in the van so have no need for a radio.
    Having never used filler before I'm slowly learning the art of applying thin layers instead of just slapping it on!!
    Before V V V V V V
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    During V V V V
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    After V V V V (It's actually in top coat by now and wet sanded to a nice shine)
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    I ordered some seat covers which I (loosely) fitted
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    Finally for now I have an exciting find (to me)
    Stripes!!!!!!

    I have dug into the history of my van and none of the sister vans have had stripes.
    The RTE colours at the time were Orange, two shades of blue and a grey as shown below
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    These ones were yellow, red blue and green.

    A new search begins into the origins of them!

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    art b, Merlin Cat, paradox and 2 others like this.
  6. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    awesome finding those stripes :D
     
    Rez likes this.
  7. Rez

    Rez

    It's been about a month since I posted last but what month!!!

    Trying to do a (almost) full restoration on a van in 9 months while also having a full time job, combined with preparing for a wedding and on top of it all I'm studying for 2 financial exams is just plain stupid.
    Pretty shattered at this stage but with just over 4 months to go I'm going to carry on.


    We had a pretty serious setback since I posted last.

    I stripped back the roof and found a very bad previous repair that had been fillered over.
    While owned by RTE the van while working had a large antenna fitted to the back rear corner. I'd say it got caught in a tree or something so this is what I found under the filler.

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    Gutted is an understatement as they don't make repro roof panels. I gave John at www.krazykombis.com a call who said I was welcome to go over and cut a corner from a scrap van out the back. Huge thanks goes out to him!!! I headed over after work one evening and managed to cut a good corner (I thought)

    Once I got home I ground back the dirt and paint and found it was pretty bad. It was STILL better than the existing corner so Eamon threw some welds on it.
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    The Easter weekend we spend 2 solid days on it. He cut out the bad repair and found the panel below it was just as bad.

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    He hand fabricated the entire section under the roof skin (the man is gifted) and while I was working he arrived in Kilkenny and tacked in the top skin.
    This is what I returned home to after work.....
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Apr 23, 2017
    art b, Merlin Cat and paradox like this.
  8. Rez

    Rez

    Around the lock on the engine hatch was rotten so a section was taken from another one I had. Thankfully the part we needed was ok on the donor hatch.
    I spend a good few hours filling and sanding both this and both cab steps which weren't good.

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    Larry came over from Limerick so I set him on the rear tailgate. (Thanks for shedding some blood for the cause Lar. ;) )
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    I then filled, sanded, filled, sanded until it was smooth enough for a coat of primer.

    Great to have 2 panels 100% done


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    At the last Kilkenny meet Ed asked me if we were painting it ourselves? I told hime we had planned to so he offered his 200L compressor.
    Massive thanks to him. One evening myself and Eamon headed over to his place,
    Delighted to have it in the garage. Thanks again Ed!

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    Last edited: Apr 23, 2017
    art b and Merlin Cat like this.
  9. Rez

    Rez

    Step up and take a bow Trevor Brady (another TLBer)......
    Trev said he would have a crack at a door for me.
    I had bought a door skin so one night he popped over and took the door away. i also had an old rusty door so he also took this for spares.

    Here's some of the pics he sent as he was working on it.

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    I was delighted when he arrived last week and handed me a solid door. I couldn't wait to get it filled, sanded and fitted.

    Lines are great despite me only popping 2 bolts in so far.


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    Last edited: Apr 23, 2017
    Merlin Cat and paradox like this.
  10. Rez

    Rez

    Despite the back corner being bad thankfully the rest of the gutters were immaculate. I was happy to find a tiny VW symbol on the gutter just above the drivers door
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    And finally............

    Pics are not really worthwhile but I've put in HOURS of bodywork into the side panels. Anyone who's previously done it knows how heartbreaking it is.
    2ft of 2x4 wrapped in sandpaper is my new best friend.

    Thanks again for now to:
    Larry, Ed, Trev, John Hickey and of course Eamon who swears he won't do another van for "a very long time after this"
    I think the 2 of us are starting to loose the plot! :)



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    art b, Merlin Cat, Surfari and 2 others like this.
  11. Rez

    Rez

    Todays offerings.

    I removed the camera hatch , stripped it back and threw on a few coats of gloss black.
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    While I had the spray cans out I prepped the dash vents and front fresh air vents and painted these too.


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    The roof vents screw into wooden donuts which sit between the fibreglass and roof skin.

    These were completely rotten when I removed them a few months ago.

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    I set about making new ones. I only need 2 but as the old ones were swollen and crumbling added to the fact that that thicker insulating will be going back on I decided to make 4 so I could double up if required.


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    Again I have spent a few hours on bodywork and it just wasn't going right. A bad craftsman always blames his tools but this time it really was the case. Take a look at the top of this pic. It's suppose to be a straight edge!!!


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    Another weekend gone. :( Back to work in the morning but should get a few hours each night after work.
     
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  12. Rez

    Rez

    I've been practically living in the garage since I posted last.

    Here's how it was a few days after my last post.
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    Eamon had finished welding the roof corner so I set about smoothing it all
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    He finished that corner with a whole new internal section
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    My pics just don't do justice for the amount of welding and hand fabricating he has had to do. I will forever be in his debt!
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    Thankfully the deformation was solid with just one patch needed here.
    [​IMG]
     
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  13. Rez

    Rez

    I couldn't say I had restored my van without actually doing some welding
    The entire floor of the van was covered in holes drilled for various bits of equipment and interiors over the years. (about 40 in all)
    All the black marks were holes I welded myself. I doesn't seem much but it was the first welding I did on the van.

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    I've since welded some of the gutters, dashboard tabs and a few other bits. Still sh1te at it but I'll eventually get the hang of it!

    I sourced new checkered material and my sister in Law stitched up some new seat covers for me.
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    Loads of small jobs got done like cleaning up the fuel filler
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    The split is always a welcome sight
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    Handmade Schofield track covers were bought and primered
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    And I've even been roping in non vw mates to lend a hand.
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  14. Rez

    Rez

    Today, 12:52 AM
    Trev decided he didn't have enough misery in his life so said he'd tackle the other door for me

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  15. Rez

    Rez

    Finally,

    I've been spending every waking minute sanding, sanding, sanding.

    Almost lining up....
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    ..........and then................

    First coat!!! :)


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    That just about brings me up to speed. That coat has already been wet sanded and another should be going on this week.
     
  16. Rez

    Rez

    It's been 2 months since my last confession...........
    Time for an update:

    Hundreds of more hours gone in.

    So the van is now painted and sanded.
    As mentioned earlier in the thread it's gone back to the original L90D
    [​IMG]IMG_2813 by kevreadedj, on Flickr
    What this pic doesn't show is the spraying, (weeks of) wet sanding, applying another coat and repeating the process


    Attention was turned to the fibreglass panels which I spend days repairing.
    Here they all are sitting ready for paint
    [​IMG]IMG_2834 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    Once painted and wet sanded I packed the van with insulation and fitted it all.
    [​IMG]IMG_2851 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    [​IMG]IMG_2850 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    [​IMG]IMG_2870 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    I then created new vent pipes for under the roof air scoops modeled after the originals (but in plastic)
    [​IMG]IMG_2852 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    [​IMG]IMG_2854 by kevreadedj, on Flickr
     
    Merlin Cat likes this.
  17. Rez

    Rez

    I stripped down the vinyl interior, painted it black for a change and replaced the vinyl. (many of them had warped with the sun)
    [​IMG]IMG_2864 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    [​IMG]IMG_2874 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    And then fitted the headliner. A fiddly job but I'm fairly proud of how it turned out having never done one before.

    [​IMG]IMG_2856 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    [​IMG]IMG_2857 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    And this is how it looks as I left the garage tonight














    [​IMG]IMG_2907 by kevreadedj, on Flickr
     
    paradox, Valveandy, CollyP and 2 others like this.
  18. Merlin Cat

    Merlin Cat Moderator

    That's looking great :). Are you going to reinstate the stripes? Stripey vans are the best!
     
  19. Rez

    Rez

    I still haven't found any info on the stripes. None of the history I have discovered on these vans shows stripes.

    I may put them on in the future if I find they're significant but for now they wont be added, sorry :D
     
  20. Rez

    Rez

    Ok, so I better bring the current build up to date........

    So MY VAN MADE THE BIG DAY but the following are some of the last pics which I hadn't got a chance to upload.

    My doorcards and seats were a horrible brown from the factory. I had one extra damaged door card so I chanced spraying them as I couldn't afford the cost of new ones.
    I bought some plastic primer in Halfords and then used regular gloss red paint. Once dried they withstand scratches which I was really surprised by and actually turned out better than I thought

    [​IMG]IMG_2773 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    As previously shown I bought new seat covers and I had also uploaded a pic of my smoothed dash.
    This is how the cab ended up

    [​IMG]IMG_3066 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    The rest of the interior remained the same except for repainting the wood.
    However this picture doesn't show that nothing apart from the floor has had work done.

    * Fibreglass holes are all gone and was colour matched to original.
    * Turntable graphics have been replaced
    * Curtains re-stitched
    * New checkered seat covers
    * new interior rubber trim (previously missing)
    * All 45's replaced as the originals got damp/mouldy while in storage

    [​IMG]IMG_3067 by kevreadedj, on Flickr

    The 3 ariel mounting points were eliminated as all 3 were magnets for rust.
    We welded them up to save them rusting again.
    There was also a spotlamp mounting bracket on the roof. Eamon asked me if I wanted to cut out the indentations but I didn't want to loose the history entirely so we left some marks in place.


    Then, the moneyshot on the big day

    [​IMG]Kev:Aoife by kevreadedj, on Flickr


    And (much) later that night myself and Eamon celebrating with a beer in the van.

    [​IMG]van wedding 3 by kevreadedj, on Flickr


    The first of these pics was on 5th November 2016, the second on 5th September.
    I made my 10 month deadline........it nearly killed me but I made it!!!!

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    [​IMG]IMG_2960 by kevreadedj, on Flickr
     
    Last edited: Oct 7, 2017

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