More filler work and started to de-lip the front end ready for the prototype bay lower valance And swore about the doors for a while. I'm struggling to get them to line up nicely so i undid the hinges completely and closed the doors and they sit perfectly, just loose so can't open them. I just wanted to adjust the front panel to fit the edge of the door better so for now it'll do. If someone wants to come and hang the doors properly for me then they are more than welcome
Lower front panel in place and tack welded. I'm know its a pattern part but the fit is shocking I guess I will just have to make the edges myself as I can't see how these wi ever look good And abit more shaping on the rear corner, s a long way off though. And found a picture of how I would like it to end up like but with a few twists
Managed to squeeze in a few hours this afternoon to get a bit more done on the bus. Finished welding on the front lower panel and crimped the lower edge around the inner panel. The sides don't fit at all well but I have a plan of making some in fill panels to sort these areas out. Just wish I could get the doors to fit properly once they are tight on the hinges and not just left loose Between welding on the front panel to let the panel cool down, I decided to give the rear another skim of filler
that is comming along nicely .....good call on switching between filler work and welding, if you leave the filler work to the end to do the lot at once its a soul destroying job
Bit more work done this afternoon Adjusted the indicator blanks so they would fit with the late grill and got them welded in place Quick coat of Zinc primer and cleaned up and primed the grill Next up I decided to attack the front bumper steps. Sorry about the rubbish photos Rusty steps Rotten step First up I made a template from the good step And put it ontop of the rotten step
Cut the rot out And made a new piece from the template and welded it in place Next up I welded a strip of sheet metal to the lower section of the step and bent it to the correct shape, then aligned the top of the step and welded it in place Then trimmed the excess off
Then I attacked the dodgy repair on the lower mount of the step. It had previously been repaired but a plate was just welded over the top of the rot without cutting it out first Then I ran out of time so still need to repair the bottom section cut out above and also another hole as can been seen in the photos so for now gave it a quick coat of zinc And here's the exhaust manifold progress. Both headers started and bolted in place And finally mocking up the exhaust system pipe work. I want to get this section made from one piece tube bent to shape hence the tape to hole the tubes together
Finished the exhaust manifold mock up And started cutting out the cargo floor for some repairs I did start on the welding in of the new panel but forgot to get photos. Also have had the front ball joints replaced and a couple of boxes of parts arrive from vwh
But more work on the floor this eve. Only a couple of small patches left now. It's not ideal and it doesn't match the flooring which bugs me abit but its solid and won't be seen as it'll b covered by units. Main thing is there is no rot First piece in Next piece zinc primer Welded in a quickly primed for the night
Few more repairs tonight and some sealant and that's one side of the floor 99% complete Decided to attack the rear bumper also as I have new mounting irons now. Only problem was that the mounts on the bumper were narrower than the chassis legs So I cut them off the bumper to reweld on in the correct place Trial fitted the bumper Just need to weld the mounts back into the bumper now
Nice work, wont the welding on the back of the bumper affect the chrome? . Gonna look mint when its finished mate! Keep the pics coming, its giving me more enthusiasm to do mine
@carlperkins001 it doesn't matter if the chrome is effected as the bumpers are getting painted anyway. The bumpers had its fair share of knocks and the chrome is pealing in places
Didn't feel like doing any welding today so decided that I would get cracking with the bodywork. Its all been sanding today and no more filler yet but its soo much better. Big thanks to @zed for the advice First bit of sanding Then I got abit carried away and forgot to take any progress photos but I would say 80% of the filler ended up on the floor but its loads flatter now so I'm really happy with how its going so far Centre panel opposite sliding door hasn't had a skim yet, this was just to see where the low/high spots are Gave the rear corner and arch panel a coat of primer and a guide coat ready for final sanding to highlight low spots before another skim where needed. Soo glad I bought the new sanding pads now. 70x400mm flat and flexible sanding blocks work a treat with 80g And a quick photo from earlier in the week. I managed to get the cargo floor area completely solid and sealed the next edge. Just abit more grinding to do on the last corner then that's ready for primer and sealer also