1975 devon revamp - scampervan

a few months ago i managed to pick up this 1975 t2 1600cc twin port delivery van converted to camper (devon moonraker i think).
its in a sorry state and very stripped but i got it for £1500 which i think was a bargin.
the engine was already removed and stripped, aparently because it didnt run very well, and the previous owner had started to replace the battery trays and rear chassis rails.
heres some photos of it after i got it back to its new home for the moment









tbh it all seamed to be very solid and looked like it was once loved. all the parts removed where all inside the van.
the bodywork had a few scabs and i soon got abit carried away with my wirewheel onthe grinder









then i got abit carried away chasing the rust on the passenger step and ended up taking the door off



there was alot of fibreglass filler slapped onto the bodywork on the front panels lower lip. it didnt seam to be doing much so i started chipping away at it only to reveal that the to panels were no longer attached







with this in mind i moved up to the cracks that had apeared above the passenger headlight to see if i needed to replace the front panel of if i could save it and just replace the lower panel and patch the join. i attached the cracks with my wirewheel again to see if there was corrosion underneith. it was a bit of a shock to just have alot of filler dust chucked out from the grinder and no sparks.
after about 10 mins with the grinder and a big screwdriver chipping away at the filler this was the end result



seeing this helped me make up my mind to replace the entire front panel.
while i was doing this my girlfriend was getting busy inside with my tool kit and got abit carried away. she ended up removing the complete dash board, she said it was because everything was painted gold, which i admit did look shocking against the jaffa!!



with the dash removed we could see the extent of the shoddy repair to the front panel



and here is the work carried out by the previous owner. i think he was using it to learn how to weld









i have since been and had a good sort through all the parts i got with it and had a really good poke around for more rot.
all i have found is a hole in the chassis leg on the passenger side next to where the front suspension bolts on and a hole in the front inner valance.

james

 

well heres my first proper update - 10.06.2011
today myself and the missus had the day off work so took a trip to the workshop.
we moved the camper out from the corner and this is how it started
the photos are a mixture or ones that ive taken and then that the missus has taken


the previous bodged repair


first up was to remove the windscreen

it was going ok untill i cought the edge of the screen :angry


then it was time to crack out the angle grinder and have some fun
off came the first part of the front end



the fast part of many for the scrap pile

with this off this it what i found to the top of where the chassis legs meet the inner valance




then off with the rest of the front panel and what was left of the inner screen surround


the piles getting bigger

the dodgy repair, i think i might keep it as a reminder of what i started with


we next cleaned up the 'a' pillars and gave them a coat of etch primer to protect them untill the epoxy arrives.

as you can see a few repairs are needed



thats about as far as i got today apart from checking the fit of a couple of the repair panels
inner windscreen repair panel


and the main front panel


this is the hole in the passenger front chassis rail


and heres the repair panels soo far (fao diddymen)
front panel



prototype bay outter valance



prototype bay inner valance





good nite camper (lois as named by the missus)

 

update 20.06.2011

no progress this weekend gone, but i did pick up some parts for the camper.
sat saw me and the missus drive to nottingham to collect an earlybay front bumper which i won on ebay for £32.56



(the other step is there but needed to be removed to fit it in my car)

and on the way home i went via peterborough to visit Dubdubz to collect some new headlights and a front belly pan.
today i had the day off so planned to get asmuch done as possible on the camper but it doesnt really feel like i managed to get much done, but hey its another tick on the list.
the day started off by removing the deformation panel, alot of rust fell out with this removed









next up i started to chop out the inner valance. at first i wasnt sure how i was going to go about this, but i remembered a photo on diddymens tread to just went at it

bit


by bit


by bit


untill i managed to uncover the ends of the chassis rails




those photos were taken after i cleared out the vast amount of rust from inside them.
this is what came out when the ends were removed



while i was doing this, my better half was busy painting all the insides of the new panels with anti-rust primer.
this is the only photo i managed to get of them



i did try the new early inner front valance to see how it fits but i need to do alot of work to the chassis rails still and especially to the lower parts of the "a" pillars, but i dont have a good one to copy atm to be able to rebuild them to the correct shape.



i still need to remove the last parts of inner valance from the ends of the chassis rails but ran out of time today so gave the front end a quick coat of anti-rust primer, and seeing as i had also cleaned up two of the chassis legs i gave them a quick coat aswell





and thats all i managed to get done

 

next up i made a start on the front steps which were rotten





this edge wasnt welded at all, just sealant



and removed



only to reviel a slightly worse for ware a pillar



this gave me a chance to do my first piece of fabrication, a pillar repair v:1

















but i made the big mistake of making this around the rotten pillar so once the rot was removed it was too big

i learnt from that mistake and made v:2, which im still not happy with so i might remove and remake again

 

and here is a couple new parts

golf mk1 crystal clear headlights



and the long lost piece of tinware i never had



and this is whats left of the old twin slider bay that i found up my local scrapy. there wasnt a great deal left of it tbh but it did donate the front hubs and spindles to me for £40

 

this should bring us upto date,

after a week on holiday i came home to find a nice box from justkampers.

in it it had
















i am currently waiting on the offside front arch and engine lid catch though from that order as they are on backorder still


and then on tuesday night as the missus was out for the eve i decided to have an evening on the camper

i started off wondering what ive got myself into here but soon got the motivation to crack on.

i started to remove the nearside front arch, and to my amusement, who ever fitted the arches the last time did a right bodge job and im supprised they have lasted this long as it was barely welded on, apart from at the top







and where it was welded it was a mess and filled over









and there was a repair patch at the rear of the arch that was only welded on two sides



and by the looks of it i need to replace the nearside front out rigger and try and pull the sill back out





eventually the arch came off



all be it in a few parts

i found another dodgy patch above the step, which i then cut out







heres a better photo of the "patch" to the rear of the arch



and whats left of the nearside a pillar. theres more left of this than the offside so i intend to copy this as best i can and fabricate new rapairs for both sides







i did manage to get the arch lined up but didnt get any photos of that

untill next time xxx

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Nice to see your resto thread back mate

good to see a bit of progress too .....have some K+

 

cheers diddy! should be spending most of this weekend on it i hope. ideally i want to get the rear of the arch sorted and maybe pull the sill out, somehow

 

Long way to go still good effort so far M8.

 

abit of progress from this eve

i cut out the patch to the rear of the passenger arch and cleaned up the metal. its not pritty behind there tbh but i did manage to straighten out the sill atleast.
the front outrigger though i feel needs to be replaced as its not even welded to the sill or the floor plan

anyway to the progress pics

cut out the rot and patched the drivers 'a' pillar



trial fitted the inner windscreen panel



put on the front panel to check alignment of inner panel







then removed front panel and welded the inner panel into place







i need to make up some brackets to bolt the top of the dash to but i will do that at a later date.

thats as far as i got really as i ran out of gas

 

small update from sunday, primered the inner windscreen panel and removed from beam and suspension.


that is all as still deciding on acid dipping the shell

 

04.09.2011
spent a few more hours on the bus today. all i got done was to fabricate a new repair panel for the passenger side lower a pillar and i think ive finally sussed it, but i did have abit more of the o.e part to work from on this side
before (although already cut)

bottom of pillar removed


measured up and template made ( i'll reverse this to make the other side)

then cut it out in steel

and then a long time later and alot of bends later



then made a plate to fit the bottom of the pillar like the o.e part


then started to tack it on to the pillar



(areas drawn around are yet to be cut out and replaced)
few more welds then checked alignment of arch, then removed and painted with zinc primer to protect it untill i seam weld it on



im alot happier with this repair panel so will do the same for the other side

and the devistation to the rear of the passenger inner arch. i cant decide if i need to replace the outrigger, sills and tophat section or if i can save it and make a new panel for the rear of the arch

and while i was doing this the missus gave the earlybay bumper a good clean up with the grinder so i can see which parts need to be patched on the steps

 

nice work mate, those A post repairs look good

 

update 05.09.2011

been to the camper to have a sort out as it was getting a mess inside and i had forgotten what i had and what i was missing.

heres all the panels waiting to be fitted



i also removed the steering box after i managed to find a puller at work



but i stupidly didnt mark the splines so could be fun to line up when it goes back together :-[

then i removed the steering column



which came to a stop when a screw decided that it didnt want to come out after 25yrs

 

11.09.2011

a few pics from today. as i was happy with the a pillar repair, i decided to make one for the otherside also

i measured up and cut off the remainder of the drivers a pillar



then made the new patch in the same way as before





i then moved on to removing more rust from the a pillars which i had drawn around before





and made a new 'L' shaped patch for the edge which i had to remove





i was going to make the front of the a pillar but couldnt remember how it was supposed to be so didnt get very far. hoping i can find some photos on here of a rot free a pillar to copy the repair panel from

and seeing as i had run out of welding gas i moved on the cleaning the underseal off the inner arches and front chassis legs on the passenger side







and im happy to say i didnt find anymore rust, apart from what i already knew was there



now i just need some suitable steel to repair the chassis leg