Got on with the B Post fabrication. Made up a card template, cut and fettled the sections before spot welding the bits that I can get access to (thank god for a spot welder) – then mig welded in place – the radius of the B post section I purchased is different to the outer sill that I had to bend to get into place – so I am hoping that when the door goes on it looks ok – Knowing my luck it will all be out of kilter!! Made up a channel for the rubber sliding door (b pillar) as that has rusted away and mig welded in place .Then put in the wheel arch section and again fettled that to fit. Looking at the original it has a slight turn over on the outer lip – mine wont!!! Made up a small section for the “bulge” that is under the seats – that was another 20 mantis beating the crap out of 1.2mm steel to get something right before welding in – but ½ way through I ran out of gas –so I have used 1 full bottle of CO2 and I’m only ¼ way through the welding – good job its £14 per refill – I am welding with 0.6mm wire at the moment – was using 0.8mm on the chassis sections It takes ages to make these small bits – maybe I should have just bitten the bullet and got new panels
nice progress, your flying through the metal work the profile problem is the outer sill, they are never quite the right shape .....you can blend it with a little filler. To get it spot on requires either bending the outer sill about or a lot of filler ........or live with it as it wont be too noticable once the door is on
Finished off the inner bulkhead wheel arch and welded the cargo floor edge to the new metal. Cleaned off and after inspection a few small holes still need spot welding up – but not too bad a repair. Next was to take measurements for the old inner and outer wheel arch - I have a laser measure and used that to get accurate dimensions – put down a section of tape on the inner and outer sections and measured between the openings at different distances – that was then transferred to the new sections. But before that I started up the plasma cutter – I have found out that the electrodes and insulating bits in the tip do go west quite quickly – so replaced with new (tip – if you buy a plasma cutter buy plenty of tips and insulators) – anyhow started it up and it was like cutting with a hot knife through butter with a clean cut – took all of 2 minutes and no banging or distorting. Found out where the spot welds were and drilled the first layer – then chisel it off – did a bit of cleaning off. 10.30 time to go in.
After a bit of thinking and because I’m waiting for panels, I decided it would be a good idea to re skin the passenger door so I can hang it as well as using the measurements when I weld in the inner & Outer wheel arch sections- if I don’t I will probably get huge gaps and everything out of alignment and the way the door inner are they may be slightly different in size anyhow. So looking at the door, the bottom is knackered – looking at blogs there used to be a section you could buy for the bottom of the inner skin – but not now!! Ground down the sides to locate the spot welds and then drilled the top layer off – no use on the bottom as there was sod all. That was the easy part. Made up a section for the bottom and welded it in – but forgot to take pictures – the hard part is making and welding the small returns where the outer skin spot welds on to – fiddly sections – but made and welded most of them - just the a 1 more section to do and then the I can do the outer skin – hopefully that will be done tonight – anyhow it got to 10.30 – rubbish on radio 2 again – may try radio 4 – so off the house to watch on sky plus Wheeler Dealers are doing up a Wills Jeep – as my mate has one – he’s got a bit OCD about it!!! Even puts on a uniform to drive it !!!
Passenger door resin was completed last night. Took two nights and 8 hours in total – So last night put in a lower lip that was rusted out. There is an H frame that sits behind the skin and needs welding at the top edge to the inner part of the skin where the window comes out, the bottom bits look like they sit between the skin and the inner door lips – I reckon that when the skin is plug welded on these will be secure Anyhow – I was scratching my head wondering where the correct position would be to weld the frame – but I noticed that there is a hole drilled in the frame that matched up with the hole in the skin that secures the door handle – so I assumed that this would be the correct place to weld it as it would also give extra support to the handle. Punched holes in the skin for the plug welding with my 5mm punch – but as I don’t seem to get fantastic penetration with that size I reamed them out to 7/8mm – The problem is if I weld them at the small size no matter what setting on the mig the holes fills so fast – and there is not sufficient time for the weld to penetrate – bigger size I can run the weld around the edge first and then finish off in the middle. So my top tip is if you use a punch for your pulg welds – make em bigger, and turn up the Mig. All plug welded and seam welded the outer skin at the top – not forgetting to plug weld the taps that bridge the window gap./wheel arches so I can now fit them this week end.
nicely done I couldnt plug weld through any thing smaller than 6mm ....that was always the minimum I'd make the holes. keep up the good work
This weekend has been quite busy Got the inner wheel arch in and plug welded – used my measurements to get it right. Next was to hang the door that I re skinned – but after 30 mins off fiddling around, the gaps to the rear edge were large – again could not see how I could reduce it due to the hinge being fixed – anyhow on the blog Diddyman suggested that I bend the hinge back – so that is what I shall do, but there is no point yet as I only need a line at the bottom to get the outer wheel arch in position. Big Gaps or What!! After getting the inner in – I welded up the two sections of the outer wheel arch and offer it up. It was cheaper to get the two sections than get the whole thing as one. The gaps were not too bad, but in just where it curves it was slightly “in” so I used my small jack to push it out to get the right line. After checking the measurements it was 1 mm out, but again closing the door for the 1000th time the bottom step gap is huge. Tacked in position So – the measurements were the same as the old step to within 1mm – the gaps at the bottom of the door was uniform apart from the step – I was not going to cut and shut the bottom step to get a 8/9 mm gap allround – so looking at other pictures it is apparent that most campers have a big gap – not your usual German design – anyhow plug welded the lot together. Looking Ok now Looking something right I think next time I will not put the inner wheel arch in first as I think it will be easier to leave it till last. Question – how big is your bottom of the door gap? Mine is huge!!!!
great progress and standars as usual mate. dont worry too much about the large gap at the bottom ...........I did until some one poined out they were supposed to be bigger here due to the bottom of the seal.......I think yours looks about right from the pics The main thing you need to check (or be worried about) is that the seal will line up with the inner ridge in the step (if that makes sense) cant quite make that out on yours from the pic..........if you had the same gap at the bottom as along the top of the arch I think the door would catch and the seal wouldnt meet the step if I recall correctly. regarding door hinges, did you meantion you had different ones to mine? ........have you got some pics? ..........go careful bending the hinges unless you really need to, if you can, try making little shims first to bring the door back ...........or PM Davidoft, he's pretty good at getting good door gaps he might have a few other tricks to try first I think I managed to get a good door gap all the way round by shimming (except for the big gap at the bottom, I used a 5mm drill bit (non fluted end) to check I had even clearance
great sketches so your doors have threads in the hinges which are attached to the door and the brackets on the bus has clearance holes that the bolts go straight through if I've got that right, before you go drilling anything (as that is the point of no return!!) could you try moving the hinge to the front of the bracket as you sugest and put the bolts through the other way? .....it might be a bit of a fiddle but at least you might be able to see if it works first before drilling out the threads .......or if you cant fit the bolts the from the rear, move the hinges to the front of the bracket as you sugested and use smaller bolts to clear the threaded part of the hinge and use a nut on the other end? either one of those ways might let you see if you can get the door in the right place as it might move it too far back and if you've drilled out the threads it will be hard to revert back if it doesnt work. if the temporary method gets the allignment your after then you can go ahead with the permanent way you meantioned
Due to still not receiving the front driver’s inner wheel arch I decided to have a go at the passenger’s rear wheel arch and corner. So overlaid the panels as best I could and marked out the ruff size over the old panels. Got my favourite piece of kit out and started plasma cutting. It became apparent that the inner wheel arch was so full of holes – it was just not worth patching so I made a executive decision that I will go and buy 2 new inner wheel arches – so that put a bit of a dampener on what I need to do – but without further ado I carried on making the outer panes fit. The original panel was cut down and joggled at the top edge and I decided that the seam down the side that has a return into the sliding door weather seal was going to be a pain in the ass to weld and grind – The steel on the wing at that point was in good nick (apart from the bottom 100mm) I decided it going to be easier to weld on the front face approx. 3 inches in from the weather seal – I hope I have explained myself here!!! FINISHED - WELL NOT QUITE!!! Anyhow whizzed in a screw to temporary hold the rear corner while I got the outer wheel arch repair section to fit – now it looks right and the arch is in the correct position and mates up the inner flange of the wheel arch (what left of it) but at the bottom where it meets the new corner section (all the curves are good) there is 2 inches of extra steel – will try and get a photo – so do I cut it off or not? – that is the question. This week end I hope to get all of this in and welded – we will see.
Big day yesterday – got a load done Cut out the inner passenger’s wheel arch- rear tray and cleaned up the lot ready to receive the new panels. On getting to the rear post- I found that it was rusty (surprise surprise) so made up some repair sections and welded them in. had to make a few bits as they too had rotted away After that I dry fitted the inner arch and the tray – and the outer skin – found that the wheel arch inner curve was 20mm short of the over skin – so more messing around to get then something like. Plug welded in the wheel arch and the tray. And then fitted the wheel arch outer section – tacked it on, then ground off the welds and seam welded in place – doing 1 inch welds in alternate places and using my airline to cool off the welds as I go. Ground the welds off – but found a few gaps in the weld so will have to put a few tacks on them and clean them up. Rubbish welding - this is the problem with doing short runs of weld. The panel fit is good – but I there is a little bit of distortion – on the upper edge in one place – so a bit of work there. I had to use the whole panel as there was damage on the old wing up to the top – the other side I can cut down as I only need approx. 6 inch’s over the arch. Tonights work - putting in the corner Lying in bed – thinking of welding and campers – I was wondering why the new inner wheel arch panel has holes in it!!! – if you look at the picture I took this morning you will see that there are holes placed on the wing side of the panel – so when it rains the water will go through the holes – run between the wheel arch and the new outer skin I have just put in, down the sides of the wheel arch (make it rust) and then what ever water is left go into the sills or into the corners of the floor to make them rust as well. I am guessing that there are some rubber plugs that go into these holes – but I can find any reference of them.
Fit blind rubber grommets, you can take them off every now & again to inject Waxoil, it will never rust out again.
