Welcome to my going round and round in circles world of getting the door and step gaps right, I've done the same on mine to get gaps I was happy with. Zed's advice looks spot on and also takes into account the potential 'knee' problems of rubber/arch interference, but if its all fitting for now - its all good. I'm thinking there should be a sticky thread with some important tips as mentioned here above as this comes up alot, along with sliding door sill tracks Have some free cold weather karma
This weekend was a bit of a disaster Started working on final fixing the wheel arch and the bit you sit on – all good – got the jack out and made up a few sections of wood to pump it out to the correct alignment – clamped the inner arch and the outer ones together and welded them up – and the fit is good. Finished up by final welding all the areas. Then it was on to the cab floor – cut out the rust and got the new section in (oh yes – while it was out -ground of the remnants of the chassis support and seam welded in a new 2mm brace) Anyhow just as I was tack welding the floor it in – I ran out of gas- so I decided to use the gasless weld that came with the machine – well I must say its rubbish and only fit for emergency repairs. See the two pictures So after doing a few lines of weld – I gave up and went in for tea. Sunday – woke up and felt like the preverbal crap with this man flu that has lasted 8 days - So stayed in and watched TV all day – snotting into 500 hankies!!! Also I have found that using the 0.8mm wire seams to give me better results that the 0.6mm – also my rubbish welder wire feed (sip 170) slips with 0.60mm so I have to modify it by putting extra wire on the clamp to put more pressure so to get it to run properly – I am thinking about getting a new one – top tip – when buying a mig welder – look at the wire feed and way it’s made – plastic mouldings are rubbish and tend to warp
I've always found 0.8 to be better It certainly feeds better, I've got a 4m eurotorch and the 0.6 was terrible. I did use gasless for a while. Certainly not as good as gas and very expensive but you do get used to it. Keep up the good work, I wish I had your free time and an understanding missus
Last night was in a bit of a “can’t be bothered mood” when putting on my scruffs, but with a bit of effort I went down to the garage – once there I really got into the work and enjoyed myself – strange that now its dark and wet how you seem to go into hibernation mode (Well I do anyhow) But as I said once there put the radio on and had a good time. First was to finish welding the drivers floor – i used my jack with wood to push the plate in place and hold it down nice and snug-!! After that I cut and welded in the passenger’s floor plate then my phone ran out of charge so the pictures that are left are from this morning – I had to go into the garage to get the door skin that was surplus as I have sold it on eBay for £30 – Anyhow once the floor was in, I put in the repair sections to the corners of the bumpers and made a section above it. Well I was having such a good time I decided to get one section in for the windscreen surround (pre made) – that went in easily and then as I was on a roll I made a section up and welded in the front corner that had rusted away – well it was 11pm so of to bed. How it looked like after dipping!!!- had to put in windscreen frame repair section first - then the patch - found that using what was left of the body as the buck and then welding in a bit and then manipulated the section a bit at a time - got the curves and once grinded down should be a good repair.
Well the outside body work is coming to the end – last night was dedicated to finishing off the windscreen surround. The repair sections comes in 3 pieces and my idea is I would do the outer bits one at a time (sos to not move the panel) and then the middle section last, having said that I had already put in one section. Well after cutting down the crease mark with a 1mm disk and grinding the old spot welds off the [glow=red,2,300]flange[/glow], the new section was clamped in place, and was a good fit. The repair section over lapped the crease by 1 or so mm – I decided not to cut it off flush but to set the welder to a higher setting and weld between the gap – this melted the excess off and where the old crease was – increased the amount weld – so when I grinded down the excess there was plenty of meat left underneath. – There were a few pin holes in the front shroud at the bottom but I decided to weld them up – the old story was I chased the pin holes around as they blew out to bigger holes, but eventually got them done albeit they are now thicker an bigger – but once grinded down they will be fine. The only things left to do now on the welding front are (I made my first list last night- not like me!) Rear Valance outer panel A small section of gutter Cargo floor – front where they meet the cab – and around the wheel arched plus a bit of fettling to the floor where the fuel tank goes. 2 sections to let in where the side window seals have rotted the steel. A section behind the rain channel on the driver’s side Between the engine bay and the fuel tank there are on each side some supports – they need making up and doing. And finally – 4 steel rings to go around the rear axle tube and the chassis – Then a good night grinding and making good anything I have missed – so should be done Sunday at the latest!!!
Last night I forgot to take my phone with me but managed to get the section in behind the cover on the rear wing as well as making good a few holes along the edge. Repaired the rotted edges where the window seal fits on the back wing and some small sections let in to the driver’s side gutters So really not much to report – bits take a long time to do------- but today I will book in for next week the dipping of the VW so that will ensure I will have it all done.
Well I’m getting down to the last few bits, and the camper is booked in for the re dipping on wed this week. So this week end I tidied up the welds – what a horrible job that is – and finished off all the little bits underneath (so not many pics) and on the exterior body – repaired the chassis supports that have rotted in the rear of the engine bay – and while I was in there finished off welding all the horrible bits where the new wheel arch meets the inner chassis sections. On Sunday it was working on the cargo floor – so made up a few sections out of 1.2mm sheet and formed as best I could to get the right profiles. Cut out the rear bits and made up a section from the pre made corrugated sheet and a section in 1.2mm to form the section that buts up to the rear up stand– I tried to get a good match – as you can see I had to cut the corrugated to meld it into the bent sheet – not to bad – and when let in was a good fit. Now – why, oh why, do they make a corrugated repair sheet, with the profiles not the same :-[ I did know this when I got it but what’s the problem in getting it right? – I had to spot weld where is matched and then get my hammer out and hammer the new and the old section to get it to match up – I know it won’t be seen but I’m not happy!!! Anyhow seam welded it in – but did not have time to clean up the welds, hopefully by tonight I should have all the cargo floor done and the only thing left is the rear valance skin –
I used a cargo floor repair panel from JK and it lined up perfectly. It was one of thier own grey panels with a union jack sticker. I'm interested in the dipping process and will be watching progress closely
I'm sure I've bought same from Heritage and fitted well. Strange. Years ago they wern't much cop, but they all seem good now.
Just totted up how many hours of welding – started 12 Sept 2012 finished 6th Nov 2012 (Today) Hours (give or take 5 hours) – 216 hours – ;D Nice and solid but a bit of grinding to do Got the cargo floor all welded up last night – took longer than I imagined – but it’s done now – apart from the grinding of welds Wazing in loads of blobs of welds where the old screws holes were that held the ply down – mind numbing. Also ran some big seams around the wheel arch Some bits and bobs tonight and a bit of grinding to clean up and its ready for the big dip! Oh yes – put in the rear valance.
