I didn’t manage to get much done this weekend as we went over to Dorset Volksfest yesterday and today seemed to disappear. I’ve made a start on patching up the rear bumper brackets though, starting with the one that’s in slightly better nick (although still pitted quite spectacularly). Rot marked up: and cut out. Small repair patch shaped up and bent in the vice. And welded in and ground down. It’s not the prettiest bracket I’ve seen but once it’s painted up it should do the job. I think I’m going to weld another bit in up to the edge of the drilled hole in the bracket (no idea what it’s for any thoughts?) [Originally posted on tumblr]
So I’ve not got much further over the last few weeks, however I have finished the welding on the rear bumper brackets. These were in pretty poor condition when I took them off the van, with a lot of pitting on the surface that sits behind the bumper. The second one I worked on was particularly bad, needing around 6 sections let in. Repairing these has been more of a learning experience than an economical repair as reproduction ones are readily available (about £120 for the 2, so I’ve saved a bit of cash doing it myself I guess). Here’s the worse one partially welded up (I couldn’t grind the welds down for an invisible finish as some of the metal was already pretty thin): And both with a lick of paint (I’m using Bilt Hamber’s Electrox for most of the chassis primer work, it’s 90% zinc. This will then be covered with Epoxy Mastic and then a wax. It’s a bit of a minefield when it comes to paints, I’m sticking with Bilt Hamber for this). I also gave the new jacking points a coat of paint too (I’m not sure if I’ll need to replace all of them, but I bought all to cover the worst case scenario): Next month should be an exciting month though as I’ll have access to the workshop share. We’re taking one more camping trip before I take her off-road and start the restoration proper. [originally posted on tumblr]
Bit more today, but not much (went canoeing with the family). Got the brackets epoxy mastic'd, really nice stuff to work with (even with a brush). Mixed up too much so coated the insides of the jacking points too. The workshop I was due to start sharing is now not available as one of the chaps has decided to stay (bit of confusion and annoyance). I'm now frantically looking for some space for next month as the MOT and road tax expire. Arg.
Moved the van and first load of bits over to the new workshop today! Chuffed with this find, and I'm sharing it with a retired mechanic which could be useful.
That looks good, it makes all the difference having somewhere you can just down tools mid job and go home without tidying everything away.
Yeah I should have plenty of room here. Thats a little over half the space (about 40ft long). The other guy has a mini to do up and it sounds as though we'll overlap only a little with me there at weekends and him in the week. I've got some days booked off in September to make a start.
Only just realised how carp the picture was as we had a power cut and had to use my phone! Will get a better one at some point.
Also my belief that stock height is better was even more solidified today. The dirt track to the unit is pretty rough (15mph in the Renault), the van was dead happy at 30mph the whole way sucking up all the pot holes, really fun too!
Its where the bouncy bob along ride really comes into its own with soaking up the bumps Even the stock seat allows a little extra suspension for your backside
I’ve had the last few days off work so have been down the workshop stripping the van down ready to get the rollover jig setup. As always everything seems to take twice as long as one would hope, with every other bolt rusted shut and needing a little persuasion to get them off (I gave up on the anti roll bar clips and ended up taking the grinder to them). I now have the van stripped down to a shell (plus the front beam) and hope to get the jig on in the next week or two.
I'm debating getting a guy in to shot blast the underside to save myself some time. Any particular reason I should/shouldn't do this? I've been quoted about £250.
It'll take forever to get the stuff out after, but when it's stripped like yours is the time to do it and by hand would take a month of Sundays. Ask him if he can also spray a protective coating on straight after.
That makes sense. I'd hope the guy would clean up most of the blast media, but yes I imagine it's slightly less tedious than scraping by hand. Would I need to take the coating off when it comes time to paint? I guess it depends on what coating he uses.
