Gertie the 72 crossdresser. Full resto....and it needs it!

Coming on good

 

Looking really good ! ... cant wait to see it painted 8)

 

I 've got a similar die grinder

........they are a brutal little tool as you say, buy great for dressing welds or grinding in areas you cant get other tools..........but when they bite and kick back ..........and the sharp swarf gets everywhere ;D

.........I highly recommend them though

 

Good work going on. I like your no-fear attitude with the chassis rails. I need to do mine but I'm going down the repair patch route as I'm too chicken to cut it off!!

The die grinder looks cool. I was thinking of getting a Dremel to do a similar job. Would this work?

 

Got my new (old) panel this week for ebay and TBH I was a little miffed with the condition of it. The advert stated that it had marks which any regular bodyshop could sort out but when I got it there were some gouges in it which weren't just "marks". Anyway, I got the paint (and filler!!!!) ground out with the wire grinding cup and stuck some zinc primer on the bare metal so at least it should get no worse.

Spent about 4 hours today drilling out spot welds and separating the inner sill and floor filler panel apart from the main panel. I decided to leave the outer sill attached to the middle panel so I don't have to use the crap quality outer sill, and at least the gaps will appear factory. I have also left the inner C pillar attached and will drill out my spot welds and chop my C pillar back to a matched point, which means I won't have to fabricate the C pillar bottom and risk it being out, as I have nothing there to measure so it's easier to fit the mid panel complete with C pillar and maybe the B pillar skin.

Not happy with this like!









Anyway, this was todays work.

C pillar cover unpicked, leaving the pillar.





OG sill removed complete with floor filler.



Leaving this.

 

I've always had a decent look at bodycuts before I'll commit to buying them as there is a lot of Marmite about, with dubious descriptions of, could be sorted by a good bodyshop etc etc.

You've got plenty to keep you busy there for a while, try hammer and dollying those dents before you fit the panel.

 

I will do m8. I did on the ones a little higher up the panel but the ripples you see were behind the edge of floor filler, but now that that has been removed it can be sorted. If you look at the last but one pic, you will see where I drilled the spot weld right through when taking off the sill and floor filler and it is in line with that really.

This job will go on the back burner anyway until I've done the chassis repair at the rear into the torsion tube. I have the roll over frame here now but i am back on the rigs tomorrow for 2 weeks so it can all wait for a little while. Once that is done, I will attack the middle panel then the front screen repair lower panel then the front main panel, so plenty to keep me occupied. lol

 

Spent an hour this evening trying to get my wheels off for the frame!!!! Git the rear off but am still stuck on 2 nuts on the front! Need to borrow a 3/4 windy gun tomorrow, my 1/2 inch bluepoint aint up to the job. Even with 15 stone on the bar it wont go.

So this is as far as I got. Better than watching eastenders I s'pose:laugh2:

 

Well, failed to get the last wheel bolt off so I had to slice it up with a disc cutter and now I need a new stud in the front hub. Still, I was able to fit the rollover frame.

I jacked up the chassis section hoping that it was just gonna roll over. How wrong I was. Ended up I need to call my 2 brothers in to help. F**K me these vans are heavy. I had an added complication in that my garage isn't wide enough to tip it so I had to slide the van across as it was being tilted.

Well, we eventually sorted it and this is how it all looks. Just awaiting me getting in there with the welding set and plasma cutter when it arrives.









And this is the reason behind tipping it on it's side.

Told you it was bad didn't I?

 

Ouch! I hope you drained the gearbox oil - they all leak a bit from the driveshaft flange seals even when the right eay up...

 

Where's the chassis gone :s

 

DAMN!!!
I no longer complain about how beat up ours was!

 

Haha.

To be replaced with the following I hope. Taken from a Californian bus and purchased from Schofields for £150.

 

That's not going to be a 5min job haha