This thread should win some sort of prize for "most unfounded, sweeping statements in one place" award or something.
I stand by my own comments. Been there many times and commented on what I see and what's involved to repair it.
I wouldn't have even took that for a test. I might have took it in if I needed the advisory as a checklist of things to do. I'd now be worrying about all the rust you can't see and will uncover during the course of your 'restoration' Good luck with it.
Wow! Such a lovely welcome back guys! I will post some photos of the bus in better light tomarow but I would say a pair of front doors one front arch and one rear corner need doing, the rest is in great condition, I have taken the outer sills off both sides tonight and exposed a lot of work I'm going to DIY it, I have approval from the wife for money's and time to aim to have a mot my July . I now have half a wheel barrow of rust, iv found one hole in the floor N/S under the rock and roll bed, plan is to get through a mot, I'm not bothered / don't have time this year for a full resto so the plan is as follows 1. Take the wife away in a tent this weekend, 2 order the JK bundle of out riggers and jacking points / 2 sets of sills and a length of top hat? 3. Strip interior 4. Weld in new parts Probably replace first 200mm of floor both sides finish in primer and get back on the road for July. So help would be appreciated it's LHD with a sliding door on OS where is the best sill kit?
Edit... Just seen you're repairing it now... fair play, get stuck in, look at some of the resto threads here for some guidance and reference, don't cut everything off to begin with, do 1 side at a time, and be prepared to find more rot along the way! .......... Its pointless retesting until the repairs are done now, the centralised 'system' shows the next tester that it has been recently tested and failed for corrosion - no tester will pass a severely rotted van (especially if already failed elsewhere) as its the only testable item can bite them on the ass upto 3 months later - a tester would lose his mot licence if that was bought in by the Ministry - probably quite rare but happened to a mate of mine.
I looked into this last year - Schofields bundle kits aren`t the cheapest but seem to be a far better quality and fit ... Glad you`re tackling it - good luck
Only advice I can offer is don't cut away to much in one go. Try and leave some reference points for the new bits.
Get genuine sills if you can. I think I got gen inner ones and gen outer by slider from heritage. Remaining sills were all schofields which were good quality. Go for the autocraft jacking points if you can. I got all 6 from coolair I think. See my restoration thread as I've just done/am doing this section.
It wasn't yours I was commenting on. I'll give you a clue: He may have mentioned someone in his family owning a T25 a couple of gazillion times...
You started this thread to get our opinions and you have had a strong response. As I said, you knew the van was rot and it seems to me now that you used the MOT tester to show you the worst. That's why you didn't do the work and then get it tested, you knew it would fail badly. Your short term plan is to get it through the MOT and I wish you good luck with that.
This is a job for FIBRE GLASS MAN with his bag road dust compound to blow spray onto the wet glass . i will get it passed before you could say ...my bus is on fire .
I like your style, MOT fail this week and you're already hacking bits off to start making it better..... Good luck with it, I hope it goes well and that the rots not too deep!
There's a quick fix if you want to go camping soon. The inner sills rarely rust all the way to the top. Cut back up to good metal and weld in the bottom half of a new sill, then the outriggers etc. Saves loads of time getting the old sills out and you can leave the interior in. In the words of Witney Houston, 'it's not right, but it's ok'.
Thanks much appreciated as I said I don't mind removing interior and floor for better access but will keep in mind
The van isn't rot, 2 sills and localised areas the rot is no worse then previous years with same mot guy with no advisorys hence why I wast happy
I hope it goes well for you fella been there done it! I bought just about every panel you can buy from Alan Schofield great bunch of lads
