Long term westy resto

I use rustoluem and a roller and it seems to hold up well over winter just needs flating back for more coats

 

I just used it to get the van all in one colour and rid it of the household gloss it was painted in when i bought it. Was never meant to be a long term solution but its been 8 years now.

 

Bodywork under windscreen now solid again. Will post piccies up once my phone is charged.
Still lovely weather so paint it drying is record time allowing me to get a wriggle on with all the other silly bits needing done.

 

Primed:


Still not managed to get this bugger off:

I think its about as hard as cheese as this was done with a wood chisel.

 

cant you use one of those plumbers universal thingys?

http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=2699

this might help with your cause?

PSG

 

I will give it a try. I'm sure i've got one of those lying around somewhere.

 

Carnt you bash a slightly smaller socket on to the nut then try it ?
Or weld a bar or similar to the nut then try and crack it , best to make sure the bar you weld on goes round without hitting the floor then just put bit of metal tube over it .
Might work

 

I'll have another go at it tomorrow.
Gonna borrow a butane/propane torch thingy to heat the nut up red hot and see if it frees it off.
I'll give a go at welding a bar on first and hopefully that might do it.

Got some new(er) wheelnuts now which don't have rounded corners so i'll replace those too.

Primer all sanded down now and ready for topcoat tomorrow morning.

 

another van getting paint! ours is in the booth as we speak. its a milestone i know.

PSG

 

Mines only getting a little paint though.

 

you need a metal chistle/lump hammer 5 mins max ,looks from the picture your just tickerling it ;D..... trust me, I have hacked loads off including the castle bolts with zero damage to the thread.. 8)

 

Your work and perseverance are amazing. Your photos are boosting my confidence to go out and buy a welder and get to work on that rear panel my recent tyre blow-out spanked to sh*t.
This thread is a useful tutorial and an inspiration. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

lost-en-france, i'm a little scared incase i damage anything. Thats why i haven't gone mad on it yet.

BayWatcher, i'm glad my thread could be useful to someone.

I got the cab step and door painted this morning before the temperature started to get warmer. I've made the mistake before of trying to use coach paint when it was too warm and it dried before the brush strokes mearged in.

 

Door, wheelarch and repairs under the windscreen all painted now.

 

Still not got the bloody wheelnut off, though its even more mauled now.

Plummers wrench didn't work as there wasn't enough space between hub nut and wheelnut to get a good enough grip. Lost a little more paint off the back arch trying that.
I tried hammering a 17mm socket onto it as Baybug suggested and used a breaker bar but it split the socket.
The heavy handed lump hammer and metal chisel idea just took a little more metal off the nut.

I think careful use of an angle grinder is the only way it'll come off.

 

sometimes when a screw snaps on me, i get an empty chuck and tighten the chuck around the screw and then put the cordless in reverse so it unwinds. It probably wont work, but you could try. Can you not weld a new bolt on the end and use that to remove it? or am i covering old ground here?

P

 

Grinder won't fit past hub nut so looks like i'll have to weld a bar onto it.

Cleaned up some of my wheels with wire brush. Just need to find some paint to paint them with. Replacing the stainless rover p6 wheel trims for the vw jobbies off my bug and found a hole in one where water has eaten it way out.

 

Welded a bar onto the nut but it still wouldn't turn even with me jumping on it and it also left me with a bar stuck on the nut, so with carefull use of the grinder with a well worn (much smaller) disc i cut the bar off and just kept cutting the nut until it ended up like this:

Managed to damage a couple of the threads but they'll hopefully clean up OK when i find a big enough die to do them.

Problem is theres still some of the nut in the hollow in the wheel the nut sits in and it ain't playing ball.

Absolutely no idea how to get it out and the wheel off. Only thought at the moment is to just using the grinder and cutting the centre out of the wheel around the nut (leaving it still attached to the brake drum) then welding it back in once its off.

If petrol wasn't so bloody expensive i'd have torched the van in the past few days. Its really doing my head in.

 

Well it looks like I'm gonna have to buy a new stud as the thread is well and truly chewed up from getting the nut off. Need to buy the socket and breaker bar for the hub nut and pay someone to remove the stud and replace it too. Not a happy chappy.