Lottie, a 79 full restoration Part 1/2/3/4/5

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by martinvention, Jul 12, 2015.

  1. Very nice!
     
  2. Thanks James, Coco and Art,
    Might give it rest for a while as I need to get outdoors and do some 'Green Gym' with hedges and trees to sort. But just to end hatch work I made a couple of hinges as I need to mate the 79 hatch to a hinge panel which is actually for the pre 76 van. I deliberately chose to fit this hinge panel from Autocraft as it seems heavier and better made than the available correct repro panels for the later van. The pre 76 panel has recesses and captive nuts for a pair of 2 screw hinges and I thought a pair of bespoke 2 hole but narrow hinges would look better. There is a 1mm offset between hinge pin centerline and the hinge centerline but I will do a final fitting to check I have got it right before I decide which way is up and drill the countersinks.

    Engine hatch hinges.jpg
     
  3. Nice ...:hattip:
     
  4. Finally getting back on the case despite cold wet weather. Following in JamesLey's footsteps I used Bilt Hamber Epoxy mastic on the running gear, front under body guard pan and inside firewall. I was planning to spray but the humidity and temperature seemed to be against advice so I did it the long way with a small nice new bristle brush. Though it took ages every nook and cranny got the required dose and a little went a long way with no over spray losses. In fact 250 ml of mixed paint (1:4 base/hardner) did this lot: RUNNING GEAR in Epoxy.jpg
     
  5. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Looks good mate. Nice stuff to use ain’t it?


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
    Merlin Cat likes this.
  6. Hi James, totally agree I thought it would be very gloopy and added a drop of thinners. When brushed the marks dried flat. I will try spraying the fuel tank and some other bits next. Looking forward to seeing how you get on with spraying the body so please add as much detail as you can. Best wishes Martin
     
    Merlin Cat and JamesLey like this.
  7. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Will do. Currently building up the front beam and have a few odd jobs before I can start the body proper. Watch this space!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  8. Well your work is truly awe inspiring sir. I've read this start to finish and I am amazed, firstly at your metalwork skills and your ingenuity in making hardwood bucks and using a press to form repair panels.
    It's threads like this which give me the drive and inspiration to get the chassis on mine up to scratch before deciding what I do next.

    I've just used epoxy mastic on my chassis but mixed 1:1 is that ok? Never noticed it was meant to be 1:4!
     
  9. Thanks exuptoy for your kind comments, I guess you have arrived on TLB when folks start to ask your advice! Epoxy Mastic well actually its the first time I have ever used any 2 component paint and for the Bilt Hamber 4:1 is right. But there are so many different brews out there, your 1:1 may have been spot on, its such a minefield I have started a separate thread "REPAINTING SYSTEM DILEMMA's". The best advice I can give is check the internet for the technical data sheet for whatever you are using and also have a good read of the safety data sheet to ensure you have the correct kit. I'm ex military and the "Look after your kit and it will look after you" line is a goodun.
     
    Last edited: Apr 3, 2018
    Merlin Cat and JamesLey like this.
  10. Cheers Martin, incidentally I did go on the Rust site after I posted and it was indeed 50:50 with the option to thin by up to 15% if you wish to spray it.

    Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to the updates.

    Lyn
     
    Merlin Cat and JamesLey like this.
  11. Spring is here and there is lots of grass and green stuff to tend also we have been camping in the Cotswolds - lovely but not in Lottie! So back to the grind...er and welder. To date I have been working with VW factory designed and built, but now I am at the camper equipment interface, starting with bed and rear seat belts and things are different. Rock and Roll bed, bought from a nice chap up north and cost almost as much again for delivery but overall a lot cheaper than new, I believe it is a WolksWares/JustKampers model, new and not fitted by PO but has been skulking around for a while. Why well the 6 page instruction is OK but glosses over some of the difficult stuff - to my mind fitting this is a "Dockyard Job" best done with engine, fuel tank and rear internals removed and needs lots of trial and error and adaptation to get things carefully aligned with sufficient space not to interfere with other parts.
    Some piccies, base section loosly fitted after brackets made:
    Bed Base and bkts.jpg

    I have settled on 4ft wide and welded extendable sections and left a good gap on the nearside for the seat belt. The furniture will be tailored to this later. Whilst not specified by the makers I have decided to make brackets at either side to pick up the rear pivots for extra strength attachment to the floor and seat belts:
    Bed and seatbelt Bkt OS.jpg

    and the nearside: Bed and seatbelt Bkt NS.jpg

    Mainly 2 mm steel, with backing plates and welded 8mm captive nuts, extra straps and 7/16 UNF for the seat belts, there will be some plug welding but not where it would burn the paint already applied underneath. Here the doubler plates will be added with plenty of seam sealer. Inside the tank area there are many plates including the bracket for the 2 seatbelt buckle straps. Again some will be plug welded but double plates and 8mm bolts for underneath. There are also some unwanted holes to be blanked, an earlier simple attempt at seat belt mounts using tacked nuts and no reinforcing, by someone long past. Inside tank area.jpg
    Upper attachments for 3 point more of a problem and I have used a slightly radical solution: upper seat belt mount.jpg

    So 1" steel tube 1mm sidewall bent and welded to transmit loads to reasonably hard points where it will be plug and seam welded and place top mount in a good position. There is also a slight curve to follow the window curvature. I have started to make additional sill covers to weld in place and also to the tube steel, making a strong box a la bus construction. I plan to add these to all sills. The 2mm plate sandwich fillet contains 2 welded nuts to provide vertical options for adult/child height shoulder. This may look a bit odd especially from the outside but may also provide a good place holder for some pretty VW badge/regalia. But there is another motive behind the tube frame support:
    roof bar.jpg

    Lottie is a panel van and the roof crudely butchered taking out the centre reinforcing frame. The heavy elevating roof is lifted at the rear by 2 hefty scroll spring assisted levers and I do not like the loads transmitted to the roof skin countered only by the upturned lip and some woodwork. So I have added a support bar with end plates that will be attached to the box sections inside the gutters and the tubular frames for the seat belt top bolts. I have not yet designed the OS frame but plan for it to be inside the wardrobe and in line with the edge of the seat/bed and pick up hardpoints above the engine deck with suitable reinforcing and join the roof bar . The roof bar will be welded to the roof and possibly the gutter box sect where it joins the seat belt frame (for the moment some self tappers) see below: Roof to belt bkt joint.jpg
    But I will also use some 8 mm rivnuts to attached plates and box frame and allow for extra brackets for whatever overhead furniture is fitted. So talking of fittings I live near Yeovil the home of Screwfix, and Toolstation but also the brilliant WenTin Fastners. where you can buy six of this, 2 of that and a bakers dozen of the other. Mostly metric but some good imperial stock and plenty of stainless which I mainly use except for high tensile. The bed came with lots of dome headed plated screws, good to avoid sharp heads on the outside of the moving bits scratching things. But screws (thread up to head) are not good pivots and I have replaced these, in fact all the bed screws, with stainless bolts so that the thin sections of the box section frame rest on plain section good fitting metal rather than threads that will soon wear and lead to a sloppy linkage. All replacement bolts are cut down to length and nylock dome nuts fitted to moving parts on the outside: Bed piviots.jpg
    So off on another camping trip soon and on return hope to paint, weld and bolt all fittings and also the bed frame, then after the OS seat belt mounting frame there is a bit of tidying up to do to make good the outrageous butchery on this new van in 1979: roof butchery.jpg
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2018
  12. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Fantastic work mate!


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  13. wow a bus with a rollcage....

    all looking very smart...
     
    arryhancock and Valveandy like this.
  14. Many thanks all above for kind comments. Work slows a bit as house needs to be painted but managed to fit panels to severed roof arch ends: NS roof arch end repair.jpg

    I have added a captive 8mm nut for kitchen clock, fluffy dice or possibly a hinged roof hoop not at at all sure but seemed a good thing to do at this stage.
     
    CollyP likes this.
  15. I have made the OS upper rear seat belt mounting frame to provide 2 height settings, the same as the NS frame. I know they look a bit weird now but I feel confident they will be lost in paint and furniture. The OS frame is attached to hardpoints below the deck where it joins the wheel arch and the panel for the fuel filler neck and at the top attaches to the new roof bar. There are flanged plates with captive nuts below the deck and the angle plate that forms the foot of the frame will provide a fixing point for the wardrobe wall: OS rear seat belt upper mount.jpg

    Next there is a watershed moment as I fit the last planned piece of sheetmetal. The area below the middle OS window has no reinforcing apart from the outward facing bulge and as this is where much of the kitchen unit will be attached I tack/plug welded an L shaped panel to form a box section and provide a lip for furniture attachment. In hindsight I should have done this when repairing the lower edger of the window aperture. Holes are for waxoyl later: OS middle panel bulge box panel.jpg

    I am sure the welder will be needed again, but for now the next task is to scrub her down from top to bottom and get ready for filler and primer.
     
  16. Probably the most tedious task yet, sanding down the inside and treating surface rust spots, power tools too difficult for most of it, so stout leather gloves and P60 paper then Rustins converter:
    inside sander and rust treated.jpg
     
    Merlin Cat, JamesLey, exuptoy and 3 others like this.
  17. Paint prep inside has been a slog and then in a couple of hours total transformation: Inner rear epoxy.jpg

    Inner front epoxy.jpg

    inner body epoxy.jpg

    After much research and trepidation I opted for Lechlar LS107 (29107) epoxy primer which is mixed 500ml paint/250 hardner/50 thinners and filled my rather old DeVilbiss suction cup perfectly, 2 fills did the interior in 2 wet on wet passes. I was pleased that the paint flowed well and gave good coverage and the inside was a perfect practice area before the outer body. Unfortunately I was not that clever doing the A posts and the vertical spray pattern put on excess paint so I have a couple of runs to flatten when it is fully cured. There are also some hints of orange where it was not possible to get the spray such as behind the C pillar flanges. I found a few CC of paint remain in the cup and after the next session on the engine/fuel tank bay, I will use this paint with a long 12mm artists brush with the end bent to get to these spots. Then next some colour; the big question I now have and cannot find an answer to is, will cellulose colour go straight over scotchbrighted epoxy or do I need a cellulose primer?

     
    arryhancock, JamesLey and Terrordales like this.
  18. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Looks lovely that Martin! I’ve got a fair bit of epoxy mastic left from the underside that I think I’ll use on the interior. If it’s anything like the epoxy I’ve used pretty much anything sticks to it.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
  19. Thanks James, I had a chat with Express Paint (Portsmouth) and expected them to recommend selling me some cellulose primer but no, they agree with you; just key the epoxy with some fine scotchpad and spray topcoats. So Thursday AM I ordered paint/thinners/filters/cups/overalls and I was on my doorstep AM Fri, great people products and service. I will do the inside and test and if all well follow the routine outside. So I have now primed the engine bay and 'coal hole' where the fuel tank lives. There is no way a gun is going to get all the surfaces in the side compartments so I spent a good hour with a small cut down brush to get to the corners and blind side of panels see brush on gearbox arch: Cole Hole.jpg

    Coal hole2.jpg

    Coal hole 3.jpg

    Before I do too much more I remembered that I had not welded the insides of the small panels either side of the deformation panel, that form the bottom front edges of the cab door opening. When I fitted them the cab doors were not even started so I could not judge the final shape, so now I have refitted the finished doors and whilst one side was fine, the other had too much metal so I trimmed and re-crimped around the A frame flange and then welded. Front base panels.jpg

    I had been agonizing over the final blue colour below the bulge but after testing RAL 5024, VW Bamama and Guinea we have settled on the early 70 staple Marina Blue L54D Bottom left here:
    Colour Testing.jpg
     
    Lazy Andy, MeelisV, Murtle and 3 others like this.

Share This Page