Major the Westies rebuild project

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by MorkC68, Sep 26, 2016.

  1. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Thanks buddy :)
     
  2. Any more updates Mark?
     
  3. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Nope, some Golf Buggies have got in the way :D
     
  4. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Earlier this week we took the westy for his MOT test; passed okay, advisories include grumbling front wheel bearings, handbrake inefficient and he advised we change the fuel filter.
    Next part for attention is the drivers door, the skin has cracked badly in several places:
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    Its had some form of repair around the mirror' bolt
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    The bonding on the door braces has gone brittle and broken away and one of the braces is loose inside the frame. It needs sorting!
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    The plan is to reskin the door, the frame is excellent so we're going to remove the old damaged one, clean up all of the Dinitrol and treat any rust, paint it up etc before welding the new skin on and paint!
    Unpicking the spot welds is slow going :(
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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  5. Didn't know you can do that, where do you get the outer skin from is it a repro how well does it fit?
     
  6. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    We got ours from CoolairVW, but Heritage, JK and Custom & Commercial sell them, £60 from memory. Dunno about the fit yet, ask me next Friday :D
     
  7. You grinding them spot weld or drilling how many is there im gonna guess 60?
     
  8. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Theres about 60 in all, the dremel works quick and well, another night on it & it'll be off!
     
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  9. i bet the neighbours love you.;)
     
  10. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    They've gone to Cyprus for six months, we try and finish by 6.30pm latest so as not to disturb anyone watching Emmerdale or Corrie :D
     
  11. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    I've got this job to do soon! Our frames areok for a Uk bus so didn't want to waste them.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  12. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    I'm hoping the lower frame part is good on this door; from the outside it looks good
     
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  13. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    So we started to take the spot welds off the lower half of the door to remove the skin only, we ended up taking the whole outer door skin off as the spot welds had gone all round the top of the window frame. It looks like its been welded before :(
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    I think the door has had something happen to it in the past, the bracing inside the door frame was broken off, the hole where the mirror passes through was not how it should be and we need to make some new bits for the brace around the mirror nut :eek:
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    On a plus side, we got a small crack on the inside welded up, the outer skin fits okay and we treated some rust with Vactan. We just have to rebuild the bracing and get that cleaned and painted up. The door frame itself is mint, just surface rust, no real rot aside of some little bits where spot welds have broke.
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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  14. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Progress has been slow this past week, been de-sealing, rubbing back, welding and painting the bracing on the door after fixing the mirror nut back into its recess, looks good!
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    But, so much for our "very good" rust free inner door, part of it is peppered with holes :(
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    Luckily Schofields do a repair panel with the correct profile :)
    http://www.alanhschofield.com/ourpa...t-Under-Door-Repair-Left-6879-211831105D.html

    Whilst this was on order, we applied some more Vactan to the top door frame
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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  15. Nice work Marc. Will be following with interest.
     
  16. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Its going to be slow progress I'm afraid, work relocated us to Sheffield giving me an hour ish to do anything :(
     
  17. Feel your pain Marc, I also have about an hours commute either way meaning i have no free time during the week...Thats why it took me 10+ years to restor Wilby!
     
  18. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    But look how good Wilby looks now, the upholstery looks superb!

    To be fair, we have Gusbus running well now so I'm not overly worried about timescales. In time we want to move house and get somewhere with a decent size garage, we're renting storage at the moment which doesn't help.
     
  19. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    Had a few good sessions on the door and got all of the rotten underside cut out, the inner brace bar cleaned up, rust treated and a coat of paint applied. Progress is good :)
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    The Schofield repair section is very good however, the profile on the inside slightly different to the old one, the edge on the new one is sharper, no bother it can be made good!
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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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  20. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    The new bit is all welded in place, fits well, the steel didn't bow during welding, which is a plus, to correct the profile on the inside lip, we chopped it out, reshaped it and welded it back in.
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    I didn't get any photos before a layer of filler was applied to neaten it up, however, we did get carried away, good job its easy sand :D
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    Whilst we waited for the filler to go off, we checked the fit of the door skin and marked it out for the brace bars
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    Last edited: Jul 5, 2017
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