are you friendly with your local pub landlord, i get free c02 off mine! works lovely zed gave some advice on another thread about plug welding, turn the power right up and do a short sharp weld, haven't tried it yet, but sounds good to me nice work so far buddy, keep it up
Thanks Dog, yeah picked up the tips from Zed on your and another thread, these welds were done prior to that and are not the prettiest for sure but they seemed to pull the two parts together, so as they are going to be hidden I thought I would leave them. I have tried since with the power up, and a smaller hole in the first place, and the results were much better, a much flatter weld. Zed my bumpers are the earlier round type, mine is the crossover, so the bumper irons actually bolt through two holes in the chasis rail further back, but thanks though any advice greatly received. Thanks for the tips in plug welding on dogs thread too and your pm re flow rates k+ for that.
glad to see your putting plenty of paint in the repair panels niceeeeeeeeeeeee i wrote my name address phone number in the inside of my rear panel when i had mine of , my wee time capsul owen nw
Yep plenty of paint on some of these never to be accessed again areas. Also loads of paint makes my scruffy repairs look a bit better!! A few more photos to add, progress is slow at the min, seem to have been in the engine bay area for ages with no end in sight yet, but as most of it is hidden I am getting some good practice at welding and the like. Here are a couple of the left hand side of the engine bay, usual rot on top of the chasis rail, this is repeated the other side too but I have not started there yet. Stripped out Small repair made to the top lip at the bottom of the fuel tank area. I also have a small blaster and took all the surface rust of the gearbox mount that I could, wire wheeled and etch primed to protect. The side panel that has the lip for the seal between engine tinwear and enginebay has some rot too. Got a new panel and it was not that great, the curve profile was not the same as the original, so I am making one good panel out of all the bits, new and old, progress so far.
Yep chasis number still intact and still attached the bus at the minute, in fact this bit is in good shape and should not need to be removed. Slow progress at the min as I am gaining brownie points by laying some slabs and a path in our garden!!
wise man, keep the Mrs on side ........I'm trying to buy my way out my Mrs's bad books for all the time I've spent on the bus by getting a house extension............then she said I can start saving for my next VW >
Well a couple of sessions in the garage after a few days laying slabs and generally going backwards and forwards to the tip about 10 times has resulted in, well, not much progress but at least some. I was making the engine bay panel up out of new and old bits, well it at least now in one bit and is ready to be fitted. I have trial fitted it a number of times and it seems to work. I am not going to fit it yet until I get some of the magic epoxy mastic so that the chasis top etc is well protected before I cover it all up. Here it is trial fitted So with that as far as I want to take it for the time being I thought I would now look at the other side, this has some rot on the chasis rail in a similar place. I have cut this out now and also cut the top of the panel off, not much to show for a few hours work really. Before This is the last pic I took, it is a little further on than this but... I must admit I spent some time looking at the bus thinking that there is an awful lot to do, esp at my pace. Thanks for looking.
Prepped the right hand side of the engine bay for the chaisis repair, still not in yet though! Also had a look at the nearside corner. There was a small amount of rot on the corner where the rear door, engine door and rear corner meet. You can see it on this pic. Oute removed, underneath was holed and pitted, but not too bad. I blasted it and migged up the wholes and the serious pits. Forget to get a pic before, and then zinc'd it up. Made a repair but time ran out before I could offer and fit this.
Spent a bit of time on the bus today. I was planning to fit the corner repair I had made. Anyway I stripped the rest of the rear corner so that I could fit it in the correct place and found more hidden damage to the rear lower corner above the light. This means that I now need the complete rear corner for the nearside rather than the smaller lower repair panel. I was looking at Just Kampers and VW Heritage, the Just Kampers is £80 cheaper, is it anygood? Has anyone had experience of the Just Kamper product? Also if anyone wants the rear nearside lower corner, vw heritage, then I now have one that I do not need.
Well at last something to report, there has been a lull for basically the whole of the summer. Been doing other things and seem to have been at work alot, still need the job to pay the bills. But after what seems an eternity I have had a few hours on the bus this afternoon and actually welded something in rather than cut something out so I am peased with that. Got the engine bay side welded in on the right side, there is a bit of work left to tidy it up, but at least it is a start...again. Also been slightly distracted with this. This is a 1987 GTi cabriolet, it has been my mother in laws since brand new. It is untouched or modified in anyway and has done the grand total of 62000 miles in 25 years. I have always said that if she planned to get rid of it to let me know and so it is now ours, so still in the family. I have been t-cutting and polshing as it was a bit dull, this pic is before that. There are some jobs to do on it, such as the wheels need a refurb and there are some small rust bubbles here and there, but it is a goer.
It has been along time but I have an update, well not much done last year at all, a few little jobs but essentially nothing to speak of. This year not much till this last couple of weeks, spent the best £190 on the camper and bought this. Started tidying up the bottom, not too many horrors found yet, a couple of bodges This rot was simply welded over so needs sorting, but on the whole floor is ok. I have taken the remnants of the old belly pans off, much easier to drill out the spot welds and grind standing up rather than laying underneath. Will put some more pics on soon of the floor, and hopefully some patching. Thanks.
