The van formerly known as "Tootle"

Looks fantastic I have the exact same to do to my rear end starting good Friday! Great examples here! Bonda primer at the ready!

 

So this is what was below a 5mm bleb in the paint on my rear corner....


All rust cut out and surrounding good metal thoroughly cleaned up.

Took this pic as it's a good one to show anyone interested in how the roof, frame and gutter sections are constructed.

Inner roof frame repaired.

Curved gutter section from schofields make this repair possible.

Gutter fitted.

Finally I repaired the outer skin, I used as much of the original piece as I could then made the rest up in small sections. A bit of filler and it'll be good as new!

 

Gutter repairs where the poptop hinges have been next, the middle and rear only need localised repairs to the outer skin but the front one is worse than first anticipated (as always )

My ethos during my resto has been if it's rusty it's gotta go and this bit was no different, I kept chasing the rust a little more, then a little more then a little more......

In the end I stopped at the middle poptop hinge! The outer skin and gutter in between was ok but the inner frame was rotten underneath. Given the fact that the poptop roof doesn't exactly help rigidity I wanted this repaired properly. By the time I cut the rust away this area felt scarily flimsy and the whole door aperture has changed shape since messing with it.
First I tacked in a couple of flat pieces to form the lower part of the frame, I used 2mm here to make it good n strong.

Then I made a new piece to connect the top of the b pillar to the roof frame, again from 2mm.


All welded up treated with jenolite then a coat of enamel paint inside the frame.

Made up a repair for the outer part of the frame next, I painted the inside before welding it in.

I also welded in a piece to connect the roof frame to the poptop frame.

Another section made up for the rest of the repair, again painted inside. Just reading my post and noticed my gloves look like they still have hands in them!


It's been painted in bonda ready for the outer skin to go on. The repair skin I have ready to go on is the type where it's a gutter with a few inches of roof section, it's scary how easy it would have been easy to just use that and leave the frame underneath and nobody would be any the wiser I will however sleep easy knowing mines been done properly

 

Been a while since an update but I have been pecking away as always.... Once the roof frame was fixed I welded in the roof gutter repair combo, it's warped the roof slightly and it's my fault! Normally I would weld something like this a little more gradually but seems as though it's completely hidden by the poptop I went a little faster than normal. The gutter is straight and roof and structure beneath is solid so I'm happy.

The rot had spread so far along from the front hinge that the rair ended up covering the middle hinge too, this was the rear one cut out ready for repair (this is what I was anticipating for all three hinges but as always things are generally worse than first glance would have you believe)

Cleaned up and old holes welded over, I did paint it after this bit too but didn't photo it.

Repair made up

Welded in

I also repaired this area in the cargo area as it was wafer thin and rust had just crept through, I've seen rot here on a few restos. When painting the repair with bonda I used a long brush and painted the rear of it too (and the surrounding area through the rear light hole up towards the vent)

 

Yeah they are!

For me It was the fact that the frame had rotted underneath the skin and to repair it properly means cutting away good solid bits, very frustrating!

All done now though

 

Next I stripped all the paint from the gutters top & bottom, the panel above the rear hatch and the seal recess around the hatch. A few small repairs were needed then the whole lot was rust treated just because it had been bare for a few days so probably had rust on it (although not visible) then it was given a good key and paint with bonda. The pics don't really show the time and effort required to do this!

Worth it though as I now have nice smooth straight rust free gutters.











That's the end of the rust, ALL OF IT!

I was looking everywhere for the next bit of welding but there's nothing left

Paint shop next but I really can't decide on colour, probably some kind of blue though as the poptop bellows are in A1 condition and have blue stripes so I want to reuse them.

I may even put it back to it's original neptune blue but with a white roof, poptop and bumpers.

Decisions, decisions

I want it painting soon before it needs another resto!

 

Neat work on the roof corner. Thats about the only place mine hasn't rusted for some reason.

 

My track covers were 90% fibreglass, 8% filler and 2% rust! So I ended up buying new ones from schofields, they were well made just not quite as good as originals and not quite the correct shape.

I tried for a while to find some good originals but nothing has come up so I decided to make the schofields ones fit a little better.

This was the main culprit I wasn't happy with where it meets the sliding door.



I built up the edge with weld fettled and repeated a few times.



This is the finished piece, quite happy really and didn't take long, I should have just done this the day I tried them on the van instead of being lazy and looking for originals!

 

Had the afternoon off today so did a bit on the engine lid, it had a ridiculous ammount of paint on it and the paint had lifted from the radiused parts where the number plate sits.

I used a heat gun and scraped most of it off, it came off really easy as it was easily 1.5mm / 2mm thick!

Once I had the majority of thickness off I was left with lovely thin good quality well stuck oe paint, I removed this with a 3m strip and clean disc in the grinder, they work a treat and if you're gentle with them last quite well.

Once all stripped back I had to weld up a few small holes along the bottom edge, then I treated these areas and the lower edge of the seam on the other side with jenolite. Then a nice coat of bonda, I still love this stuff as it goes on so well

 

Tut, tut, tut I had let this slip onto the third page of the resto's, I have however been beavering away when time allows.

The rear cargo areas were covered in some kind of weird pink paint, I think whatever they painted it on with started dissolving as there was lots of raised lumps, some of it was stuck like poop to a blanket and some of it was flakey.

As it's getting paint inside and out I decided to strip it off, rust treat and paint. This is what I've mainly been doing to any areas of surface rust or where there is excess paint in hard to prep areas like seal channels etc.



Mucho elbow grease



This is my comeuppance for boasting about all rust being gone, in my defence it was well filled and smooth before stripping the paint.

Repaired, I hate these little repairs as you don't want to cut too much good material away so the patches are tiny!

 

Nice flaps.

Also welded up a few unnecessary holes from spotlights on the front bumper and straightened it out where I could. Trial fitted it to make sure the captive nuts I welded into the new deformation panel were in the right spot, which they are.

 

Still been beavering away on little bits and pieces that didn't really deserve photographs, headliner grip rails and welding up screw holes etc!

I also cleaned all the surface rust from the poptop frame, seat tubs and the hole under the seat tubs which was a horrible job!




I also removed the steering column, gear stick and handbrake.



Fitted some new engine lid hinges from custom and commercial


I also dropped the gearbox which was the most difficult annoying thing I've done on a bay so far, not because it's a difficult job but because whoever bolted the drive shafts in last was a numpty, his torque setting must have been keep tightening until the head completely rounds off

They were Allen headed ones and I managed to get the 10 rounded off ones out with a mixture of mole grips and hammering a splined torx bit into them, grazed knuckles, a banged head and knee combo and the box was finally out!

 

I have also sorted a tailgate out at last, looked for ages but they were all rotten or full of filler. In the end I got one in original paint from @davidoft it needed a little work in the corners under the seal but apart from that it was lovely and flat and pretty much rust free

Here's a shot of my original one once I stripped a little paint off, some of the holes were all the way through to the back, I probably could have fixed it but it would never be as flat as an original one.


New one











Nice easy repairs and then the areas that were previously rusty were treated with jenolite, painted with with rust converter then over coated with bonda.

All ready for the paint shop where it was due to go tomorrow and the painter has knocked me back a month

He said he wants to give it his full attention when it's in his shop and rather than make excuses for a month about lack of progress he'd rather tell it how it is and re-schedule, probably made easier by the fact that he knows my goal is ready for next spring, it still gives me plenty of time to get it back together so I'm not bothered really.

It's not like there isn't a million things I can still be doing anyway!

 

I fitted some new dormobile hinges which was harder than it sounds as I repaired the entire roof along the hinge side so the holes needed re-drilling.

I fitted the lifting arms and aligned the holes where the catch would fit to the b pillar, then I marked where the hinges sat in the gutter, then I took it all apart drilled through the hinges and put it all back together and it seems to be in the correct spot.



I scraped the underseal off under where the gearbox sits and wire wheeled the full area, by far the dirtiest job I have done so far on the van. This dust mask was new when I started, if this isn't a good example of why you should wear one I don't know what is!



Then whilst wire wheeling the right side of the y piece disintegrated where the concertina tube attaches, I chopped of the bad part and rolled a sleeve that pushes inside and tacked it in place.

I usually use jenolite to treat rust areas after wire wheeling however this is such a large area of nooks and crannies it would be a nightmare to do this, so instead I just painted it with rustoleum, it's not quite paradox spec but the majority of rust is gone and it's clean and painted. The full underside is going to be waxoyled when it comes back from paint too.

 

Cleaned all the old underseal off the front passenger wheel arch, wire wheeled rust spots, rust treated and painted.

Don't know why I didn't do this ages ago as the other three arches were done when repairs were carried out in these areas, I must have been having a lazy day when I did this one!



Next I started on the rear vents, what a pita! There was a good few coats of paint and plenty of dusty surface rust further in.

I initially started with a bendy piece of wood with sandpaper on the end, I reckon it would have taken about 5 days to get it all off so soon gave up on this method!

I welded some lengths of 6mm bar onto some wire brush attachments to use in the die grinder, it still took ages and vibrated like mad but was much more effective than the manual labour solution.

I managed to get a good 95% of the inside of the vents clean which was more than I expected.

I also did the petrol cap area and the rear seams.

I painted it with rust treatment and may give it a coat of bonda if I can be bothered next week or I may just leave it as is for the body shop (I figure I've done him a favour cleaning the vents out, and probably got myself a better finish in the process as I doubt he would spend 5hrs cleaning them out!)

I've been using jenolite treatment most of the time on my resto however for this area it wouldn't be possible as you have to wipe it off, instead I've been using some stuff from toolstation that you paint on and leave on, it dries very hard and overpaints easily, it's known as octopus ink in our workshop!







Air vent refurb kit, the angle of the paint brush allows you to paint pretty much everywhere inside the vent.

 

My rock n roll bed finally arrived a few days ago, mr rusty lee is very busy at the moment.

Despite being very well packed the couriers managed to bend one of the brackets, it straightened easy enough however caused a little powder coat to come off

Its a custom width so cost a little more than usual, it's 1200 wide so still allows for cabinets down one side as I need as much storage as possible as I have two young children.

The standard 3/4 bed is just way too narrow for us at 1050mm, 1200 is still tight when you're used to a kingside bed but the best comprise for us allowing some extra albeit small storage.



Following very good advice found via a search on here I clamped it up straight and sat it in place then drilled mounting holes to suit, I had none whatsoever as it's a panel convert.



I made a backing plate that matches the mount that came with the bed, I would have normally mounted this on the back of the panel however this meant the bracket bolted up on the edge of a recessed section and was twisting as tightened, so I mounted it on the front instead with the plate i made on the back.



I welded some captive bolts into it to save trying to do an inspector gadget to get nuts on the back whilst doing them up from inside the van!



No matter how hard I tried I simply couldn't get the bed to lay perfectly flat with the rear cargo area, it seemed to want to sit just past 180 degrees like its back was broken, I tried packing here and there and adjusting up and down.

In the end I got totally fed up as I was sweating my balls off! It's hard graft putting it in and taking it out half a dozen times whilst trying not to scratch it.

I admitted defeat and decided to fit a batten to support the back part level (front part was sitting inline perfectly) it seems like this is commonly used to sort this problem.

I planed the wood to create a level ledge for the frame to sit on.



I drilled holes through into the tank area so I could screw it in from behind.



You can see the screw heads here and the backing plate I made, I also put some pu adhesive behind the batten, I don't want it giving way if I'm getting lucky!



Here it is from underneath, I really don't think there was any alternative in this application to get it sitting correctly.





Nice and flat



Really pleased with it, nice quality and easily turns from seat to bed and back again.

It took me a good afternoon and I'm shattered!

Surprisingly hard work trial fitting it back and forth.

 

Ok as some of you may know by now my van is a converted panel, as such no seat belt mounts in the back.

I have also gone for a bed which sits somewhere between 3/4 and full width, I have two children 5 and 1 (six and two by the time it's done!) and I want them both to have three point seat belts in the back.

Since I joined the forum I have seen this subject raised many times with no solutions for the furniture side belt, not even DIY solutions, although I did find a pic on google where the belt was mounted to the cupboard!

Anyway, this is my solution, im not saying it's perfect but I have been involved in engineering for a fair few years now and built the entire chassis of my last project from scratch including seat belt mounts, that car passed the Iva test easily and the examiner was pleasantly satisfied with my work.

I'm confident the parts I have made are way stronger than the wheel arch tub captive nuts so should be adequate for the task, although if any structural engineers see a massive boo boo feel free to let me know

First up I made some 7/16 unf inserts on the lathe, some for the top mount of my brackets, some for welding to plates to go in the wheel arches / back panel and finally some to mount in box section.




These are the brackets, one of which will be welded to the van and the other bolted to the newly welded in captive nuts, the bracket is made from 6.5mm plate.



Here is the top captive nuts welded in, I doubled up for good measure.



Here's the hole for the lower captive, I cut it wide enough to get the backing plate in but a little short on height as seen by the pen marks, then i pulled it against the overlap and welded it in.




This is the plate bolted on with a crappy old front seat belt just for mocking up / proving purposes.

 

Once mocked up I gave it an almighty tug (snigger) which revealed a little expected flex in the bracket so I boxed it in to make it more rigid.


All welded up, a pleasure to weld some heavier material after a year of welding warp if you sneeze on panels a blob at a time!


Smoothed off.

Bolted in.

Looks like an ice lolly! You can see the burn mark in the paint from welding in my bracket, I purposefully positioned it here to try and gain rigidity from being behind the runner track.


Next I started on the furniture side, I used 25x25x3 box section, I welded in the captive threads I made earlier with approximately 10mm protruding from one side.

The plan is that the furniture board will have corresponding holes that these bosses will sit flush with enabling a bracket to be bolted on the outside.



Welded to the van with a diagonal brace behind, cross piece to the side panel and a couple of gusset plates, all of which will be hidden with furniture.


Just to give an idea of concept.



All I need to do now is make another bolt in bracket similar to the other side, I'm quite pleased and confident in both sides, sometimes making it up as you go turns out well!

They're both reassuring solid so should keep the brats contained.