Woody my 72/73 bay window resto project .......an epic tale of rust.......

^^ What zed said

Yea, I use 1mm fast cut discs on my grinder for cutting.

To get a straight line I either use a scriber and rule to mark a line or for curved panels I some times use maksing tape to mark out the line.

then, as zed says follow one side of the line carefully with the cutting disc.

......my cuts look much straighter in the pics ;D TBH though they are not bad, some times they are still a little bit "wavey" but only by the thickness of the cutting disk if that makes sense

 

I certainly felt "THE FORCE" this weekend!!! …..could have ended up in a galaxy far, far away……….

Was welding the new front panel, I’d removed the raised bit that the badge goes on and started welding the new flat piece in. Obviously being a large thin flat sheet of metal there was going to be some distortion so to minimise this I made a tack weld then quenched with water ……..for every weld I made which was taking forever.

My gloves were getting wetter, I was kneeling on damp grass and the panel was wet. The inevitable happened and I got an electric shock!!! :-[ Not serious only like touching an electric fence :-[ …....so I carried on :-[

After the third shock :-[ (each one getting progressively stronger as my gloves got wetter) I decided to leave it for the day.

You would think being an electrical engineer (and rescue team technician) that I would have known better :-[

 

One of those days yesterday!!! every time I sat down with a cup of tea to post I got a call out .....didnt get a chance when I got home, so heres a couple of posts

May 3rd 2011.............

where did all that time go !!!

.......right, cant remember which day I did what ???

....I said I was going to get the MGB front suspension sorted on Thursday....its all sorted and I think I did that Thursday. Handles really well again now. I forgot how light and responsive the steering was....I no longer take my hands off the wheel and carry on going round and round a round about

I think I spent most of Saturday putting doors on and off the MGB and still not ready to fit them!!! also did a bit to the O/S lower corner....think I did some to that on Friday too ??? ......any way I suppose I should just get on with the post!!

right then....the lower rear corner (off side) I must have been fiddling with it for 3 days ....the corner you dirty minded lot!!



I removed the remanents of the old panel which was welded over the top





then removed the old filler





then painted it to give it some protection



I then set about chopping the repair panel until it fitted....I then decided to modify it so it was more like the original.

Started off making the bit that joins to the rear arch - you can buy these bits but I wasnt going to pay for something I could make....and wait for delivery
I started off by putting in a 90 degree bend in some metal, cutting some slits so I could bend it - which I did on the bus to get the profile right



then welded it up



then held in place to double check



more posts soon............. Im going for a cuppa.....

 

..........after a bit more fiddling around I got the new panel nearly fitting





and just to check I held the light cluster in as well



not too bad.

I found it stuck out a bit too much at the bottom so I had to modify the battery tray. I made a slit so I could hammer it back slightly.....I did this a few times before it was right, then welded up



next bit to modify was the return edge...so it would fit like the original



you can see from that pic that the bottom half doesnt even fold round the corner...I think that is because a lot of people leave the outer valance on and weld to that....it would be nice if they made it properly and let you cut that bit off if you wanted to.

anyway...I made this bit for it


and it will fit here



obviously will need to trim the new panel and the bit I made so they fit together

back to the other edge.....

welded on the rear arch joiner whilst on the bus





then welded on the other bit



then took it off to clean it up a bit and to weld the slit in the battery tray



here it is all sized up, new pieces welded on and ready to go back on

 

....before it went back on I painted all the bare metal with epoxy mastic.

Sunday ....yesterday....I can just about remember what I did!!!!

cleaned up all edges, drill spot weld holes in the battery tray ready for welding







then tack welded it on ....every now and then checking the light cluster still fitted





then fully welded and ground back







and a shot from inside



then gave it a coat of epoxy mastic.

I spent the best part of a day actually welding it on let alone the 3 days on and off I spent trying to get it to fit......doesnt look too bad, will need a skim of filler at some point though.

I did a bit more today but not uploaded the photos yet so will post them later in the week

 

May the 4th (be with you ) 2011.......

So heres the problem with the hinge panel.....

If I line up the recess for the tail gate latch it is waaaay too short on the off side



and too long on the near side



I could cut some from one end and weld more on the other but it is the recess which is in the wrong place

If I line it up with the original rear corner then the recess dosent fit



you can see how much it is out



I trial fitted it along with the complete rear corner to double check this. Looking at the original tailgate seal, the little "ribs" line up when the panel is flush to the rear corner sugessting that it is the recess for the tail gate latch which is in the wrong place.

so its not just the missing lip for the engine lid seal thats the problem. had a lot of problems with this panel........

 

May 5th 2011 ..........

I think I might hold fire on fitting the rear corner just yet as I've realised I've got to replace most of the lower window section and to weld this I may need access from the rear vent. just looking at the photos from monday, this one shows the bit I mean on the rear window funnily enough



well this is what I was doing monday....trimming and trial fitting the rear corner









that seam gap at the bottom was slightly too big, (this pic is after some tweeking)



I traced this to the battery tray again so I had to slit, tap it in and re weld this side too



whilst the rear corner was in I mocked up the back panels just for a moral boost and to see how they fitted



outer valance fits lovely......the hinge panel.....well I've explained about that already ....but heres a few more pics to prove a point







lower O/S with some epoxy mastic over the welds



lastly I got a bit of priming done with my new 2 pack epoxy primer, water proof, hard wearing but still sandable

I mixed it up but had real trouble spraying, it didnt want to come out of the gun very well, luckilly my neighbour Ian (whos compressor and spray gun I'd borrowed) came round and told me the primer needed thinning a lot more than the data sheet which came with the paint. Once thinned down it went on lovely, I'm going to give it 2 coats eventually flatting slightly between coats then super flat (hopefully) after the second.....heres the pics



I dragged the hose over the battery tray a bit there.... :-[



inside the vents looks pretty good now







those drips were already there I'd like to point out

other side



and thats it .......looks like paint pre and priming the engine bay this week end as I cant get on with much else

 

may 6th 2011..........

heres a few pics of the rot around my rear window, any suggestions greatfully recieved









Im thinking I better take the cover off the other side and check that out too

(I ended up buying a body cut for it in the end which worked out pretty well)

More updates later

 

Impressive work.

 

Thanks Chris

7th May 2011....

Here we go with the pics from this afternoons work..........

heres the rear corner in place all preped for welding



from just above the battery tray



up near the vent



under the battery tray....and yes notice how I forgot to drill the holes in the battery tray and didnt notice untill it was welded- doh!!!



from outside



I made sure there was a nice little gap to make sure I have good weld penetration



and the most essential tool for the weld along the swage line



you can get these from most small children and only cost a few sweets :

I started in the middle of the swage and worked out wards, one tack weld at a time, quench with water and so on, got carried away so no pics of this in action

welded and ground down



very pleased, no distortion, good weld and will need no filler just a high build primer











still got to finish the welds up in the vent area, under the battery tray and tack weld the tray to the corner. I've put a pop rivit up inside the vent area but will add a few more as I weld to hold it all tight.

 

8th May 2011....

ground back some of the welds inside from yesterday - you can just see one of the pop rivits at the top that I put in to hold it in place whilst I welded



and up in the hard to reach area.......really blobby bad welding luckilly you cant really make it out in this pic .....and no one will ever be able to see it anyway : - I still wasnt too happy with it but I was working blind as I couldnt get the welder in there and look as it was so tight. The ones at the edge of the panel which go straight through to the side panel were pretty good though and they were the ones that mattered the most



underneath



out side



the seam looks really nice and tight and flush too



next was the hinge panel modifications.........

started off by chopping off the little tabs at the end of the O/S .....dont know why they put them on??? they're not needed! (probably because it was the wrong panel : )



they are still on the other end but will be chopped off eventually



next I offered the panel up to the bus and marked where I had to cut around the tail gate lock recess. then I chopped it out along with the gap to move it along into the new position



heres where it will go - in the correct place!!!



then put a few tack welds on, offered it up to make sure it was in the right position before taking it off to fully weld up. then offerd it back up to the bus to make sure it still fitted.....which it did



you can see by the gap how much the recess was out by



with the panel in the right place hard up against the O/S corner all the little cut outs in the tail gate seal lined up nicely confirming its in the right place



but there is a gap at the other end - about 1/4 inch as the panel is too small





So Im going to have to make an extension, weld the seal lip in and re paint the inside before it can finally go on.
Its raining here now so hopefully it will be gone in the morning other wise no work on the bus

 

10th May 2011....

I had a sleepless night Saturday thinking about the gaps for the engine lid : so much so that on sunday I rumaged through the pile of scrap cut from the bus to retrieve the engine lid hinges .....grinder came out to free them then a bit of time unseizing them.

Although holding the engine lid up looked ok I thought Id double check with it screwed on properly and check the gaps



doesnt look too bad

on closer inspection though one side has a bigger gap than the other with no more adjustment

N/S was a 6mm gap



O/S was a 3mm gap



:'(

I could live with that after doing all the welding to that recess...................but do you think I would?????.....nahh, out with the grinder again, this time I moved the recess 3mm to the side, tack welded it in place and bolted on the engine lid to check gap before welding it up.....again



this time the gap was dead even as you can see with me using a 4mm drill to check





you might be able to see from those pics that the hinge panel is nearly the same width as the engine lid, so the manufacturers didnt take into accout the gap which is why it is too short. (no its because its the wrong panel!)

Moving the recess again left me with 3mm gap either side of the hinge panel so to fill it I made this which I was going to weld on then cut to length on both ends



I realised that it would be very fiddly to weld 2mm onto each end so I decided to weld a 2mm thick plate at each end instead, not brilliant but it will do the job and will look fine.





Last little bit on the hinge panel was to weld on the lip for the seal ....which luckilly I'd saved from the old lower valance, its not perfect but it will have to do. with the hinge panel still clamped in the right place I marked the seal lip for cutting then tacked it onto the hinge panel....after lots of measuring. Then took it off to weld on properly



you can see from this shot the 2mm plates I welded to each end





I've got to say that the seal lip was the worst job on that panel yet, I welded from the rear side but filled a few pin holes from the lip side. I had to grind the welds in the seal channel using a thin cutting disc and a very steady hand ......I think Ive now got vibration white finger as I must have been grinding away for 2hrs!!!

....well that was sundays work but at least the hinge panel is finally ready to go on at last after spending a whole weekend on it

as I'd not got round to painting that looooverly rear corner I was a bit worried as a little bit of rust had formed under the tape I had covering it. I'd managed to get the seam painted and the seal chanel on the edges but the swage line was still bare metal......so I took this afternoon off to paint it with my 2pack primer.

I started off by spraying the hinge and outer valance







then inside



now there is some primer on you can see the blobby welding better....Im going to put some seam sealer over it to make sure moisture doesnt get in....then 2K primer again



really pleased with how the inside is looking, you can hardly see the outer rear arch repair ;D

anyway you want to see the out side painted dont you????

heres the seams



I obviously didnt tidy up where I had welded the battery tray properly so I'll have to come back to that





and of course the outside.......





really pleased especially the swage weld, looks great and this isnt even high build primer yet





with any luck I'll have the hinge panel and outer valance on if all goes to plan next week end.

still not sure what Im going to do about the rear window....still looking for a body cut

 

may 18th 2011.....

quick re cap of jobs still to do.....

2 panels to put back on the rear



sliding door needs bottom repaired





I've got the bits to do this



got my body cut panel for the rear window



for here



going to un pick the body cut and just use the outer section as the inner looks good on my bus so no point replacing it

still got the front arch to go back on



but before I do that I will have to repair the A post





and the lower section of the inner front arch



also got some repairs to the cab floor to do but I'll do that after the front arch is on



got a new door to fit (and one for the other side)



got a bit of work round the front, rear seat belt mounts on the rear arches and a bit on the chassis under the front beam and I think thats the lot ......untill I take the windows out and pop top off.............................

 

Obviously I did actually do some work at the weekend rather than just taking photos and drinking tea ;D

Mrs Diddymen had some friends and their kids round on friday and as they were all in the garden I was told no grinding :'(

......so after moping around drinking tea I decided to try and fit the new cab door as I will have to get this on at some point to fit the front arch. Old one came off easily and new went on nicely even did it on my own!

the panel gaps look really good and the door seems to fit nicely so I dont think I will need any work on the door.







the rear needs to come up slightly to get the swage line to line up so I will make a shim to go under the bottom hinge.



when I put the old door back on (to keep out the elements) I found this then sat a bit low at the swage line and I dont seem to have any adjustment to just move the rear up and keep the front in the same place, oh well, Im sure it will work out in the end after some fiddling

the old door isnt too bad, I've seen worse





the window wont wind down as the piece between the window and 1/4 light seems to have premanently fixed its self to the window and tries to move down when I try to turn the winder



well after cleaning up the door a bit to remove the sticky tape I decided to repair the A post on saturday.



I chopped off the front A post cover bit and ended up poking a hole in the inner valance, I also notice a lot of loose rust behind the deformation panel at the front. I decided to carefully remove the deformation panel by drilling out the spot welds. A few cups of tea later I decided to remove it with the grinder. I carefully cut through the lip holding it on incase I wanted to repair it and weld it back on





looking at that rust I suppose its just as well it came off

 

heres the inner valance.........











I reccon there will be a bit of work behind there to the front chassis legs - not really had a good look at the front......well I've only had it for 1 1/2 years ;D

I also took off the spare wheel from the front, I ripped the cover getting it off as it was quite brittle, shame really, I wasnt going to re use it but still, shame really



quite please its not all dented like most are when the spare is on the front but it will need some work arounf the lights



and a bit in the centre - looks better in the photos!!



as some of you might have heard Im probably going to go for the crossover front panel and repalce the lower section and fit wrap around bumpers

 

I had to chop out a bit of the inner valance to repair the A post properly anyway



Sunday I decided to finish off the rear of the inner arch - the bit that covers the front top hat



and from inside



hopefully thats all I need to do before I can get the arch on - possibly next week end or I might finish off the rear now I have the new hinge panel

as I was working at the front I thought Id see what the front arch looks like in place









obviously I'll need to put the new door back on before I fit the front arch, it will also need a bit of tweeking no doubt but hopefully I can get it on nicely as its just held loosly in place in the pics

...........and that was all the work I got done this week end

 

May 24th 2011....

First bit of update from the weekend.

Started on the front arch.

first I put the new door back on and lined it up to get the swage line and the gap at the B post correct, then loosely fitted the front arch



gaps look pretty good



jack holding the step in position



the step gap still looks a little big - the front arch has a little tab at the bottom which connects to the bottom of the A post which was stopping it going up any further at this point



and also the top of the step being too high was stopping it......so I cut it off





and it will get welded back on at some point

at the rear - needs to go up a bit



checking how high the bottom of the door is against the "inner" step ridge bit...thing



I scribed a line along the bottom of the door to the inner step and it looks to be sitting in the middle now (.....I hope thats right as its welded in now)



bottom gap looking better



bottom of the door is sticking out a bit. I used a scissor jack to adjust/push out the arch (on zeds advice ) as this was what was what was causing it

 

Great inspiration and hope for bertha

 

Thanks for the kind words mate ;D ...any things saveable IMHO ;D just depends if you've got the time, the money, the will power...........

I'm getting there slowly but surely, nearly up to date with the reposts, and the welding on the bus is nearing the end then it will be getting it ready for paint .......

may 24th......

modifications to the arch.....

so to get the back up I had to cut a little off of the inner lip at the rear of the arch



removed the large tab which was here



bent the tab out of the way at the front to stop it fouling the A post (tab to left of pic)



and obviously cut the top of the step off

then drilled holed for welding and cleaned off paint





then cleaned off paint on bus where the welds will be





opened out holes on the tub





then re fitted front arch to check door gaps again



I put a few welds along the inside rear lower part of the arch, checked door gap. then welded through a couple of holes at the top through the tub, then checked door gaps and so on untill I had welded the top of the arch in place....and keep checking door gaps

welds inside



welds along the top

 

Of the same church....hate to see someone condemn a vehicle under the guise of "too far gone"...perhaps for them but not for others who can see the inner beauty covered in rust