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

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by Diddymen, Aug 11, 2011.

  1. Time for an early morning post before the boss tells me to get working.........

    A new month - July 17th 2010

    I have been doing a little bit on the van lately.....honestly......but have been doing a bit more DIY, gone away for the weekend, car shows etc........

    heres the little bits I've managed to fit in.............

    Firstly I took the belly pan off and gave it a final coat of POR15 chassis black.......but it came out with a satin finish which I didn't really like

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    So I gave it another coat of POR15 rust preventative paint which was a good gloss black.......which I thought was like the under coat to the chassis black??

    I then decided to fit some flashing on the inside of it to help stop it reverberating and give a bit of sound insulation.

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    this is what I used...it was about £5

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    Next I prepped the near side cargo floor under the bus and gave it a coat of POR15

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    I'm still not sure about POR15 as I think there a few bits that have reacted despite following the instructions to the letter

    any way...........I then had a look at the passanger wheel arch which I was going to repair, a poke with a scredriver made a slightly bigger hole.......I can still fix it!!

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    the rear of it where it meets the B post looked ok but I thought I'd poke it any way...

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    ........and made another hole......I can still fix it...it's ok.

    Next I poked the wing from inside the wheel arch......

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    ........think I'll buy a new one

    I just got a load of body panels ready to start more work, spent about £300 and thats most of the panels I need now.
    Finished chopping off the outer sill to have a peek inside

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    I'm going to try to save the middle sill and track and fit new inner and outer sills, I've got the panels now just got to take off the middle one carefully.

    I'm going to star by chopping out the front wheel arch to get to the rot around the B post

    dymen/july2010%20sliding%20door%20sill/DSC05085.jpg" />

    I've got the B post repair but I'm going to try to graft the repair to my original bit as I don't like some of the pressed recesses or lip on the new panel

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    I then started wire brushing and treating rust around the rear axle and a coat of epoxy mastic....is it the tube axle???

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    It's a nasty tight area to work in....and I've found a large rusty hole which I can feel the petrol tank through. I'm going to take the tank out any way at some point as I had thought there would no doubt be some welding needed there.

    Decided to take the sliding door cover off as there was a little bit of rust around the rear window....

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    I think I should stop poking around.......I keep getting distracted and starting something else, it's probably because I'm not looking forward to doing that sill......having the door off for a week letting in the rain, foxes and the cats....probably start that when I come back off hols in a few weeks.

    Not a lot done on the van but if I can put my MGB back together tomorrow I might crack out the grinder and start on the wheel arch.

    Laters all!!!!!!!
     
  2. Aug 19th 2010........(obviously didnt post that frequently then!!! definatly took the pics though)

    Not done much lately what with holiday,work and spending time with Mrs Diddymen and the little Diddymen. Did manage to get to buggin at the Beach in Portsmouth on Sunday as it's 10mins down the road from me......loads of campers to drewl over....
    Last few weeks I've drilled out the odd spot weld chiseled a bit of the inner sill off.....and despite good advice I'm carefully taking off the middle sill and track to repair it and get the last bits of the inner sill off.
    Hopefully I'll have a big tarpaulin by the weekend so I can take the sliding door off then remove the middle sill.

    wow, nearly a year ago!!! .....we're getting there!

    I'd began to forget just how much work I'd done..........
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2017
  3. Aug 24th 2010.............onto the sliding door sill...........

    O.k so heres a few pics of the slow progress I've been making for the last month, most of which has happend last week end... (OK I take back what I said)

    heres the middle sill....some nasty looking rust under the C post and a few holes to sort out on the rear wheel arch too

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    So drilled out the spot welds for the inner sill usin a 6mm HSS drill straight through both panels (as I'm not saving the inner sill

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    I sliced away the join at the bottom of the inner sill where it meets the middle sill and chisled around the floor supports

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    poked around the B post and out poped a large chunk of filler

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    Looks just like the other side did :roll:

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    theres a few bits of the inner sill I just couldn't shift with out ripping the top hats apart :mad:

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    Heres the main area of damage to the middle sill

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    Fed up with getting crap in my eyes dispite wearing goggles and fed up with chiseling under the bus..............and dispite all the wise advise.......I decided to take the middle sill off :-[ (actually I'm glad I did, I would do it again if I had to......I'd recommend this way if you've got to repair it)

    So off came the sliding door.......with a bit of effort - found a hole in the track at the very end stoping the door coming off

    Door safely stowed in my immaculate veg patch.......or it was immaculate about a year ago....before I got the bus

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    Its now filled with water (the sliding door) so I've got to get a tarp over it soon

    So next was to drill out the spot welds for the middle sill. With the inner sill out of the way I could see how to carefully remove the middle....good job too as I nearly started drilling the wrong welds out.
    There is a line of spot welds that run parallel to the inner sill welds but these are for the outer "lip" section of the cargo floor. the spot welds for the middle sill are through this "lip" section - which I found surprisingly thick metal - 2mm??

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    You can see the welds for the middle sill on the left - they are 8mm spot welds, the welds for the inner are on the left - 6mm and you might be able to make out a line of welds inbetween these.

    Locating them was tricky, usually you can see the dimple of the spot welds.......not these. I eventually spotted the dimples from underneath in a line going through the upper guide of the middle sill. couldn't drill them out from underneath as the track was in the way so came up with this idea

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    Used a pair of calipers, point on one side of calipers located in center of spot weld, close calipers and the point on cargo floor marks the spot to drill from above. It worked pretty well only needing a bit more work on 2 of the welds to free them

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    There was one more tricky bit, the middle sill also appears to join to the load floor via a seem weld from inside at the base of the C pillar which I had to take the grinder to...

    It's been raining this weekend so I was getting a bit wet, so I decided to put my new tarpulin over :D

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    And using my old gazebo frame I can work in the dry :) well sort of.....only my back gets wet.........untill the tarp gets so full of rain it empties its contents...over me, well at least the bus is dry ::)

    Got the middle sill removed and in actual fact it looks in pretty good nick :D :-[ ::)

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    The worst looking bit at the end I realised was the remains of the inner sill :-[

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    The under side doesn't look too bad either

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    So work I didn't really need to do ::) but at least I can repair the middle sill better than I could have done in situ, and it was easier to get the inner sill remenants off....................well thats my excuse ;)

    Whilst the middle sill is off I thought I'd take a few pics which might help others as I wasn't sure of its construction having hear tell of swoopy bits and nice profiles......

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    Here you can see that the middle sill incorporates the upper guide for the runner above the track formed out of the same peice of metal, this is the bit which doesn't come on repro or genuine new panels as far as Im aware so you will have to repair this runner and graft it onto a new middle sill if the rest of your sill is "shot" you can see that the track is just spot welded onto the middle sill

    This ones the view of the top of the guide - note the marks where the spot welds held the sill inplace

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    Here you can see the profile of the middle sill at the front end. There is a swoopy bit ;D the sill tapers in half way up the sill before straightening out just before the flange at the top. The repro and genuine sills do not have this "swoopy" bit so you will need to adapt a new sill or bash it a bit so the profiles match and graft the old and new together to keep the "swoopy" bit

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    Heres anotherpic of "old swoopy"

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    I'm going to have to do some repairs to the C post

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    I'm going to have to get my arse in gear and get this back together pretty quick so I can get the door back on and get the old girl water tight(ish) again.....but I'm sure it will drag on for a few weeks ::)

    Laters all
     
  4. OK so I got busted by the boss for this mornings posting ::)

    ......so whilst he's out of the office heres another post from Aug 30th 2010.....


    right then, back to the story :D

    I made a repair bit for the lower wheel arch, I'm going to make this out of 2 bits as my attempt at doing it in one was very bad :(

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    chopped out

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    and roughly welded in

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    My first attempt :-[

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    I then wire brushed the underside where the sills fits to and gave them a coat of rust treatment. This was followed by a coat of galvo spray - I masked the area off as it is a bugger to paint over and goes a bit brittle over time so I only wanted it between the panels.

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    Next I cleaned all the grease off the middle sill and wire brushed it over......I initially thought it was in better nick than I first envisaged but once it was cleaned up I could see some heavy pitting.

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    So I decided to chop a bit more out than originally planned.

    I decided to tackle the repairs in stages, first I would do the outer part of the sill then do the repairs to the track.

    first I roughly made a section to fit the front area, making sure it would cover anything I was to chop out. I bent the "lip" then formed the profile around the sill using wide jaw mole grips to help form the shape before I chopped the rot away. I've not got any photos of this stage Im afraid :-[

    Then I cut out the rot and used the off cut and the good bits to mark the repair panel to size.

    here is the old and new next to the sill

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    I tried to cut at least some of it "behind" the track so I could weld the join to the track which would also prevent me burning through whilst welding. I didn't full weld these areas untill I had the new bit of track in place

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    Next I chopped out the areas of the track with heavy pitting (or just missing), rust treatd and sprayed with galvo spray

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    Front track repair held in place.......

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    .......and then welded in....

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    I've left the back end of the track a bit long so I can cut it to length when I've measured up.

    And finally all ground back

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    I'm not going to grind the welds back so they are invisible which I normally try to achive as most of them won't be seen, I will be paying particular attention to the track repair joins as I want these perfectly smooth so I might have to fill the odd pin hole with more weld.
    In hindsight it may have been better to buy a decent middle sill and chop the upper guide and swoopy bit off mine and grafted them together......but I didn't ::) think they are about £50!! I wouldn't mind paying that if they had the guide bit and you could weld them straight on.

    Still got a bit of fettling to do to the middle still, got to sort out some of the distortion and a few tweeks here and there, then I'll give it a good going over with the wire brust and rust treatment....then some epoxy mastic.

    But.....the week ends not over ;D bank hol monday tomorrow so I'm hoping to finish the middle sill repairs and get the inner sill on ;D

    Will update soon........

    Hmmm bank holiday you say Diddymen??? we've got that comming up in a few weeks time ;D
     
  5. Diddymen Narator : The Millenium Falcon finds its self caught in a tractor beam and drawn towards the Death Star..................

    Yoda: Continue then, with the Starwars theme you are hmmmm, for this I cant wait to see

    Hand Solo: We're caught in a tractor beam

    Princess Diddymen: I think we've established that

    Hand Solo: Is no one going to point out my name is acctually Han Solo???

    Ob Wan: I sense a great disturbance in the force

    Yoda: Kebab I should not have eaten, follow through I hope that was not

    Diddymen Narrator: the millenium Falcon is brought into the docking bay where storm troopers search the vessle for its crew............

    ...........skipping over the bit where they all sneek out of the Millenium falcon dressed as storm troopers, the gang find them selves at the control room ready to dissable the tractor beam .....all except Ob Wan who's wandered off some where

    Hand Solo: ok R2 plug your self in

    C3PO: has any one got a USB lead??

    R2D2 gets plugged in and starts reading the system........

    R2D2: Beep beep whistle wooooo






    every one: What did he say (bet you didnt see that comming)

    C3PO: he says they are holding a prisoner

    Yoda: Interesting this will be...............
     
  6. Not as much done as I wanted Monday.

    Had to do a bit of landscape gardening for my parents, dinner was at luch time as we were taking the kids to see toy story 3 at the cinema at 4.30, so had to get bits done in the gaps between!!!

    I finished off the repairs to the middle sill and clamped it to the inner sill to make sure everything lines up nicely taking yet more measurements.

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    rear bit not quite finished in this pic

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    Now I was sure I didn't need the inner sill for any allignment for the repairs to the middle sill I decided to put the inner sill on :D

    First clamped it in place to the top hats then welded through some 6mm holes I had made to connect inner sill to top hats

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    I had to beat the top lip of the inner sill towards the floor to close the gap between the pannels, I used a 8mm pin punch which did the job nicely. Once they were a tight fit I could plug weld through a few of the old drilled out spot weld holes.

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    Thats as far as I got as I ran out of mig wire :( then I was called in by Mrs Diddymen :(

    I did notice that the front of the inner sill does not quite sit in the same place as the old one for the spot welds, typical that the new panel is slightly different to the old.....Not a huge problem, it will still do the job nicely, fits well really.........only problem was I was using the holes in the load floor as a datum to make sure the inner and middle sills sit the right distance appart to make the end lip of the inner sill - this bit the clamp is holding down. Hope you got all that ::)

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    So I may have to chop this bit off and shorten it by about 4-5mm then weld back on :-[

    Whilst lying in bed thinking abous VW buses .....like you do.......on Sunday night I suddenly realised I can't weld the middle sill onto the inner yet. I need to weld some captive nuts onto the inner sill to hold the belly pan on..........which I've not bought yet (should be here tomorrow hopefully) I've then got to weld on the jacking points to see where the belly pan sits so I can drill the holes for the captive nuts.

    So it will be a bit longer before that sliding door goes back on :(
     
  7. Spet 2nd 2010

    Can't stop thinking about the bus :-* .........I decided to take the afternoon off work and get some more wire for the mig....

    My panels have arrived :D thanks JK

    I put the new roll of wire on the welder and pluged a few more welds on the inner sill to make sure it was set up ok.

    I then started thinking about doing the jacking points, I decided to clamp them in place and then clamp the belly pan in place...........it worked, I could now drill the holes for the captive nuts with out putting every thing else on first :D If it's a bit out it wont matter too much as it will be easier to re drill the holes in the belly pan rather than messing around with every thing else.

    so nuts welded in.....well all the ones which will be behind the middle sill

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    I've got to run a tap through them before the belly pan goes on,
    Decided to have a go at loosly fitting the middle sill as Im starting to panick about whether it will fit

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    the rear of the track lines up closely with only a small gap

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    where it meets the wheel arch is not quite so good.

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    this might be because there is a gap at the top still

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    not sure if I should make a cut and bend it up, when I took it off the metal was quite thin in that area and it twisted a bit...maybee I didn't hammer it back into the right shape before doing the repairs ??? I'll come up with something to fix it.....it is only loosly clamped in so a bit of jiggling might sort it.

    Front end looks quite good, the track got caught on the lower bit of the B post which is why it curves in the pic slightly

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    the repaired bits seem to line up in the right place though

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    Still got a few welds to do on the inner sill before it gets some paint, most of the upper guie track lined up....which is nice, I didn't want to knock it completly into place as I was worried I'd get it stuck

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    I took the middle sill off to tweek it a bit and it's got to be rust treated and painted before it goes back anyway, I feel a bit happier about it now at least.
    Not sure if I'll get much done this weekend as it is my youngest's birthday so we're going to take him to the Watercress line steam railway on Saturday and his party is on Sunday (Mrs Diddymen's idea!)

    Laters......
     
  8. ;D ;D ;D OMG i have jaw ache from laughing at your new post ;D ;D ;D you have lost the plot lol and keep up the good work. you will be done before you know it 8)
     
  9. ;D ;D thanks Craig ;D ;D

    good to know that I've still got some mileage in the star wars story then ;D was beggining to think it was a realllllly bad idea that no one liked ;D

    great to see your resto thread back on, I'll be over a bit later to have a good read :D

    .....I can finally see an end in sight for the welding - this reposting is going to take some time though!
     
  10. Narator: I'll stop crossing through "diddymen" and replacing it with "narator" as you all know its me anyway and that joke is nearly as thin as the starwars plot.........after a long pause and a bit of googling to check the starwars plot - it turns out Ob Wan went to turn the tractor beam off and the gang make their way to the detention cells (after tricking their way past the guards etc)

    Hand Solo: we're going to have to blast open the door, where'd Yoda go???

    C3PO: he spotted the death stars complimentary mini bar he said he'd meet us back at the ship

    Cheewie: grrrruuuu

    Hand Solo: I thought he was looking forward to this bit on account of how "princess Diddymen" replaced Princess Leia in the opening credits so Princess Diddymen cant rescue Princess Diddymen surely..........

    Narator: Cheewie blasts open the door, the smoke clears and there in the cell is ...........









    Princess Diddymen in the bikini from the Jabba the hut scene

    Hand Solo: what are you doing in here??

    Princess Diddymen: I came through the other door that wasnt locked

    Hand Solo: we're here to rescue you

    Princess Diddymen: ok, lets go through that small opening that looks like it leads down to the rubbish collecer crusher thing

    Narator: think I rescued the plot there .....smooooth ;D

    They plummet down the shaft and end up on a pile of junk

    Princess Diddymen: it looks like this is where they store all the VW repro panels

    Hand Solo: dont touch any thing, it may look ok but it wont fit properly

    Princess Diddymen: hey I've just found a side window body cut, that will come in handy on page 12 of the resto thread

    cheewie: grrrruuuu

    Princess Diddymen: I thought I felt some thing brush past my inner leg

    Hand Solo: yea, sorry about that Cheewie isnt quite house trained yet

    Narator: suddenly and unpredictably the walls start moving closer together.....

    Princess Diddymen: so thats why repro panels are so crap

    Hand Solo: Get us out of here

    Princess Diddymen using communicator): R2 can you hear me I need you to get us out of here

    R2D2: beep whistle beep

    Hand solo: I knew he'd say that

    Narrator: suddenly a door opens up they they escape back to the ship ........where they see Darth Vader having a fight with Ob Wan....and Yoda is already in the ship BTW

    Darth Vadar: your powers are weak old man

    Ob Wan: If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine

    Princess Diddymen: nooooooooooooo
     
  11. sept 11th 2010

    I am currently feeling like Cinderella :D ....................if Cinderella had a beard........and piercings.........and was a bloke...........and a hippy :D

    IT FITS!!!!!!!!!!!!


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    More of that in a bit

    since my last post I clamped up the middle sill and put a slit in it in the C post area. I then used a jack to straighten it out so it met flush with the load floor

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    The "slit" then opened up

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    I then added a bit of weld to stop it closing when I took the jack away being carful not to weld it to the inner sill.

    I then removed it again and finnished up the weld. Next I wire brushed treated the rust and gave it 2 coats of epoxy mastic and a coat of galvo spray where I was to weld. I also painted the inner sill whilst I was at it. I only painted the inner face of the middle sill incase it had to come off again for more work.

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    The C post is in fairly good condition....well whats left of it.....should be enough left to make a good repair bit for the lower section of it.

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    I want to try to save the "lip" that the door seal sits in....this is actually part of the rear 1/4 panel........but the new panel isnt formed into this shape and I dont want to mess around trying to make a new bit for it

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    Once dry I re fitted the middle sill - and yes....there was quite a bit of on, off, on, off

    I spent a lot of time lining up the old spot welds with the holes in the load floor

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    Not the best pictures Im afraid.

    Once happy I semi plug welded about 12 holes - about every third one, clamped the bottom in place and welded the end of the track. I didn't want to weld it all in at this point incase I had to remove it all again. Lastly I placed some bits of wood under the track just to take some of the weight of the door during trial fitting.

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    I've not welded the rear yet as I want to concentrate on making sure the door slids properly and the rear should now be easy enough to sort out later
    Soooo, after sunday dinner round my parents I press ganged my old man into helping me refit the door.........it went staight on :D

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    There were a few tight spots......well actually thats not accurate, I could feel the door runner rubbing a little more than it should. I put this down to the way I removed the sill originally.........I used a 8mm pin punch through the drilled out welds to hammer the 2 bits apart, this usually only needed a few taps but in 2 places I had to beat it quite hard which then dented the guide slightly leaving a high spot inside the guide track. I had meant to beat these bits down using a dolly and pin punch but I forgot about it, welded the new track in place and found the metal was too thick to bend the bumps out....I'll fill these bits with weld from above then use my dremmel to grind down the high spots in the guide runner.

    The door gaps all look good though...

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    the bottom does stick out slightly....but it did before I removed the sill, I think this will be an adjustment problem as when I push the handle up this gap closes but when I release the handle it opens out very slightly.

    I went out after work today to plug a few more holes, I did a few along the bottom as well so I could remove a lot of the clamps....I then ran out of gas for the welder. So I packed up. I removed most of the clamps and most of the wood supports (except for the ends)........and the door shut fine :D I think the tight bits were due to me kicking the wood into place - it must have pushed the track up slightly causing it to bind...either that or the extra welds have helped.......either way I'm very relived the door is back on and working
    Still got a bit of work left on the sills yet

    Stay tuned...........................untill next time
     
  12. Tue sept 12th 2010.......

    it has been quite an epic battle and I'm glad its all back on and working...phew.

    quite pleased with the work, theres always a few bits that arn't as neat as I'd like but when I move on to the next area they will be forgoton about.

    Can't wait to get my outer sill on.....for one it will look a whole lot better but it will also strengthen the track area. I have noticed a shallow groove/dent where the door roller has been going along, this is a pre existing condition I hasten to add! not sure if I should leave it as it is, because it is only slight or fill it (eventually) with some Belzona which is an epoxy metal repair product. Not sure if it would just crack under the weight of the door??

    Anyway........

    decided to do the jacking points next as I wanted to get some epoxy mastic on the middle sill confused ???...... well...... as the epoxy is a 2 part paint I like to have some other bits ready for paint if I mix too much up so I don't waste it, if you dont use what you have mixed up it will set....following so far :lol:

    So the only bits in this area left yet to give at least 1 coat of paint to are the insides of the top hats, small area of load floor and I wanted to get some paint inside the jacking points and outriggers before they go on.

    As we all know one thing leads to another and you have to do 5 other jobs first before you can do the one you were planning on in the first place :-[

    So wire brushed the top hats etc and gave them a coat of rust treatment....as for the jacking points........well as with the other side it wouldn't fit, too short and the bracket which attaches to the crossmember was welded on at an angle

    I didn't get a photo before I started so this is sort of what it looked like, I have exagerated the angle of the bracket so you get the idea.

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    first then is to drill out the spot welds holding it together then chisle it apart as carefully as you can

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    And the same with the bracket, took a lot of drilling and grinding with my dremmel to get it off with out ripping it to pieces

    this is what Im left with.....after I hammered them back into shape

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    I clamped the individual bits in place under the van and fiddled with them until they fitted nicely, then tacked the bits together, took them off the van and seam welded them back together

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    the rear jacking point/out rigger came in 2 bits so I only had to weld them together whilst clamped to the bus.

    Once they were welded together I welded them to the bus with a little help of a scissor jack to hold the bracket against the cross member

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    Next was to attack the B post to give a bit more strength back to the front of the sill area. the B post was pretty rotten, I had bought a repair panel for this area but decided that as this area will probably be seen I wanted to keep as much of the original as possible as the pressing of the repro part arn't as neat......yes I do like to create more work for my self than is necessary ::)

    So this is what Im saving after chopping out the rotten bits

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    After I'd chopped up the £25 worth of repair panel I realised there was not much of it left and I could have made something myself......doh!!! :-[

    here it is roughly welded in

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    so far so good....after a bit of persuasing

    At the bottom though it's a different matter. The lip which holds the door seal is a separate piece spot welded on where as the original is all formed from the same bit of metal, as you can see the profiles dont match up which is why I wanted to keep as much of this "lip" as possible. I seem to remember having to fiddle around with this bit on the other side too.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

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    I'm going to have to un pick the spot welds and adjust it so it fits properly.
    As I said I'm itching to get the outer sill on but....one thing leads to another.....after doing the other side I realised the rear 1/4 panel should go on first then the outer sill......so it looks like the outer wont be going on for a while.....
     
  13. Narrator: Darth Vadar strikes down Ob Wan and the Millenium Falcon takes off.....

    Storm Trooper 1: Stop them

    storm trooper 2: you stop them, you left the door open

    Storm trooper 1: do we have to have this arguement every time?!

    storm trooper 2: you always get like this

    storm trooper 1: like what??

    storm trooper 2: LIKE THIS...all "do this" "do that"

    Narrator: Millenium Falcon has long since left the Death star

    Princess Diddymen: phew we made it now lets get these plans to the rebels

    Yoda (slurring): see R2, see R2, he's my best mate he is, yes you are. I love this guy

    R2D2: woooo whistle beep

    Yoda to R2: I love you man

    Yoda: has any one got any Rizla?

    Hand solo: I hope your not going to smoke in here

    Yoda: I was going to

    Hand Solo: do you know how many health and safety rules you'd be breaking!!, theres a smoking shelter out side

    Narrator: the crew head towards the forest moon of Yavin 4

    to be continued.................
     
  14. One last post for tonight then, sept 30th 2010.....

    Did a little bit this weekend in between playing with Kids and decorating for Mrs Diddymen to keep them all happy

    first then, I took off that bottom bit from the B post repro part

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I then cut a small bit off the lower B post to get the correct profile

    [​IMG]

    Then tried re fitting the bit but had to take so much off the back edge I ended up seem welding it back on instead

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Clamped outer sill on loosly to make sure it is all ok

    [​IMG]

    Will have to cut a small bit off the outer sill to make a continuous channel for the door rubber at some point.

    I then went to the C post area and made this repair piece out of 3 separate bits welded together

    [​IMG]

    Then made up a bit for the other side and welded them on

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    And thats as far as I got. Im going to weld a "closing plate" over the C post bits but on this side Im not going to bring it all the way down to the sill, Im going to leave it short so there will be a gap at the bottom for drainage....it will become clear once Ive done it and taken pics. I wish Id left some means of draining on the other side :-[

    Brighton breeze on Saturday so I may not get that much done this weekend
     
  15. Lunch time re post !!!!!! .....I really miss the old smilies :(

    must be half way through the re posts now - so looks like the 42 pages will end up about 14 I reccon :) should be finished in no time......

    Oct 6th 2010

    Time for another update then

    weekend was a bit of a wash out so not much done

    I made up a repair piece for the front seat bulk head

    [​IMG]

    not welded in yet but I left it clamped in place

    then decided to have a look at the rear 1/4 panel as this has to go on before the outer sill

    [​IMG]

    a few rust bubbles so I thought Id better chop em out and this is what was underneath

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    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    not too bad really :D I'll still have to do a few repairs to it. Ive made a few bits for the straight area but am putting off making the curvy bits for now.
    filler looks a bit thick though but it doesn't appear to have had any repair work looking at the inside???

    [​IMG]

    .......and that was it for the weekend :(

    does any one know if you can get the foam seal which goes between the outer 1/4 panel and the inner wheel arch tub??

    How far up should I cut the 1/4 panel - I think I may cut it a little higher....and straighter but I want to keep as much of the original metal as possible. Would I be better making the cut quite a bit further up or will I be causing more trouble for my self if I just do a straight cut at the level Im at??
     
  16. Oct 12th 2010.........

    So this weekends work was......

    welded on a closing panel to the C post bottom - you can see that I did not carry this on down the sill. I left it short to leave the slit at the bottom to allow moisture to drain away - wish Id done the same on the other side!!

    still got to tidy the welds on one side but I'll do that next time the doors off

    [​IMG]

    Next I started to repair the inner arch

    this bit was fairly easy

    [​IMG]

    I made this bit from 2 bits, made lots of slits in the metal so it would bend to shape

    [​IMG]

    Next I cut away the bottom of the rear arch

    [​IMG]

    and made a repair bit - all these repair bits have taken quite a bit of time to make

    [​IMG]

    and then welded it in

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Quite please with them....a bit rough and ready perhapse but I've only got basic hand tools to work with and I don't want to/cant afford to by a whole rear arch tub just for this small edge (in hind sight would have been better to replace the whole tub)

    Then moved to the rear of the arch

    [​IMG]

    made this bit from several pieces, first cut out a triange type shape for the top corner - leaving the lip of the arch in place. cut a piece of metal roughly the right size and tacked it on. Then bent it into shape, few more tack welds grinding a little bit off, few more tack welds untill if was fitted. Then took off the arch lip and made a new bit with lots of slits. tacked it on and bent it into shape as I went to get the right profile......this is what I was left with

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I then moved to the last bit of the arch - the bottom bit. I've not down loaded the photos yet so I will put them in my next post - theres a bit more step by step (so to speak) of the bottom piece being made.
     
  17. Storm Trooper 1: Im going to tell Vader it was your fault

    Storm trroper 2: Face, bothered

    storm trooper 1: your such an idiot

    storm trooper 2:eek:oooh listen to you being such a tough guy

    storm trooper 1: look heres Vader now.....and he's comming over

    storm trooper 2: sh*t.....lets tell him the door was broken

    storm trooper 1: I'm not covering for you again

    Darth Vadar: I cant believe they fell for my plan, I have installed a tracking device and we will find out where the rebel base is and destroy it

    Narator: mean while back on the millenium Falcon..........

    Yoda: Better your posting has become, more pictures and descriptions you have included

    Hand Solo: I hope you didnt block the toilet

    Yoda: block it, I might have hmmmm

    Princess Diddymen: look theres Yavin over there, pull into that docking bay where the guy is waving at us

    Narator: they pull into the docking bay

    Passer by: oooh there lovely they are, I used to drive one of those. What interior have you got fitted. I notice you've got a bit of an oil leak there......you know a Porsche engine will fit straight in there, only 4 bolts you know........

    R2D2: beep whistle beep

    Passer by: (ignores R2D2) is it for sale?? I'd love to have another one, one day....

    Princess Diddymen: look we're a little busy at the moment, we've got these plans....

    Passer By interupts: yea I bet its lovely, you need one of those haynes manual for it you know

    Princess Diddymen: look we've really got to....

    Passer by interupts: they still make them in Mexico you know, you can buy them brand new

    Narrator: the gang wander off leaving passer by talking
     
  18. Yoda: meet the head of the resistance we shall now

    Princess Diddymen - whispers to Yoda: he looks like a fish, he's got a fish head

    Yoda: thats general fishhead, dont stare at him he's very sensitive about it

    General fish head: so you have bought the plans??

    Princess Diddymen: yes, they are in this R2 unit

    General fish head: what are you staring at?

    Princess Diddymen: I wasnt staring at your head

    Yoda: Rolls eyes

    General Fish head: ok lets up load them then

    C3PO: has any one got a USB lead??

    Narator: R2D2 is plugged in and the plans come up, click [glow=red,2,300]here[/glow] to see them or [glow=red,2,300]here[/glow]

    general fish head: its the T2 manual, apart from the lack of aeor dynamics and poor fuel consumption it says there is a small hole in the bottom of the death star

    Princess Diddymen: I think thats how it has a poo

    Every one: sighs and rolls eyes

    general fish head: all we need to do is get close enough to block it with a large potato and it will be dissabled

    Princess Diddymen: to the ships every one, wheres Yoda

    C3PO: he's found the bars and is shooting shots of Tequila

    Narator: meanwile on the death star.......

    Darth Vader: Who left the door open?

    Storm trooper 2: I did

    Vader: have a pay rise, we're in striking distance of the rebel base

    storm trooper 2 to storm trooper 1: I cant belive you just did that!!!

    Darth Vader: who's emptied my mini bar???
     
  19. free T2 manual download, originally courtesy of Dubious, re posted link from scooper.

    If you down load them be sure to give them some karma points :D
     
  20. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    Great thread this - I particularly like the bit where you carefully take the sliding door sill off, then put it back on again. :lol:
     

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