On ours I chopped out the sills both sides and left all the floor supports (I beams and top hats) in place. I then clamped the new sills to the old floor supports to get my reference and replaced the floor supports one at a time tacking to the chassis rails as I went. Then with all the new floor supports tacked in place and with the new sills clamped I checked the fitment of the jacking points and outriggers. Once happy with that I welded in the sills and then the jacking points and outriggers. For yours if you're not replacing all of the floor supports I'd get the sills off and then do something similar to what I did by clamping the new sills in place and fitting the tophats using the new sills as your reference. If you're unsure whack some pics up on your resto thread. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yeah think I will but I'll get down the unit and reread your steps first to see if I can get my head round it Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Lots done this week. I’ve pretty much finished the cab area now. The arch step on the driver’s side has been reattached to the repaired floor: And I’ve dressed all the welds and primed the driver’s cab floor repair. This is the first time I think I’ve seen the floor without it being riddled with rust and holes: I also welded in the nuts needed for my new Buttys Bits throttle linkage and trial fitted it. It’s super smooth compared to the rusted mess that was there before. I just need to weld in the closing panels that join the front arches to the deformation panel and everything in front of the B pillar is complete!
Good really.. A chore stripping the deformation panel and inner valance off.. On the up side the kick panel is mint, The defo panel is repairable..a couple of holes in the underside.. The valance is gone at the ends and a git to chop out.. On the plus side,... cutting stuff out with a 1mm slitting disc is satisfying...
i know really lucky .... i saw yours... funny how these vans rust in the same places , and then some parts survive, my front wheel tubs are quite good, i suppose its down to where they are parked, or the different climates..
O/S closing panel welded in. It might only be a small panel but it marks the end of 3 months hard work. The cab welding is complete! Onto the sliding door and rear arches! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
With the cab out of the way I’m onto the sliding door. For a RHD door it’s not in too bad shape but needs the usual repairs. I started with some small repairs to the inside of the frame: And then did the other side of that section: The only other bit of the aperture that needed attention was towards the front in a few sections where the seam was bulging with rust: And all done: The bottom of the door isn’t in such good condition though and will need a bit more time (the above was all done today).
Some good progress over the long weekend. The bottom of the sliding door has been in a bad state since the first year we had Iris when it fell off and the filler covering up the hole in the bottom right corner chipped off. There was an impressive amount of filler along the bottom edge but luckily it looks pretty solid: I marked a straight line across the panel where the new outer will fit and chopped off the old outer. Surprisingly as nasty as it first looked the rust had only really extended up the first section of the inner frame: Meaning I could get away with only needing a small section of the repair panel. Firstly tacked in: And then trial fitted to the van to check the gap. It fitted amazingly well first time for a change! All welded up and dressed. The klokker inner panel is noticeably thinner though, hopefully drowning it in cavity wax when I’m done will help. While I had the door on I trial fitted the outer too, its looking much better than what was there. And the inner all finished with a coat of zinc primer. I’ll come back to this once I’ve done the N/S inner rear wheel arch so I can epoxy both inner sections before I fit the outers.
Cheers mate. Doesn't feel like it's a million miles off getting the welding done now. Still a lot to do but it's definitely a welcome change finally working on bits towards the back of the bus.
Looking professional as alway James... Could you tell me how much you removed from the outer chassis legs to fit the lower valance..? Or @davidoft ...
I'm not entirely sure (don't think I jotted that measurement down unfortunately). I think I clamped the valance to the outer legs, measured the gap between the valance and the inner legs, and then adjusted the outers by that amount to bring it flush. It wasn't a huge amount that they need to be adjusted by though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk