1975 devon revamp - scampervan

with the welder sorted (moisture in the lance causing the wire feed to slow) i got the welding to the crossmember finished this eve then started making a template for the infill panels to join the crossmember to the a-pillars. i put the front panel back on but as its been sat around i think its distorted slightly so i think it might proove a task to fit it correctly :-

 

well its been a while since i last touched the camper, well not since the start of may due to other commitments but finally the ball will be rolling again soon. i have managed to find someone who is going to blast the complete shell for me. i believe he is going to be using a type of soda material to remove all the paint and filler from the shell rather than sand.

any tips on what is best to use to protect the bare metal once its back??

 

today the camper got collected to be taken for blasting









see you in a week............................. i hope

 

Back from being blasted. Something must of got lost in translation though as I wanted inside,outside and underneith blasted but only the outside got done. apparently the filler was 1/4 inch thick in places. But atleast that's the hardest bit done for me as I wasn't looking forward to removing all that filler with a da. Here's a couple of quick pics but I will get some better ones tomorrow while I prep it for a coat of etch primer.

 

Nice job! What did they charge to blast it?

 

Will get better pics of the bits that need attention tomorrow. Was £450 and took the bloke 9hrs. Really wanted the interior and underside blasted also but guess There the easy bits compared to removing the filler and old paint

 

Few pics from this morn. stopped for lunch and to restock on sand paper.



Drivers door



Sliding door bottom has been replaced before, but the repair doesn't sit flush with the oridginal panel, but about 2mm behind it.



a few more repairs needed to the sliding door.



Rear arches has been replaced also but not sure about the workmanship!!





Rear corners







Looks like the door skins were replaced before then rotted out again









Tailgate and panel between tailgate and engine lid need some attention

 

With the help of my fiancé, we managed to sand back the roof and the passenger side back to bright metal again ready for the etch. I mixed the etch 1:1 with the thinners/activator as it said on the tin but it seamed far too weak and just ran no matter how lightly you put it on. Never mind though as i've never picked up a spray gun before and some etch is better than nothing I suppose. Will be back up the workshop again tomorrow to rub back the otherside and rear before mayb getting some more primer on, if I can manage it this time lol. Shame cause it was looking really good before the primer went on.

Anyway some more pics

Few repairs needed around sliding door window frame







And around the tailgate window



Roof is nice and rust free along with the gutters









Here's my make-shift spray booth inside the workshop



And then where it all went wrong haha





Thats all ..........

 

Finally its all in etch primer







Next up get the grinder out again and cut cutting!!

 

Opps missed a day out there. After the problems with the primer on the Monday I spent Tuesday with the DA out again and tried again







First coat of etch going on again



Second coat





As it was goin well I get the sides done also



This is what happens when you don't mix your paint propperly the first time you use it - I have now learnt the hard way



Much better!!



Once its in primer and one colour things appear in the panel work.no idea whats gone on here!!

 

Good work dude.

I think we have very similar looking vans with the same previous dodgy repairs. Just started to remove all of my paint to see what other horrors lurk below. Can't afford to get it sand blasted so a slow manual slog.

 

Quick update from this eve as I plan to order any remaining panels that are needed tomorrow eve, I removed the repair panel on the drivers sill to inspect the centre and inner sills.

Here's the result



I think I will be ordering full sills and go from there. Any tips on replacing them???

My only concern is finding a repair panel tall enough to replace the rusted area

 

Hows the cargo floor looking where it joins the sills and how are the top hats,outriggers and jacking points?

If most of it is rotten then your best removing the cargo floor to replace everything if its only the sills that have gone then your going to have to do lots of carefull unpicking

A tip with etch primer dude is you only need a light mist coat and no need for a second coat
I presume you just wanted to protect the steel whilst you were working on it?
If so then a zinc rich primer is usefull

 

the cargo floor looks good apart from a dodgy patch on the drivers front corner, nothing that isnt going to be redone though. the passenger front outrigger/jacking point has been removed and i need to replace a section of the top hat above the jacking point.

my panels arrived today so tomorrow ive got the fun of putting the bus back on the jig, removing the suspension and wirking out where next to start on the repairs

 

Abit more progress from tonight.would help if I knew what I was doing but done well to blag it this long I think

Remainder of outter sill and rear arch skin removed





What's left of the centre sill





When the rear arch skins were replaced before, it looks like they couldn't be bothered to repair the tubs



And abit more off the side to reveal the cargo floor



I also put it back on stands this eve and removed the front beam. New up I think will be to put it back on the jig again and see if I can find some welds for the inner and centre sill and get it removed ready to be replaced.

 

Small update from today. Only got a couple of hours on it today but by the time the sill was off I was ready to go back home haha.

What seamed like a fairly solid bus to start with has turned into a mess now but I suppose it's got to get worse before it can get better.







I ended up having to cut a section off the edge of the cargo floor as the previous repairs had just made it a total mess once the sill was removed.
I hope I don't need to do this to the passenger side

 

Good job. you probably got a good van for the money..... I bet loads of the 5/8k vans are not much better, dodgy restoration and gobs of filler. The best thing is, you are going to have a van that you can be 100% sure its solid and safe. It takes a lot of balls to show a full resto on a forum for the world to see.

The rust you have uncovered is absolutely standard on these old vans, its identical to mine, same rust traps, same bodges. and seems to be to same for most of the vans being restored on this forum...

The only thing im a wee bit disapointed with on my van is that it is a van conversion so like yours it doesnt have flush fitting window rubbers...

I was thinking about going the modern route and fitting bonded style glass and the hard plastic close fit trim, Im not sure how to go about it though. I think Just Kampers did it a few months back to a late van they were converting...

What are your plans for the side glass?

Keep posting your progress, your doing a brilliant job.

 

Cheers redoxide. I was just going to put the standard glass back in although I have been thinking about maybe making the drivers rearmost window shorter. Now it's all stripped back I can see just how bad the conversion looks.the sides ripple once the glass is removed.

I keep thinking to myself what have a let myself in for with the restoration but I'm learning alot whilst I'm doing it. Aslong as I can keep my mind on the job hopefully I will get it completed to a standard in happy with