1976 Panel Van Conversion - complete resto

Some pics from the outside



You can see how far the rear corner has risen up after I cut it loose and straightened the corner at the lights. (More on this below)

To keep the two edges in line I got the two lined up with some help and clamped the back flanges to hold them in place then tacked with the mig to stop any shifting.


One thing I have learned is you really need to get the gap right between the two panels !
Two small a gap and the weld does not bite into the steel enough and wont pull through to the back.
Two large a gap and the back of the back will not fill.






Tacking between the welds and moving about the panel to try and avoid distortion.



This was how I joined the new to old at the sliding door side tacked and ready for welding in.


Always in a rush and missing little details like this

 

Hard to see from your pics, but are you joining right on the corner near the sliding door?
It's best to retain the old folded corner, or cut into the seal channel to use the new one. Too late now, but if you have other similar circumstances I'd advise always aim to keep folded corners, much less work.
You'll be finding the gaps close up as you weld no doubt. If they do, turn your welder up a notch and it'll penetrate fine. The diagram you showed is more pertinent to thicker steel. If you have a large gap with thin, you're more likely to burn the edges away.

 

Wheel arch held to the tub with clamps and spot welded



The welds where coming through, not really worried, it gives me some comfort the weld are strong.




Thinking about how to get the rear corner straight from a few post back. I used this 1/2inch box and a 90 degree finger clamp ( just made this name up) to hold it straight.

I have still not tacked it in. But I think it will work fine.

 

Cheers Zed,
I cut just to the right of the corner so I was welding about one mm from the corner, maybe a little closer!

 

That won't be fun to grind back without damaging the corner, I've been there tried that! Now I go at least 5mm round the corner and life is easier and the repair neater. Particularly if you can disappear it into a seal channel like where we're discussing and round any door/hatch opening.

 

Moved on to the rear RHS corner where the wheel arch tub is closed off by a firewall from the fuel pipe and tank.

The first section I cut out was going to be fun to shape a repair. I also had no reference for the length it needed to be.



Being unsure what shape to make it I decided to follow the lines in the panel and drop them off to a flat finish at the batter tray.



You can see the battery tray line drawn onto the repair section for reference when taking section from the ridges and bends to flat metal.



Happy with the fit after not too much hammering!



Three sections in still needing cleaned and preped - one more small job done!

The picture below is either from higher up the rear corner or taken through the hole in the engine bay wall cant't remember which. Anyway surface rust showing so [scotchbrite - vactan and Epoxy mastic ] is coming its way!

 

Keep the updates coming

 

Right..next up was the windows.

The windows in the van were not as good as the donor van so a swap was on the cards.

For the passenger side I split the original windows by drilling out all the spot welds on the lip and cut both sides out separately.



The corner needed a small repair but the rest was grand.



Inside only had a few small spot welds to drill out.



Before I cut out the windows I measured how much of the panel was left on the panel van then cut out the window leaving an inch overlap.

 

A picture of the original panel van window.

 

After lining up the outside window panel cutting against the side of the panel van I could gauge how much metal I had to play with!

I clamped the window over the panel van side and cut straight through both parts to ensure the fit would match. This worked really well and by using the 1mm disk it left a more or less ideal gap for welding.





Outside half all welded in with repair section joined up.

 

After taking the passenger side out and looking at the support structure behind the window frames; C-post and Rear corner in the panel van I realized it was possible to remove a complete frame without splitting.
1 Cutting the outside frame to just inside the structural posts
2 Drill the internal spot welds
3 The whole frame can then be pulled inside the van and removed avoiding the need to split the inside and outside parts.

Below is the driver middle and rear window frame cut out.



It had some rust inside it but not to much mostly only surface stuff. A wire brush on the grinder soon took care of it.


After the wire brushing the inside was treated with Vactan to prevent any further rust creep.


After the vactan it got two coats of red oxide to hopefully hold back any rust. I avoided to edges to be butt welded and the spot weld holes. But then decided to paint between the spot welds leaving just over a cm for each spot weld to hopefully reduce the rust which I know will start here eventually!



On the receiving van I gave the window holding frame internals a red oxide coating to hopefully hope back the rust on these parts. On completion the whole van will get injected with cavity wax but until then this should help.

Above you can see the clean metal were I used a finger file to clean behind the spot weld locations. to find this the panel was set in and clamped where I waned it the a marker marked the locations to be cleaned up.


In the picture below the panel had been cut out and is being fitted tot he van, you can see the blue pen line , these marked out the C-post. This measurement was then transferred to the outside of the bus to allow me to cut the outer panel from the bus allowing it to pass the C-post when being pulled into the bus.

 

Before I fitted the windows in I first had to swap the three seatbelts mounts, on each side, from bus to the van.

These are basically;
1. A mounted nut on a 2mm steel plate which is bent up at each sides and sits in the C-post.
2. A mounted nut on a curvy 2mm steel plate inside the window frame mounted to the body.
3. A mounted nut on a flat 2mm plate between the inner and outer side panels on buses.
I had photos but deleted them from my phone after sending them to my e-mail - they never arrived

By cutting 10cm above and below and cutting 2.5/3cm to each each side of the hole you should you keep the back plate intact for directly transferring across.
Another tip is to mark the top or bottom because after you have removed it, and if your cutting is straight.. you may not know what way it goes in.



As the second seat-belt mount is inside the window frame it will be transferred across with the complete frame.

For the 3rd seatbelt mount I was lucky to have cut off a side section of the bus which allowed me to identify the exact location of the backing plate and cut it out quite tight. This provided a template due to the parts curves to find the exact location on the van to fit it in.

 

Lot of work on those Windows, you've got more patience than me

 

At the bottom of the window frame I cut straight through with the grinder. As you can see below the two sections are were then separated. So the first thin was to run a weld along between the two parts joining them.


After joining the two panels and setting in the window frame I cut through the overlapping metal.

At some places the cut was quite close at others there was plenty to play with.


Tack the section in. Started at any big gaps as the weld would pull them in, just a bit but it helps when trying to join it all up.


After tacking I started to do overlapping 1 second bursts to close the gaps. About 8cm at a time. I used .8mm wire with the welder set 1 or 2 higher to gave better penetration for the short bursts.


For the inside the roll over gig was a life saver for the plug welds! vertical plug welding if way out of my comfort zone. With the van on its size there was only a slight angle for the upper window so one or two of the plugs will need more tiding than other but in general I was very happy with the result.





Now I just the inside of the passenger side window to plug weld in and job done!

 

You chaps that convert panel to factory windows have my admiration.

 

Its been a while and only got a few more bits done.. got distracted by this.

 

I got the front panel on only got a few pics from the work.

Front Panel Etch primer 1st coat

Poly tunnel beds came in handy for a stand.

After a few coats of primer, not sure how many just covered it until it looked right , I used a rattle can to paint the inside of the panel to match the rest of the van. used the same method two coast then topped up any faint looking bits


Using the tried and tested strap method (used two for final pull) as suggested by many on here


It went on without any fuss! I was worried the inner valance was too loo at one point - panic stations. but with the strap and it all lined up well.


With a door back on I could check the fit. Really didn't take enough picture.. but I am very pleased.

 

I took a closer look at the roof and guess what... yep rust




Lucky the rust was not to deep only on the surface panel.





Cleaned up the underneath and bonda primer on the inside metal frame and patch

 

One last patch to finish the windows.


Nice little 3D bit patch needed

I was expecting to have to take a few attempts on this, but first time was grand so in it went.



Prepped and primed

 

Replaced part of the drivers cab floor and step.

First the floor with the door on..then I took the door off yo weldin the patch