A restoration for Iris

I’ve made a good start on the C pilar prep, starting with cutting the outer arch off; I need to repair the bottom of the sliding door seal channel and need to trial fit the new outer arch to make sure it fits properly.

The inner arch isn’t in too bad condition, with the majority of the lip looking to be usable, I’ll just need to repair the ends of it:




The rear corner however has an impressive amount of filler and fibreglass in it!


I spent a good few hours trimming the new outer arch to the correct size to get a really good fit (the channel needs more work though):


Lines up with the door pretty well:


And looks bang on to me:


I’ve started fabricating repairs for the inner part of the C pillar:




And the strengthening plate that covers the C pillar (the new one, template and old one):


I’m aiming to get the C pillar finished this week.

 

Finished up the main part of the C pillar tonight (I’ve also tacked in the repair for the section that sits under the sliding door seal channel but forgot to take a pic).

 

Another Epoxy Mastic session tonight to get the middle sill coated ready for the outer sill to go on tomorrow. I did the inside of the rear arches and a few other bits to justify getting the spray gear out.

 

Outer sill clamped and welded in. Today was a good day.

 

A bit further tonight. Welds on outer sill dressed and coated. Mostly welded in the final closing piece for the C pillar.




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I’ve been burning the midnight oil over the last couple of nights getting the last few bits of the chassis complete as I really wanted to get it done this year so I could take two weeks off over christmas (the first time for probably 12 months). It's now completely finished!!

I didn’t manage to get many pictures of all the bits I completed as I didn’t have time, so I did a short video as well.

N/S wheel tub repaired:


Remainder of the C pillar repaired including the strengthener, and then the panel joining the rear arch to the floor (I did the other side too). In addition to this I also welded shut the three holes that the Brazilian floors come with for heating (no pics).


And the finished result, it’s been a long slog but it’s been well worth it and I’m over the moon with what I’ve achieved. I’ll be on to the front end at the beginning of January as I have a week off to work on it.


And the rest of it:

 

Start of a new year and start of the next chunk of work on the bus. Front clip cut off so I can start repairing what lies beneath. I’ve got this week off to try and get a jog on.

 

Shouldent take a man of your skills long to sort that front.

 

Cheers fella. Aim is front end done in the next month or so. Inner windscreen surround should be going in tomorrow as I've just about finished prepping the surrounding metalwork.

 

This week seems to have rocketed past but I’ve made some good progress. Before I start taking apart the lower section of the front end (Deformation panel and inner valance) I wanted to get some strength back into the top section by replacing the inner windscreen panel.

With it chopped out the front end looks pretty bare:


I then set to work repairing the surrounding metalwork that the panel attaches to. The section on the O/S A pillar is fine (ignoring the rotten lip which I’ll repair when I get onto prepping for the front panel itself):


The N/S A pillar however needed some work. A small patch here:




And a larger section here which I ended up doing in three parts (I need to finish the middle section):



The airbox needed a few patches, but on the whole was in pretty good shape:


The panels from the old inner windscreen that the dashboard attach to were in good nick so I cleaned them up and gave them a coat of etch alongside the new inner windscreen panel:


Once I’ve finished closing up the final hole on the N/S A pillar I’ll be able to get the panel welded in next week, a quick trail fit suggests it shouldn’t be too tricky to fit:


I also welded the captive nuts to the deformation panel that the front bumper mounts to (the Brazilian bumpers mount differently so the panel needs modifying):

 

Inner windscreen tacked in today. Looking better already. I’ll finish welding it in tomorrow.



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Anyone able to help. I just trial fitted the front panel before I finished welding in the inner panel and it don't fit! It's catching on a bulge in the middle of the inner panel. I think I've worked out what's gone wrong. I think my old inner panel had been trimmed down to the same level as the old front so the measurements I took for the inner panel would have been wrong (in @brothernumberone s book it looks like the inner panel lip extends higher than the front). I'm going to unpick it and use the new front panel as a datum for the lip but if anyone has the correct measurements I'd be very grateful. I guess the important thing is that the outer panel sits at the correct height which I can check as I have those measurements right.


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I think I put the measurements in the book somewhere. You might have the same problem I did when fitting my last front. For some reason it was slightly too short, so I found I'd clamp it at the bottom which we'll all agree is the immovable bit, but at the top the outer sat 1-2cm too low and fouled the pressing in the inner.
I phoned heritage to complain, but of course they denied all knowledge and did the usual thing of trying to 'incompetence shame' by saying no one else has had a problem.
In the end, I got it fitted by setting the aperture gap correctly and welding most of the top bit in one go, then stretching the bottom lip down to meet the deformation panel, figuring that the rigidity of the top bit would help stop the whole front moving down.
In the end the aperture increased slightly by about 5mm at the centre point which is no problem.

 

What I'd stress is, don't use the front panel as the datum. A 5mm bigger aperture is fine, 1.5-2cm bigger and your windscreen will flop out if you brake too hard defo use the measurements. The inner surround is probably in the correct place

 

One last thing, not sure if you've repaired the a pillar lip that the front panel wraps around, but it's much easier to do with the cab door in place. That way you can get the gap between the door and pillar cock-on. I did my first without the door and basically welded loads of straight bits of metal in rather than curved bits. The repairs looked fine on their own, but with the skin on, the panel followed the shape of the pillar and the gap was all wrong.

 

Thanks for a great response! Wish I'd read it before I unpicked the inner though assuming I'd got it wrong! What a tool I am.

Yes you did put the measurements in the book (57 in the middle and 54 at the air box ends). My aperture matched that exactly. Sounds like I had the same issue as you then, it's catching on the pressing on the inner. I'll reattach the inner where I had it and try your approach.

I've yet to repair the a pillar lips as I was going to do that when I got onto the front panel but I'll make sure i fit the cab doors when I do. Cheers.

 

@brothernumberone also what's the secret to fitting the front panel; I nearly soiled myself trying to hook one edge round and then pulling it across.


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^^same as above this time.

 

Does the inner panel fit inside the airbox rather than outside it?