A rusty old panel van restoration

Hello,

We had a customer with a van that had failed the MOT on rotten sills, but typically, it was worse than thought. As soon as we started work we found bodge after bodge that needed to be redone, so we made a start.

The pictures are not all in order, and there are a few areas I didn't photograph... but this gives you an idea:

The van didnt look too bad, not straight at all, but it looked a lot better than it was:



You can see the previous 'repairs' were not the best - Panels pop rivited over the rusty original arches, or just filler straight over rot. God knows how much filler was used on this van - you can also see how the seam made in the filler was nowhere near the original seam.





The sills were pretty rotten:




The cargo floor had loads of nasty patches, welded over the top of rust... so out it came:

 

You can see the front top hat was rotten, and the front crossmember didnt look too clever either:


It was all cut out along with the outriggers/jacking points:


Repaired the inner B posts while it was all cut out:


Offering up the sills and jacking points etc:


Spot welded in:


Cross member and outriggers in:


Top hats welded to the outriggers / jacking points:


Seat belt mounts repaired:


...

 

Made a start repairing the sliding door:



Didnt get any pics of the finished sliding door

Front doors were full of filler, and pretty rotten:



Checking the door gaps:



Almost finished with the rear corners, battery trays, inner and outer valance, rear arch repair:


Stripping the underneath ready for prep and paint:


...

 

Replacing the side panel:



Got the cargo floors fitted, and made a start on the body prep:



Thats about how it is at the moment. Hoping to have it finished in the next month or so

 

Excellent work, looks like they made the right decision coming to you.

 

Tidy work

 

Very nice job

 

Bit of an update...

We finished the prep on the van and had it primed and guide coated... blocking down ready for paint:


Once we had finished all the prep work, it was back to the paint shop and painted. We were pleased with the colours the customer chosen when it came back.


The floor was insulated and had a ply base fitted, before each tile went down:


We fitted a lift in unit from Starlight Campers, a twin burner / sink / waterpump etc, and fitted a replacement headliner to include the supplied downlights:



The engine is stripped down to long block and tinware off for blasting. Once thats back and painted, we will crack on with the re assembly

 

lovely job and colour owen n nw

 

Nicely done

 

good work

 

Nice work