if you guys had ,like I do ,a bus which has the sealed underside ,as in totally sealed no access to all the pipework etc ,would you chop it off? thinking bout doing same , cannot see any probs re structural integrity but perhaps more salt /quicker rot (live at present in very wet West Scotland) so I would ,I think, be trading easy access against perhaps said rot? cannot see any other reason not to and apparently some/lots? of campers do not have these panels fitted ?
i think you're meant to have them but a lot of people dont. I can see where mine would have been fitted but they're not there anymore. The belly pans would keep a lot of the road grime and salt out of the chassis so I'd keep them in my opinion. they should only be bolted on, I dont think you'd need to do any chopping
side ones are welded middle ones bolted Lots of pros and cons ether way be prepared for a shock if you take them off
Ta guys , yeah that's it Matty , as engine is coming out(again) and Autumn is almost here I am thinking ,might as well have a look ,take care of whatever I find, and good idea ,perhaps with skilled removal I can fashion a refit set up enabling removal when needed ?(off to show bus my angle grinder !)
What matty said. They often hide a multitude of sins (rot) Get underneath and give it a bang. If its really rotten you'll hear it bouncing about on top of the belly pan.
As Matty said ^^ side/outer ones were welded on, middle one bolted the old debate of if you need them or not .....some say they were for stiffening if you have a poptop.....but pop tops were usually fitted after they left the factory....and the panels under neath wouldnt add that much strength to the roof cut out IMHO trouble is as said above, the belly pans trap moisture against the chassis, jacking points and sill .....but they do protect the load floor and top hats some what from road salt and stones I removed mine, repaired all the holes and then made them bolt on, with rubber spacers keeping them off of the sills and chassis to allow any water that did get in to drain away again I also made up some angle supports, welded to the outriggers to bolt the middle section of the belly pans to hold it in place there, rivnuts or weld in nuts to the sills and use existing captive nuts for the middle belly pan
The middle one was also welded in place on early vans, at least upto '72, so depending on year, you might need to cut all three off. As said above, you'll probably need to do some work once they're off. I think they were an optional extra which camper companies used to request to add a bit of strength to the structure to offset the loss of structural integrity that came from hacking a massive hole in the roof for a pop-top
See , reading all your helpful posts its rather obvious mine is the "before" clever removable access panels were fitted, mine are 2 full length panels looking like seem welded where they meet/overlap, there is a camper in Glasgow"s museum of Transport(find yourself in Glasgow? go visit ,is wonderful place and free entry) I used to ,before I was asked to leave , spend a fair amount of time on floor spying the underside layout and would prefer that access on mine , for all the reasons you guys have mentioned/know from experience> so ,deffo ,attack wiv angle grinder, I am convinced this is the way forward !<ta for advice/encouragement.
Best to grind the side pans off and leave them off. If you've got a bolt-on centre pan, bolt it back on again. You won't like what you find underneath ...
I was assuming cutting out middle section enough to give me working room? and rigging up a re attatchment system, must be do able eh?<bet I may live to regret that statement/question !(fortune favours the brave/God loves a fool)
The best bet would be to refit while replacing the other bits you'll probably need to do, so weld a few captive nuts into the inner sills then paint them before replacing the middle and outer sills. I meant to do this on my van last year but forgot. Doh! I'd also say make sure you remove all the old belly pan, don't just cut them off and leave an edge of metal on the chassis legs. I've seen a few vans like this and it acts as a water trap. It's a Marmitee job grinding all the metal off, but worth it in the end.
Cold chisel sharpened one side straight through the spot welds. 5-10 minutes one end to the other. Don't try this on the sill though, you'll wreck it.
Maybe my chisel isn't sharp enough, but I find the metal rips around the spot welds, so I end up finishing off with a grinder. It usually ends up a combination of chiseling, grinding and wiggling the metal to fatigue it that gets them off.
I find the chassis is the only place you can cold chisel and it doesn't leave a mark at all, I chisel off outriggers from it as well, though obviously not from the top hat! I sharpen the chisel with the grinder for this, just one angle. Two blows max per weld, sometimes 3 or 4 come off with one smack.
if you decide to remove the side pans, you can use the void space to make up a stainless steel box to fit a propex in and then plumb it straight into the vents under the walkthrough. When you've done that you can make another and sell it to me to recoup your initial costs....
