Cheers, it turns out I was wrong though because there are 5 b'zillion holes around the window frames that need welding up so not finished welding the body! Not sure what they have been fixing to the side of the van but they must have had a few attempts at each lol
It's been a while due to silly courses at work and stuff but have been keeping an eye on things here. Started prepping the inside of the van and the engine bay for paint and am waiting for wire wheels to come in but this is the progress so far. So thought I'd start prepping the doors which I knew needed some work. From the outside they look sweet But turn them over and there a little worse than I remember tbh Now I can make up repair panels for these but I think my time could be better spent on other parts of the bus so does anyone know of some decent repair panels for the inner frame and lower skins and how good are they? Cheers
Full door skins are available but the inner door bottom repair panel is no longer available I think shielsy had two brand new doors for sale a while back
I had the same problem but a bit worse - had to get a new one from JK - but it did come with new seals but was £299.00!!!!!
Oh they will be, just wondered if repair panels where out there to speed the process up a bit. I will soldier on thought
Might be worth ringing a few of the companies that sell repair panels. Maybe one still has the inner panel in stock (but not shown on their website).
Well I got cracking on today and have got one door done And started on the drivers, this has a crack down the middle from where I assume the door has been shut with the window down holding onto the frame and has fatigued it. Is this a common one? Toyed with the idea of running a slitting disk down the centre of the crack and welding it up but decided to cut it out and replace it Which I'm glad I did cos there's already weld in there from PO So set about making a panel up Joggled the edge ready to fit it Welder it in Is it me or do these little jobs take ages! At this point had to go walk the hounds so will be back in the shop wed, the rest of the door looks better than the first so I'm hoping to get that and the tailgate done then the slinging door done thurs so I can start prepping the body.......well that's the idea lol!
That crack on bay doors is very common Some wonderfull previous owner knocked a dent in mine put a pop rivit in it and then filled over it Needless to sasy the filler fell out over time
Yes, common. Mind is cracked in the same place. Was thinking of just welding it up????? But would be better to have the metal out of there and in with new. It seems to take ofr ever to get through this stuff BUT it's taken a good few years to get it there so.......
Was thinking I was finished welding when I finished the shell but the doors are so time consuming its unbelievable! Then started on the tailgate on what I thought was a little rust, how wrong was I. If I ever meet the man I covered up what would of been nice easy repairs with filler I swear to god he will die! Got one side done And got half the other side done So gona get the other side done tomos and then hopefully my repair panels for the sliding door will be in :/ Was hoping to spend most of this week filling and rubbing back the shell
I'd forgotten how bad some repair panels are. This was lined up with the other side of the sliding door and it's a good 3mm to big, I know there needs to be a bit of tolerance but you telling me they where this far out from the factory! The inner repair was even worse but after lots of hammering, some welding and a bit more hammering its all together. Just need to do a final test fit on the van seem it up, grind it an we are done welding! Yay!
Got a couple of hours in this afternoon with my new sander Just a couple of questions really as I'm learning as I'm going :/ Do I need to get the panel totally clean or am I ok etching over the small patches of original primer left which I think I am? I have got one high spot that I need to shrink back but unsure what technique to use? Advice would be most welcome!
No need to get the panels totally clean, and to be honest theres probably no need to take them all the way back to bare metal unless the existing paint on there is crap, meaning very heavy, full of defects and noticeable repairs. You should be able to etch over existing primer without any issues Shrinking a high spot - the proper way would be to use a shrinking hammer against a dolly, the other you can use a V'd dolly and try to tap the excess high metal into a small groove. Go easy though as its all to easy to end up with the panel oil canning, (being overstretched, causing it to pop in and out) Your making a real nice job of this, its too late for me now but I'm really envious of the body roller for doing the underside
The jig was a godsend to be honest and i'm impressed with anyone with the motivation to do it on there back! Thanks for the tips, the primer underneath is pretty good so I'm quite happy with that and ill go ahead and each straight over it. The popping in and out is kinda the issue I have got, there is one spot which slightly stretched and high. I was going to try using the back of the anvil in my panel beating set which is recessed with the small pick ended hammer to try and knock it back and take the tension out, that sound about right?
