Patina Loco - lowlight facelift a'go go :)

cheers buddy I never know how I'm doing to be honest, most of this is first time, learn as I go stuff for me so can never tell if its ok or a dogs dinner lol So its good to have feedback, good or bad

 

So a welder malfunction and a two hour delay while I worked out the problem was the contacts in the relay that controls the wire feed......clean up a'la points and it was firing on all cylinders again but it set my day back quite a bit.
so I started by cutting out the rest of the front floor to see how bad the rest of the front tophat was......it was bad! Basically rotten so out it came. Only had enough tophat repair to do the rearmost one and the section of the front that I replaced on the other side, so it was out with the clamps and dolly's again to fab up a middle section.
not pretty but a functional repair
next to go in was the inner sill....finally!
middle and outer tomorrow, and rear arch if I get time

 

before


during


after

inner sill


gave the van a good clear out too and sorted out my working space a bit. Its slowly but surely getting there

 

You're inspiring me fella, I usual farm my welding out to a local guy, but your thread makes me wanna buy a welder and attempt it myself

 

it was poverty driven buddy.....couldnt afford to pay someone, even at mates rates, so i figured how hard can it be? Lol turns out its tricky at times but once you get the hang its fairly straightforward for the rudimentary stuff.....fabrication is the same.....understanding the mechanics of it is the time taker....the actual making stuff doesn't take too long. I did a ninety quid college night course, paid another 90 for a mig and about 100 quid for the gas bottle, so less than the cost of paying someone to do a couple of patches and I'm set up
I've spent around 450 quid on panels etc, but saved probably a couple grand on labour so far. Give it a go dude.....its mainly not being afraid to have a bash

 

sunny and dry today
The schedule of work today:
patch hole in chassis leg
fit front tophat to sill repair
replace end of rear tophat
middle sill
outer sill
both outriggers and jacking points

and make a start on rear arch replacement if I have any time left over
once the above is all done, I just have the roof repairs and a front arch replacement to do out of the essential stuff and the rest is optional tinkering like making an early front bumper and steps.fit the deformation panel, wiring lights up, finishing engine lid mods and rear vents etc.
Its beginning to feel like I've achieved quite a bit in a short space of time

 

nipped home for a cuppa......tophats, sills, outriggers and jacking points are all in....just gotta dress the welds and paint it up not bad for a few hours work

 

Front tophat end repair



Front jacking point and rigger



Middle sill



Rear jacking point and rigger



and finishing touch



Just front closing panel to do so that's underneath finished.
Had an hour spare so did both handbrake cables too. Rear arch tomorrow and possibly front too depending on what I find under the rear lol
back to work on Monday so its a race against time now, but the ball ache stuff is now behind me

 

@zed do you like your humble pie warmed up or cold?

 

Have you finished underneath then?

 

yep, all bar the closing panels

 

Warm then.

 

custard or ice cream?
I should be thanking you for spurring me on....its kept me on it even when its not gone according to plan

 

You've fairly been bashing on! Wish I had that kind of progress

 

free time without distraction, and a fair bit of motivation

 

How was the welding on the other side of the top hat dude?.. and why did you cut'n'shut it above the jacking point causing a weak point instead of further over the chassis frame ? ... Zed told me to say it...

 

easiest access to cut it there. Tophat is tacked to the crossmember as much as possible from underneath.....not a perfect solution I know, but the only way I could do it without extensive dismantling and cutting.....id like it back on the road someone this decade I never use the jacking points for jacking anyway.....just for mounting the sidestep so strength isn't such a big issue. In any case, given that it was about 80% rust before, its considerably stronger now than it was lol

 

Keep at it dude

 

lol.. i know where your coming from dude, ive kept cutting and cutting back.. and i want a rat van..lol... mine was held together with a wish and a preyer... now if it isnt 3" steel i think it's going to fall apart...lol

 

yeah I kept finding more the deeper I went, and it was a case of where to draw the line between running repairs and a full on restoration lol I've done what I can to the best level my skills and budget allow....it should pass an MOT and its safe, so that's mission accomplished for what I wanted to do with it