1970 DORMOBILE - COMPLETE RESTO - IT PASSED :)

[pinheaduk]

your not kidding, measured enough times and still not 100% perfect but its the best that i can get it so im happy , and it looks good

 

[Anonymous]

Fair play, your restoration makes mine looks like childs play :shock: Thankfully mine wasn't covered in thick underseal hidding the nasties.............

 

[VWAIRCOOLED]

Good job there you're doing,keep up the good work 8)

 

[pinheaduk]

ok did a bit more today

finished the back of the drivers seat area turned out ok, had to beat some of the new metal into shape as the curved area had rotted a little but im happy with the result

then i decided i sahould really do the petrol tank area as i noticed whilst underneath the van that the area below the tank had a few holes, so took the engine out removed the fire guard, drained the tank,

cut the main area out and made a plate to fit

then whoppe the gas ran out, so decided to grind back the corners and side panels and started a bit more filler work just put the base coats on

then painted a bit more on the inside

 

[pinheaduk]

ok quick update today, finished the fuel tank area, turned up a few more rust areas in the vecinity so sorted them out

kept the shape quite nicely with this peice

i also srted out the rear wheel arch area where the rust came through from the fuel tank area, will reshape it and grind all welds back tomorrow

then a few more shocks when took the dormobile shelf down, lovely rust holes above the windows and one area inbetween the windows

 

[pinheaduk]

ok, well i had fun at dubfreeze, everyone selling stuff but not actually having it in stock, mainly ********************* well heres the things i actually got

in there are front window lips, doglegs, a lovely autocraft engine lid hinge panel, a engine case which is for my super secret turbo project and other bits, still need the front seat housing panels and now after todays adventure a beam

well have not had chance to touch van until today as i was roped into helping gf's dad into building a kitchen extension, but i posted a thread about my van leaning to the right as shown in the pic bit blurry but looking at the brick ins you can see the nice tilt,

apparently it is because some of the torsion leaves have craked/snapped but on taking them out today, cant see any cracks or broken leaves, yet the van sits level on axle stands hehe ----- mysteryyyyyyyyy

but i could be due to the beam having the worst rot ive ever seen

and the beam area under van some more dodgy dodgy patches

 

[easy]

nice work thus far, will keep you busy till summer me thinks! 8)

 

[pinheaduk]

god dont say that hehe, i was hoping to take it to big bang :? :shock:

but i kinda doubt it now

 

[pinheaduk]

Well big bang is definately out the question now me thinks even just getting it there is kinda difficullt after my lovely discovery

well i was going to start work on the front chassis area so took the lower front area of the panel off and thought some guy was really taking the piss when they supposedly restored this

har dee har har

then got inner front off

then the filler fulled dogleg

then i noticed that there was some dodgy filling on the aposts and discovered this

and tyipcally when i uncoveed this the top of the front panel litterally fell off so the full front had to come off

and the front inner was just hanging around not even weded it was that rusty

i am getting really pissed off with this now, you think your getting somewhere then you end up getting kicked back to the start

 

[Guest]

:shock:

holy shit :shock: (sorry about the pun), on the bright side now you can get rid of all that crap repair and rusty metal with a new front panel.

 

[pinheaduk]

yeah that definatley the bright side of things just got to order the stuff and crack on hehe

 

[VeeDubMan2]

well i was going to start work on the front chassis area so took the lower front area of the panel off and thought some guy was really taking the piss when they supposedly restored this

Reckon we had the same 'restorer' at some point in the past. Take a look at my 1971 Dormobile resto - http://www.steve-brown.co.uk/gurtie/photo44.html - The date on the newspaper was what got me!

Stick with it though. You're doing a great job and saving a early bay from an early grave!

 

[pinheaduk]

ok after a day or so of throwing up and feeling like my guts want to come out my behind, i got down to garage to start on the front chassis

i started be removing the underseal around the beam area which to my suprise is the nicest bit of metal on the van and the underseal was around an inch thick in places

i then cut the 1st arm of first and it was a real mess

and since noone had a replacement in stock i decided to made my own which with a trail fit is suprisingly good

 

[pinheaduk]

i also cut off the 2nd leg which one the ribbed side was suprisingly good metal so rather than replace i an going to cut all the rot away and repair the sides and bottom

as you can see its pretty rotten

and this is the decent side

and i keep saying it to myself, this van has an mot til august hehe

 

[easy]

That is mad :shock: fair play to you for undertaking this amount of work, others would have donated it to the hedge! :wink: 8)

 

[Tofufi]

Keep up the awesome work sir

I think my van had a similar restorer in the past - panels over panels, sliding door bottom held together with pop rivets, no seal channel above the tailgate...

Keep it going!

 

[pinheaduk]

That is mad :shock: fair play to you for undertaking this amount of work, others would have donated it to the hedge! :wink: 8)

he he thats nothing wait til you see the other side lol

 

[pinheaduk]

Keep up the awesome work sir

I think my van had a similar restorer in the past - panels over panels, sliding door bottom held together with pop rivets, no seal channel above the tailgate...

Keep it going!

been following your resto with interest as its good to get motivation from others doing restorations

 

[pinheaduk]

ok quite update, got little done today due to power kept cutting off

but started to repair the area around axle bolts ready for new and repaired chassis legs to go back on

first off after other day i cut away the rot around the inner area of the lower bolt hole which runs towords front chassis crossmember

this is the crap that came out lovely clean welds HAHAHAHA very well done by previous garage

then i used my donor chassis section for o/s to make a template which came out quite well, will be sorting bolt exit once its tacked in place


more tomorrow

 

[pinheaduk]

super quick update just tacked the first arm in place to see how it sits, and the front inner is clamped on to get an idea of how far forward or back the arm is

looks good