1972 Crossover Dormobile - Full Restoration Work In Progress

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Haveacamper said:
cheers for the kind words guys! i've been bricking that part for a while haha. only the front clip to be put on, outer wheel arches, inner wheel arches and cab floor left at the front :)

NaFe

And the B pillars, inner closing panels & chassis rails :wink:
 
Loxy said:
Haveacamper said:
cheers for the kind words guys! i've been bricking that part for a while haha. only the front clip to be put on, outer wheel arches, inner wheel arches and cab floor left at the front :)

NaFe

And the B pillars, inner closing panels & chassis rails :wink:

cant beat a bit of encouragement :)
 
bit of progress on the van. not quite as much as would have liked, but i never know how long these welding things are going to take to get right. our aim was to weld up the door frame this evening so here is how it went:

started a little fettling to get the two roof sections (original roof and donar part - connected to the door frame) tacked up...
24102008400cg3.jpg


some time later and recutting some of the welds out we have it pretty much seam welded...
24102008401ru0.jpg


b-pillar
24102008402gb1.jpg


24102008403vq4.jpg


note the neatly cut section that has been removed to allow access to weld from inside too. this has been kept and will be replaced when finished, consealing the evidence...
24102008406ov4.jpg


24102008404ez3.jpg


didnt get chance to finish this off completely because the section that lines up with the top of the windscreen section is a bit of a pain and we run out of time. hopefully we'll get this sorted and sanded down on tuesday. there are some low spots where the original roof and donor section meet but this is going to prove very very very difficult to get perfectly lined up. going to have to live with the fact that this bit will have to have fillar to make it look pretty. i think the main thing is that its as close as we can get it and the door aperture is in the right place.

during my time away at my own house, and away from the camper, i think i am going to re-start my CAD model i started a while back. see how this comes along.

NaFe
NaFe
 
some super work there dude, i think i better get my act into gear and do some work on mine hehe

keep it up dude :)

you got any idea what colour/s your going for in the end?
 
pinheaduk said:
you got any idea what colour/s your going for in the end?

i dunno, but i know it wont have any fecking rust! :wink:

more scarey stuff tackled Nafe.
 
Johnny said:
pinheaduk said:
you got any idea what colour/s your going for in the end?

i dunno, but i know it wont have any fecking rust! :wink:

more scarey stuff tackled Nafe.

missed that little question. i told my dad that i may go for a rat look and just let the rust come back and then laquer it hahahahaha he nearly flipped his lid. as for colour i'm really not sure. i have been heavily slanting towards a dark navy blue up to the roof and white roof. i think i'm limited to my roof colour because i've got the pop top. i love nelly's bus and i was half tempted to have black roof and anythign chrome, blackened - go for the german look, but think i am going to go for the classic look of chrome deluxe on the beltline and bumpers as well as in the window rubbers i think.

i really need to get my *** on photoshop and have a good play around. i've really not decided, red?? hehe

at least i have time on my side :)

p.s. thanks for the encouraging words as always :)

NaFe
 
Got nothing more to say than RESPECT to the work you are doing.

Great work, and ou just keep on going...

Big ups.

Greetz

Wim
 
Thanks guys.

very little work carried out this evening due to it being bloody freezing. finished off welding the door frame up and cleaned the welds up. although when everything was tacked up the panels lined up its got a little bit out of shape as seen in the following pictures. i've should be having a guy copming and showing me how to lead it and get it all looking nice - rather than the conventional filler. i want to use as little filler as possible. there is some pitting of the graft section that was better than the original, so had to keep it. leading it will mean that it will not lift, it will not crack and will give a nice finish that can have the lightest of skims afterwards. some of the welds havent yet been tidied up so look beyond that if you can:

28102008411xj8.jpg


28102008412lh9.jpg


28102008413pd0.jpg
 
Lead is a great way to fix structural repairs like this and make 'em all smooth.
Be sure to make the surface absolutely rust-free before applying the tin-paste.
And leave the endresult to "sweat" a day or so before priming or painting it or the paint will bubble eventually.
This resto is a real eye-popper for me, like Tofufi's.
Removing roofs and stuff is not a job fo the faint-hearted!!!

Great job mate 8)
 
ok, so not much visual progress last night, but sometimes its best to sit back and think. the plan was to go down last night and try and sort out the area around the rear bump stop bracket. however, it was soon apparent that this was not going to be possible with just a grinder at hand. cutting the bump stop arm off, cutting chassis ssection out and then welding the bumpstop arm back was not an option i wanted to take. so i'm awaiting my dad to come down on friday with his plasma cutter from work. with a bit of luck we should be able to get it plasmered out, a template made, make the section and weld it in.

as we couldnt do what we wanted to our attemtion went back to how the best way to get the old front clip off and the new one grafted in - in the right place!!!! this is our plan:

we are going to fix some brakets to the Bpillar and the wheel arch which span across to the top and bottom door hinges respectively and bolt in place. this will then give us the exact height of where the new clip has to be. we can then unbolt the door hinge side, cut the old clip off, and by offering the new clip up and bolting the door hinges back up will position the clip correctly. we are going to put some tabs on the brackets to stop any of the adjustment in the door hinge and latch bolts.

we are also going to notch the 4 chassis legs that run towards the front clip to give maximum strength. we were going to pick all the chassis legs off the donar, keeping the original, but where the chassis legs of the donar meet the front looks like its just come out of a factory - which i dont want to spoil.

o ye - i managed to get the steering arm off the steering box with a chissel and hard hammer :)

hopefully friday i will have some progress pictures for you guys.

again advice on the big jobs are most welcome.

NaFe
 
youre a brave man changing the complete front clip but it will be great to have some og german metal back on your van.
 
spent the afternoon reading this post. very imformative and inspiring i cant wait to see the end results. keep up the excellent work fella.
 
cheers mate for those kind words!

ok a little update. my dad brought his plasma cutter home yesterday and by god is it amazing for cutting things. here is the work we did around the rear wheel tub:

this is a bit larger than originally expected but thats because as we investigated the probelm became more apparent. i didnt want to just put a patch over a small area so it all had to come out and we made a template
07112008414df8.jpg


tacked in place
07112008416yv2.jpg


now seam welded in place
07112008418tl6.jpg


then a bottom piece was made and bend around to follow the bottom of the chassis section
07112008419uk9.jpg


this is what is left to blank off before we make up a bracket to fix to the new section and the top of the bump stop arm.
07112008420rs7.jpg


NaFe
 
there is something very satisfying about turning your welder up to something other than 1, and laying a good line of weld down. i hate welding wafer thin body panels. it takes ages :twisted:
 
andewilson said:
there is something very satisfying about turning your welder up to something other than 1, and laying a good line of weld down. i hate welding wafer thin body panels. it takes ages :twisted:

Haveacamper doesnt actually touch the welder (other than plugging it in :lol: ).
His Dad does all the hard work, he just sweeps up :wink:
 
Loxy said:
andewilson said:
there is something very satisfying about turning your welder up to something other than 1, and laying a good line of weld down. i hate welding wafer thin body panels. it takes ages :twisted:

Haveacamper doesnt actually touch the welder (other than plugging it in :lol: ).
His Dad does all the hard work, he just sweeps up :wink:

shhhh :lol:
 
Loxy said:
andewilson said:
there is something very satisfying about turning your welder up to something other than 1, and laying a good line of weld down. i hate welding wafer thin body panels. it takes ages :twisted:

Haveacamper doesnt actually touch the welder (other than plugging it in :lol: ).
His Dad does all the hard work, he just sweeps up :wink:

Jealousy is like rust.... it never goes away, no matter how hard you work at it.

more progress to made this evening, cant wait
 

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