Had a pootle around the garage this morning, looking for jobs to do that didn't involve power tools (keeping the neighbours sweet until midday). I cut out some paper templates for the chassis repair, and then whipped out the side and rear windows. To be honest I was expecting a load of rot behind the rubbers, as the rest of the van has needed plenty of work. I was pretty chuffed to find...... ZERO rot! Just a tiny bit of surface rust in one spot which needs no more than a rub down and some jenolite. Result!
Back to work now, I'm off to weld some chassis sections in and replace the front crossmember between the space where the new front outriggers will be going!
After a cuppa I started to tidy up the sections of rotten chassis. I have a slightly oversize repair piece ready to fit once I have trimmed it down to suit a butt weld. Obviously there is much more tidying to do before I fit the repair.
I decided to take out the whole front crossmember and top hat section as well. I think it is going to be too fiddly to fit the top hat from underneath, so I will do that from above, once I have taken out some of the floor for access.
Its amazing how much easier it is to get to everything once the old front arch has been cut off!
For the last week I have been constantly reminded of rust. Its in my eyes, I can smell it everywhere, I can taste it, and I've been washing it out of places I didn't think it would have got to. Hopefully in a week or two all the cutting out and replacement of rusty stuff should be over and I will hopefully start seeing a nice van emerge.