mot welding

[dames]

wondering if anyone can give advice? i have owned my 70 panel for a few months and decided to enjoy it untill mot time and worry about things then. well mot was on saturday and it failed on ball joint light bulb and plenty of welding all underneath. i took it to a back street garage but decided he was not the man for the job. so i went to my local vw garage. i couldnt get the bus on the ramps becouse he was busy. we chatted for a bit and im going back in 3 weeks for a quote. i plan to start collecting panels now, it failed on all four out riggers (and then some)and they have a join in them so i guess this is old repairs, should i try to make good what is there or buy new ones? can i do anything over the next couple of weeks to make the garage bill smaller like grinding out rust or stripping of old underseal? any advice or tips please. i know i should have brought an imported bus but its done now and i am just going to have to pay the price but its worth it to me i am smitten with the old girl.

 

[jjgreenwood]

I know got mine mot'd today which it passed first time thanx to sympathetic mot mate. Need wielding nxt yr due to bad repair in past on a wheel arch & need a new ns indicator bulb housing. The bus has been wielded to outrigger in the past as young clem pointed out to me a while ago.

 

[mjknight71]

had all four outriggers/jacking points inner sills and plenty of chassis work last year.....to save a bit of ££££ I cut out roughly all the crap metal...but if you have never repaired cars be careful not to cut out too much....the outriggers can be cut out quite cleanly easily, leaving the tophat sections etc.....

....good luck

 

[dames]

I know got mine mot'd today which it passed first time thanx to sympathetic mot mate. Need wielding nxt yr due to bad repair in past on a wheel arch & need a new ns indicator bulb housing. The bus has been wielded to outrigger in the past as young clem pointed out to me a while ago.

glad to hear someone had a good mot i think i will have a good look and maybe tackle the easiest bits. dont want to do more harm than good thanks for reply

 

[jjgreenwood]

don't bother with local VW garage unless u enjoy paying £80ph for labour, go to a specialist who will take less time, charge less, and do a better job. Don't advise doing it yourself unless your bus is worth scrap or u have experience. If u say your location then someone here will be able to recommend a local chap.

 

[dames]

don't bother with local VW garage unless u enjoy paying £80ph for labour, go to a specialist who will take less time, charge less, and do a better job. Don't advise doing it yourself unless your bus is worth scrap or u have experience. If u say your location then someone here will be able to recommend a local chap.

deffo dont like the sound of £80p/h i think he is more of a specialist he had bays splits and t25s in workshop when i was there. didnt think to ask his hourly rate.will take your advice and leave it to a pro, im prob trying to run before i can walk. loads of things i can be trying to sort myself like fitting rear bumper,and bench seat i brought weeks ago and is still sat in shed. horn is a switch on dash and i want it in the steering wheel,fit cab seats i have instead of the huge ugly xr3i seats in it. and more i cant think of. much more realistic! im in plymouth on devon/cornwall border. thanks for reply

 

[james_stan]

Any prep you can do up front will help - but do ask the welder
how he would like it to presented. My view - which is not necessarily
representative is to cut panels, sills or what have you back to solid German
metal then repair with sections from the replacement panel, rather than
automatically use the whole panel (but then again I'm a VERY amateur
welder).

It's not text book and the final look will show welds where there weren't any originally
but if it's underneath and treated with underseal - who cares ??

If you enjoy spending hours cutting,grinding, drilling-out spot-welds, aligning, cajaoling (?)
pattern panels to fit, then welding followed by more grinding then fine..

Good Luck

James

 

[jjgreenwood]

I concour with this. The process is hard. Do the minimum for mot

 

[Tofufi]

Any pics of the damage?

8)

Mine passed first time this year, it's a UK bus. I did a bit of welding on it for the one before though. It's not too hard to learn, and can be useful if you think you'll be doing much in the future.

 

[dames]

tofufi you are a brave man just looked at your bit of welding wow. i do plan to learn to weld but this batch is needed now.james you made loads of sense and i will ask welder how he plans to tackle it, he is about to take the garage he works at on and i will be one of his first customers. thanks again all

 

[Tofufi]

Asking the welder what he plans to do is a good idea.

For things like outriggers, it'll probably be easier to replace them whole if they are very rotten.

Good luck with it.

 

[Clem]

Yeah, dont patch outriggers or jacking points etc, its easier to do them whole. Be careful doing too much prep for the welder (no matter how well intentioned) as he may need reference points that you cut off!

 

[dames]

best pics i could get

 

[dames]

can anyone help? is there a repair panel for the third pic? bus is being welded at the moment im collecting the panels and still need this one thanks.