New to Westies! Old to the Scene!

[who?]

Found some more pics of the front beam. One as it came out of the bus and two of the beam painted up with adjusters welded in.

More pics on the welding progress to follow soon. Had a good time fitting the new lower windscreen repair panels!!

 

[cyberdyne systems]

Thats come up great! Nice to know work is still on going, can't wait to see the next batch of pictures.

I've got a few jobs on the go on mine, most recent is sorting out the servo, which has a vacuum leak :roll:

Gareth

 

[who?]

Got some photo's from my sunny bank holiday weekend spent welding, well, learning to weld!! First project enthusiasm still exists......!!!

First I practiced welding and started on the floor sections as they won't be on show!!

After grinding down, I was left with small holes which needed a bit more weld to fill....these popped and crackled and I ended up chasing holes all over the place. Later found out I had the welder set too high for the thickness of metal Doh!

Next up was the inner channel section.

Still got this to finish - burnt my arm at this point, should have had a gauntlet on!!

The bottom edge of the windscreen received more metal!

End result is good, I had a bit of experienced help! It is primed ready for paint prep now.

Then came the task of cleaning up the metal under the rear windows.
These will need more work this weekend. Don't know how far to take this before a new panel is required - no decisions made in haste I hope!
Got these bits to tackle next....

 

[cyberdyne systems]

I'm really impressed! Welding looks good and strong, and technique will come with practice. I knew it would be worth waiting to see your next pictures, windscreen repairs put a lot of people off but its amazing what can be done if you just have a go, an inspiration for all of us!!!

Awaiting the next installment...

Gareth

 

[who?]

Thanks Gareth, it's good to get some feed back. Especially as I am in unknown waters.

Things can only get better with the welding technique....bit like riding a bike!

Had a busy day on Sunday....

Finished welding up the inner channel section and got some primer on it.

Blipped a few holes in the floor.

Then had a go at cleaning up the sliding door panel beneath the window. The underside of this needs attention too but welding upwards is a challenge too far...gotta get the wire feed speed spot on...more practice required.
This top section took the best part of a day to prep, weld, grind and re-weld with more heat and re-grind...finally got some paint on it at 6.30pm.....just in time for a Chinese take away on the way home!

Will have to clean this up a little.
More updates next weekend....

 

[who?]

Paint on the lower windscreen didn't take too well. i put this down to a cheapo can of Primer!

 

[easy]

Nice 8)

 

[who?]

Haven't been able to update as much as I would have hoped! Work has been crazy busy..

Did finally get upto the lockup this weekend..so..
Only had my phone with me, photos a bit cr&p!

I cut the corner out a while back, found it was easier to leave the bottom section in as a
guide to show me the correct line....it sort of worked ok, the panel, was not the best to honest!
Then the battery tray was fitted and refitted...I cut the shape whilst I had the exterior panel removed.
The inner section of tray was not rust damaged so I used it, again, as a good guide.

The cab floor was in a bad state too. I picked up a later floor section from a club member and used the pressings to form a new floor section. This will be tacked in once I have tackled the front steps. I am not too worried about the pressings being factory, so long as it's smart.

 

[who?]

The other side of the cab floor was poor too being the drivers side!

I need to pick up a replacement panel for this at Jambo!

Fabbed up a section for the passenger wheel arch and got that welded in...my welding is improving.
It's a fine balance between heat and time...too little you get a blob...to much and you have a hole!!

Then got jiggy with the primer to keep it dry until next time!

 

[who?]

Patched in a couple of other spots too.

I might do the above section again later..not really happy with it!

Also managed to borrow a roll over frame from another friend (thanks Rich)!

I need this to access under the sliding door mechanism...There is welding required there also!

Gotta do some clearing up next time to give room to roll her over!

Also gonna look up the info from this! Can anyone help?

Bought our first accessory but I think it might be too high! It is so clean though...couldn't
let it go!

Till later..Matt

 

[who?]

Been busy!!

Got married in September!!

There was only one kind of transport that would suit!!!!!

So things on the bus have taken a back step over the summer, but I have managed to get down the lock up this week.

This little area needed sorting. This is following accident damage I found under the inch of filler!

To get this far took a lot of pushing and pulling. Its all good metal and bent right out of shape. The outer skin is only tacked for now but the lines down the side line up really well.
Just hope I can be patient enough to go slow welding it in and not distort it too much!

The long panel is next in line, once the strengthening bar is straightened out!

The front valance was cut out last week. I am waiting on panels to come from C+C!
Gonna make up the outer steps from 1.5mm steel! They should last a while then.

 

[cyberdyne systems]

Nice progress, this is going to turn out well! Oh and congrats on the wedding!!!

Gareth

 

[who?]

Nice progress, this is going to turn out well! Oh and congrats on the wedding!!!

Gareth

Thankyou!

Hope to get down the lock up on Sunday and finish spotting in the side panels.

Will take the camera!

Matt

 

[windsurfer]

Nice Westy Dude, cool wedding pics too. I love the Split pick up, sweet :mrgreen:

 

[who?]

Nice Westy Dude, cool wedding pics too. I love the Split pick up, sweet :mrgreen:

Thanks mate! Hoping to have her rolling by the spring!

 

[who?]

So after spotting in the side I checked all things look straight - well at least straighter than when I started!

And tried to take my time welding the panel in!

Then I had a go at the wheel arch from the top.

The underside needs a bit of fettling, thats because I am using 1.5mm thick steel and not a repro panel of lesser thickness I suppose.

Then I mocked up the side support which also needs some work due to the new arch being slightly out of shape but hey ho! Purists will not see it - I hope! :roll:

Till next time, if I can get away from customers it will be 2mora !!

 

[who?]

Been busy over the last few days, thought it about time for an update!

The side panels I picked up from Bus freeze were, lets say poor!! They needed a lot of work to get anywhere near the shape I needed. The joint pressings were non existent and the sill panel was straight instead if slightly curved. So almost a day of work bending and shaping, then giving up! I went back the next day with renewed optimism and got it as close as I could!

I welded in the panel, then one of my mates turned up and pointed out that I should have only tacked it in and then removed it and welded the two panels together first before final fitting.....I could see what he meant straight away!! That is the pleasure of learning from scratch I suppose.

We used a round and a square metal bar as the formers and beat the hell out of it!

Pic is crap but with a skim of filler this will turn out ok.


Next we turned our attention to the front panel, *I have been putting this bit off as I was totally lost as to how to start. With more help from friends we bare metaled the panel to see where the damage really was. Then out came the cutting disc and more metal was removed!!

The inner box section was in a bad state, I had already got hold of an inner valance repair panel and we took our time to get it to slot in...Big Thanks JB!

Seen from the underside it fits well.

My next step is to clean up the front of the chassis legs and the areas around it ready for welding this section in. we then hope to make up the new sections to replace some of the metal either side of this panel. Then the steps can go in and finally the front cab floor sections!

Whilst on this subject - Has anyone got a pair of OG lower outer front step sections for sale?

Inner arch repairs taking shape - my confidence has improved during this rebuild and stuff that would have phased me seems a lot easier now!

Roll on my next workshop day!!

Matt

 

[who?]

Some more pics from the last couple of weeks.......

Also got some pics from earlier last year that my mate had stored on his camera!

This is kinda the look am going for....great inspiration for me, whoever's Westy this is???

 

[crewsader]

 

[who?]

Been busy again so....sorry about the last couple of threads...things got a bit outa hand!!

I was faced with this on both sides..

So after a lot of searching I managed to pick up a non matching pair of original cuts at dubfreeze. I had to buy the whole dogleg...whats left is in my for sale thread.

The floor sections had been made up a while ago but I didn't want to put them in until i had worked out how the steps would fit. I thought it might have been useful for access. I decided that leaving them out might make the panel too prone to movement after all that, so they were welded in first...

I cut out the section I needed from the replacement step and measured, then measured, then measured! Then out with the cutting disc...

Then transposed this over to the bus..

Then with a lot of massaging and filing I ended up with the end result...and quite chuffed how they have turned out...much better than any repro panel would have looked and really solid too...

Won't take much now to get them perf!