Air Cooled Rookie
Well-known member
I've owned my van for about 16 years now, but after the last two attempted camping trips ended up with us being brought back on the back of a back down wagon, in June 2016 I just stuck it in the garage and tried to pretend it didn't exist. By October of the same year I came to the conclusion that I had lost my van mojo for good and that I'd stick 12 months MoT on it and sell it to someone who'd enjoy it. A quick poke round and I assessed that it needed a new front arch, a patch welded to one of the jacking points and a windscreen washer nozzle and it would go through the test with no problem. It turned out I was being incredibly optimistic :50: :50: :50:
I started cutting the off side front arch off and replace it with one I'd bought a year or so previously when I was feeling flush (Cross over front arches are NOT cheap!).
It became clear that the inner arch and seat belt mount had had it so I got busy with the angle grinder again.
The more I cut out, the more rust I found, the B post outer panel and inner sill clearly needed work. I was beginning to realise that this was not going to be a quick job.
I started cutting the off side front arch off and replace it with one I'd bought a year or so previously when I was feeling flush (Cross over front arches are NOT cheap!).
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/b32/b3210ed6c408eda9596ba2b32fde9b93.jpg)
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/c30/c30fc37df1bffe2b3faae3a218e6b85a.jpg)
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/e44/e4488ba1ce2373b538dae4af92d84223.jpg)
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/02b/02b644cd171bc475ed569ab33a6663c9.jpg)
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/9d1/9d133e95cfebab311e73d413d9ce9d8f.jpg)
It became clear that the inner arch and seat belt mount had had it so I got busy with the angle grinder again.
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/f2e/f2e263a8a82b6bfc6dac3498162b48c4.jpg)
![](https://proxy.imagearchive.com/61b/61b6e3c1628c106ac724bed96b53e5dc.jpg)
The more I cut out, the more rust I found, the B post outer panel and inner sill clearly needed work. I was beginning to realise that this was not going to be a quick job.