Repair Panel advice please

[NickJ]

I'm about to make my first repair panel for the cab floor over the wheel arch next to the drivers seat, I'm planning to buy some 1mm steel sheet to use, Is this the best thickness to do this job ? Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks Nick.

 

[Cali_bay]

Hi,

Sorry if I have got the wrong end of the stick, but would it not be easier to buy a repair panel and use the whole thing or cut out the sections you need and weld them in place. At least then it would look more stock and would save a hell of a load of fabrication work?

 

[NickJ]

Hi, no you have got the right end but my problem is that I need a bigger repair than the standard seat belt mounting repair panel and I don't want (to mean :lol: ) to spend £70 on the complete wheel arch panel which I don't need most of. I think the metal I'm replacing is a flat panel, so I don't need to worry about any pressings.
It looks a fairly straight forward repair so maybe a good one for me to start out on and if you knew my van you would understand why I'm not getting too hung up on originality :lol:
Cheers Nick.

 

[faux]

if you knew my van you would understand why I'm not getting too hung up on originality :lol:
Cheers Nick.

:roll: Nice to hear you are having a go your self...shame the bus has had a lot of metal work in the past but get it on the road and enjoy.

 

[NickJ]

Hi Jon, I'll try to get some pics on the "Moose" thread tomorrow, it's all part of the fun of owning an old VW :lol:

 

[Cali_bay]

Nick,

I tend to agree, if theres not too much rot and the area is flat it's just as easy to make a repair piece. I'm not extact sure of the thickness, but I think it is less than 1mm. :?:

When I needed a small amount of sheet metal, I went to a local sheet metal works and scrounged a a bit. Got it FOC. Even if you have to pay, it's probably less than you could buy it from a wholesaler.

Cheers,

Si

 

[NickJ]

Cheers Si,

I'm going to try to get some tomorrow, see if I could do a deal on some off cuts as I don't need too much. If I can get 1mm then it will prob help my novice welding :roll:

 

[faux]

Hi Jon, I'll try to get some pics on the "Moose" thread tomorrow, it's all part of the fun of owning an old VW :lol:

No, the joys of owning an old VW is waking up in the back at 6am with a major hang over :mrgreen: Well that is what tends to happen in mine.

Good luck with the welding and Si is right get down to local fabricators they will have loads of scrap about, goo to practice on too. And get a auto darkening visor....it makes all the difference.

Jon

 

[NickJ]

I've got a borrowed mig and auto tint helmet but on the look out to buy my own set up, if anyone knows of one cheapish :wink:

 

[faux]

http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/_W0QQ_dmptZUKQ5fCarsPartsQ5fVehiclesQ5fCarPartsQ5fSMQQ_fromZR46?_nkw=sip+130&_sacat=0&_fromfsb=&_trksid=m270.l1313&_odkw=headrest+land+rover&_osacat=0#item110296406819" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Keep an eye on Ebay, i have one of these, very cheap but only good for the thin stuff.

 

[NickJ]

Cheers Jon.

 

[angus]

Hi Nick,
I am doing exactly the job you are about to do!
I bought myself a Clarke Pro 90 Gas MIG welder, after reading some good advice on a welding forum. Cost about £130, and good enough for what I need to do, which is keep my van on the road - not doing a full restro, but want to either go back and fix stuff properly that I did years ago, or nip patches of rust/holes in the bud before the winter salting starts. I had a Handymate I bought from Halfords about 10 years ago - gasless. Thsi new welder is SO much easier to use, but I am still very much a beginner!!
I have bought a few panels, and used sheet for the rest. Got the sheet from the place I got the welder from - B&Q also sell smallish sheets of 1mm steel if you can;t find a local fabricator.
I bought 2 seat-belt mount repair panels. I then had to weld in a strip along the inner edge of the wheel arch - the flat bit. Went in ok. Also need to do the 'corner' where the wheel arch drops down and meets the cab floor, and I have used folded sheet for that, although you can get panels. I opted not to get these, as I only needed about 20% of the metal. I have decided to do a few patches on the cab floor itself, but again opted out of buying a repair panel, as it is only very small areas that need doing. Means I may lose some portions of the lozenge shaped pressings, but only the very ends of one or two. I'll never sell my van so not massively precious about using pre-pressed repair panels, although in some cases I can see the advantage. I was put off after looking at a few arch mouldings that you can buy from most retailers - everyone was different, so have decided to patch my good german metal rather than replace all. I will, however, use a new 'inner' step repair panel, as mine have long gone - in fact I don't think I ever saw them!
I have taken some pictures - I'll post some, with the usual cavitar (sp!) that I am a beginner welder!!! It isn't prefect (although it has cleaned up ok) and I know some of the work done by guys posting here with more patience than I, is far superior! Everyone has different circumstances - be it time, garage space, finances, skills or patience.

 

[angus]

This is the thread I started a few weeks ago, asking similar questions to you, with a few pics:
http://forum.earlybay.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9506&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

 

[NickJ]

Hi Angus,
It's nice to hear what someone else is doing about the same sort of problem, I was fitting new seat belts for the MOT and thought it looked a little uneven under the black underseal stuff so did a bit of digging with a screwdriver, which started to go through :shock:
So out came the angle grinder to attack the seam sealer, filler, underseal & rust.
I've started to cut this out now

 

[angus]

Here are some of my pics:

This was the problem:

Used a repair panel - but actually cut it down quite a bit to avoid the seat mount bracket, and as I didn't need it all - for the other side, I may well use almost the whole panel, as I ended up welding new sheet up to the cut down piece anyway, if you see what I mean. Added another patch to fill the other whole in the corner.

As I said - beginner welding ahead!! It has actually gorund down quite well - I wanted a solid weld for this area, but looking at many other threads, it seems that 'spot welding' is actually fine for many areas. Helps reduce heat distortion aswell....

This was another piece I cut out to replace - it is actually an area we repaired over 10 years ago - as you can see, the old man who was helping me then welded a bent piece of sheet over the holes - it has worked fine, but obviously leaves a jagged mess under the van - this is what I cut out:

I fashioned up a rough piece of 1mm sheet to weld in, and joggled the edges. As I am learning all the time (and gradually finding other excellent threads for reference!) I will do it differently on the other side - I've ordered those little clamps from Frosts so that I can try some flush, butt welding - which should be neater.

And in position:

Have used zinc primer before welding. Again, its gone in ok (no pics just yet)

 

[NickJ]

Nice one Angus, I'm still at the Pidgeon dropping welding stage, although dropped quite lucky yesterday I went to see a friend who runs a small garage to see where he got his steel from and he offered to give me a welding lesson and said I could have some of his off cuts to make the repair patches. 8) So with a bit of luck by next weekend my welding should be much better.
I could have taken the van to him as he is very good and very competitively priced but the whole point was to try and do as much myself at home as possible, even if it does take about 10 times longer :lol:

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

With the cab floor repair, I wouldn't be to keen on joggling those edges as A) the repair will stand out and B) there is a gap for the moisture to get between. Personally I would have butt welded these. If you've welded this plate in already I'd recommend spraying it with a zinc primer, and then using seam sealer on both sides of the repair.

With the spot welding, granted there are some cases where you can get away with it but it's usually better to seam weld it. All too often you will see a crack line on vans 6 inches above the arch where someone has spotted a repair arch on and all the filler has cracked.

The welding doesn't look too bad, just had another look at my welding on my resto thread from last year, makes me cringe! :lol:

 

[angus]

Agree about the butt welding - other side will be, when I get the clamps. I may yet go back and re-do this side.
Repair is pretty flush actually, helped by where it is - small amount of filler blends in....sprayed with zinc primer before and after, and will be using seam sealer aswell. All this may well be cut out and replaced with new 'old' arches anyway!!

Excellent thread by the way Prof. - I read it all a few weeks ago, so I can blame you for me trying all this stuff out!! :lol:

 

[ProfessorWheeto]

:lol: Well its the only way to learn, and as you've said if your not happy you can always chop it out and have another go.
Which is probably a good thing because you'll get to know every inch of your van and if something isn't right it'll bug you.
Unfortunately for me I've got to concentrate on getting the engine sorted out before I can go stripping it all down and redoing bits again :lol:

You should start your own resto thread, its a nice moral boost to be able to look back at your progress