rusty old nail to sow's ear

[sparkywig]

Oh yes! What about the rear corner and roof?





Fresh air grille just filled over as well!



If you look carefully you can see van crying with relief :wink:

 

[bananacustard]

Parts of it do resemble a grey Christmas cake. Did the previous owner use icing sugar :shock: ?
Well done you for taking it on.

 

[sparkywig]

Completed the stripping out.
Bought a breathable cover from JK, so I don't have to put the van back together completely every time.
Bit the bullet today, and the credit card just ordered a welder.
Going to be an experience that's for sure.

 

[Guest]

Stripped out scabby diy interior and binned that.

then polystyrene insulation and tinfoil stuck to every panel and the floor.

quick tip, if you've got insulation behind your panels, check it once a year or the condensation will rot your van from the inside.

I've got a willing helper at the moment, but can't get her to weld yet.

Not to exciting yet, got to replace both front arches and seatbelt location points to get MOT, and then I'll be able to drive to and from mate's workshop.
This arch is the better of the two.

At least I've got the rear lights in and working.
Wife wants the van painted the colour coming through the primer on the engine cover.

Oh yes! What about the rear corner and roof?

Fresh air grille just filled over as well!

If you look carefully you can see van crying with relief

Looks like someone went a bit nutts with the filler... :shock: you have alot of sanding to do.

i added some images tags, im too lazy to open new windows

 

[sparkywig]

Won't be sanding for a while.
This van hasn't had much tlc over the last few years, I'm the 14th owner so far.
But I'm going to do this keeper properly.
Going to take it slow and steady, and replace as much metal as it needs.
Probably spend much much more time and money than I want, and the wife will ever know about. :wink:

 

[easy]

Won't be sanding for a while.
This van hasn't had much tlc over the last few years, I'm the 14th owner so far.
But I'm going to do this keeper properly.
Going to take it slow and steady, and replace as much metal as it needs.
Probably spend much much more time and money than I want, and the wife will ever know about. :wink:

I can here myself in that statement :wink: lets hope she never finds out the full extent :wink:

 

[sparkywig]

Wife found the new welder in the garage today.
Took a bit of quick talking to get out of that one I can tell you.

Try to get horn and brake lights working tomorrow, and then start welding practice.

 

[sparkywig]

Progress report.
Got brake lights, side lights, main and dip beam working.
Got original horn working
Now booked in for MOT.
Started collection of parts, complete offside rear corner cut, front arches, and then got distracted with buying a pair of opening front quarter lights and have my eye on a set of BRM's.
Nothing like buying the important bits first, eh? :wink:
Van leaks like a sieve though holes in roof over rear cargo door, so this is the only sign of progress at the moment.



Still stops the neighbours complaining.

 

[surfbus]

Good luck with the restoration! A lot of work! :shock:

 

[sparkywig]

Sure is, but I'd only waste my money otherwise. :mrgreen:

 

[tintintin]

Nice one mate,

Wife found the new welder in the garage today.
Took a bit of quick talking to get out of that one I can tell you.

Good luck! and remember, it's always just borrowed from a mate, or second hand, never bought new...

 

[T2-Nate]

How do you guys come up with the wad of cash needed for panels 'n stuff anyway?
If my girlfriend hadn't co-funded the project I wouldn't have been able to start it!
For panels alone I've paid close to 1000 EUR.
Not to mention the welder, a few thousand cutting discs, same amount of grinders :?

I guess I'd better start a second job or something? :lol: :lol:

 

[sparkywig]

Hooray, the covers off, BRM's on.



Managed to get 195/60/15's on the back, fitted OK on the off-side, but needed the grinder to remove the 2 arches, yes 2, on the near-side. :shock:
Just need to get the arches done, replace the rear corner and front panel, get the doors to fit properly, stop the roof leaking, get rid of the s*it primer

 

[sparkywig]

Bit of a better view from here.
Just need some arch cuts, and then the fun begins. Can't wait.

 

[sparkywig]

Right then, van is now down at my mate's workshop. At last, work has now commenced on the restoration.



Car on the other ramp is a Porsche 924 Le Mans. 8)
More pics to follow when I can upload them.

 

[sparkywig]

An expensive pile of scrap, sorry, new panels.



I thought it was fairly sound on the chassis front, but......

OSF chassis leg








New handmade chassis leg repair section (not by me of course)

 

[sparkywig]

OSF chassis leg finished

 

[sparkywig]

OSF chassis leg finished.





Thought I'd see what this was hiding



Not as bad as I thought







The po must have had shares in a filler company

 

[sparkywig]

OK then. Right, onto the suspension travel or lack of it. The po had wound the rear down 3 splines, and the front to match, which is why it was such a bugger to get the wheels on and off, and such a bitch to drive on anything not surfaced like a snooker table. So back up a spline on the back and matched on the front.
From this



to this




Hmmm, must do something about those arches

 

[Tofufi]

A lot of work to do there!

Can't wait to see it around Bristol 8)