Rusty Westy - My Diary

[si macc]

I've just spent the last 1/2 hour reading through your post. It's truely inspirational! I'm in the process of (slowly) getting my westy sorted, have just bought a welder and going to learn to sort the bodywork. Will definitely be using this as a guide. Have been painting some rusty interior bits in my temporary garage (gazebo in garden....), wish I had a garage : (

[16vmini]

quick rattle can spray job on the grill ... all the time i could find to work on the bus this week.... (really trying to find time to mod and repair the sliding door runner

top one done
http://www.teamorchard.co.uk/wp-content ... 017401.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

both painted :

http://www.teamorchard.co.uk/wp-content ... 017421.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

as allways .. you make one part nicer .. it just makes everything else look worse ! lol

[16vmini]

Finally got some time today to set about repairing the sliding door runner channel ( was rusty all behind it , could see into the car ) even the kids where complaining of a draft ! lol

Also wanted to mod the swinging arm thats on the door to give me more clearance on the alloys ( door scrapes alloys at the moment ) .. but never got time to do that in the end....

started by drilling out the spot welds for the runner ...as i plan to re-use this ( allthough now its off , its quite bad ) .. as i am not sure if you can buy them ??



once removed it was time to start cutting the rot out , inner and outer wing had gone !



close up



all the rot cut out now


pic of the back of the runner channel , very pitted with rust


first the inner wing repair peice


fully welded and some primer on it


then cut a peice out of my left over tail gate :


starting to tack it in , aint going to win no competitions ....


blurred pic of it fully welded , just needs grinding down , but its late so will wait till tommorow .


then its back on with the runner (modded for to take the longer swinging arm thats needed to clear wheels)

[Cyrus]

Thanks for the sliding door repair, ill be doing mine in the future (not a priority tho)
At least I can see what's going to be behind the runner and how far to plan. Great work!

[16vmini]

Thanks for the sliding door repair, ill be doing mine in the future (not a priority tho)
At least I can see what's going to be behind the runner and how far to plan. Great work!

more pics on my site , http://www.teamorchard.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; , there might be some close up shots

Matt

[16vmini]

ok , with most of the inner and outer wing repaired . it was time to get on with the sliding door mod , to alloy more clearance to the alloys ( well to give it clearance ! )

first thing was to chop old arm in half


i then slotted both ends to alloys a 6mm bit of steel to slot in , .. did not want a clean join


then welded together , while strapped to angle.


the then filled the gaps with more metal , ground down and sprayed black



not perfect .. but will do ....

then i had to mod the runner by the same amount i had extended the arm by


i tell you what took me the longest time , was getting the spring back on the sliding door arm !! spent an hour cursing and swearing with a screw driver in the heat !!
so thought sod it , make a tool to do it ! , no CNC / CAD for me ....



it worked ! sure someone will tell me now there is a simple way of doing it ! LOL ... tool for hire now if anyone needs it ! LOL

Cleaned up runner tacked back on :



and my new clearance ! , i only went for about 25mm in the end .. did not want to much.. now i can sort the cambert


gave it a bath .. lots of dust on it ... off to windsor tommorow .. wife doing a tri-athlon !


again .. more photos/details on http://www.teamorchard.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[16vmini]

well , it got to camperjam and back .. extra delay because of the m25 must fit a 2nd temp gauge so i know what the real temp is , worried it was over heating.
but no signs..

but decided to wire in a radiator fan override switch to the dash , so i can now hear what the fan sounds like when running , and i can hear it ! . which means the fan has NEVER kicked in yet since buying the car ..good or bad not sure

one more panel to replace , the rear wing .. well i say that .. sure i will find more

then re-spray .. allthough france next month .. so time to give it a service i think

Matt

[16vmini]

just wired my power steering relay into the blue charge lamp wire behind dash ... dont know why i never did it in the first place.

not the buzzing that anoys the wife so much when i turn my ignition key on has gone

Matt

[16vmini]

getting closer to our trip to france , 7 days to go !

been ordering a few bits , toilet , 12v fan , hazard triangle , hi vis vest etc ....

also picked up a fiamma caravanstore awning , now as i found out this is not a simple fit on a Westy high top ... but being a cheapskate , i thought i would try and make a bracket to mount a C channel to , which the awning then hangs on ...

this is how far i got , needs some paint and the c channel put on ...







also bought the gas strut kit that is sold on Samba , so that might arrive before we go away.

Oil change at the weekend , did brakes last weekend ...

[16vmini]

got the C channel fitted , what a pain !! bolted it all the way through the box section in the end :



and now the caravanstore awning attached ! :



now if anyone wants me to make them one. .. dont ask ! LOL
just buy a f35 etc..

had a fuse keep blowing . its the one that powers the cigi and the rear inside lights ... traced it to the wire that runs over the door .. bugger !!
so i ran a new wire behind the fridge and up the wardrobe to the lights .. at least they run of the leisure battery now !!

still got to make a bog box ... i will buy a proper one , but for now will use an old wardrobe

[16vmini]

two days to go before big trip

oil change today , all seemed to go well ...defo got some small oil leaks .. but nothing major
water levels staying good as well

fixed washer bottle pipe ...

then onto somthing that i have allways thought about doing , having an out side table :



small clamp that bolts to the jacking point, then the table from inside can be pulled out for outside use....

we shall see how well it goes.

then also spent a few hours making a bog box out of an old wadrobe ... not to bad if i do say so myself ....



used old curtain for top cover , and some layers of carpet for a cusion



bog is quite snug , so might be a little hassle lifting it out when full but it cost me nothing .... so lets give it a go...

[16vmini]

i will be updating my website once a night , http://www.teamorchard.co.uk" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

also you can follow me on twitter if anyone cares http://www.twitter.com/16vmini" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Mickyfin]

Inspirational Matt, just tweeted you as it happens

[16vmini]

around 1000 miles later we are back from our french trip !! bus ran smooth , no faults .. allthough was VERY slow up allot of the hills

Matt

[ricicles]

love the table