Robsey's Rusty Wreck.

[Robsey]

More new parts...
There is a lot of work to do, so I got 2 litres of etch primer.

Troy wanted to try this one....


Also arriving in time for the weekend, we have the blower motor and the heater-box foam kit.
(Something for the weekend Sir?).





I have already 'split' the heater box casing ready for work to begin.

[Robsey]

As promised -
With a mostly dry Sunday, I was able to strip, wash and partially refurb the heater box assembly.

Before - wearing 30-odd years of dust and rust





An array of parts to be cleaned, painted and refurbed.



A nice clean heater box casing.



The heater matrix appears to be in reasonable condition so is going to be refitted.
Along with the new motor.

The motor and matrix installed complete with new foam insulation.



I was impressed with the fit of the Brickwerks foam strips.

It appears that the heater box has been opened up before by someone called "RL".
Unfortunately one of the plastic baffle foam-retainers is missing.

I have loosely assembled the box for now.

I will need to borrow a foam punch from work, so that I can assemble the foam strips onto the baffles.

[Robsey]

Week fourteen.

A pleasant evening in a few ways.
Firstly, by sheer luck, I found the missing baffle foam-retainer in a bag full of parts in the van.
So it must have fell out of the blower casing a long time ago.

Saves me making another, as they have not been available to buy for a very long time.

Secondly a bit more progress on the van itself.

I made a piece to repair the B post lower section. The rear corners had quite large radii, so I formed the metal sheet around a round torx key shank, up against the bender stop.

The square-ish "U" shaped piece to the right.


I was pleased to find that it did not need much tweaking to make it fit.

The forward b post panel that was made last week was screwed back into place, and then welded.

Here is an action shot of the forward facing panel being spot-welded in place.



Any gaps or tricky bits were plug or seam welded into place.





Before you know it, it was 12:45 am.

There is just the forward corner of the B post to finish, before the wheel arch can be fitted.

The bottom piece can go in any time after that.

[Robsey]

The heater blower is now assembled complete.

Flaps rust treated and painted.



Flaps all assembled.
I made sure that the foam and retainer plates were not going to come loose.
I evo-stik'ed them in place.



Motor wired up ready for the PWM module.



The casing fully assembled to the heater control levers.



What is odd, is that the my heater box does not resemble any assemblies in Haynes nor the various Youtube videos.

This flap assembly is mounted differently to the equivalents on all other vans that I have seen.

[Robsey]

Although not bodywork, I managed to sort the blower motor control - Similar to CovKid's pwm thread.

No pictures means it never happened.

So here it is after I fitted the last of the exterior foam seals.

https://youtu.be/H4rfR-PjSRI

[Robsey]

Week Sixteen...

An evening of mixed emotions.
Mainly anger and frustration with myself.

Before anything could be welded in place, it was necessary to re-hang the front left cab door.

I bolted the door in place, with Troy's help.
Then it was found that the door's window frame was distorted. (Bent rearward).



This is where Troy's experience kicked in.
It was he who said that the lower part of the 'a' post (door frame) had crept forwards - assuming that I had cut too much panel work out.

To remedy this, he got a chunk of sturdy wood and wedged this between the a post and the front deformation member.
A total movement of about 15mm.

We then persuaded the window frame forwards.. me levering the rear edge of the frame, and Troy hammering a wooden drift forwards inside the top front corner of the window frame.



A huge sigh of relief.

Troy happily teased me because he felt that I had been whining that nothing would fit.
It was probably due to my frustration at my own stupidity.

About 8 weeks ago, I had jacked up the front corner of the van to strip out the suspension leg.
What I hadn't realised is that the door had been leaning against the front of the van and when I lowered the van onto the axle stand, the door had got trapped under the van's upper front panel.
Bugger!!

The van door leaning against the nose of the van - a disaster waiting to happen...

[Robsey]

Then to brace the A post to the main front-to-back chassis beam, it was agreed to tack in the diagonal cross member.

Bizarrely the bolt hole on the 'original' VW repair panel was nowhere near the hole in the a post.



The correct position should have been the upper of the two pre-drilled holes.

As you can see he had to drill a new hole through the diagonal outrigger.

Oddly - a look at the original piece that I had cut away a few weeks ago, showed that the newly-drilled bolt hole location was roughly correct after all.

Whilst still applying some leverage between the deformation member (bumper bar) and the diagonal outrigger, the outrigger was tacked into place.





Finally the door was checked for fit and slightly adjusted.
Not bad at all, and thankfully the door was not scrapped by my clumsiness.





So again, I took up all of Troy's time on the van, rather than letting him progress with his own work.

Sorry fella.

[Robsey]

Progress has been slow, but there has been progress.

So what have we been up to.?
Week Nineteen.

With the arrival of a new inner sill, it was decreed that I would cut out the old one, which was completely rotten.

Here is what is left of the three sill layers.
(Under the sliding door aperture).



The rear end was buried inside a box type enclosure against the rear jacking point.

I managed to get the sill off, but I have several hours of cutting and grinding to do, to clear the the old inner sill and intermediate floor skin away from the door step.
This will provide clean metal for the new sill to be welded onto.



To improve visibility and access, the rusty sliding door was removed.
---------------------------------

Troy spent about an hour finishing off the bottom B post, and then trial fitted the wheel arch.



There are still some tweaks to get it all to sit right.

[Robsey]

I have also had chance to strip out the wiper assembly.
Amazingly the motor is not seized, but the mountings needed a good clean up.
Whilst I was at it, I also cleaned and painted the heater panel controls.

I stripped the wiper linkage from the pivots, so that I could clean them up,
Rust treat, primer and paint them up ready for reassembly.



Using my outdoor workbench of course. (Wheelie bin).

Then I did the same for the heater controls.

[Dazco]

Looking good

[300CE]

Cracking work there chap

[Robsey]

Thank-you for your kind words, but I feel that I am not really that worthy.

I am very clearly a complete novice, but enjoying plugging away at the bodywork.
-------------------------------

Hey Dazco,
I have been looking at your work in progress starting 2012.
About the same time I inherited my project, but of course I took far too long to knuckle down. - eight years in fact.
Fascinating reading - many thanks.

[Dazco]

Thanks Robsey, I'm planning on doing doing some bodywork on it next year and we have plans to re trim the interior.
I did all the bodywork repairs and re paint outside ( no option) and unfortunately that allowed some moisture to carry on the slow rusting process.
I also found that the rustoleum paint has gone very brittle over the years , seems to chip very easily.
As a result I might spray it next time.
The two rear side windows are going to be plated over as well as we always have the thermal blinds up and the curtains closed.
Lots of plans .
We have had loads of fantastic holidays in the van though so far, lakes, north Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dale's, Norfolk, Cornwall, France, Belgium and got as far as Amsterdam.
Looking forward to many more ( power steering may be looked into ).
Keeping a close eye on your endeavors

[Robsey]

Week 20...

The grinding and peeling off of the last remnants of the inner sill and floor panel edge strip was finally completed -
A week earlier than I expected.

Nothing worth photographing, so no pictures.

Goes to show that progress can be made if I just focus and get on with it.
--------------------------------
Part way through the evening, I needed a break from the van floor, so I moved my attention to the rollers and locking parts of the sliding door for about an hour.

Main middle roller


Bottom Roller




All very scanky and rusty.
Major clean and overhaul needed.

Rear catch mechanism.


After watching a youtube video, I realised that my main remote lock unit was broken.
A common weak spot on the early doors.

This will need cleaning and welding.




Lots of degreaser / parrafin / white spirit will be needed, before painting and reassembly of all the separate parts - I think.

All bagged up ready for stripping and cleaning this weekend.

[Robsey]

Here we go, my homework in progress.
Some before and after shots.
Amazingly it was mainly just filth and surface corrosion, so easily stripped and cleaned - sort of.

1 - Bottom arm and rollers.
Before -
Caked in red paint (?) and bathroom sealant (?)



After -
Much cleaner. Not perfect but serviceable.
Will need new rollers and a circlip.



The middle runner and sliding-door hinge.
Before -
The part with all the hooks and roller on was seized solid.
The roller also had a chunk of runner rail rusted into it's grooved profile.



After -
In much better overall fettle, and the roller mount now pivots freely.
That roller still needs replacing... May as well replace the nylon guide block too.



Sliding-door lock remote mechanism.
Before -
Just generally dirty, and that broken plate.



After -
Not much to get access to.
Mainly needs a new lock pin and that metalwork welding.





And finally the locking catch mechanism.
Blimey that spring is fierce.
Before -
As with everything else - mainly just filthy and surface corrosion.



After -
Cleaned and checked over...