Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Managed to clean up and get a coat of priner on the repairs... still some seam sealer to go on, but that is pretty much it for this wheel arch. I have found a couple more holes in he floor that need sorting too tho...

anyway, some pictures:

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Going to have to have a little break working on the van while I do a little bit of workshop re configuration to gain a new mezzanine floor, then it will be onto the same on the otherside....

cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Just a quick update - sadly with no progress I am afraid! Will be getting back into sorting the offside in a couple of weeks time... Slightly dreading what I am going to find when I take the interior out in order to do the off-side sill replacement, along with all the same wheel arch/seatbelt mount and step repairs I have done on this side...
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

Plasticman
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by Plasticman »

where the arch joins at the top to B post there is a line of 4 plug spots, ? did you add a bit to the rear of this to carry the arch itself
mm

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Mike,

Yes, I did - When trying to separate the arch from the B-post, I ended up punching several holes through the B-post skin - mostly as a result of not understanding how it went together - braise rather than weld.

Rather than butt weld the new section into the b-post, and attempt to retain with the step where the wing sits, I made the repair section long and ran it up behind the existing skin, and puddle welded through. This gave me the offset to allow the wing to sit flush - at least that was the theory...

Image

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Image

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Cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

Plasticman
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by Plasticman »

ah never saw that.... yep thats fine, much harder to do with a mig but its good and strong and to be honest there wouldnt really be a better way
mm

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Much appreciated Mike :ok
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

So, its been a while... Over a year since I actually did anything on the van...

But I finally managed to stockpile sufficient enthusiasm and time to spend some time on it... so figured it was time to resurrect this thread.

First thing was to clean all the pigeon muck off the van, as some had taken to nesting in the roof of my workshop last spring, and were back again this year. The birds have now been dis-suaded and the holes in the roof blocked so hopefully it will stay clean. The van however rewarded me for ignoring it by not starting - see thread on starter motors...

Anyway, van duly pushed out, pressure washed, and pushed back into the workshop for more attention. Bird muck now gone, and even some of the flaky blue paint removed too. Grand.

So, First thing to do was finish off fixing the passenger side - Step and wheel arch pretty much complete, just a couple of holes in the floor to do:

This is what it ended up like with a bit of primer on:
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Welds only roughly cleaned up as they will be under the mat, so never seen.

Forgot to take a picture of before, so here is one with the bits I cut out:
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and how it came out underneath:
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Some seam sealer and top coat and all good I think.

Not much progress, but I thought it might be worth adding how I made the repair sections.

Making such a small fold is actually quite difficult, moreso when you factor in that there is another one very quickly to form the channel.
I ended up making a form tool for the small flypress I found in the scrapyard late last year:

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Please excuse the state of my bench...

The tool looks like this:
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It is essentially just a piece of 25mm x 5mm thick flat bar that presses the new steel between to other pices of the same material. The same could be achieved in a vice or using other forming methods. I thought it quite lilkey that I would find other bits of floor in a similar state so didn't mind spending the time making the tool.

It comes out like this:
Image

So, next is up I am going to attack the driver side step, and wheel arch. Hopefully the next update wont take a year to materialise....
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

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mrhutch
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by mrhutch »

good work, very impressed. Love the forming tool.

What MIG setup do you run >
1981 Vanagon Westy Burning oil as fuel...  

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Thanks :)

My mig is a 175A Butters machine. I bought it on eBay about 13 years ago, where it had been listed as a musical instrument! The chap I bought it from said it had been made with an overspecced transformer specifically for doing bodywork. I have no reason to doubt/believe it but it has always done everything I have asked of it. I have welded the chassis on buses (the passenger carrying variety - my dad restores them) and winch bumpers for land rovers, as well as lighter bodywork stuff on discoveries, range rovers and now the van...

All the welding on this has been on the lowest setting, using 0.6mm wire and Argoshield light gas.

Cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

crazymilk
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by crazymilk »

Great work
Mine need doing but I am very nervous to give it a go, I might bite the bullet and get the pro's to do it!!
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stys0n84
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by stys0n84 »

Great thread. Will be a big help for me as ive just bought a bus that is going to need similar work and i'm papping myself now! I've convinced myself welding and body repair is easy by watching too much 'wheeler dealers' This looks very hard *gulp*

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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by Plasticman »

Wheelers are idiots and they hodge or should I say they have folk that bidge fir them :lol:
mm
Post up some picks of yours

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Another update... bank holiday weekends were made for working on vans, clearly...

So, having got the passenger side basically done, time to rinse, repeat and do it all over again on the drivers side.

With the Mat in place, it all looks reasonably innocent:
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Horrors hidden under the mat, tho:
Image

From the top, this corner didn't look too bad, but underneath it clearly needs to come out:
Image

Quite a lot to come out in fact, and curves in every direction... odd considering this is a square van:
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Some metal bashed about, and let back in. Done in two sections rather than 3, as per the original, but I am happy that its OK:
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Cutting rot out of the front of the step, only revealed a stealth hole in the chassis member:
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This got patched up, which I know is less than ideal, but sufficient for this van:
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Then, cut the rest out - quite a big hole really...
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Quite a lot of metal removed from the replacement panel, but probably still worth buying to get the curved sections. The upright section at the front edge was another curved pain in the backside to get right, but it seemed to come out ok in the end:
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Still need to do the section at the back of the step, coming up into the wheel arch, and then dress back to look acceptable, but that was where I got to at the end of the weekend.
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

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volks_womble
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by volks_womble »

Whilst I haven't quite finished the step, and still have the Seatbelt mount to do, here is a preview of the horrors to come...

Me, and the screwdriver of doom started exploring the B-Post and driver side sill.

The B-post looks OK-ish. Certainly a lot better that the other side going up. I will however reserve final judgement for later.
Image

the base however, after initial investigation will need attention:
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Further screwdriver of doom action reveals it will need a reasonable amount of attention:
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bottom of wing/b-post - most of this will have to come off:
Image

inside jacking point - the base of the b-post has rotted out completely. This seems to be part of the inner sill, which was already on the cards to be replaced.
Image

Someone has been here before... this repair is somewhat special. I truly hope no-one paid any money for it.
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The outer sill is properly knackered up behind the 'repair':
Image

So, hold tight, we will be in for an inner and outer sill replacement, as well as some panel work here...

I have one of the schofields inner sill panels, and when measured it appears to be a complete sill - going underneath both B and C posts, which is good. I had feared that it was designed to just tie into the two chassis outriggers, rather than go fully under the pillars. I also have one of the combined repair panels for the outside - the one for a lhd van with the b-post cover on, as it was all that was available at the time. I think I may well scrap that and invest in the proper panels as has been done on this excellent thread recently: T25 Trident 1991 It sounds like I also need a 'sill kit'...

Cheers
Mark
1989 1.9TDI (AFN) California
1990 2.1MV Syncro Atlantic

Plasticman
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Re: Rust repairs on our van - all the usual places!

Post by Plasticman »

Look up ,sunnyvagon for what's entailed
mm

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