Brilliant Orange Project, bodywork advice

[937carrera]

I'm the proud owner of a 1981 2 litre camper which has a few bodywork issues.

There's a good amount of history with the camper, ever since a respray was carried out 10 years ago.

I'm fine on mechanical stuff, but haven't really done much bodywork wise, but have decided to learn some new skills

I'm looking for some advice, essentially about how far to go at this stage and which panels to buy, at least I think that's the sort of help I need. I'm also unsure whether to do a decent strong repair and then use the camper, or if the effort involved in making these repairs is going to be so extensive I may as well continue on and go for a glass out respray to finsh her off properly.

There are four main areas of problems. I'll post some pictures in replies to this build thread for each area

I'll be gratefull for any help and advice that people can contribute while I continue reading up on other peoples projects. From what I have seen the camper is suffering from some of the usual problems

Here's what she looks like at the moment

[937carrera]

First there's the drivers side front wing which has a couple of holes

My starting question is should I use a pattern part or genuine VW. I believe the VW one comes complete with the step and is thicker material, but from what I can see the step seems to be fine.

Firstly, the area that it failed the MOT on



The bottom of the B post



and the front of the wheelarch. The skin of the door looks like it needs a seeing to before it gets worse

[937carrera]

Next we have the offide inner sill.

I set about it with a hammer to dislodge as much of the pure rust as possible. It looks like a repair patch at the front of the inner sill has failed leaving the welds pretty intact



The orange paint appeared when i hammered that section - it actually seems more solid than I expected, or am I deluding myself



Here's a view of the inner / outer sill from the rear



and a general view of the underside which looks in decent shape



For this side of the van I am wondering if a patch made up from the right material will do the job - provided I make sure I get back to good metal at the repair and bare back along the rest of the sills to make sure there are no other issues

[937carrera]

Then the nearside inner sill

This seems worse that the offside, with corrosion present further down the sill close to the outer sill



The large hole is behind a previous repair section which seems intact



again further back, all looks in good shape

[937carrera]

And finally the rear wheelarch which is worse than I thought. I was aware of the seam rash but didn't pick up on the hole in the wheelarch / floor until I pulled off the peeling sealant

Seam rash on the front of the rear wheelarch



and now the rear



I have been told that the best solution here will be to get a complete section from the wheelarch up to the sliding door runners. I think I will also need a repair section for the part behind the wheelarch.

Then there's daylight showing up through the wheelarch. I wasn't expecting this and so don't have any idea if parts are available or need to be custom made. I assumed this would be quite thick material but it seems not



and looking down from above



I assume I should remove part of the interior before I start any cutting / welding so it doesn't set on fire

[Plasticman]

hi
have you read much on here ref all those particular points,and can you weld
lastly we live in a nice big county, whereabouts are you
mm

[937carrera]

Hi mm and thanks for replying ,

I have been reading up on some of the theads about the approach to repairs. I have more reading to do and if there are some particularly good ones please feel free to point me in the right direction.

Can I weld ?....... sort of. I have a Clarke 150 MIG gasless /gas welder which I have used to do some minor welding and one sill repair with on a Vento using the gasless wire. I still have a hell of a lot to learn and will have to get a proper size gas bottle (CO2 I assume) to give myself a decent chance of producing good work.

I have the camper to do and a 412 project so need to improve my skills

I'm in North Yorks - it should say that below my username on the left I think, so not a million miles away from you

[Plasticman]

whereabouts in n yorks /
dont bother gasless see here
http://www.hobbyweld.co.uk/products/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
one off rental and just pay for refills, forget co2 for whatr your doing
mm

[937carrera]

Thanks for the link, that looks ideal. I seem to remember when reading on the Mig Welding forum a coupleof years ago that CO2 was the low cost choice choice for those with a friendly landlord.

[CovKid]

Once you've got the bottle, refills are well under £20 so yes. I got a full one ages ago and it sits in store.

[937carrera]

Right, a couple of days ago I summoned the courage to get the grinder out to see how good or bad some of the parts are. Before I start cutting I would appreciate some thoughts on what I need to do. Sort of a variation of measure twice, cut once, as I don't want to get too aggressive and remove bits that are difficult to repair / replace.

First of all, the B post, jacking point and inner sill

The front wing needs replacing, there are a couple of small holes in the B post.



The bottom of the B post has gone. I assume I will need to get a replacement panel and cut back the metal above to fit the new panel



The jacking point. This doesn't look too bad does it? As I don't know what a good one looks like I assume the rear of the jacking point gets welded to the inner sill ? (I am still reading up on previous posts). I was thinking of leaving this in place, but if it's better replacing it then I will.



The inner / outer sills. I bent the inner sill back to the point where it seemed weak and obviously the outer edge of the inner sill has the lip missing. Apart from the front 6 inches or so the lower and inner edges on the inner sill appear to be solid. Am I better replacing the whole inner sill or making up sections to fill in




Lots of questions I know, I'm only at the start of my journey and still nervous

[937carrera]

.........and now the right rear


I think even I can tell that the banel behind the wheelarch needs replacement. i just touched it with the grinder and it all fell apart , it didn't look too bad before



The wheelarch. I thought this would fall apart, but doesn't seem half as bad as I thought. My original plan was to replace the whole wheelarch and section above up to the sliding door, but am now wondering if I just need the wheelarch and should repair the main body panel



Thanks for looking

[HarryMann]

There is an awful amount of work there. .. yes you will have to approach it section by section. Has your reading made the structural implications clear in some of those detail areas; so try to get some good stiffness and strength back behind the panelwork. And if you can, think future corrosion e.g. treatment and drainage improvement

[937carrera]

You're getting me really worried now.....

I would say I might be on my way to having half an idea, still reading, picking up snippets of knowledge. I'm certainly thinking about making sure that any repairs will last, which means hidden corrosion has to be dealt with

[CovKid]

If you try to shoulder the task in your head, it will seem overwhelming but do one bit at a time and before you know it.....