Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

For documenting and technical details of T25 restorations and major repairs
This section is for major restorations only.where to buy a panel or where to buy window rubbers belong in the bodywork seats and glass section.
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pugvan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by pugvan »

This has to be the best restro of a T3 i have ever seen  :ok

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Back after the Summer Hiatus

Being as the evenings are drawing in I thought I should get back at it in the garage.

Spent a couple of evenings removing underseal, paint and rust for the nearside inner arch and surrounding area.
It's ready for a treatment of phosphoric acid to stabilize the surface then some primer.

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Can then move on to more fun things like making and fitting panels.

In other news the donor van on the driveway has been totally stripped to a bare shell, some parts of being sold. Others will be restored and used on this project. Some just kept for spares.
While I don't need the shell I will keep it for now to use as reference for the rebuild of big blue.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Epoxy Primering the nearside inner arch and engine bay area

Spent some time stripping the engine bay side of the rear valance to give me more area to epoxy prime while making the effort to setup for painting.
Phosphoric acid treated all the stripped areas.

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Then after a good degrease a layer of epoxy primer was applied, need to order more as nearly ran out now.

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Some panelwork will be next up, nearside battery tray and closing panel plus the lower d panel outer skin.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

rebuilding the nearside inner rear valance crossmember

Some panel creation this evening.. this tapered peice was a bit of pain as bending it was not going to work, some much chopping and welding was needed to create the shape,, then welded it in, checked the fit against the battery tray and looks ok.

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Gave it a squirt of etch primer, it is intentional oversized so I can tie it in nicely as quite a few panels meet in this area around the battery tray.

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Smiffo
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by Smiffo »

The skill in this thread is awe inspiring.
 
'89 1.9 DG

“It's Easier to Fool People Than It Is to Convince Them That They Have Been Fooled.” ~ Mark Twain.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Nearside battery box rebuilding

Started to rebuild the Nearside battery box today, some fettling of the replacement panel was needed to get it to fit.

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Used cleco pins to position along with some clamps. The fit with the inner rear valance is really nice, was worried it might have been out a little after making that peice last week.

Then started making the infill peice to the outer lower d pillar, this replacement panel does not have the return lip for this, so the plan is to stitch the infill to the outer skin.

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The inner d pillar section needs making up to meet the battery tray closing panel also.

I will make up the missing portion of the rear valance before I weld any of this in,,
I have some more cleco pins coming to aid with this, I don't like using self tappers as they pull a burr into the panel,, so to does drilling the holes for clecos, however your remove it then you can use the same over and over again without it becoming sloppy or burring up again as self tappers can do.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Nearside rear valance

Made up the rear valance repair panel this evening and also extended the inner lower d pillar to the battery tray closing panel.
Valance repair fits ok, but needs some more fettling to finish and ensure a good interface with the outer d pillar repair panel.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

More Nearside rear valance action

Short shift this evening, welded the Nearside rear valance repair in. Welds knocked back and a healthy dose of primer applied to the point of dripping all over the floor, whoops.
Not much point getting the welds dressed perfectly dolphin glaze prior to paint will sort them out.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Fitting Nearside panels!

A very productive few days have been had.

Got the Nearside battery tray all sorted, seam sealed and painted up before I close in with the outer skins.

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Set about getting the lower pillar outer skin fitted.

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Followed by the Nearside rear quarter panel.
The seam weld went better than I expected and my plug welds are getting better,, when they are hot enough they flow into the metal and leave an almost flat surface,, leave a second long and pop you are blown through.

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Knocked back the welds and gave a squirt of etch primer to protect the bare steel.

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Then offered up the sliding door, body lines are pretty good, adjusting the door will get them closer.

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Actually feels like I may be heading towards going over the hump for the bodywork. I get to enjoy doing all this again on the other side 😂

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Weld in the sliding rail and install cover/rail

An easy morning..
Welded in the sliding rail with the welder cranked up to 11 as it's really thick stuff.

Then installed the cover and support rail for that.
All lines up pretty well.

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Last edited by BigBlueVan on 17 Oct 2021, 21:27, edited 1 time in total.

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maxstu
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by maxstu »

Cant you chuck in a few mistakes to make us welding idiots feel better :rofl
Great job and full of admiration for your skill.
:ok
MaxStu
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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

@maxstu Cheers, it's all a learning curve. Many mistakes have been made but showing you then would ruin the illusion!, luckily so far nothing too drastic.

I find the trick with welding is just using slightly thicker material for the repair than the parent metal.
All repairs have been 1.2mm (18ga) where the original panels are probably 0.9mm (20ga) at best before dressing surfaces which reduces this more.
Establish the weld pool on the thick steel and just push it onto the thinner stuff, works well for me anyway.

Attacking the floor is next hopefully...

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maxstu
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by maxstu »

:ok

A sound bit of info. Thanks

Can you give the same surgery to my camper next year? :rollin
MaxStu
1989 DJ 2.1 Auto Leisuredrive rusty bucket.
"Blissfully happy in your presence".

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

Welding in the floor panels

So the decision to finish the floor was made, opted for flat 2mm zintec sheet in the end.
Given the extra crossmembers I have under the floor and the floor sheet being twice the thickness it should be just as strong as the corrugated style factory floor.

A reminder of what the underfloor area looks like with all the crossmembers installed.

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Cut the floor sheets to size and drilled the holes for plug welds.. all 230 of them,, yes 230!!!!!

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Let the weldathon commence, 2 hours later it's in. Had to careful not to overload the welder,, at full power it's duty cycle is only 8% which equates to 7.5mins in an hour. Didn't trip on thermal overload so happy with that.

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Next jobs will be dress the welds and fit the sliding door sill cover. Also need to complete the seam weld along the back of the floor sheets.

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BigBlueVan
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Re: Big Blue Van - Full Restoration

Post by BigBlueVan »

The floor continues

Had to make up an infill peice and did some seam welds between the rear of the floor and the engine bay panel.

Then installed the sliding door floor cover plate.

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Knocked back the welds and prepped for primer

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Then applied a coat of epoxy primer.

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That's all for today, will think about working on the other side next I reckon.

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