The project begins... welding worries

[Donald360]

Quite a while since I posted on the forum, so hello again. We have bitten the bullet, so to speak, and have embarked on some repairs to our wee van, which was starting to look a bit too rusty and had a couple of fuel related problems as well. I have cleaned out the carburettor and am in the process of cleaning up the petrol tank (which was rusty - but still seemed quite clean inside) and replacing all the fuel pipes at the same time. Dropping the petrol tank revealed a rather rusty looking clutch pipe, so that'll need seen to as well. Fairly sure that will sort out the petrol side of things. I will then try to tune up the lpg system. It needed a replacement solenoid that had cracked and the system seems well out of tune, but hoping to get that sorted soon as well.

Once that is out of the way I am going to see about getting the welding done. I have taken some pictures showing the extent of the rot and i would appreciate any opinions about how easy, difficult, impossible (delete as appropriate) a job it is going to be. Taking the van along to Syncro-Nutz for some advice and to see if they might do the work needed. I suspect it will involve replacement panels, etc so I am nervous about how much this might end up costing. Holding my breath.

Here are a couple of pics.







I will post more pics once the work has started.
Cheers for now,
Donald.

[Titus A Duxass]

Ooh that could be pricey.

[Rozzo]

seen a lot worse m8,,, pity you cant weld yourself as its the time involved that costs so much
certainly worth doing tho imo

[Plasticman]

See my post, "body or lack of it" then you will understand, can you weld and fab real good
mike

[boatbuilder]

I'd make a wild guess £400 - £500 to buy the panels.

Anybody's guess how much it would cost for labour to fit them.

[Donald360]

Took the van across to SyncroNutz for a rough estimate of the cost of fixing it up. They reckoned around £5000! Ouch! Now trying to figure out our best option.
1 - Get £5k of work done to the van. We will then have a solid body, but will still need to overhaul the engine and gearbox and lpg system (old) and dodgy wiring in due course.
2 - Sell van as a 'project' and spend up to £5k on a replacement that is solid and will last us for the next 10 years. The problem with this is not really knowing what you have bought, I really want to avoid getting a van that looks great but has hidden rot waiting to show itself in a year or so.

I prefer option 2, but my better half (it's her van really) prefers option 1. My own personal wish list is for a rust free lhd petrol high top. Interior is less important, but must have a decent engine and gearbox and be in generally good mechanical order. Is this too much to ask for £5k these days?

I really want to make the right decision here as we simply do not have much cash to spare - K will have to sell her car and use the van as a daily runner for us to afford this at all.

Advice sought,
Cheers,
Donald.

[CovKid]

Talk to Metalmickey on here but if it were me, i'd have to be option 2. Don't get attached and dig yourself a real financial money/worry pit.

[Nicola&Tony]

Sorry to hear your news, not a nice position to be in. Difficult choice to make without knowing how imminent the engine overhaul etc is likely to be, but you're not gonna get much for it if you try to sell. Might be better to break it, sell the good bits off it to raise some funds and then start again with another van.

Tony

[dugcati]

there is a lot of work there including sills which are a total pig to to as you have to hack through arches, floor pans and b/c pillars to get at them properly - look for some of my images for the amount of work needed. I can vouch for the hassle of sorting out the b pillar around the petrol cap - on my van the whole area had gone - post/pillar,sill and wheel arch!!

As said there is a few quid in panels, then there is a few quid more in the labour

[Donald360]

I'm maybe being a bit pessimistic about the engine condition. It has done a fairly high mileage (approx 160k) much of that on lpg. No oil leaks or nasty noises apart from a noisy tappet that settles down after a few miles. I guess I'm just worried about the lifespan before needing a major overhaul as it does seem to struggle on the hills, of course this could just be a carb tune-up that's needed. The lpg system is pretty old now, but I think the main issue with it is to do with wiring and control box, which is definitely fixable. Again its just the age of the system, but I suppose as long as it works ok, why change things. I will go back to Shotts soon and get a more detailed estimate and I hope that will help me decide on which (expensive) course of action to take.

Will keep you posted as things develop. Thanks for advice so far.
Donald.

[leo_h]

Me and my bro have had the same rust issues, looks like all the same areas. Is there no way you could do the work yourself? We did the all our own work and origilay we had little welding or fabrication skills at all but now we're alright at it ad the van is nearly there. Its been fairly low cost too, which is why we takkled it ourselvs
Good luck whatever you do!

leo

[Donald360]

Been chatting to see a few people and been to see a couple of vans at around the £4/5k price range. I'm starting to realise that at this price often what you get is a van that looks good on the outside, but has rusty trouble stored up for later on. To get a 'rust free' T25 these days seems to cost £7/8k which is too much for my wallet.

Talked to Russell at SyncroNutz this morning and we have decided to start the ball rolling on a complete restoration of the bodywork. I've heard good things about these guys so I'm hoping to end up with a van that will do us for for many years in respect of bodywork at least. Everything else can be fixed as required I feel.

Taking it down to Shotts in August for a strip down and proper estimate of what needs done and cost, etc. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers,
Donald.

[Plasticman]

Good work there then donald, will you be taking picks and posting it up its always good to see and helps others assess their vans
mike

[Donald360]

Russell at Syncrnutz has cut away some of the worst bits so we can see better what needs doing.








Went back a bit later on, after some delays to find that work has started, hooray! Will post more pics soon to show the difference. We are getting excited at the thought of getting our van back, all fixed up.

Cheers
Donald.

[ZanderJay]

I think, you need a little time but you would really be spending a little more. I have seen same rust issues in the car of my friend, he's too optimistic on trying to work on it. Presto, he had welded it and the project was successfully done!