Front lower panel repair advice? FINISHED!!

[Jonnyb416]

Got a picture of the front just because I could. Jon.

[Plasticman]

I beg to differ with your first para. it does look bad on the first picky , if its like that there then the rest will be goosed for sure
mm

[jimpainter]

Yep thats knackered, looks like its been stone chipped as well.

[Jonnyb416]

Well Im going to clean some of it out today where possible. Only have a 4.5 inch grinder so will use other methods that spring to mind at the time. Guy has a 9 inch grinder so can finish off what I don't get when it's time to fit the new piece. Jon.

[Mickyfin]

I have this to do on mine in the new year Jon, so will watch your progress with interest mate.

[Plasticman]

oh heck, I have one to do within the month too
mm

[Jonnyb416]

Ordered the panel from Schofields today so thought I'd best get it as clean as possible for when it arrives.

Using a flat head screw driver and plenty of elbow grease I started chipping away at the rust, filler and stonechip.
And used one of those wire wheels on a drill for some other bits.
Got a few bits with the grinder.

I decided to not cut any rust out until the panel arrives.



Treated what I thought would be staying then applied etch primer.



Next job to tackle the seams at the front of the van. For that I will start a new thread as there are plenty seams I will need to address and no doubt some will be worse than others. Jon.

[Jonnyb416]

Here is a pic of a lump of filler/stonechip I pulled out. Jon.

[Plasticman]

I have a schoey panal I could take a picky of for you but im so ill on my death bed I dont think I could make nit out to the middle shed..
mm

[Jonnyb416]

No Mike you save yourself. No fireworks for you this year then? None next year either if it's your death bed you're on!!
I have a rough idea of where it will go but as I don't have a large grinder I might aswell wait.
Anyway plenty of seam rash to keep me busy!!
Get well soon too
Jon.

[Jonnyb416]

This arrived today. Shame im back to work on Thursday so the job will have to wait till my next days off. Jon.

[Jonnyb416]

Started to cut out what we needed in order to fit the new front panel piece.
Jon.

[Jonnyb416]

To cut the top bit off we used a 4 inch grinder, down the sides of the seam we drilled and chiselled the bottom bit out.
This left us with this (pic below and same one above if still on same page) There was still the remainder of the lip left so time to get out the BIG grinder to remove the metal we didn't need. Jon.



So out came the 9 incher to grind off the spot welds and used a chisel thereafter.



You can see in the bottom left of this picture the metal we need to remove so the new panel will fit in. Jon

[Jonnyb416]

And that same area cleaned up. Jon.

[Jonnyb416]

View from the nearside front. Jon.