Sunnivagon

[Plasticman]

Indeed,they will be fired up within the hour,and while im enjoying myself I will feel for all those out xmas hoarding on a saturday,nightmare,
serious though, this one pair of snips will do 90% of all the cutting i do, and do it with ease , stick them on a crimbo list GB691
mm

[Plasticman]

Well my day was ok.
set about the osr corner, decided that the scalloped plate was wrong and to leave it would have bugged me and the ammount out would have had a knock on further along, so new one made and trial fitted

there is a slight raising of it to bring it up to rear1/4 height, this is usually the other way but I think my battery base is a couple of mm low,anyhow tacked it and had another trial fit of the wing,the 1/4 and the lower part, happy as I'll ever be so its now on for keeps

have wizzed the flexipad over the welds so it will look neater from inside and the seam sealer will cover it nice

then a coat of weld thru , awkward trying to hold the lower bit and take a picky.....

early lunch called for,so ms ss we have

allotment special, romano.muscleborough and the sweet pepper from the g'house, chicken stock cube,paprika,ginger and dried chilli flakes, simmer for 10 mins and

the tiny dark bits are the real hot chilli flakes.more uploading to come
mm

[Plasticman]

well trial fit the cut off 1/4,

the lower part was a bit skanky looking but after hitting with a disc it was not too bad so a good dose of the grit blaster and a very small bit to add on the very front corner then on with the lead

filed off

this is the only bit that needed an addition, if rust on a panl come through from behind then there is little choice but to cut it out wheras when it is surface rust it can be dealt with

final check of the fit and the vertical alignment

and secure the top prior to welding

and

the returns here and at the rear will be gassed up as i do not want an open jin hidden in the seam as it would ask for trouble
now welded, the arrow is to remind me to leave this gap for the wing to fit into and also to Not weld the inner arch as i still need that to move up and down to accomodate the lip I weld to the inside of the new wing

rear corner all welded back together

and the underside is ok for me now as well so happy

mm

[LittleMissSunshine]

The pictures are so impressive, glad the van is taking shape

[meggles]

Very impressive, wonder if the 'soup' will be cold by now.

[scottbott]

this is more interesting than most of the crap that will be on telly over christmas,keep it coming

[Plasticman]

Aye well it would appear that i am working most of crimbo , which to me is better than suffering the boredom that a lot (but not all) of xmas is
mm

[Plasticman]

Well another enjoyable day, set about the osr wing, had better but in fairness its not toooo bad a pressing, now the rear 1/4 is done i have a correct fixed point to work fwds to , and given that the remnant of old wing is still there at the top and that the JP is correct then should be a happy fit,so
rear top cut out, the idea here is to enable the panal to sit flush with the old one and so the lines will be smoth and uninterupted

and front end

the arrow points to the cut I made ,its to help me weld round the corner and into the inner (hidden ) part of the seam, honest,you'll see
we need to add a strip to the wing to enable it to be welded to the arch

I've used 1.4mm as its good and rigid, if you do this take care as the wing is not straight,especially the lower part below the swage,so you need to bend the strip the way it wont go so to speak.
last few bits of the inner construction to make good, (fitting a wing can be easy,its sorting what it fixes to that is involved) if you see the earlier pick of the rear sus mounting you will see I cut a bit off the factory sill and why , here i have added a better piece to secure the wing to

and closer up

Oh heck no going back ,welders out

no matter how many times I weld stuff. i always worry what obviouse stuff have i forgot.
after tacking the top i weld the 2 little corner bits

right round the edge and into the seam , well otherway round, Its hard to explain but as I have no access to the area from inside the van/panal I start the weld at the inner part of the hole right inside the seam and work my way out, got to be very quick as if the middle panal gets the heat into it then the weld will transtere to it and block up the seam line which to me is a fate worse than ******* if it does appear to look like its heading that way then I quit.let it cool back and go in again , but best to get it right first time, and seam looks like it will be good to me.oh and its gassed of course as I dont think you could do it this way with mig or tig, well I couldnt
the wing whilst at leasst the correct length etc is a little 'flat' so i have welded the first puddle from inside the van and then moved the wing in a bit and another weld and so on till its curved to match the rear 1/4.you can just make out the 6mm holes i drilled to spot through,you dont 'Have' to do it this way but if you just tack the edges of panals then you are not securing them firmly near the external part of the seam so you may get flexture problems and such, this way you get a nice tight seam

we have this at the rear of all our vans and when fitting the pattern sills (which are very good generally) there is a tendancy for them not to meet correctly and when you clamp them together it bows the sill in and causes all sorts of problems

so i reshape the rear and the last inch or so of the front end like this

it then fits like this at this end

and the front

so now it fits snug up to the inner

and rear end

so weld this up permanent tomoz and then fit the lower side panal that i have already made

mm

[Dr. B.]

The man's a genius!

[Plasticman]

Well, deciding where to cut

in this case there is lower fridge vent that needs to be reinstated and the upper part of the panal is rotten so

filler is found in abundance, its had the usual crease and right over the swage, in fairness the guy that did the repair did quite well as its not the easiest thing to get right especially when you dont have access to the rear as well as the face

its will be ground out and straightened first

Ive put an edge along it , ,3mm delve, if you leave this then it compounds as you add the lower panal and then you need loads of filler

hard to see in the pick but its as near as dam it straight

Now I make up the lower panal in 4's and 5's, some are 3" high and others 6" but in this case I needed 63/4" so nipped to my mates as he has 60" rollers to shape the panal,but I measured a bit wrong well i left a choddy on the back of the C post an didnt allow for this when setting the part in to measure so i made it 2mm short, hence the little cut marks from taking a sharp slapping iron to it to lengthen it a couple of mil, took 10 minutes but better than making a new panal, and if I didnt do this then the seam gap would be too big and look as bad.

trial fit no 16 !

and from the inside

and

you will note that i have given the lower side panal an extra long lip, this is to aid attatchment of the inner closure/floor plates

and externally, will weld up now

while i was bored i fired up the dremel and cleaned up the rear wing joint

mm

[meggles]

quote: 'while i was bored'

[Plasticman]

Well the lower sill needs grinding out here on both sides to clear the b post and c post bottoms

Ive drilled through the new lowere side panal ive made so I can spot through to the sill, got to run the disc over these choddies, noter I have also slightly folded the oversize edge Ive made , this is to help it line up with the floor/sill closure plate level,

in this instance ive lightened my evening by clamping the two panals together and welding them off the van for a change

and done, this is the underside and penetration looks ok

and ground off, keep it neat as it will help when I come to add the closure plates

the area to the left of the spots that is folded is where the closure plates will weld, this keeps heat from spots away from the skin and avoids the potential for warpage, also I do not want an overlapped skin right up to the outer panal as it will be a potential problem area in the future if water gets there

and from the otherside, nice tight seam, i have tried to make the radius of the panal i made the same as the bought in sill so it looks right,, i hope..

bit of braising getting seared before in the casserole for tea later

there are a couple of picks missing which i will add tomoz as they show the way ive kept the panal straight.
fasteners in place prior to welding up

seam to b post nice and straight. i dont have to weld the ends from outside as i have good access from the rear

spotted from the back

pre-drilled the lower edge of the sill and all coated with weldthru

and tea was good
mm

[meggles]

So..... the steaks are high on this job then Mike?
It's looking good.

[LittleMissSunshine]

Great progress

[ZsZ]

Nice!
Will you weld the lower sill to the pillars?