here goes 369 restoration photos link

[xpertbert]

After owning my first ever camper for 4 weeks, the last owner has emailed me approx 200 photos of the restoration. From the look of it she was stripped bare.....

[scottbott]

that must have cost a few bob

[xpertbert]

Looking through all the pics makes me feel more like I got a great deal. I would not have a clue how much this sort of thing would cost..

[Plasticman]

nsr arch/wing ???? and whats the pink in the inner arch. bung me a linkt o them

mm

[xpertbert]

I think it's a red rag. Metal when I get chance I will do mate..

[xpertbert]

I hope i have done this correct on photo bucket for you to see. Any comments much appreciated. I hope all positive of how well its been done lol. I know that will not not happen on here

http://s1303.photobucket.com/user/xpertbert/library/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[xpertbert]

I know Metalmickey wanted to have a good look over....

[Plasticman]

well credit to them for taking some decent picks, and with a bit more practice they will get there and as you said earlier its your van, you bought it done and didnt pay for that stuff so its ok.
mm

[billy739]

not to upset anyone but your welding is not up to scratch for mot purposes.
should of done more practise before welding the van

ok for non structural stuff but the plate by the seat belt apart from the fact you have hidden the weld would be an mot failure and need doing again

ANY gap in the weld or a hollow weld constitutes an mot fail. weld needs to be a continual seam of joined metal


good for having a go and would be interesting to see other peoples opinions , especially if it was a van they just purchased and the filler/sealer was scrapped off

[Plasticman]

err these are the picks of the work done and the op bought it done hence my comment above
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[billy739]

sorry ,
now I see whats happened, when i opened the post first time round the part with the photo links was no 1 post.
now the hole blog has shown up , now the post makes sense , I appolagise.




so as long as he gets and uses it and has some fun then its not a problem

[RedGus]

not to upset anyone but your welding is not up to scratch for mot purposes.

ANY gap in the weld or a hollow weld constitutes an mot fail. weld needs to be a continual seam of joined metal

But... [unless I've misunderstood the advice you are giving] ONLY if you're letting in a piece of new metal where there was no join before, or if the joint you're replacing was originally fully seam welded. If the original structure from the factory was made by spot welding two components together, such as the joint between front wing and wheel arch for example, then you can replace like-for-like with spot or puddle welding at original intervals.

If those weren't the rules, then lots of Metal Mickey's excellent work, as documented in his epic forum threads, would constitute a potential MOT failure, if you follow the rule that "all MOT welding must be fully continuous seams". And that's obviously not the case!

James

[Plasticman]

I think in fairness Billys comments were correct in so far as the seat belt mount should be seam welded when letting a piece in but if reinforcing the original metal with a new captive nut/mount then it is permissable to do it in other ways, but the run of "pooh" tacks on this van are a disgrace, to put it bluntly , they are not much better than p40 and newspaper, they are filling a hole from which to build up the filler, not an issue in many areas if your happy with that standard but in the specific areas that matter its a no no.
again the op is happy with the look of the van and is enjoying it which matters, just so long as you are made aware of what is under it all,
mm

[xpertbert]

I feel "pooh" now lol. It feels like I have a bag of spanners of a camper . All my excitement of buying my first van is gone. I feel totally deflated...

[Plasticman]

Dont feel like that.even with the picks you had no idea how crap a job had been done, you see the exterior and its shiny and you have a nice interior and you use it,
many vans are like this and the owners have no idea as they are "as bought", its only usually when a problem occurs that they show up, believe me i have pulled apart some well known(not only from here) and seemingly solid vans that have had worse done,
the term restoration is about as grey as it gets , so many folk/firms (no,not all) paint these vans and very often is a run over with a da,then hit the seams with a grinder making them thinnner still then gob them up and away, what do you expect for a couple £k. something has to give, sad thing is these jobs often cost out much more than that,
sad thing is very few of them have any idea how to do it correctly let alone the skills to achieve it, ive seen better d.i.y work on here than some of the stuff i pull apart,
many firms wont take photos, all the excuses in the world ,time,dirty hands ,dust.forgot to etc etc ,one guy even supplied a camera and still they 'forgot'
so going back to your own, dont loose sleep, run it use it and at least when a problem occurs you will know whats under it and why its happening
mm