The GASWAGON (act III)

[lloydy]

dashpod wise, i'm holding out for syncroandy bringing out his setup. mines on it's last legs isn't it.. If what your pointing at is a kinda see through yellowish paint, its what covered all the bare panels when i bought it. Got told it was some sort of lead based stuff..
Hopefully the dash came out easy for you. Now how many jobs did i have saved up to get done behind there? .. Interesting to see the unpainted section, always presumed the whole van was coated from the factory


And always remember, you are meant to drill metal, not flesh..

[Plasticman]

well back
this is the os inside the A skin, note the sealant between it and the flat panel

and on the repaired side

no sealant .
so now we confirm a few more things, the A skin was indeed brazed down the join, in a way i would be happy doing this if done correctly but they didnt

and i can also now confirm that the A skin on the ns is not the original one from this van,reason is easy, i have removed the remnants of the upper front panel where it joins the A skin and found evidence of drilled out spots

and you cant get a drill in here with the skin still in place,so it had to have been cut away first and as there is no sign of a welded join then its been scrapped and this is a replacement
now they have joined the replacement skin here

with a series of mig tacks,,, why, they have oxy gear so if they had gassed it then there would be no need for lead or filler,
now onto the lower front, heres one of the differences between vw and pattern

and

the curvature is spot on

im glad i waited till i had this as the defo panal would have been 3mm too high and caused all sorts of issues
end bit ready and will work fine

so the ns arch and such, this is going to be a total can of worms but at least we have all the genuine parts to make good and i can fabricate the rest

its a void through to fresh air on the otherside of the van
now that slight seam rust(ok and normal for a 30 years old van blah de blah)

is like this
so unless you remove this you have no chance

note that before removal there was not much visible lower down but here you can see it was only a short time before it was out there
now the upper spring supports same both sides

whats been cut off/added done here

so playtime next
none of the analytical stuff makes much difference to the job but it makes it more interesting for me and is a history of what may have happened and stuff like this helps me figure what else the repairer may or may not have done as they all work in different ways
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[lloydy]

The stuff around the shock tower is factory 16" stuff

[lloydy]

the lines on that lower panel are spot on, well worth the wait. what are you thinking with the A skin?

[Plasticman]

i know the extra length is but what about the welding cutting marks ? looks almost like a bracket was on there and removed ?
will examine it and decide if its easier better to repair or use a donor that i happen to have handy
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[Plasticman]

Well set it up after altering bthe lips on the chassis legs, placed it so as far as i can tell its where it should be in all planes
final check of horizontal placement, and i tried the upper grill in to check all is well there

point of no return so wind the mig up and off

nice fat spots


thats on now so im happy its a good reference for all that fits to it,to me this was the hardest part, not the welding etc but getting it in the correct position , its all new metal now on
upper front panel on the original side (o/s)

drilled out note the rust forming

now attention to the o/s arch
worst thing to do here is hit it with a grinder etc all it does is take the surface off and thin the metal, what im doing with these now is for me the way to go with this area and not that difficult just fiddly and takes a bit of time
but first

not the worst by far

but
next you will see the factory sealant,and it hasnt been disturbed and is intact, the rust is in here and starts from manufacture the same as every rust free van out there , it may be no visible rust but not the former.

i have scraped a bit off with the other knife i have to show

so now its fitting time
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[lloydy]

Looking good, that o/s wing was certainly starting to bubble at the seam. Funny how these things kinda pass unnoticed when you see the van everyday. I guess it's why people always sell their vans as rust free!

[Plasticman]

Well were watching

clue what he is sitting on
now that the defo section is in and correct i can let this bit in, butt welded and needs a small bit on the return

bit of rod is to hold it with one hand as i tack it with gas

welded in

these are only small bits but it means we have new steel where it belongs and no rust
vertical Bar back in as these had been removed to allow the cooler to install

i have highlighted the folds / recess , all nice new metal

done, just a touch more tapping when welded together and im happy

small bit added to the o/s.

n/s arch/wing

you can see where it was hit with a grinder and filled. no other way to do these , either full vw arch or repairand as the rest of it was good then prefere to keep what i can, but you have to remove it all to get to the bottom/back of it all
after a dip in stripper

dead easy repair and will get blasted when its done

now,more decisions,

pin holed all over, yes i can blast it and rep and lead it, but not 100% happy with that here,also

so to be right


be the easiest way to do it right,
am drilling the fp out and will be treating the rear. will not weld these in yet as im going to rep thre arches first and then only need to fire the blaster up once (mess) then weld thru and pop it all back on, as it fit really nice
also got raving toothache so gonna get it pulled on monday with luck.
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[lloydy]

Hope your looking after monkey! Can't work out what he's sitting on though, looks like a lens of some sort?..
Front end is coming together nicely, bottom corners are looking good. Some crazy pitting on that A panel eh!

[Plasticman]

Well site down , my phones down ,toothache ,what next,anyhows sorting the ns arch
cut the top out and made and fitted a new bit

new bottom made,these always rot out

made it in 2 bits as seen

quick clean up

same here


may seem a bit of work but its the only way to do it right, it will get more hammering and planishing and should end up devoid of filler
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[lloydy]

Looking good! i reckon they found that A pillar they fitted at the bottom of the ocean!

[kevtherev]

drool....

fabulous

[Paul_Van_Denton]

too cool for school!!!

[Plasticman]

well i think school is cool
sofinnish of the front arch

these bits get welded on both sides so i can run a disc over them annd planish down to flat metal
like this ,next part added to it

and done

none of this is seen as the arches fit over it but nice that its how it should be

i will post one up and add it on here llater
so we have one of my cvorners to destroy but need a bit from it, this and the next 2 pickies shaow the construction of the front deformation sections and the othert itenms that you can see give structural and hence crash worthiness to the front ie.. bloody sgtrong., hence why when doing a nose joib or other mods its important to bear this in mind

bit closer

and the bit were interested in

this is what we want

note the rust in the despotted area and this is original undisturbed

tiny bit in the corner as usual but so easy to make perfect

just to digress, we stored some aplles last back end and made this

the red apples i dont kn ow thge variety , but an old one and they keep their colour

a touch of cinnamon added
and home made thick vanilla custard

hehe
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[AdrianC]

none of this is seen as the arches fit over it but nice that its how it should be

^ This is what's so bloody good about your workmanship and your threads.

Well, that and this bit, too...

just to digress, we stored some aplles last back end and made this

the red apples i dont kn ow thge variety , but an old one and they keep their colour

a touch of cinnamon added
and home made thick vanilla custard