The Green Doka Machine

[Schnippzle]

I do love the look of freshly refurbished parts. Well done. 

[irishkeet]

I do love the look of freshly refurbished parts. Well done. 

Cheers, had a few more bits refurbed that I never got to add to the thread.....a few bits plated.













I had hoped the plating would have been better but it fits with the patina of the truck I guess.

Even the spare wheel carrier got some love

[irishkeet]

Well the focus is finally back on the Doka again....managed to enjoy the old girl over the summer & Autumn while the workshop we rent had a bit of a refurb.....

[irishkeet]

Bought a rotisserie last year for the next phase of the refurb, spent a bit of time adapting the mounting brackets. Fronts clamp to the chassis and the rears we drilled and tapped to match the tow bar holes.





Strip down of the rear canopy back in October.

[irishkeet]

In November the engine was removed and sold. The plan now is to pop a GTi in.









4 speed gearbox looking spot on

[irishkeet]

Well its on the rotisserie at last! When I was doing the running gear in 2022 I could see that water had gotten behind the old underseal and some areas need attention so I have decided to remove it all. Once removed I will tackle any repairs. It a big job and I will look into the option of dry ice blasting.







Once the underside is done and painted it will be treated with Bilt & Hamber Dynax-UC which is a see through wax. The cavities will get treated with Bilt & Hamber Dynax-S50 which is an extreme anti-corrosion wax. Thankfully all the sills are arches look decent, hopefully that is still the case one the underseal has been removed.

The truck is booked in with my local bodywork guys for September, it will get some sympathetic restoration and paint where needed.

[Shift_]

That is impressive. You've just saved countless hours. And spared yourself the agony.
 

[irishkeet]

Well its been a while....a few updates have happened, firstly the old girl was dry ice blasted back in Feb. It really made such a difference and saved so much time, I could never have got into some of the spaces he cleared. It got rid of 95% of the horrible underseal which was hiding a bit of rust and a bad repair...

[irishkeet]

A bit of time was then spent hacking away cracked sealant to expose some rust. The guys from the body shop then came down to give me their opinion, both recommended getting the chassis sandblasted before it comes to them this was not something I have considered and it could not have been done with the underseal in place.

They recommended a local mobile blaster. After this other home & garden jobs took over and I was happy to forget about the old girl for a bit

[irishkeet]

Finally got sand blasted last week. A bit of a mission, running gear back on, move out into the yard, back on the rotisserie and running gear off again Came out very well and didn't take long at all....

[irishkeet]

With the good weather I managed to get two coats of Hydrate-80 applied, all ready for the body shop now, just need to get her off again!

[irishkeet]

Van is finally off the rotisserie again, getting faster at this job too! One more time when it goes back on at the bodyshop

[irishkeet]

With all the underseal off its now time to clean up the hoses and pipes that got coated in it......a job I have not been looking forward to.



Coolant hoses came up really well but took ages. Also finished the servo hose and the throttle cable guide



Ive now removed the loom and fuse box, something I hadn't planned but it will be a lot easier to clean up and inspect on the bench.

[300CE]

Nice work there and looks surprisingly good underneath too, good to see

[irishkeet]

Nice work there and looks surprisingly good underneath too, good to see

Yep its not bad, a few rusty bits were hidden with the awful underseal