Club 80-90 Forums

dying patient... ha ha


I too have never seen anything like what Mike does, posting up his work with such confidence and in so much detail especially.
Mike sets a yardstick that all repair work should be judged for me.
Autosleepers conversion work has only minimally compromised my vans ability to stave off it's inevitable return to it's natural state. Moisture and fridge condensation being of couple of examples.
Sure there are some basic VW design faults like the radiator deflector water soak and the seam saga...But as Mike has revealed shoddy repair work sped the corrosion up in those areas.

And another thing......

with our HiTops - I would think most AS Tridents have spent their whole lives outside - whereas any cars of 20-30 years old may have spent some of that time hidden from the elements in garages (not that most people do that nowadays!!).

I bet the UV effects over 20-30 years have some effect on seam filler (most of mine seemed to have retracted a little - or a lot depending on it's position. ALso the stuff under the wheel arches - so very tough and effective - and such a bu%^er to get off when you need to - also does get effected by age - water gets behind (usually salty water) and you can't see what is happenning until too late.

I used to see an AS Trooper down by the coast up here (so Salty Scottish roads and always parked right by the sea (20 yards away)) which must have been a recipe for dissolving metal - it certainly lasted 25 years with an MOT.....

Well first things first , its been a very very nice day but this is waiting so Im going to make my way through it including the egg glazed dumplings as I write up the rest of this post

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Well that was good
this is the inner load floor now welded in place with the small bit added to the rear, welds to sand over, treat and then seamseal

starting to make the other bit of inner part

Yes I suppose I could have made it in one piece but it would have been an a*** of a job so

and this done with a quick sand over the join

even found a part number for it, well I was getting a bit bored !and it is sunday

clamped in place to check fit

now spotted and gassed down the other part

you could use the mig but I enjoy gas so use it where I can

and the inside

I have to nip out so the rest in a short while
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them dumplings look tastey

Well,they were, crispy out and gossamer soft ,,,,oops wrong forum
measure twice cut once, dont ask what I was thinking off,I have marked where there is a slot left, this is for the rear 1/4 to slip in

trial fitting , the arch had to be made in a few parts

rear support for the 1/4 welded inplace

trial fit, I m making sure the gap is about 1mm so it will lead up nice, this way thewre will be minimal distortion,there is no need to seam weld this type of join , it can be less invasive tan joddling too.

inner arch made and resting in place, i will tyack it for now and when the wing gets trail fitted I will adjust to give the required clearance

Im missing a pick someplace but ...
M9 and kev
yes I agree with you ref the build quality, its not bad and tyhey built to a price as they had to and probably made no more errors than vw in the design and execution, its easy to forget that they were produced on a fairly large scale, and what would never ordinarily be seen is not so important providing what is hidden is not detrimental to the long term viability of the conversion , and for sure 20,30 years is far longer than it will have been designed for,
I sent too many years doing the sort of vehicles that it did matter if every single item wasnt as built, it was trying, here with the vans it would be just as effective to put a flat patch over a hole, and structurally in most cases it wouldnt matter, but to me that would be mindnumbingly boring, and too much like work and I find it easier to cut out rot and remake the way it was built as its the logical way its done,
just my h'peth
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how do you quote for a job like that?,is the rust as bad as you think before you start or does the price go up the more you find to do??

Ahhh therein lies the secret...
No it doesnt escalate all the time,that would be grossly unfair,
if you were happy with quick patches over holes and stuff and pod on top you'd be going elsewhere, tis my choice to fabricate this way and my choice alone
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Better to pay the extra and have a good job done though, rather than patches over rust then filler which will cost you more in the long run. Am I right?????

Mind numbingly impressive work there Mike as per usual

Mike
do you keep these pictures all in one place? just wondering as I would like to keep them when you complete the work ..

yep,twice as many picks and more , I do a cd with them on in full resoloution, waaarts and all
aye jim and its far easier to weld to shiny metal and daft as it seems quicker.
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Thanks Mike
My pal asked me if all the welding is gas Mig?

you are doing a brilliant job,very impressive,a good advert for your skills

er mig where its easier and suits and gas everywhere else I can, had a fair day just uploading to do
ta scott but this is fairly basic stuff that most body shops can do
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