Tortugas-van

[Plasticman]

well interesting in a way, £1000 worth of test gear and no good here
did a wet test circulating

then cap back on and pressurized it all and the cooler leaked

glad in a way as there had to be a reason for the loss of water and the ingress into the inlet tract,so thats that sorted ,now to work a way round it.
got some nice bits here to cheer the job up

opted for rubber for the majority of replacements but have used poly for the inner lower as it is moved in one plane mostly

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[ninja.turtle007]

It's bizarre how that worked out. At least we now have an explanation for the coolant on the inlet pipe.

The arms etc are looking really good. It's going to be strange having shines bits on my van!

[lloydy]

Good news on finding the leak, must be a relief actually finding the issue.

[Plasticman]

well indeed, and rectification is in hand in fact every thing is progressing well there are about 7 different things happening and i think its coming together
got some of this

busy making up the modification for the hi-lift carrier
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[Plasticman]

Well charge cooler is getting made from scratch with a nice new hi-flo core ,should be ready next week
that was the last item to be organised so happy now..
and... onto the chassis

we progress slowly and painfully(well to some)

this shows the lighter outer which was as good as scrap and the remains of the inner 'U' channel,

here you will note it looks to be set back in from the outer, nah its rottet away to 10% of its thickness
here ive cut a hole to show this,as opposed to just chopping the lot out as it may help somebody doing the same and if nothing else at least explains the construction method.
here i have held a screwdriver at the rearmost point of the inner U

and likewise the front of it

there is more detail in here but easier to show with picks later

the letter A i have marked on the inside of the U channel that is on the inboard side
next is the bar that slides into the box which is tapped out to accept the subframe bolts

here in place

there are subtle differences inside which i will come to lkater ,i have drawn up the dimensions of a repair box so will form this up ,probably do a few of them while im at it, i will also make a few of the inners as well.
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[jes*b]

yes mike get yourself some kits together for this area....

[Plasticman]

Well not as simple as that,
i'm chopping out bit at a time to show the levels it built as, here the upstand joins to two sides of the inner reinforcement panel and i think it is only to keep it apart possibly during construction ?

at the front where the lower part of the chassis is shallower the inner box continues to the front and the 'U'shaped part you see here ties this box to the lower web i havent worked out the constructiuon method yet but im sure it will become apparent,

these next two are looking up into the box and you see how the inner box just finnishes and above it are a number of holes and you will see water and detritus trails which over the years have worked down between the two layers of steel and so the process began


it has at some point had rustproofing added..
this shows the spots and such that VW did when they added this area, there is also migging on the rear web

i think a lot of this will have to come out


ive just gas axed the bulk of the crap away here no point wasting precision discs


see how the rust has expanded the thing.
so issue now is that i dont fancy just bobbing a bit in there as there will still be the issue of the front part so i think i will cut the whole lower area out and remake
to which end



right ,off out for tea
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[axeman]

This is really eye opening,
loving the galv it all makes a such a difference too the under side of the van.
Grate work mike.

[Plasticman]

Well,hmmmm
it was all getting a bit messy so

off with it all

this little part is needed and i have found that it can only be fitted when the leg is built.

its lower part is puddle welded from the other side (front side)
here

square hole is for inserting the bar with threading to fis the rear mount up to


this picky is looking in from the top, the little part were talking about is on the right and it is itself inside the 3mm inner reinforcing plates, you can also see the plate locates a couple of inches into the shallowwer front section

and this shows the main inner plate spotted through from outside,

these legs are not handed, as will be shown later only the spring turret support plates are
outer being made


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[Wychall]

It's amazing to see how your deductive skills get translated into a work of art. Keep up the good work.

[ninja.turtle007]

Only able to view on my phone at the moment. It looks a lot worse than it did from the outside .

[ZsZ]

If you stuck (I think you won't ) I found this shop in germany, they are making a rep. section:

https://translate.google.com/translate? ... t=&act=url

[Plasticman]

ta zz good link, translation is errrrr better than any other language i speak
cant make out what they sell them for though,i note they came to the same conclusions as i have regarding the cause of the rot here still they have lasted near on 30 years so will cut vw some slack
anyway theirs look good but they only seem to butt up to the front support plates for the turret? i shall progress today as i am i think.
Tom , it dont really matter if its a little rotten or a lot as its all coming out anyway.
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[ZsZ]

As I read through the german site (but my german is not as good as my english ) they are mainly advertising themselves as a repair shop.

[silverbullet]

Bloody hell. Glad that Atlantis' front chassis isnt as blistered as that one! Cutting disc will tell all. What year is Tom's Westy?