Edd and Leo's camper project - Buzzer of dooom. HELP!

[HarryMann]

Edd,

Thats a mammoth effort, great photos some of which around rear jacking point are similar to mine... you're not far away from us (Berko) either

Is there a November 2009 update available (even if it's no further progress)

[SYNCRO NUT]

Looking preety sweet boys im just about to start my syncro and the arches are pretty much the same as yrs so the pictures are really gonna help my project so please keep them coming

[billy739]

not to upset anyone

mot welding needs to be a continuous line!

any hollow welds or gaps in the line are a fail!

[Damien]

Plenty of pictures here too for reference:

http://s834.photobucket.com/albums/zz26 ... /ermie571/

[texasuk]

Very interesting and useful. I appreciate the effort of posting your journey, please carry on for all our sakes.

[fix]

not to upset anyone

mot welding needs to be a continuous line!

any hollow welds or gaps in the line are a fail!

Im just going to butt in, the welding does look abit on the poor side but:

Which welding do you mean? Any hole will only be a fail on structural areas within 30 centimetres of the suspension (correct me if im wrong?).

And i think it depends on the tester for gaps in weld,and whether its visible or covered in seam sealer etc in which case i doubt a tester will notice.

[billy739]

within 30 cm of a precsribed area

but why just do good mot welding . learn to weld properly before starting a job like this?

[fix]

Fair point Billy I agree best doing decent welds to start with, though my welding isnt much better so im just sticking up for them

[eddbmxdude]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the comments. I know the welding is not the best, I realise its pretty damn poor actually. But, we have to learn somehow. Since the last time we did some work on this I have done a fair bit more welding and Im pretty sure I have improved.
No updates since the last one really. We are struggling to find a panel that we need. There was a guy on here that was going to cut it out of a van he was breaking, but he seems to have disappeared and never got back in touch

If anyone is breaking a van and doesn't mind cutting out this bit for us, it'd be appreciated!




Edd

[quagmire]

Edd,i'm breaking a van at the moment but can't honestly say what that panel is like til i look at it(later this week)if it's good i'll cut it out and take to llangollen where hopefully someone can do an 80-90 express a bit nearer to you, i'll let you know the condition later this week mate

[HarryMann]

With respect to the welding, at least you're cutting well back to good metal and going for it! Patching onto so-so metal will get you an MOT usually, but will be back to square one within a year or two.

As long as those welds have penetrated properly the loads will be transferred, compare with riveted, bolted or spot-welded constructions for instance.
Apart from a handful of areas around the jacking points, where they got the gas torch out, there's very little seam welding on the whole truck.
I think this whole thing about continuous welds has come about due to further rapid corrosion, not strength, load transferance per se.
If the metal is not pre-treated, dead flush and the welds de-scaled and post-treated back and front, most will know that MOT repairs of that nature are a breeding ground for moisture ingress and crevice corrosion. Even a continuous weld if not well thought through, will very often be rusted back through if in an exposed low body part, in say three years, maybe less if salt gets in there too. and water can't drain.
If you haven't arranged to get to the back of the weld afterwards, then there's trouble in store sooner or later, usually sooner... MOT testers know this, but are more constrained now on knocking your tinware about to check. It's more often today it seems, doing a proper job for yourself, as they can't see into closed sections -
I just had a car failed on all the main front-rear brake lines on corrosion that were barely touched by surface corrosion in a couple of places - no pitting corrosion at all - and a hell of a job to change them, yet... it was then passed when I could push my fingers through the sills (a previous MOT repair )
I'd rather they suggested I clean and treat the two small spots of rust on the brake pipes, and repair the sills properly! But, that's life, a difficult job for them without stripping the car down to nuts and bolts!

Try to make sure that every area you repair has as much resistance to water entering and staying there, and as much possibility of it getting back out when the weather turns and it can dry. I'm currently using Dinitrol RC900 on back of welds and inside sections, if I can't get a spray in there I pre-make a hole so I can (with a doubler plate if highly stressed area). And then a chassis type paint and then later when all is done, a heavier Waxoyl type of spray. Plus a few extra drains. Blocked or inadequate drains seem to be where it all starts to get really bad...

e.g. The original (VW) swaged hole in the rear-cross member sems to be the wrong way around, for free-draining... This repair section is how I see it should be. Very easy to swage a drain hole like that...

[eddbmxdude]

Edd,i'm breaking a van at the moment but can't honestly say what that panel is like til i look at it(later this week)if it's good i'll cut it out and take to llangollen where hopefully someone can do an 80-90 express a bit nearer to you, i'll let you know the condition later this week mate

Thanks a lot mate. Billy739 on here said that he is getting a van in a couple of weeks and he was going to see if that one is any good for me. So if you could let me know before then, I can let him know whether I still need it or not.

HarryMann: Thanks for the advice. We have been making sure we're cutting back to good metal before welding new stuff in. No point in welding new metal in if you've still got rusty bits!
Do you go green laning in your syncro? Been told they are great off road but never been in one myself. I have a mate with a baby Suzuki that I sometimes go out with, so know of a few lanes locally.

[HarryMann]

Do you go green laning in your syncro? Been told they are great off road but never been in one myself. I have a mate with a baby Suzuki that I sometimes go out with, so know of a few lanes locally.

http://www.syncronauts.org.uk/?page_id=135

Click on Syncronauts Events or Other Outings and look for the white & blue bashed up Doka for your answer

We've still got a Herts and Essex lanes outing to do, and it seems like it's getting about wet enough for some of those fords ...

Along these lines http://archive.club8090.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=900

Apart from Syncronauts we have a couple of non-syncro friends in Dunstable and Luton we've been out with, one who came to Whaddon (MK), will keep you informed of anything local!

[quagmire]

sorry mate,the bottom 3inch is ker-shagged!Ben

[Theo]

Well done guys, i just found the wiki link and read all that u dudes have done, i thought my recently purchase van would be a waste of time. i had no idea panels were avalible that size . do u have a web site to order from cause u guys have given me hope, Nice 1