Bodywork restoration on my van gets underway..

[Cyrus]

Have you got a pinball machine in your bus?

[New Kentish Campers]

Sorry mate, I've selected the wrong image from another folder

Mind you, I could just sqeeze it inside and the van does have a 240v hook up......

[New Kentish Campers]

Sorry for the long time since posting more info, things like work, weather, broadband issues etc have slowed things, but I've now caught up

Progress so far then:

All the welding work has been completed, including the panels where the air box to the o/s/r live, and the empty bit to the n/s/r rear. I also took all the body glass out, and apart from the windscreen area which I already knew was rotten, the rest of the window frames were fine, just a little sanding and some vactan and they are now ok. Here's an image of the last main panel being fitted, the n/s/r qtr:



I was quite pleased to find that, like the other side, the rust was only on the surface, where some light sanding and vactan soon treated it:



I removed the n/s sliding door to take a closer look for any more corrosion to the cill and channel where the door seal lives, and once again, pleased to find just surface rust to sand off. Note too the condition of the main reinforcement sill underneath, where I've begun to remove the now-flaky underseal. The original factory paint is nigh pristine underneath so I'll keep taking the old gunge off and replace with some new underseal plus some cavity wax over the top.



And after, with some etch primer applied,



I then went onto drilling the new hole for my front panel mounted aerial, the old screen pillar one was held together with gaffer tape



Here's an image of the windscreen channel repair, after I'd welded in new metal. I could have bought a repair panel, but decided to make my own from some good metal from the old side panels so at least I would then be using decent metal and not something from an old baked bean can...



Here's one of the windscreen having a trial fit, all fitted well, thankfully!



I decided to paint the door shuts too, plus the inner A posts beforethe dashboard goes back in so that all the new paint blends in and it will make life easier when doing the outside as the shuts can be masked with foam tape so no overspray can get inside and spoil things.









Here's one of the top of the new n/s/f wheelarch:



So now the dashboard & steering column goes back in at long last:



And now the worst bit of all, sanding the entire van down! It has had a cellulose respray done to it at some time in its life. Trouble with that stuff is that it's nowhere as durable as a 2 pack, so will sun-fade and be too soft to withstand stone chips and the like. Worse, its a pig to get off as its still soft so it takes a lot of sanding to remove. Thats said, I did my best to not bust through the original factory paint underneath, so as to preserve the facroty electro-coat primer, unless it was absolutely necessary.









To avoid spoiling it,I've masked the pop-top off after painting it, but forgot to take images

I'll apply the 2 pack primer on tomorrow with luck, so more images will follow.

While the weather has been too wet, I turned my attentions onto recovering the interior cupboards with vinyl [Thanks for the tip, Kev The Rev] and I'm very pleased with the result. Note the new carpet on the bottom of unit, and I've also taken a couple of some random inside panels, which the good lady wife and daughter kindly did for me.

[New Kentish Campers]

Sorry, I meant to put these images in of the van prior to the masking I completed.[ You might be able to see the fresh paint on the pop top that I forgot to take pictures of ]

When I am ready to begin putting the primer on. first job will be some de-greaser fluid on a red scotchbrite wiped over everything, then spray some etch primer on the bare metal areas, and then straight over the lot, wet-on wet, with some high solid primer filler. Then, once cured, flat that little lot down and paint the thing at long, long last...



Max is guarding the van against rain

[Cyrus]

I like your interior, is the beach effect just a glue on vinal?
Doing a great job there.

[Paul_Van_Denton]

brilliant job

[transporT3]

Thorough job there !

so you got all your panels from Schofield's ? loving the pedantic attitude to getting the body right

[Mickyfin]

Superb progress Doug mate, you have done really well, and prove to be an inspiration to many of us who have these tasks to come with their T3's.

You seem like the type of guy who could point me in the right direction too regarding welding, and bodywork, ie, for example, what is vactan? Check out my thread when you have time Doug, as I would appreciate any help, and advice regarding prepping myself ready to start bodywork.

https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=90675" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Cyrus]

Hi mickyfin vactan is a rust preventer in simple terms, its very good and you can buy it on fleabay.
If you search the forum there's a few threads on it.
I'll have a look at your link as I've also Gota a project on going and it always helps to see how others deal with things
My thread is down there \/ \/

[New Kentish Campers]

I like your interior, is the beach effect just a glue on vinal?
Doing a great job there.

Thank you

It's a self-adhesive vinyl that I bought off Fleabay. I've spent about 50 quid which has given me plenty enough to do the entire van, and that includes some vinyl to go inside the o/s/r qtr window so as to mask off the wardrobe unit from prying eyes & tealeaves

It's dead easy to apply, just de-grease the panels first - I took all my cupboards apart and did each part of the assy. individually to avoid unsightly joins, etc - fill any little battle scars and then apply the stuff. So long as the surface is dry and dust free, you can get a very nice and smooth result.

Doug.

[New Kentish Campers]

Thorough job there !

so you got all your panels from Schofield's ? loving the pedantic attitude to getting the body right

Yep, all the panels came from them and they gave me a good club discount and their service was good too.

Pedantic? Me...?

[scottbott]

looking good,well done,will keep watching with interest

[New Kentish Campers]

I've now managed to get the van in a 2 pack primer/filler and blocked it all down in readiness for the top coats. I also got all the seams reinstated with new sikkaflex 221 seam sealer. If it the bloody thing rusts now, I will put a hammer through it


Seams now sealed





It's a real milestone when you finally get the thing in primer, a real sense of achievement







If the weather is kind tomorrow than I will put the van back in the barn to bung some top coat on it. I'm doing it in a 2 colour scheme so the top half will be white and the lower in blue. However, I'm not following convention in painting the front panel and A posts in the secondary colour; doing it instead to the base of the drip rails and across the lower lip of the front panel

And if the weather is really, really kind, then I will paint the thing in both colours,watch this space, as they say

Doug.

[Cyrus]

Let's hope the weather's good, can't wait to see the finished result.

[boatbuilder]

Well done, that looks really nice and straight