The GASWAGON (act III)

[lloydy]

ooo, nice green glass Got its partner's here with me
looking forward to seeing this corner built up!

[Plasticman]

Well sorted the date to go to paint so got a busy program ahead,
i have figured a neat simple way to mount the cooler and at the same time avoid ally/steel contact ,these additions i will now shape and alter to suit

other side

lots of fiddly evening work with it now so i will leave this till later in the w.end
rotten bit in the middle of the arch replaced

rot cut out and new bits added, got to mig up the spots later,also i have welded all the spurious holes from old brackets as no need for them now

and

quick coat to stop overnight rust

bit more of this area done, i need this finnished ,

so i can weld the front bit of the inner arch that i have made and also the new strip to fix the bottom of the wing to,
the order it has to be done in is, cooler mounting and its mounting plate done then weld it in, then rest of inner arch ,then wing,then lower outer sill,followed by the new lower fridge panel i will make, reason is that the wing lip fits under the outer sill
just checking alignment as i need to make sure they are straight horizontally

i nneed to do this so that when i fix the strip to the rear of the new wing it doesnt force the arch out
vertical seam is true so thats good, zero filler when its done

now this is were many newbies fall down, they state slight seam rust etc ,they are told minor surface and so forth like this

now we have a looksee at the inside of the seam

surface ?
bit of filler in here too

even if you take a rear light out and have a look on the inside there is not much clue unless you realy know what your looking for

mm

[lloydy]

A date for paint!
Interesting reading the order stuff has to be done, kinda like you have to jump ahead then take 5 steps back then go forward again.
The last couple pics, is that the little panel in the rear quarters?

[Plasticman]

nope, they are the bottom of the main rear 1/4 panel and beneath them are the smaller panels that the bumper ends fit through, i will end up remaking these as they are rotten and the pattern ones whilst very good in shape are made of too thin a steel for my liking,
i will explain the reasons for the order of refitting as i go along with it so it will make more sense,
mm
was the vid better on a big screen

[lloydy]

Ah, ok. I had no idea there was separate panels there, thought it was just one piece
And yes, video was hood on the big screen. So much detail..

[Plasticman]

Well been a busy day and whilst i upload a few doz picks heres the mystery person/object

mm

[lloydy]

He he, if that's on ally you'll have to leave it on there

[Plasticman]

Well a very happy day in more ways than one, but back to the job in hand
for my own reasons i have chosen this route to mount the cooler, there are many easier ways including altering the design of the cooler itself and with hindsight i would have made a couple of very minor changes, not for efficiency but for ease anyhows .
my aim was to have it so it slots in and is then secured by a token pair of screws,and is easily accessible if needed to be removed in the future also want to avoid ally/steel contact where possible and also cushion it to some extent so this is what ive done,
first heres grumpys mate

they need names really
I have made a pair of pedestals and these have been welded onto the new base plate, the part joining the two is to afford a location for the thinner seal to sit

like this

a bead of weld run along it

these hats neaten it and also the rear peak as in chav baseball cap will be used to tack to the rear of the arch to give more rigidity

seam welded

i use mig wire as a fine rod, in this case 1mm, though for welding down to probably 22-24g then 0.6, but dont go there often

ther bracketry at the screwing down end (rear) i am using SS nuts brazed on, gives you a nice warm glow on a cold night

its one of the pleasures of gassing in winter
quenched and cool

i run a tap down everything as its just nice to have stuff that screws together as it should

this shows the front end of the cooler sat in the pedestals, there isnt much room here so either extend the arch fwd, dont like that idea of alter the fixing method which would be do-able but i choose this way

different view

screwed down, these are accessible when the rear lamp is removed,

this is the base plate prior to painting and cleaning up so its a bit raw

and

think me was getting bored

fitted up , all seems correct and it fits nice inside the rear 1/4, the two parts with the captive nuts are for the SS duct that i am making,

so thats it till monday, weld thru all drying and i will start assembling the whole side now
back to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctrwqWjkS5c" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
well i like it and it helps the welding
mm

[lloydy]

Awesome, can't wait to see this all slotted in

[T'Onion]

Going to have to start and call you Michelangelo ... weldtastic as usual

[Plasticman]

hello you dont creep in here often steel is easy its the guys on here that deal with wood that i admire,try bend it and it breaks, and as for rejoining/stretching nah not for me
mm

[T'Onion]

I creep around everywhere .
And wood is the devils work

[poshbuggers]

The work and thought that has gone into the intercooler install is awesome. Nice to see the tinworm being pushed out of it Lloydy

[Plasticman]

Well.. ta ,its installed
its all been in loose a few dozen times whiles i consider future issues /needs and so now its point of no return

ive had the cooler in again as the thing is tacked to ensure twist will go as i dont want any tension or stress on it

this rear support box could do with tidying up,, the van can live without it but it does add rigidity and support as will be seen later

so i have a slimmed down version, i could make it bigger but there is no need and this way it doies its job and leaves loads of access room also when i do a template for this fitment it is all doable with the outer 1/4 in place,note the weld on the left follows the depression in the part so forms the edge nicely

i have brazed the bottom as its a neat way to do it and allows me to easily move it if i require to add some twist to the base panel
lightly sanded

and a coat of protection

cooler back in place and this shows the fit and the room available, the fan stat control will be fitted in here on the rht hand side,

same, the rear of the arch on the btm left of picky will now get a 90' lip adding when i have aligned this edge with the new rear wing

note the cooler as a unit sits on the top of the chassis leg and doesnt protrude into the engine bay, this allows more room around the manifold /turbo area to work etc and i will of course be fitting a detachable closure plate to seal the cooler from the hot engine bay.
also i needed to ensure the cooler matrix was fully exposed to through air and not impeded by sitting on the chassis

as like this

under shroud is also not straight forward as i have to make it both symetrical and also clear the lip of the chassis edge, also need to be able to access the towbar mount bolts with out removing anything
confirming the outlet from the turbo is a clean simple run direct into the cooler via a 90' elbow

here is the lower rear 1/4. it fits good enough here after a few small tweaks, also note that the items you see do NOT weld to each other but each independantly weld to the underside of the rear 1/4 corner assembly , this way is as per OE and will allow removal of the lower 1/4 repair panel if ever needed in the future.

i am fabricating the lower shroud for the exhaust cooler air, and thgis will be a detatchable item
so a really interesting challenge now back to simple body building
mm

[lloydy]

All i can say is wow! Looks great Very happy with that!
Do you need another hose to come off the turbo with, or are you all set as you are?