The GASWAGON (act III)

[lloydy]

Really nice tight seams there swages look a lot better too.

[Plasticman]

will finish the swages now its welded on, big problem also is that these panels are appx 0.8-0.9 mm thick .ie pi$$ poor thin bean tin, original is 1.2 ish heck of a difference
im going to go roll a few more lower repair panels for the center . also shortening that ss turbo outlet pipe
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[lloydy]

Shame the genuines are so much

[AdrianC]

i cut a bit too much off the old wing so have made a bit for each end...

Tch. Amateurs. Honestly, Lloydy, what kind of bodger are you letting loose on your van?

[Plasticman]

well first bodger that taught me worked for red kens lot, he was a finnisher on the old E type line, then a coachbuilder etc and one of the important things they taught was how to recover from a feckup as we all make them
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[lloydy]

Best way to judge someone is the way problems are fixed.
Did you work on E types to then?

[Plasticman]

Not at the works,but restored a few including stripping a brand new v12 dhc to a shell and realigning the body from bare metal
hehe

[Plasticman]

Well, had a decent bit of it this aft,
holes for fixing the sill to the inner

and now its permanent

and ground off

and a coat to protect

this will at a later date get a coat of sealer and other "products"
aligning the rear wing onto the C post

we start at the top

and after tacking this we move down a few inches,clamp it and check the outside and then spot it, never ever assume its in the correct position as its a pig to undo , been there and done it sadly
now spotted in hopefully the right position

rear repair bit gas welded from the root of the seam to the outside, this is done with using mig wire as its got to be very quick

here its lightly sanded over. dont worry about the top most bit as i have yet to weld this
same at the front end,,if you see the slight gap im pointing at , this is not an issue, it is welded from the inside of the seam to the outside and i have had to make it a mm shy of the face of the center panel to be able to get in with the no 0.75 jet now its all steel in there so a smidge of filler will c orrect this

now the center panel is welded to the rear wing etc i am happy with the look of the seam and also the wing and center panel are true to each other

and

happy with the sill fitments

this is the front end / jp area

and the outside also now coated as well

some of these will maybe be in the wrong order but its been a trying day.
we are now in the situation where this is all ready for making the lower center panel, welding it on then making the closures and ditto ,so will be on with that tomoz
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[lloydy]

its nice seeing panels go on starting to get ereally exciting now!
i spent the night at the tower of london watching the ceremony of the keys




and a little video of the boy practicing parkour

[Plasticman]

well,nothing fitted as such but lots of bits mnade this aft
started by making the lower center panel, these are slightly curved in the vertical plane

other end

this item is straight but the pattern sills always curve inwards when fitted so you have to temp brace them from inside and check with a straight edge

have turned the ends in and part drilled it for fitting

i vary the height of these depending on the extent of rot of often previous bodges with loads of claggy welding and filler, in this case it wasnt too bad, its important to ensure that you have a tight seam in the horizontal and vertical plane

front end

i make diagonal cuts to fit the recess i have joddled and will gas these joins up so its all flush
it will look a bit like this

ive coated it all with wt so it can dry till tomoz and now onto the closures,
here is the front part and like the last panel all made from minimum 1.2mm

t'other side

in place

and

On with the rear duct now

making it in ms for now while its evaluated
tacked and it seems ok

happy with it so together it goes

there is a step to the inside part as this has to clear the chassis leg.

this shows it better, i will weld a tapped block to the chassis leg and then be able to bolt it to it, at the moment i have used rather long screws but these will be changed for shorter SS bolts as a spanner will need to get to the outer ones not a screwie, and a pozi head will fill with crap

this shows the dogleg bit

and it will be mostly hidden when fitted

so i will either galv it or whatever is requested
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[Plasticman]

and this was cooking away in the rayburn

very nice fresh lasagne

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[lloydy]

Love seeing all this stuff go together, that kitchen seam looks great. The scoop looks nice too. As for the finish of it, however you see fit

[ninja.turtle007]

and this was cooking away in the rayburn

very nice fresh lasagne

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That looks very tasty!

[300CE]

Superb work Mike on both the metal & the lasagne!

[Plasticman]

Well, fittings ,maybe a bit mixed up again but....
had to nip out and cut myself some more steel for the rear part of the closures

holes cut for these

always take time to confirm stuff fits

drilled it out for spotting and raised it to clear the additions at the rear

check fit again

lower part is clamped in place check and check again its lined up nice

here clamping on the inside

and

front

well after lots of setting up its spotted and sanded over

there's 3-4 ways of doing these,on this occasion ive done it it this way.
front part welded in

closer up

endless holes drilled in the rest of it

ready to go

here you have to pay close attention to the line ont hte outside of the van as its very easy for it to go walkabout,
here you can just see a few spots ive done on the inside, this is to warp the panel in favour of the way i want it to go, doesnt always but this time it did

and outside is good enough now

rear end showing seams etc, still a bit of work to do and the join to weld on the inside where it returns to the C post

ditto the front

i have a couple of access holes to cut into the rear closure and then bob that in and then this part is near done
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