Club 80-90 Forums

Put the flange on, and then the piece under the cover bracket.

That area you attacked today is a right pig to get in after its all welded to clean it back, the cover hides most of the area so it doesn't have to be as perfect as an external skin.
But it's looking good and heading in the right direction

Aye, I’m glad it’s going to be covered up. Still not happy with the weld in the corner (didn’t bother replicating the flange internally), think I’ll use a grinding disc on it and have another go tomorrow or the day after.

Then another hiatus as we’ve spent the lump sum from my pension on a deposit on a flat to rent out to supplement the pension, so a few weeks of intensive DIY to get it fit. Pick up the keys Friday, and there’s such a shortage of rental accommodation that we’ve got tenants waiting!

Back to it

Heath Robinson to push a panel straight for welding

E D I T
Oct 2022. Discovered that it was a mistake to try to get this straight. When it was all welded up, I offered up the cover plate, to find it had a gentle curve which probably matched what I assiduously tried to get rid of. FFS.



Then welded in the strip below the cover rail



All pretty straight



Then ran out of welding wire…

Threaded in the new reel of wire trouble free, and finished welding in that panel. Warp city!! I’d better be good with the filler…. I’ll be looking for tips.

No photo.

After forced delays, decided I couldn’t live with warp city, so cut out a section encompassing the top of that bit.



Made up a section with my new-to-me Rolastep,



Top edge flanged for puddle welding, bottom edge flanges for location of side cover channel, and that will be butt welded.

Lengthy process to remove flashband from the rear…



Drilling for cleco pins

Tacked in, didn’t go too badly but my first puddle welds were a bit pants until I got the settings right. Would have been easier with slightly larger holes to weld through but I just went with 5mm punched holes rather than drilling out to 6 or 7.





Better control of warping this time, I think flanges help as well as puddle welding one edge, rather than butt welding both edges.

Welded and ground down , no photos but I’m not happy with the penetration, but sure it’ll be good enough for that location. Just forgot the best settings. Ought to make a wee label…

I’m going to have problems fitting the non-sliding-rail cover on this (drivers) side, but not the kind of problems that won’t be solved by a gentle bend. A useful learning experience prior to doing the sliding door side, where fit and alignment are critical! Should have held up the cover at the start and maintained the correct shape…

A proposed remedy for it being so out of shape. Useful experiments…

Et voila

Cutting that slit and using it to pull in on rewelding worked ok, that and some bending…

Not the prettiest welds, but it cleans up, and most of it will be hidden. Started to shape the brackets for the lower edge of the cover, but they’ll not be welded on til later, to avoid catching on them, and cos I’d probably put them in the wrong place until I’ve got the long strip bracket welded on… which I’ve not bought yet. I’ll get that when I’m buying gutter strips.

Next is finish the base of the C pillar, base of B pillar inner and replace a section of B pillar outer, and finally the outer sill and fridge panel.

Made up a couple of brackets



Took my angle grinder apart, all in good nick. Took my powerfile (Lidl’s) apart, about to catastrophically fail. Need to make a part…



Plate that prevents the belt chewing into the fan on the end of the motor, nearly ground through to leave a chunk of metal loose to do who knows what! Easy enough to make another and just in time.

Powerfile back together with a 1.6mm plate replacing the 1.2mm.

Tidied up the tool mess in the back of the van

…as when I start work on the fridge panel I’ll need to access the inside of the van at times - via the tailgate opening as the garage is so tight for space.

So I did what I should have done ages ago and put up a tool storage board

Bit more tidying to do tho’