Club 80-90 Forums

Hello

I'm in the middle of prepping my van for some bodywork repairs to the nearside between the wheels.

I had some rot under the corners of the westy roof rack/ top windscreen which let water run in along inside the channel above the door, down the B pillar where it has pooled and caused havoc inside. Last year I sorted out all around the windscreen so water shouldn't get in any more.

Rather than sort out the cause of the problem a previous owner spot welded a panel over the corrosion and applied an industrial quantity of filler - it is laughable - literally 10mm in places - from the bottom of the outer sill thinning to the original paint at the middle swage line. If I can handle the ridicule I may post some photos...

Anyway it seems I can get replacement panels for the exterior but am having trouble finding a nearside inner sill (253-801-251 - i think). I've called around a few places but nowhere seem to have it. Now as it isn't visible I can make up some patch panels or beat some of the weird curves into a piece of sheet but before I start this does anyone know of any suppliers for this part? It's unavailable from Schofields, JK, Coast and Retrodubs.

It's an 82 Westy if that makes any difference...

Thanks,

Chops

not playing till we see picks.... and is it lhd or rhd,
mm

metalmick8y wrote:not playing till we see picks.... and is it lhd or rhd,
mm

It's LHD - and i'll nip out and take a couple of pics shortly.

metalmick8y wrote:not playing till we see picks.... and is it lhd or rhd,
mm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/94844634@N08/

I hope this worked - are the images visible? As you can see the van is kind of rust coloured too!

excellent picks thanks, will you post up the repairs as there are precious few on the go at the moment and i like reading them as well and my own aint the same
been played with hasnt it,
i wouldnt really bother with a new inner, most of it is intact, and its made of very good gauge of steel ,
if the lip you weld the outeer sill to is mostly there then cut a bit out and add, its what i do,the botom of the postd dont have to replicate the shape exactly thats up to you then lower outer sill from schofields say ,they are decent steel then you have the bottom tied in,
I make the lower part of the fridge panal and this way acheive a nice original seam then make a closure to box it all in, can send you a link to it if you want on a lhd van exact same job
mm

metalmick8y wrote:excellent picks thanks, will you post up the repairs as there are precious few on the go at the moment and i like reading them as well and my own aint the same
been played with hasnt it,
i wouldnt really bother with a new inner, most of it is intact, and its made of very good gauge of steel ,
if the lip you weld the outeer sill to is mostly there then cut a bit out and add, its what i do,the botom of the postd dont have to replicate the shape exactly thats up to you then lower outer sill from schofields say ,they are decent steel then you have the bottom tied in,
I make the lower part of the fridge panal and this way acheive a nice original seam then make a closure to box it all in, can send you a link to it if you want on a lhd van exact same job
mm

It certainly has been messed about. There was a patch on a patch in the area above the C pillar - though i think that's because of a leak through the rear window seal, which again, wasn't sorted out properly. Looks like it has had a bump in the lower C pillar too.

I'm happy to post photos of the work as I go along - it has been really interesting looking at the ***excellent*** work you have done on a selection of vans. But, I am only an enthusiastic amateur - it will likely end up being far from perfect. I am not hugely precious about the vans appearance, I want to get it back on the road to use it (no use in the garage) and just want to get fresh steel welded in there to replace some of the handfuls I scooped out of the sill . There is so much filler on the side I think it will be difficult to avoid using it over the replacement panels.

Be grateful for the link you mentioned - I will need all the help I can muster.

The join between the lower outer sill and the section above is the bit i'm wondering about the most...

here you go this is lhd
https://club8090.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=100930" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
mm