Club 80-90 Forums

Hello all.
I've not posted on here for quite some time (years) and had to re-register to get in. semi derelict house, three new children, dog etc etc have somewhat curtailed my van activities.
Hence the sorry looking article in the pictures.
Its been stood outside at home and on a local garage forecourt not getting fixed for a few years now and it has realy taken its toll.
When I bought it many years ago it was a very sound twin slider caravelle with all the seats etc and a dead peugeot 1.9 td sat in the passenger compartment.
It started life as a 1.9 petrol and the french lump was inserted at the same time as it got its appalingly applied but pleasingly coloured blowover.
Apart from a very few arch bubbles under the new paint it was incredibly solid and unmolested.
I stuck a 1.6td from a passat in with all the usual diesely bits neccesary mated to the AAP box allready in situe.
Kitchen unit, full width westy bed. electrics, webasto heater and a swivel seat later and lots of happy camping and daily/work driving was had.
It got a bit of work every year for the MOT but not much else.
Then....... the T4 came. Bought for house moving and house doing uppy stuff It gradualy became vehicle No1. The rapid arrival of twins shortly after and the need for all the seats and belts the T4 could provide meant the poor little camper didn't get a look in. aahh......
It failed an MOT on a few bits and sadly has not been driven more than a few hundred yards since.
So, Its all my fault.
We bought the house we now live in partly because at the botom of the garden was a two story two car width coach house. Fantastic, a dream come true... Sadly NO. Despite reasurances from agents that no developers were interested and planning saying not a cats chance of permision for conversion it sold seperately at auction for way more than we could afford to pay and is now a house.
This means working on the admittedly very quiet lane outside.
Fine untill the psychotic old git of a neighbour has one his episodes and starts shouting down his phone " Its ilegally parked, its an obstruction, its not right, it cant be allowed I want it gone" etc, etc, etc.
Hence It has to be sorted, deserves to be sorted! and quickly!
I have previously run a cable over prviously mentioned neighbours garden to get power out there but it seems this may no longer be an option.
Only option is a 50M extension and hope the welder will run on the end of it.

Pictures.
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... ort=3&o=15" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... sort=3&o=3" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... sort=3&o=8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... ort=3&o=11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... ort=3&o=14" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timha ... ort=3&o=13" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Once they start going it realy does accelerate. Gulp!

Sod it! I thought I'd sussed this photobucket thing. I'll try again later.

Here you go...

copy the link on the right of the picture that has IMG next to it, paste it on here and the pic will appear

Cheers for that comrades, will try to continue in a more coherant fashion shortly.

Look forward to seeing more of this

A few more before pics.

A little progress made inbetween neighbour episodes. Went out one morning to find large piece of cardboard with "Do NOT repair your vehicle outside my house or I'll call the cops"written on it in marker under the rear wiper.
Left off further repairs untill things calmed down a bit. Neighbour makes what seems at the time to be a profuse apology, so a little progress made.


A bit out of practise and getting used to welder settings on thin metal again. Its a big welder but very stable at low power with a bit of care.
[/URL
Made this bit that will be familiar. I hope it will help put things back where they should be
[url=http://s1276.photobucket.com/user/timhamnett/media/P1010115_zps78e430b8.jpg.html]








Particularly pleased with this bit.

I'm not so pleased with this




I've had these panels for ages but now I've come to fit them I'm quite apalled by their quality.
Fits where it touchs as they say.
Any thoughts on alternatives, or perservere with what I've got?

Keep going I'd say... Looks like there's quite a big gap along the top edge. If you can get that tighter it'll pull the repair panel up a bit so your swages line up.

It will go up a little with a bit of work but I have a gap opening up the further down the rear seam I go. I can rework the panel a bit and open up the curve of the arch at the front to fill a bit of space but surely the bugger should be square where it needs to be. Its a schofiels panel from about 7 years ago, I hope they've improved because they're relatively local to me and it would be good to go back with some confidence in their wares.
And I know a bad workman blames........... but I'd expect a bit better even from a pattern.
And sorry photos at wrong angles probabley dont help.

Looks like the end of the swage is sticking out a bit which would make a gap. I think I'd try to carefully hammer that down a bit so it stays flat.
I used all JK panels on mine and well, they fitted reasonably well with a bit of hammering trimming and clamping. You could try pulling it together with some self tappers or tek screws through the flanges once you're sure there are no lumps and bumps stopping it.

how did you remove the old arch have you a picky from under and inside with the patter one out the way.

Elland i bought it new and cost more than a boc that it replaced but stunning quality built to a spec not a price, i just fit new torches and of corse wire only down side on mine is it has 'softstart' does yours
mm

Eland
Best welder ever, mine's a classic & still wipe the floor with most new ones!
Also marketed as Britweld & Murex tradesmig.Came out different doors of the factory with different colour covers/labels
Our family business used to be selling welding equipment & we sold stacks of them!
The last of the over-engineered welding plants & so stable at low current
There was a newer version on the market known as Classic Mig I think, after Eland went under

sorry to thread crash a bit
interesting, i didnt know the history of them but a mate had one and it was brilliant, weighs a ton almost,oh your bits went today,i will check and pm you
mm
op, can you do the picks when you get a minute as it may help you sort this
mm

Got the mig off a friend who bought it new, that I used to do a lot of work with. He gave it me as part payment for some work I'd done when he upgraded to a Miller? that would take one mm wire for aluminium welding. He'd had it repaired(by Eland I think) when the transformer went. They put an uprated 180 amp ish unit in. After I moved out of a workshop I had, it spent a couple of years down our cellar, a year or two outside (well covered) some time in a friends shed not being fixed and finaly back outside at ours for a bit longer before I finally traced and fixed the wire speed fault. This turned out to be a 20p 556 timer chip that plugged straight in to the board. stuck the chip in and it was right as rain.Its got various timer and trgger controls but not I beleive any soft start option.

Mike, Some pictures above I think and I'll have a dig around or take some more.






have cut out the bare minimum so far and am deciding wher to cut the panel to. There was a mass of creased up folded stuff at the front top of the inner arch on the new one that had to go. I'm tempted to rebuild the inner arch out of a decent thickness of metal and cut the new panel to just leave a lip.
Replacement panel is a poor replica of the original VW that went as far as the boot floor.