Syncro Doka metalwork project

[Enzo79]

I wasn't looking for one, but this found its way to me in the summer.



At first glance it looks pretty good, but all the seams had been done away with so knew there would be some filler, and knew there was some nasties hiding under all the chequer plate on the rear, and it wasn't keeping out the water as was getting through to in the lockers and then running forward into the cab.

The following scenes show a doka rear end stripped down to something resembling a skip, so if you are of a nervous disposition please look away now.

[Enzo79]

First job was to have all that chequer plate off and see what was under there... and the answer was not a lot else!

Sections of the floor had already been cut out, and one of the floor supports had been replaced with a bit of 2" box section, and the big bits of front to back chassis had been patched up.



A friend who works next door to me said just keep on going till all the rusty bits are gone, so just kept going with the angle grinder and air chisel.

[Enzo79]

The edge where the back of the bulkhead comes out to support the front edge of the floor was badly rusted, so decided to cut the whole section out, and bent a length of angle to weld in.

[silverbullet]

Someone else with a spot welder! Hurrah!

[Enzo79]

My self made repair panels going in nicely.

[Enzo79]

Was going to get a body chop from a van, as that bits not normally rusty, but wanted to crack on so made my own tool to use on the press to crunch the shape into flat sheet.

[silverbullet]

*round of applause*

That is tidy work.

[Enzo79]

Fresh off the press.

[Enzo79]

That is tidy work.

The truth is I have never really done much in the way of metal work or bodywork before this, other than the odd 'MOT standard' bit of welding with a MIG, its the first time I had used a TIG or a spot welder.

I just had someone that really (as in really really) knows how to use a TIG spend half an hour, both with masks on, getting in each others personal space showing me the ropes.

In the end its all seems down to how nicely you can cut the bits in to start with, as if you can really get stuff edge to edge with no gap, you hardly need any filler rod, so is nothing to grind away after.

I will never ever use a MIG for bodywork again, after using a TIG.

[scottbott]

looks like you are a clever bugger,keep posting the photo's

[Enzo79]

It was pretty much gone along every seam at the back end, and looked on the German Classic Parts website and found they still had most of the rear panels for the Doka, apart from the bits with louvers in, and one bit of the load bed floor...

So decided to go for it, and rather than spend ages repairing the edges of the existing panels, if new Genuine metal was available, as even though will be a little bit costly it will be loads simpler just to put it all together with the spot welder.



Starting cutting off all the surrounding panels, as wanted to take what I could of the louvered section off to repair, and decided to cut it through the fuel filler hole so was less to weld up after, and cleaned up and repaired the edges of the panels that were staying as I went.



Ended up rebuilding the top of the post behind the locker door, as the top was gone.

[restoman]

Keep up the good work!
Just finishing off a doka I've been doing
Surprising how much more work than a van/camper, all those bits that are different take a lot of time/work

[Dazco]

Some great work going into that. Love the home made panels.

[boatbuilder]

Great work there! Not many people out there willing to make their own press tools!

[Enzo79]

Had to replace both the top and bottom edges on the panel with the louvres in, as it was one of the only panels that wasn't available new.