Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all,

Firstly let me say that I'm a total newbie to both VW's and posting on forums so please be gentle

Having finally plucked up courage to strip my camper (2.0 LHD A/C) I've hit a couple of issues that I'm sure a lot of you have come accross so any help would be very much appreciated...PLEASE!!!

1. Hopefully this is the easiest (and I bet the daftest question!). I've stripped the majority of the interior lining (carpet) from the van but there are some remnants around the seatbelt mounting bolts (both front and rear) that I can't get out. If I remove the seatbelts is there a mounting bracket hidden in the pillar that will drop down once the bolt is out stopping me from getting the thing back on? If so is there an easy method of keeping it in place? Told you it was a daft question!!

2. Having removed the flooring I've come found how much damage the fridge has caused over the last 20 odd years. I've checked the wikki and other posts but I'm not sure how to tackle this. I assume it will need welding but I haven't the faintest idea about how to go about it which probably means that it's not a good idea for me to try! Is there anything else I could do for a short term fix while I save up to get someone to do it for me (dont want to blow my whole budget on the fix so I can't enjoy my van this summer!). Otherwise can anyone recommend a friendly garage in near Huddersfield who will do a good job?

I've stuck some photos on Photobucket that should explain what I'm talking about.
http://s881.photobucket.com/albums/ac19 ... 0Pics%201/

Thanks

S

Hi Far out, & welcome to the club. There are great people on here with tons of knowledge.
I can help on 1st point. The seat belt mounting brackets should be welded to the underside of the flooring (unless modified by a previous owner.This is unlikley) so nothing will drop off or fall out.
2nd point - Since you have gone this far, get a quote from a welder/garage as a good repair patch might not be as expensive as you think. no point in throwing goo at it as it ill have to be done sooner rather than later.
Good luck with your project

https://club8090.co.uk/wiki/Ar ... outer_sill" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; - Should explain this a bit more.

Thanks for the replies

Jake. Hoped that would be the case, ta. Is that the same for the front seatbelts too?

CovKid. Thanks for the link, I did see that one but I'm obviously in denial 'cos that looks like a big (read expensive!) job to me! I want to make sure that its done right so I'll be looking for a garage in the area to quote.

Has anyone else had this done who can give me an idea about cost? Also should I be looking at a VW specialist or a bodywork garage who might not be as sympathetic? Like I said Total Newbie!!

S

When you say VW specialist do you mean a bloke/firm who regularly works on T25's or do you mean a garage who mainly sells VW cars and commercial vans. The latter could be a bad and expensive choice!
Cheers
Wolfie

Any reasonably good welder could do that job and if you don't resolve it, it'll spread like a cancer and become a mammoth job. If you really want to keep the costs down, buy the panel (about £40), cut and prep the area, gaffer tape it over and drive it to whoever can weld it on for you. In my case, I got stuck in one afternoon, ground out the crap, hammerited the inside of the sill and Chickenkoop came round and tacked it all on for me. That just left me to finish off.

Looks much worse than it is to be honest.

Hi

You will find that if you intend to keep the van for any length of time you will get into welding as these old vehicles require more and more body maintenance, welding is not hard once you have been shown the basics, many colleges do basic weld instruction in the evenings so don't be too afraid get some basic knowledge and equipment an get stuck in!

[quote="Far Out"]Thanks for the replies

Jake. Hoped that would be the case, ta. Is that the same for the front seatbelts too?

Yes -all seatbelt points are welded under/behind panels

Hi ,

I had exactly the same issue when I stripped my van out. I cut the rusted area out and welded in a section of steel. I think mine was mainly caused by years of leaking side window so watch for that when you put things back. There's a bit about this section on my blog here http://t25camper.wordpress.com/2010/04/ ... k-to-rust/

You're fine to unscrew your front seat belt mounts - the threads are fixed in place. You'll need a security bit to get the covers off if they're the same as mine