Club 80-90 Forums

Mike, you're SEWING that together I only ever met one welder that could tackle something that bad as well as you have. Respect.

I dont know, done much much worse, once did am amphicar full up resto and it sailed a lot better than it drove
mike

I wish I'd seen how that pillar all went together before I did mine
It's quite a substantial structure, as much for side impact methinks as for jacking loads... dreading doing my offside now! - but without the sliding door could be (slightly) easier?

You're making rapid progress

I dont know, when you do the offside you have to keep walking round to get in and check stuff etc, that said with the side panal off I can see real good in fact I sat where the fridge would be and stuck my legs through the side panal as was and got welding
I hear what your saying ref impact, I reckon they had both in mind, it all braces real nice,which is why I am so against the aftermarket wrap over panals, the tall one for the fridge side covers all this lot up but doesnt do any real good for strength or longevity, same with the rear wing, I also dont like patches as they are not as strong and the double skin created is a sweat trap where the rust will just keep eating till it gets to the weld, has a good chew then its through
yes back to yours, if your gonna do the other side maybe go into it from the front behind the wheel and below as well cutting the inside too? maybe worth accepting a little external painting. /
mike

yes back to yours, if your gonna do the other side maybe go into it from the front behind the wheel and below as well cutting the inside too? maybe worth accepting a little external painting. /

Been thinking about those options, depends how bad that wheel well shear web is, had to fill a few thin areas on the n/s, and actually spotted a doubler over it inside too...
and can also see that a lot of clambering about and walking around will be going on

===========

Out of interest, here's a technique I use quite a bit to check-see how bad a closed section is:



I call it the digicam borescope

NB. It seems to show a previous repair of the outer sill about half way along that I wasn't aware of.. an area to definitely clean and double treat with anti-rust (good old RC900)

They said you were a small chap but that incredible

Only a short bit of a day today so just gonna finish the jack point and quit,
Rather than fold one up I opted for the easy way as I have lots of flat bar and saves cutting sheet so here in kit form,
and by magic it becomes,


maybe this type of thing is what our very good friend 'redreamer ' was dreaming of when he went off on one
anyhow I made it longer than needs be no reason but it will be stronger and I have drilled a hole in it to puddle weld through to the pillar and also in the pillar itself I have drilled a 3/4 hole to puddle weld the top in, this member does carry most of the weight of the van when jacking, all the surrounding plates help but without this welded in its a no go-er.
notched the inner sill area to receive it

and in it goes



Then its the fiddly little side bits to make and weld in




And full frontal

Made a mistake with the sill so back up my mates to fold another up , anyhow the jack point is now done so its back to more placid bodywork etc.
mike

Mike,

That's nice

and you have saved me a heluva lot of work writing up what these jacking points are like inside.. indeed I would have probably missed some parts. In retrospect I better get out an jack mie up, haven't tested it since finishing, garden fence too clsoe for the hi-lift jack

Agree about strip Vs sheet .. isn't it a fag, hacksawing, gilbowing or otherwise stripping sheet to make strip..

Spend my spare winter evenings doing that
5" often seems handy and 2" or 2 1/2", but if I can pick up a bit of strip whatveer it looks like, however small, I will

Loving the wooden fold-out rule, got a few of my grandfather's but too good to use outside

The rules are brand new! got them in Norway, use them round gas and such as theres no ferrouse metal
mike

Not much to show today really, only had a few hours and it was trial fitting, adjusting, making templates and small fiddly bits ready for assembly tommorow, first off clamped the rear wing in place, bit nervouse as the rear 1/4 was repaired/fabricated prior to opening up the side panal so couldnt test fit it.

wing is quite good fit, not the best quality but good enough. Im glad I went to the trouble of making a near pattern repair to the pillar btm as I forgot the wing wraps round and up to it, not the end of the world but happy its done and fits

sill now sort of fits 3rd go so it will have to do even though its a bit long on the under strip and the angle isnt 100%,

new bottom section of side panal in place and marked ready for prepping the side ready to fold, will show picks of it notched as I have to maintain a slight curve in the piece to emulate the wing, at least silly bit of sill was flat in all planes, at least mine is, no original left to compare,
and showing the small! hole which is handy for the grips..


this is what it looks like from the inside



and overall

I hope to get this lot tweaked in the morning then weld it all up, the 2 cover plates that box this in on the top are cut and I have yet to decide wether to weld them to the top of the sill/side panal join or under? if I do it under then in the future it would be simple to remove side panal but a hassle to do the sill, vice-versa is true
a couple of the pickies showing the jack point are a bit out of focus so will take more and E D I T later.
Mike

Mike looking at what you have done on that van amazes me everytime.I wish I had you skills with metal ..

Mark

This is fantastic and really worth sharing, thanks for taking the additional time to post it on the forum.

Simon.

Yes Simon, its the full Monty, certainly for pillars and jacking points, picturewise, and it does take a lot of extra time and hassle to keep stopping to snap it from several angles...

I'm therefore going to use this as an exercise (in a while) in moving a single thread en-mass across to the RO Tech Archive (a completely different forum), where it will not get butchered or lost and we can link to it from the Wiki without fear of a broken link in years to come...

Ah, scary Mr Mann, will have to recheck the picky quality then,
did very little today as I had other places to be, but made the rest of the fillers for the inner rear wing arch,
looking at the post ref rear tailgate I just remebered that I have one fitted and its poorly,

and outside

bit of surface rust across the middle but will no doubt end up worse,
bought a gallon of phospheric acid today and have been playing with dilutions,

So looking forward to sat and a full day with luck
mike

syncrosimon wrote:This is fantastic and really worth sharing, thanks for taking the additional time to post it on the forum.

Agreed. I'm still following this thread, enjoying the pics and write-up and wishing that I knew how to take our van apart and put it all back together like that (shiny and new)!

Great work Mike.

Tony