Club 80-90 Forums

Well this fine vehicle has landed, big and formidable, steering wheel is on a funny side, bit teutonic really but it has lots of presence and attitude.

It is in superb condition for its age, a strange one really as its borderline between restoration and renovation, but the intention is to keep any welding type works to a minimum and those that are done must replicate the factory originals as near as is practical, to this end..

front panal, another shot here

on the surface not dire but had a poke and its got a bit horrid in the seam, I intend to remove as little as possible and let in a new piece and t'owner really wants the new panal to have the spot weld marks as per the factory etc etc, its this philosophy the owner has that has attracted me to doing this van, and its worth doing, so here is some plated sheet that I have folded and am spot welding prior to inserting.

this will give the appearance of the factory fit.(hopefully)
Mike

I'd love a Syncro. Nice looking spot welder you have there.

Well hit the seam with the sand blaster showing this.
and

the little rust spots turned into little holes!

So sadly a little has to be removed

well a little bit more really, in fact all the way across

It does highlight the fact that even with a good sandblast there is still the rust in the seam, this is no different to the vertical seams on other parts of our vans.
I will dress up the remains and re blast it and treat it prior to welding the new bits of panal in place


and close up of the spots

these will get a light sand over and should look like the originals.
Mike

good work, keep the pics coming.

neil

I have to do the same job to mine soon, the whole way across the front.
How did ya bend the metal to the smooth curve? Just by hand or did ya have to hammer it?
How are you going to weld the new piece to the van without messing up your nice spot welds?
Can't tell from the photos, but are you planning to overlap it along the top edge or butt it?

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,you are nosey tonight!
Nice to hear from you again, hows yours progressing?
No,dont hammer it it wont do it , would look and be horrible. I have some rollers with a groove machined in so can form a curve, but in this case its not that severe a curve so I reckon if you clamped it from the centre and worked outwards it would sort of do ok I reckon and stay that way--ish, it would be harder to curve the other way .
How am I going to weld it, Not telling
I am going to cut the front panal to fit butting up to the new metal, I dont want loads of filler and its not the easiest place to grind so will gas it in real neat, well thats the plan, will do it tommorow if time permits.
mike

Was going to add that if nyour migging then butt will be difficult and getting a joddler to the top panal nigh impossible so you could joddle the new metal so it fits behind the original, Im going to reuse the middle section that the grill sits on and you could do the same , better that buying the over counter item that costs£££££ and made of skinny metal, mine is .8mm
mike

metalmick8y wrote:Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,you are nosey tonight!
Nice to hear from you again, hows yours progressing?
No,dont hammer it it wont do it , would look and be horrible. I have some rollers with a groove machined in so can form a curve, but in this case its not that severe a curve so I reckon if you clamped it from the centre and worked outwards it would sort of do ok I reckon and stay that way--ish, it would be harder to curve the other way .
How am I going to weld it, Not telling
I am going to cut the front panal to fit butting up to the new metal, I dont want loads of filler and its not the easiest place to grind so will gas it in real neat, well thats the plan, will do it tommorow if time permits.
mike

Yep, I'm all questions! The good weather has me back out in the garage (patching holes in my lawnmower deck at the moment) The van hasn't seen much action since October....its been too cold and damp in my garage.
Was planning on buying the repair panel from JK for the front bit, but shipping costs are crazy because its so long.
I would imagine that using a mig to butt weld along there would be ill advised... I'll have to check back to see how you attached the bottom bit....I recommend blu-tack.

I keep forgetting the shipping costs,but as you know and have done so far you make one for yourself for next to nothing, its only usually the bottom thats goosed, I take it yours is ok a bit higher up?
blue tack nooooooooooooooo i would copy you and use a good dollop of Irish crack
I will no doubt drill it every couple of inches between the spot welds and weld through to the panal underneath, filling with weld/braze ,
Im only butt welding as if I joddle it I will have a spare bit of lip inside whauch I dont want and I will also have to lead it as well which makes work for me
mike
No what you mean about damp garages, cold we can live with but its the damp that is evil, anyhow sun shining and your mower is getting fixed the grass grows and another bottle of becks is calling me....
M

Looking good. I really like that big bullbar/rollcage setup, its certainly different.

Oh it goes full length to the rear bed which has a huge hoop and rear struts,the roof bar also drops through the roof into the C post.
be tempting to remove it, log the bends and replicate.
mike

Nah thats not a spot welder, this is a spot welder (read tongue in cheek with an Aussie accent).







I removed the ends from the deformation panel and spot welded a new O.E front panel in my syncro, it was a lot more corroded though.

Nice work BTW.

Tim

Ta, proper old spotwelder, what thickness does it tackle.
mike

Well, fibre disc'd the front panal and re blasted prior to rust treatment, watching the f1 proc ession while it dries then onwards



treated


mike

It's only a few years old, 35'000 amp inverter.

Will weld 13mm, 2x6mm Aluminium no problem. So VW front panels are no problem.



The TIG welded bar is a mounting for my winch, it goes straight throught the deformation panel and welded underside.



Tim