Club 80-90 Forums

After waiting for all the necessary bits and pieces to get started, its underway at last!

The plan is to replace/repair the rusty panels and seams, fix the heater blower, repair and re-install the alarm system properly, and re-trim the interior completely, including the seats and bed.

The exterior will be painted in the original L90d from the roof down to the waist line and then it will be in a light blue colour, maybe that new Fiat Volare blue as used on the 500/panda Ducks head... Or, maybe VW L289 Blue-White or Brunswick blue L1018...

Lots of work to do though



Here's an image of the o/s/f wheelarch that I'm going to replace. But as the replacement one is pretty poor I think I'll just section it and replace the rusty bit of it.



Here's the same arch, which has rusted through right at the bottom. I have the feeling that this isn't a hole caused by the usual means, more one where water has run down a speaker cable from a badly installed system and water has laid underneath the step rubber and slowly rotted through.



Heres an image of the rust scab on the front, just underneath the windscreen. I've removed the dash anyway to sort the heater fan out so I dont need to worry about burning anything when welding the hole up, etc

Just got mine back today with an MOT woohoo!! Now time for the refit and bodywork!!

Keep posting the pics New Kentish

Will do, as I've just sussed out how to put the images on properly.... Sorry Rob



The lower front panel's rust. I'm going to cut it out and replace it



The N/S/F footwell, although I've got a new one on standyby, I think I'll repair this and lead-load it



I originally planned to either section this panel or repair and lead-load this rust but as usual, there was more rust under the paint, so I'm going to replace the whole panel just to avoid future problems.



The N/S/R wheelarch. I'll replace this for sure. I've also bought the little filler panel at the bottom, where the end cap screws onto so all new metal once again.



The front section of the same arch



O/s/r arch. Still a bit scabby and I reckon theres more under the paint..


A few more to follow tomorrow

New Kentish Campers wrote:Will do, as I've just sussed out how to put the images on properly.... Sorry Rob

I'll get some of mine on tomorrow before i start working on it!

foggygolf wrote:

New Kentish Campers wrote:Will do, as I've just sussed out how to put the images on properly.... Sorry Rob

I'll get some of mine on tomorrow before i start working on it!

If you need to know how to put pictures up, seeing as my little brain has just sussed how to, let me know

New Kentish Campers wrote:After waiting for all the necessary bits and pieces to get started, its underway at last!

The plan is to replace/repair the rusty panels and seams, fix the heater blower, repair and re-install the alarm system properly, and re-trim the interior completely, including the seats and bed.

The exterior will be painted in the original L90d from the roof down to the waist line and then it will be in a light blue colour, maybe that new Fiat Volare blue as used on the 500/panda Ducks head... Or, maybe VW L289 Blue-White or Brunswick blue L1018...

Lots of work to do though



Here's an image of the o/s/f wheelarch that I'm going to replace. But as the replacement one is pretty poor I think I'll just section it and replace the rusty bit of it.



Here's the same arch, which has rusted through right at the bottom. I have the feeling that this isn't a hole caused by the usual means, more one where water has run down a speaker cable from a badly installed system and water has laid underneath the step rubber and slowly rotted through.



Heres an image of the rust scab on the front, just underneath the windscreen. I've removed the dash anyway to sort the heater fan out so I dont need to worry about burning anything when welding the hole up, etc

Did you say you'd have it ready for the end of May? Mine too 2013 !

Did you say you'd have it ready for the end of May? Mine too 2013 !

Err, yes, I did, didn't I. OK then, maybe I'll have some of it ready by the end of the month...

Some more images of the van..



The inside seam area to the O/S bodyside panel. Not too bad at all, which is encouraging.



The floor area under the fridge, again, no real rust to worry about. I'll give it a good clean and treat any little spots though.



The N/S/R inner wheelarch. Some rust bubbles which will need treating, etc but at least they aren't as bad as I thought they would be.



Ditto the O/S/R, which is even better!



The stripped out interior. I'll take the kitchen unit out when I can get somebody to help me lift it out. I am thinking of recovering them - Thanks Kev the Rev - or something so as to freshen them up.



A view of the N/S/F B post's inner carpet, which is a nightmare to get off. They at Holdsworth certainly liked their glue..



And one of the headlining that was over the bed area. You can see the clean bits where the wardrobe and overhead locker were fitted. This is going to be replaced with a silver coloured headlining.

More images to follow...

Well, I sorted the alarm's wiring out yesterday. This is the mess that greeted my once I'd dropped the dashboard down and removed it:



Note the two sensor boxes - the little black boxes above and below the main unit - that are supposed to be mounted to a hard surface..



And these wires can be live at times, straight through the bodywork with no grommet



Some yards of wiring removal and tidying-up later gave me this:



I've deliberately left those two fuse holders dangling loose so that I can reach them from underneath the glove box without having to take anything off, should the need arise. They wont present a hazard like that I reckon.Must make a note of that, should I ever sell the van so its new owner knows where to look

I also took the heater box apart and sorted out the blower fan unit as that sometimes went on strike. Works a treat now, despite it being a pig to split the two halves in two. Thank Gawd for the WIki's help on this one

Here's one of the O/S & N/S/F wiring looms. These has been done to connect the alarm to the indicators to make them flash to show the alarm's been activated. Bare, corroded, live at times, cables

Note too the over-spray that is all over the loom harness. The van had a grotty cellulose respray at some stage in its life hence its now faded and tired looking. I'll use some thinners to clean the loom up and make sure its masked properly this time around





I'll put the rest of it back together today and I can then begin on the welding work.

These sorts of post are very welcome.

Just finished prepping the n/s/f wheel arch and B post.

The B post wasn't anywhere near as bad as I thought it might be,so it only need a light sanding-off, then some rust removal fluid [appliedthat yesterday in fact,so that it had plenty of time to do its thing] to treat the little spots that were there, then another sanding, and then a few light coats of brushed-on 2 pack etch primer and that should do the trick, he said hopefully...



I'll weld the new arch in tomorrow and then its onto the next arch and footwell, which has holed and needs replacing.



Doug.

Loving the photos Doug keep them coming!

I got the N/S/F arch fitted today. Obviously, it was a pattern part and didn't want to fit too well but after some questions as to its parentage and general swearing, it went in quite well.
The pressing itself, particularly toward the front, was poor, meaning that the swage line wasn't there and the arch seam itself didn't have the correct curvature. Rather that trying to sort it out beforehand,I decided to weld it in so at least it was rigid and then sorted it out from there. It needs another hour or so more dressing to get it how I'd like, so I will do that tomorrow..



I puddle welded the seam against the original part of the arch so the filler join on top is as small as I could get it to be. I also flowed some 2 pack etch primer into the seam joints and allowed it to dry before re-sanding the areas to be filled so at least there is some decent protection inside and around the welds.



This is what it looked like after 20 minutes of some dolly, hammer and file work. the bits of brown coloured primer are still low spots which I can dress and file tomorrow. I dont like using body filler unless I really have to and doing it this way leaves as much or perhaps more, new metal in place as a grinder is a bit too aggressive at times...



The lower rear section of the arch. The swage lines were nigh on gone from pressing, so after some more dolly and file work, the swage is almost correct again.



An image of the front inner part of the arch. I like to wire brush the still red hot welds in these sort of areas so as to remove all the old sealer and crud, in readiness for some etch primer,seam-sealer, underseal/wax, etc. The two tack welds are there to hold the panel still and helped to be hot enough to wire brush the old sealer away. If you dont remove the sealer, a] you can get surrounded by some evil smelling fumes and b] subsequent new welds will be ruined as the seam-sealer gases get into the mig-weld pool. For more inaccesable places, I like to use a mule skinner on a drill, that soon removes the crud and old sealer too. Wear the usual gloves, mask and eye protection too.



The joint up to the B post. This part of the van,and it looked original, had a slight bulge in the panel. I think it was made like that during production, and being white, wasn't too easy to spot at most angles. So, I've dressed this and filed the bulge so its almost ready for primer.

I'll finish this off tomoroow and start on the front lower panel as that's badly rusted, and then whip the windscreen out and repair the rust scabs under the rubber.

Doug.

I managed to get going on the front yesterday, cutting and drilling out the lower front panel so as to fit the new Schofield's repair panel [excellent quality and fits well too] Looks like the original wasn't sealed at all from factory and being exposed to water will make it rust as it has done. Odd really, as the rest of the van has been sealed to their normal standards.

Anyway, here are some images of the work so far and I plan to weld -in the lower panel today, then take the windscreen out and sort out the rust scabs, etc. Then I can get the dashboard back in, etc.

Here's one of the crossmember's rust. Not too bad, fortunately. I've applied some rust treatment fluid on it; the drill holes are from where I put the new panel in place and then began to drill the holes in readiness to puddle-weld the new panel in while the rust stuff does its thing. I managed to grind the heads off most of the original spot welds but it wasn't too easy and some of the old ones will have to stay there unless I want to risk grinding the x member top joint! Main thing is that all the rust has been treated and etched so its ok.



The new panel in place, suitably drilled. The idea is to drill right through the new panel, and into the x member but not to go right through. Then its just a matter of carefully welding the two together to give you a spot-weld type effect. It's also a very strong method too and leaves the seam join unbroken so will look orignal once sealed and painted.



Then I moved onto the rest of the front panel and D/A'd the celly paint off and into the factory paint. Lots of little stone chips were underneath, just ready to break out in coming years.. It just goes to show that the old girl must have been going quite fast at times to get hit by so many stones



The front panel sanded off and some rust treatment applied..



I cleaned up the wiring harness too while I was about it..



And then I brushed put some 2 pack etch primer on the front panel and the N/S/F Wheelarch to protect it all until I begin getting the van ready to respray later on. Still lots of panel work to get though yet though. Note the arch's swage lines, much, much better now after a fair bit of work to get right.

Looking good!
On the lower front repair, are you going to overlap it at the top edge of the repair or some other way?