I meant to do a video update last week when I finished the cab, here it is anyway.
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Some good progress over the long weekend. The bottom of the sliding door has been in a bad state since the first year we had Iris when it fell off and the filler covering up the hole in the bottom right corner chipped off. There was an impressive amount of filler along the bottom edge but luckily it looks pretty solid:
I marked a straight line across the panel where the new outer will fit and chopped off the old outer. Surprisingly as nasty as it first looked the rust had only really extended up the first section of the inner frame
Meaning I could get away with only needing a small section of the repair panel. Firstly tacked in:
And then trial fitted to the van to check the gap. It fitted amazingly well first time for a change!
All welded up and dressed. The klokker inner panel is noticeably thinner though, hopefully drowning it in cavity wax when I’m done will help.
While I had the door on I trial fitted the outer too, its looking much better than what was there.
And the inner all finished with a coat of zinc primer.
I’ll come back to this once I’ve done the N/S inner rear wheel arch so I can epoxy both inner sections before I fit the outers.
With the cab out of the way I’m onto the sliding door. For a RHD door it’s not in too bad shape but needs the usual repairs.
I started with some small repairs to the inside of the frame:
And then did the other side of that section:
The only other bit of the aperture that needed attention was towards the front in a few sections where the seam was bulging with rust:
And all done:
The bottom of the door isn’t in such good condition though and will need a bit more time (the above was all done today).
O/S closing panel welded in. It might only be a small panel but it marks the end of 3 months hard work. The cab welding is complete! Onto the sliding door and rear arches!
N/S closing panel all welded in. Just the O/S panel to do now!
Lots done this week. I’ve pretty much finished the cab area now. The arch step on the driver’s side has been reattached to the repaired floor:
And I’ve dressed all the welds and primed the driver’s cab floor repair. This is the first time I think I’ve seen the floor without it being riddled with rust and holes.
I also welded in the nuts needed for my new Buttys Bits throttle linkage and trial fitted it. It’s super smooth compared to the rusted mess that was there before.
I just need to weld in the closing panels that join the front arches to the deformation panel and everything in front of the B pillar is complete!
Driver’s cab floor all welded in. Just need to dress the welds and reattach the step to it.
Buttys bits seat runners fitted to allow me to mount my early style seats to the donor late tub. Welded in to replace the old ones which were held in with self tappers!
Driver’s cab floor repair prepped and ready to weld in.
I’ve made a huge amount of progress over the last few days. With all the fiddly bits out of the way, fitting the arch and tub seemed to go really quickly.
With the arch tacked to the A and B pillars I fitted the tub by clamping it to the lip that it folds over and pinning it to the wheel arch and bulkhead (note the scissor jack between the chassis rail and arch to push it out a little to line up with the door better):
Double check the gaps again, and then start welding it in. Staggering the welds to avoid it getting too hot:
And all welded in and dressed. Looks good again!
I’ve removed the later style seat runner and will be fitting a new Butty’s bits runner which will allow me to keep my early style seats.
I’ve made a start on the cab floor area my side too. The chassis rails are solid and the strengthening plate looks perfect (I had to make a new one for the passenger side as it was rusting away) so I’ve just cleaned it up and zinc primed it all.
I’ll epoxy mastic it in the week and then look to get the floor in shortly after. Then that’ll be the front end entirely done!
I’ve a healthy pile of scrap to take to the tip this week too
