Today saw the new rear outer valance going on the van.
New valance all prepped:
and inner valance prepped too (note the small tabs welded either end for the returns on the outer valance to fold around):
Lots of clamps:
And all welded in. An easy panel to fit for once! I just need to dress the welds and fold the returns around either end.
A fairly long, but productive day today saw the corner pretty much welded in. I just need to weld the battery tray to the corner and dress the welds. Really happy with the door gaps and alignment to the rear quarter panel. The only downside to painting the inside of the corner is that the other corner now looks filthy in comparison.
Possibly more effort than it’s worth, but got some pastel white top coat on to the inside of the rear corner as I’ll never have as good access to it as I do now. Should have it all welded up tomorrow.
O/S battery tray and engine skirt welded in.
N/s corner repair finished tonight. This side is now done from front to back!
I’ve made some great progress over the last 3 days, starting to run out of panels to replace now!
I finished up the rear arch first, so everything up to the rear corners is done both sides now:
Battery tray and engine skirt clamped into place on the N/S. No such thing as too many clamps:
I then trial fitted the corner to make sure everything still lined up, then welded in the engine skirt:
and battery tray:
I’ve got the rear corner repair partially welded in and just need to finish it up tomorrow before I can turn my attention to the other corner:
Fitted the rear arch and started welding it in. Looking good!
A nice couple of coats of Epoxy Mastic on the inside of the rear panels. Shiny shiny!
A pretty productive week again this week.
First up I finished up the driver’s side rear wheel tub by making these closing panels from a second outer wheel arch repair panel. The outer wheel arch was trial fitted whilst welding these in to make sure everything would fit correctly.
Rear:
Front:
I’m pretty much ready to weld the rear arch and rear end panels (corners, battery trays, engine skirts and outer valance), however before that I want to get some paint on the inside of bits that I won’t have access to later. I cleaned up the D pillars and chassis legs using Deox gel, which is a rust remover, and left it over night:
Then spent the best part of Sunday cleaning up all the metal work, sanding and degreasing ready for some zinc rich primer (the rear corner took an age to remove the transit primer from!).
Rear end:
D pillar:
Engine skirts and battery trays (the N/S one is the original tray which needed some minor repairs but was in great condition):
Wheel tub:
Full corner for the O/S and the smaller repair panel for the N/S in the background:
I’ll epoxy mastic the lot this week and then crack on with the welding.
I’ve been busy finishing up the faffy D pillar and wheel tub repairs which need to be done before I can fit the outer panels to complete the rear end. It’s amazing how much time all these little bits add up to; I’ve spent 2 weeks or so doing this and still have a little bit to go.
First up some repairs to the top of the D pillar on the drivers side which had rusted out for some reason half way down:
The inside got a clean up and paint before making up a repair in the folder and welding it in. You can just about see some further sections I had to let in right at the top near the roof too:
With the top of the pillar sorted I turned to the bottom which I repaired with a set of schofield repair panels. Inners:
The outer section had rusted higher than the repair panel would cover so I fabricated some extension pieces:
And all welded in:
Next up I turned my attention to the rear wheel tub closing panels. I ended up buying a second outer arch for both sides to make the closing panels from. Even with a bought in panel these repairs take a fair amount of time to trim and fit properly.
Passenger rear closing panel:
Passenger front closing panel:
And while I was in that wheel tub I repaired a small hole in this section too:
Onto the drivers side which got a new rear section to replace the shocking repair someone else had done:
This side is in much better condition than the other with only this section along the lip needing repair.
I just need to weld in the closing panels on this tub and I can then start cleaning up all the metal to get some paint on the insides of the corners and wheel tub.
