Van back on the rollover jig for the final time so I can stonechip the wheel arches and give it all some paint plus a few odd jobs.
The results of spending all weekend sanding out the engine bay and fuel tank shelf. Then getting some epoxy mastic onto it tonight! So worth it.
My rusty Lee ¾ width bed arrived this month, as I was keen to get the mounting holes drilled before I paint the engine bay.
It took me a little while to work out how it all went together, but it seems really nicely designed and pretty straightforward.
Once I’d assembled it I got it into the van on top of the Madmatz closed cell insulation, a piece of 9mm ply and the floor tiles I’ll be using to make sure it sat at the correct height:
And then drilled and fitted the mounting bolts:
While the bed was in I made up a large strengthening plate for the lap belt and 3 point belt I’ll be fitting
And a quick test to make sure it fits:
These are the floor tiles I’ll be fitting much later on:
A few minor repairs left on the rear end before I can get it into primer.
Welded in my new fuel tank strengthener and the repaired strap:
Removed a patch repair on the Rear wheel tub and welded in some neater repairs:
While I was prepping the fuel tank shelf for paint I noticed some rot creeping out on the chassis behind the suspension mounts so had to cut out a big chunk of the mount to repair it:
And while I had the welder out I made a new bump stop for the trailing arm using the old torsion bar cover plate:
Max came down on Sunday to start prepping the engine bay for a spot of paint. Lots of sanding to do!
I have a few areas on the fuel tank shelf that need repairing, the worst being the O/S strap and strengthener that sit underneath it.
Chopped out:
This is what was left of the strengthening plate after I’d cut the rust out:
The rest of the metal on the plate was pretty thin so I decided to make a new one instead of repairing. I don’t have a bead roller so I rigged up a little jig on the vice instead:
to add some pressings to a sheet of metal:
I then folded over the edges and after some careful bending, welding and spot of etch primer ended up with a pretty decent copy of the original panel:
A quick trial fit too:
I also repaired the fuel tank strap and fitted a new bolt as the old one had rusted shut:
Inner repairs made up and fitted to rear hatch, epoxied and then outer repair panel fitted. Just a few pinholes to weld up and one further repair to the aperture.
