Window surrounds

I’ve been putting this off for a while, but as I want to start prepping the body for paint soon I need to get it done. The window surround on the middle louvered window is pretty shot from water sitting behind the rubber (stupid panel van conversion). 3 of the 4 sides need a 1 inch or so strip letting in:

Chopped out the bottom rot and let in an oversized repair (having measured the aperture I’m fairly convinced it was too large compared to the window so I’ll be cutting it in afresh):

Clamped:

Tacked in:

And all done:

And made a start on the side and top pieces. It now looks like something out of Mad Max with a machine gun viewing window on the side:

In between welds I trial fitted the front headlamps on the front panel. The new panel needed a bit of tweaking to get the lights to fit as the bowl surround lip wasn’t quite bent correctly. A bit of persuasion with some mole grips saw them go in:

The rear window apertures have a few sections that need cutting out and replacing, but the rest will just get some Deox gel treatment to remove the rust. 

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After skimming the whole panel with filler, blocking flat and applying high build primer I’ve managed to get a much better result. Still not perfect but it’ll do for my first panel! Got the engine lid primed too.

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Second attempt at filler on the rear hatch. This approach makes much more sense, applying filler to the entire panel and then blocking it flat.

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First attempts at filler!

Well aware that I have the entire van to shape and prime, and pretty much no experience of applying filler I decided to have a go on the rear hatch to get a feel for it. I’m epoxying all of the outer panels, so started by taking the hatch back to bare metal (you can see the repair I had to put in along the bottom edge):

And the result of a few nights trying to get the panel flat (this is going to take me a while to get the hang of, but I’ve got to start somewhere right?!). 

So far it’s not coming particularly natural to me trying to feel the highs and lows on the panel, and then levelling it out. Even applying the filler isn’t easy as I can’t seem to spread it particularly evenly and keep running tracks through it. 

I decided to epoxy it anyway to give me a better idea of the panel shape, and how the filler translates into primer.

As I had the gun out I also bare metalled the engine lid which is a brand new panel so needed no filler:

Engine lid in epoxy:

And rear hatch:

It doesn’t look too bad from this angle and distance, but it’s far from straight when viewed side on:

I can apply filler over epoxy so I’ll keep going on the filler to try and flatten it out more. Practice makes perfect!

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Rear seat belt mount (Westy Style)

I bought a westy style seat belt mount for the rear a while back to make fitting a a 3 point belt a bit nicer. As ours is a converted panel van it has none of the factory bus mounting points so I had to make one. I used 25x50mm box section and a standard mounting bracket cut down to size:

I cut the box section at either end to sneak it behind the framework in the van:

All tacked together:

All welded up and welds dressed. The smaller piece is for the lower mounting point:

All trail fitted to the van, it was then plug welded to the side of the van via holes drilled in the van side, and seam welded at both ends:

Lower mounting point welded in and both pieces etch primed:

That should do nicely. I’ve already done the mounting points for a lap belt the other side, so we can now safely transport 2 in the back of the van!

As a small home project I’ve been sorting out the multitude of dodgy repairs and ugly bits on the wiring loom. Not many pictures of this as it’s not very exciting, but this was the type of rubbish I found. Barely crimped on insulated terminal, with scotch lock and a bare blobby solder.

Replaced with non-insulated terminals like the original, and heatshrunk soldered joints:

I had about 4 bits like the above to repair, plus a few bits that needed fresh heatshrink, the rest really wasn’t too bad. 

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A truly momentous day for Iris. Back on her wheels for the first time in 2.5 years and out into the yard!!! Wayne in the unit next to me also got his back on wheels today so we had to get a side by side. The difference in height is hilarious!

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Running Gear Complete (ish)

A fruitful weekend saw most of the running gear make it back onto the van.

Front Steering and suspension all on, including the shiny new Koni shocks:

Rear brakes all re-assembled. These are the shoes and backing plates that came off the van when I started the resto; they cleaned up really nicely and have plenty of use left in them:

And fitted the drums too, ready to go back down onto wheels:

I borrowed a wheel from Wayne in the unit next to me to pull the hubs into the drums and discs. Even putting one wheel on it makes it seem so much more ‘van like’, rather than just a lump of metal:

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A little further on the running gear rebuild over the last few days. New rubber boots on the ball joints, new front bearings pressed in, steering pin fitted and front beam installed back on the van. Hoping to have all the running gear back on by the weekend.

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