Next bit of the rusty puzzle cut out and the repair tacked in place (lots of fiddling around to get this repair to fit right).
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I finished both of the A pillar bottoms this week. I had to make an additional section above the repair sections I bought as they weren’t quite tall enough. Both look much better now:
I’ve also made a start on repairing the panel which joins the inner valance to the cab floor. This panel as far as I can tell is NLA (or at least I couldn’t find it anywhere), so I’m repairing it a few sections as it has a curve to it and some pressings which will be interesting to re-create. I’ve started with the centre section which isn’t too complex:
I managed to recreate the pressings in this section by clamping a punch with the right circumference to one side the panel and some thick sections of steel to the other side, and then clamping it down in the vice:
It’s not perfect but should do the job just fine (you can just about see the pressings in this pic). Now to just repair the rest of this panel!
I finished repairing the main section of the A pillar this weekend. I had to remove a bit more of the driver front arch, turns out it was mainly made of filler!
Driver’s side A pillar welded up:
All welds dressed, and coated with a lick of paint before I weld the front piece on next week.
Chopped out the bottom of the N/S A pillar tonight and welded in a new section. Chilly down the workshop tonight though!
I finished up the welding on the inner windscreen panel last week:
The dashboard mounts from the old panel were in good condition so I just welded them to the new panel and trial fitted the dashboard:
Off with the old deformation panel next so I can start repairing the A pillars and replace the inner valance and deformation panel itself. Looks pretty crusty:
I’ve started cutting out the rot on the O/S A pillar; I’ve treated myself to a pair of A pillar bottom repairs from Schofield’s to save some time making them. The washer bottle panel needs a fair bit replacing (I can’t find the part anywhere) so that’ll keep me busy too.
Inner windscreen tacked in today. Looking better already. I’ll finish welding it in tomorrow.
This week seems to have rocketed past but I’ve made some good progress. Before I start taking apart the lower section of the front end (Deformation panel and inner valance) I wanted to get some strength back into the top section by replacing the inner windscreen panel.
With it chopped out the front end looks pretty bare:
I then set to work repairing the surrounding metalwork that the panel attaches to. The section on the O/S A pillar is fine (ignoring the rotten lip which I’ll repair when I get onto prepping for the front panel itself):
The N/S A pillar however needed some work. A small patch here:
And a larger section here which I ended up doing in three parts (I need to finish the middle section):
The airbox needed a few patches, but on the whole was in pretty good shape:
The panels from the old inner windscreen that the dashboard attach to were in good nick so I cleaned them up and gave them a coat of etch alongside the new inner windscreen panel:
Once I’ve finished closing up the final hole on the N/S A pillar I’ll be able to get the panel welded in next week, a quick trail fit suggests it shouldn’t be too tricky to fit:
I also welded the captive nuts to the deformation panel that the front bumper mounts to (the Brazilian bumpers mount differently so the panel needs modifying):
Start of a new year and start of the next chunk of work on the bus. Front clip cut off so I can start repairing what lies beneath. I’ve got this week off to try and get a jog on.
I’ve made a good start on the C pilar prep, starting with cutting the outer arch off; I need to repair the bottom of the sliding door seal channel and need to trial fit the new outer arch to make sure it fits properly.
The inner arch isn’t in too bad condition, with the majority of the lip looking to be usable, I’ll just need to repair the ends of it:
The rear corner however has an impressive amount of filler and fibreglass in it!
I spent a good few hours trimming the new outer arch to the correct size to get a really good fit (the channel needs more work though):
Lines up with the door pretty well:
And looks bang on to me:
I’ve started fabricating repairs for the inner part of the C pillar:
And the strengthening plate that covers the C pillar (the new one, template and old one):
I’m aiming to get the C pillar finished this week.
I finished the B pillar over the last couple of nights. Before I welded it in I wanted to check the fit of the front arch against it, so it needed to come off.
Cut:
Grind:
Done. The wheel tub is in ok condition so I’m just going to repair that when I get round to it.
The A pillar has seen better days though and will need some work when I get onto the front end:
With the outer B pillar clamped in place I tested the fit of the arch and outer sill, all looks good to me:
And all welded in. I just need to dress the plug welds at the bottom and it’s done:
Next up the C pillar on the N/S. Thus far I’ve chopped out the strengthening plate to get access to the back of the C pillar, I’ll fabricate a new strengthener tomorrow night and crack on with the rest of it:
