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.
Posts
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:
Finally got some proper strip lights installed down the workshop so I can see what I’m doing!
(Source: https://www.youtube.com/)
Second corner on the rear hatch window surround pretty much repaired, and battery mounts added to N/S tray for the leasure battery.
Bugger. Lower edge is much worse than I thought. It needs the entire section replacing! I thought tailgates were still relatively cheap but looks like prices have gone up. Reckon I’ll get the JK repair and fix this one as it seems a shame to chuck it.
Onto the tailgate which needed some repair sections let in around the windscreen aperture and along the lower edge.
Both corners had rust holes, with the N/S corner having a crappy repair someone had previously made.
All rust cut out:
And started making up some repair sections:
This corner is pretty much done, I just need to fill a few pin holes and grind a few areas down a little more. Much tidier:
I’ve also welded in the O/S track cover mount (the N/S needs some repairs in that area before I can get the mount welded in):
