Front Wheel Arch Repair Left Hand (Dog Leg)

Educated by the mistakes of the right wheel arch I attempted to fit the left side. I'd previously cut away the lower part of the arch to repair the bottom of the "A" pillar (that's the shiny bit in the bottom left corner) and front inner and outer valance. I cut the rest away with a cutting disc along the seal carrier and chain drilled around the two curves, this left me to grind away the spot welded strip left attached to the under side of the cab floor.

So that I knew the arch would be in the correct position I needed to fit the new cab door using over sized hinge pins. You can see the lower pin needed lots of persuasion, it was squeezed in the vice with plenty of heat after I'd bent two large G clamps. Yes, just like that bit in Casino...

There were also sections of the cab floor to repair before I could start fitting the new arch

Another patch to cut away and repair correctly before I could get started

Once the cab floor was tidy I could fit the door, but as I closed it the latch would not sit on the pin The door gap was 7mm compared to 4mm on the other side, this could have been from a crash, getting my van wedged against the brick wall and an arctic lorry on a single track humped back bridge or from when I originally cut the out the arch and repaired the front valance. I tried strapping up the "A" and "B" pillars to pull them together but could only get about 1mm of movement. So I decided to shim up my door hinges to get the correct gap so I could start fitting the wheel arch

I started as I did on the other side by clamping just the outer skin into position anyway I could. The straight edge of the spirit level Is to make sure the skin stayed in line with the doors not just some thing i grabbed to clamp the arch in it position. By using thick washers you can just see poking out I got an even gap between the door bottom and top of the arch outer skin. I then welded a few tack welds in strategic places (these ideal tack weld spots were found after the arch fell off into my lap twice) to hold the skin so that I could remove the clamps, open the door and check the alignment.

With the outer skin tacked in position and lined up with the bottom of the door, I found that the back edge curved forward from the B pillar at the top to give this gap, and the step under the door dropped away at the back corner.

This took a bit of panel beating to straighten up to fit.

And yes, when I'm working on the van and my phone rings I do sometimes use the van as a giant note pad.

I then clamped the inner skin into position any where I could fit a clamp, I then marked where both skins would meet each other and the cab floor. This showed me the arch's position and where I needed to clean to bare metal for spot welding.

The back edge of the inner skin had a gap, this was probable from the same problem as my door position so needed the bends moving out a few millimeters.

The curve of the inner skins at the top bend was to shallow, pushing the seal carried away from the top of the arch, so I cut a few small slits in the bend to shrink the curve to fit better.

The lower part of the dog leg was also pushing down partly due to the way the piece was formed but also because of a larger radius at the lower bend. Again I cut some slits this time in the cab floor to increase the radius for a snugger fit. Then using the rod part of an axle stand on a jack to push the panel up into the desired position. Clamping the two skins together while trying to keep them in the right position was still very tight at the two bends. I had to cut a block that would fit into the seal carrier, then using two Daddy G clamps (not these, they are only babies) push the two skins together, I then drilled a couple of holes and used aviation skin pins to keep the inner and outer skins clamped together. These skin pins allowed me to keep trial fitting the panel with out the baby G clamps getting in the way.

After many trial fits making sure the inner skin was not pushing the outer skin out or that it was under the arch enough to have room for the seal carrier and having to re-adjust the door a few more times I was finally happy with the arches position.

I wire wheeled all the paint off each skin both sides where it was going to be spot welded then positioned the inner skin in its marked position. Making sure both bends were tight against the cab floor skin, and that the sloped edge was flush, I set up the spot welder and welded the top bend first, then the lower still making sure there was no gap between the sloped edges. I then worked forward and back along the top edge with the spot welder to get the inner skin welded in its position.

One thing I forgot to do this side was make sure the bumper mount was in the correct position. On the other side I cut off the new mount and welded the original one in its place. so I may have odd bumper mounts. I wondered if I lose points for that if I enter the van for a Concourse D'Elegance? Using the skin pins I clamped the outer skin into position, and you can see how I'm able to close the cab door to check its position

To ensure I got a good weld along the length of the seal carrier I used the block I made earlier to clamp the skins together at each spot weld.

My girlfriend Rachel turned up to deliver cola and cakes and was able to get this fine shot of me working, I did ask if she would stay and help but she seemed to have better things to do...

Just so I could reach the corner welds I had to buy a set of longer probes that weren't cheap. I also insulated the end of the probes with tape because I kept arking to parts of the panel I didn't need to weld together, a bit like a Marvel Superhero doing work experience in a body shop. The last stage was to get the outer skin flush and spot welded and both ends welded.

With the arch being one of the final body work jobs finally done I felt a great sense of satisfaction that the van is finally coming together.

It was very exciting to see it in almost one piece. I might have given myself a little clap too!

Front Wheel Arch (Dog leg) repair continued

With the inner skin now firmly welded into place (although still not sure if it is in the correct position) I decided to get the outer skin fitted. As I started lining up the outer skin I nearly forgot to fit the bumper mount I'd cut from the original wheel arch. I dug the bumper out and lined it up, bolted the mount to the side attachment bumper lug and clamped the mount to the inner skin of the arch. I played about with the adjustment of the bumper to get a central position then marked around the mount.

.

.

.

I then cleaned all the paint off all the contacting surfaces, this needs to be done when spot welding. I dragged the spot welder out and 2 minutes later the bracket was welded in position. With the outer skin trial fitted I then cut the back edge of the mount hole to even up the shape.

.

.

.

.

.

.

With the paint cleaned from the position of the spot welds for the outer skin I clamped and migged a few tacks welds on the inside of the skin, checked the door gap, the sills curve and the curve of the door. With everything positioned right I started the spot welds from the centre working to either end. When getting to the lower step I needed to push the inner skin up so that it would mate with the outer skin, doing this pulled the outer skin in from its flush position at the top curve about 2-3mm. I was also left with a gap between the skins on the top curve that I mentioned in the previous post, Although better than it was I'm really not sure how to sort this out, think I need a break for wheel arches and a fresh head to sort this out.

Front wheel arch (Dog Leg) Repair

With the disasters I've had before with the front wheel arches this was the job I've been looking forward to the least (that's probably why it's one of the last big repairs to do). Having scrapped the idea of using the Schofield arches because of the lip running along the top of the arch, and the fact that I had totally cocked the panels up by warping them with my first attempt at welding(see previous wheel arch post), I'd been hunting for alternative arches ever since.

1

1

1

I spent a whole day trial fitting, clamping, marking, cutting, getting frustrated, swearing, eating leftovers, clamping and trial fitting again, and finally at the end of the day just so that I had some thing to show for the hours spent in the garage I spot welded the two skins together. I fitted the arch up to the van one last time before retiring and found the outer skin was nowhere near lined up to the curve of the outer skin. I nearly cut the arch up with the grinder. 1

1

1

After comparing the new and the old arches I noticed the newer arch at its worst point was 8mm thinner than the original one that I still kept for sentimental reasons. The missing 8mm is just under the thickness of a cab door seal. This meant to fit the arch flush with the cab door skin I'd have to fit the arch fouling on the inner door with no gap for the seal at the lower edge. Or undo a days' work and separate the two skins and start again. This was a good excuse to finally buy a spot weld drill to help undo all the spot welds I'd be cocking up.

1 A few weeks later with some fresh sleep and lots of jaffa cakes and sugary drinks nearby I officially started my 3rd attempt at fitting these arches. I decided to start again by marking out a line on the inside of the arch where the inner face of the lower door seal should be when the door is closed. I then positioned and clamped the inner skin, then tack welded the skin to the inside of the arch. This allowed me to keep opening and closing the door while trialing the outer skin, without any clamps or vice grips getting in the way.

1

1

1

With the top and middle edge tacked and the bends tight into their radius, I found that the lower edge was pulling away from the lower step. I'm not sure if this is from the panel fabrication or because of any warping of the bus when it had been moved, or worked on without the support of the arch there? This problum was solved with the use of an axle stand and 2 ton trolley jack to push it in to place. This also helped with the profile of the outer skin.

1

1

1

1

1

I was expecting to have to add strips of material to both skins to get the thickness of the arch but found with a bit of trial and error I managed to get the inner skin into a position where the outer skin would sit flush onto it, and with a decent curve that would match the shape of the cab door skin. This did mean grinding and re tacking the position of the inner arch skin a few times, this also means the door seal carriage will not be too small to hold a seal.

1

1

1

Now a bit happier with the situation, I spot welded the inner skin into position, starting at the top edge and working down. What I should have done was weld the radius and middle edge first, then the top and bottom. I ended up with a small gap between the skins, this popped apart when I removed the clamps after welding. A bit of heat and a persuasive hammer sorted this out. I also cut away a couple of strips about 6mm on the upper edge of the seal carrier where it touched the door. This also gave that part of the arch a flush edge to match along the inside of the door.

I'll attempt the outer skin another day.

wheel arch (Dog leg) Pt 1

So that the front valance will fit OK, I decided to repair and fit the wheel arches so that every thing will line up and fit straight. I bought a pair of Schofield arches, and removed the original right hand arch when the van was in the damp garage. The repair arches are made up of 4 pieces spot welded together, where the originals are only 2. Because of this the outer skin is pitted from the spot welds and the top skin has a joint over lap which looks really bad.

I decided to get rid of this problem by splitting the panels beating the outer skin and running a seam weld along the inner side of the lip. Don’t look too hard at the welds I’m still learning. I then ground and peeled the top lip from the panel, to then radius to look clean.

On a trial fit on the van some thing didn’t look straight, so I decided to lay it against the door. Opps, getting carried away with the welding has warped the panel from the heat, this is a lesson learnt. Ill either have to cut this into three parts to straighten it or start again with a new panel. Those NOS front arches I saw for £320 so long ago don’t seam so extremely over priced now.