Cleaned out the Cab bay all apart from the big black round thingy. Doesn't look too bad compared to some vans I've seen that need restoring. A fresh coat of paint should get this looking good as new. One day...
Anyway back to getting the Safari windows fitted...
Brackets from CE arrived 'rat look' so needed a blast in the blast cabinet (Open the blast doors open the blast doors)
Positioned the bracket, high enough for the windows to be horizontal but low enough so the sliders were tucked close as I could get to the frames
Cleaned the paint up and drilled a couple of holes in the brackets
The body work of the left side was not flat so had to put a bend in the bracket so it sat better. I used the seal to get the gap to the frame correct.
The right side welded but when you wobbled it you could tell the weld had not penetrated enough onto the frame. It snapped off with a couple of wobbles.
So had a cunning plan to put a couple of tack welds on the frame then line up the bracket to the welds to get a better weld through the latch.
With both sides welded I positioned the windows for the centre latch.
I tried the same trick with the centre adding a chamfer to the holes and got a much better weld. But I welded it about 1mm off centre,
I did have a bit of trouble getting the thicker seals to fit but there is enough flex in the latches to bend them out of the way without having to cut the seals.
Guess the moment of truth will be a trip out in the rain.
I now have another problem to solve, the lower frame latches are too low and don't give any room for the plates to fit under.
I tried to cut away the top curve of the outer latch plate so the latch could pass over it but I would have to cut away the bulge in the bracket that pulls the frame tight so it could pass over without fouling.
I may have to raise the mounting plate or have a go at making my own bracket to fit...
