Side Window Repair

I previously repaired the side windows on the other side of the van because of the large holes and missing metal, but this side there was only pitting in the corners uncovered from the chemical dipping.

 

I decided I better do the job properly and brought a repair section from autocraft engineering.

 

 

I carefully cut out the pitting and clamped in the repair patches I cut from the full repair section.

 

 

These panel clamps are probable one of the most useful tools I've brought for the vans restro

 

 

Some delicate spot welds and a small pin hole welded up to keep the rain out.

A coat of primer to hide the evidence and another little job done.

Cab Door Bottom Repair

After the door was dipped I was left with a bunch of pin holes on the inner part of the cab door bottom all along its lower edge.

Also the folded seam of the outer skin was holding the treated rust under it, After bending the lip up it revealed all the corrosion scar along the inner skin.

 

 

I decided to cut away the bottom of the door skin and use the cheap repair patch I had rather than make my own repair as I did on the other door.

Using a copper strip (folded from a piece of pipe) on the out side edge I tacked up the pin holes while decent access was available to the inside of the door skin.

The bend block I used to make the other door repair patch came in handy to get the new piece bent correctly, I should have double checked this against the wheel arch so it was bent in the correct position.

The damage along the lip was easily repaired with a bent strip, I made the strips upper lip wider than the original damage so that I was welding and grinding on the flat part and not in the inner radius of the door skin

Once I had the curve correct, I had to trim the repair section at the ends around the curve as it did not fit the doors profile correctly

The experience of doing repairs on the van I found the best result for a clean but joint once ground down are achieved on the external radius of a panel.

With the lower repair finished I think I should have made my own repair piece in one piece rather than cut and patch the cheap one.

I found myself chasing the small pin holes in the door with the welder. They looked like tiny holes on the outside but the corrosion on the inside had really thinned the metal.

I combatted this with a very low setting on the welder and the copper strip to absorb the heat from the back of the welds.

Rear Hatch Repairs

There were two areas around rear hatch that needed final attention, the lower corner was made of three panels all joined at one point.

Also the top corner under the hinge that was a bit of a surprise.

First I dealt with the lower corner, with the van on its side It was easier to work on at this height.To get access to the repair area I started buy cutting away the top lip that was good metal.

I then cut the jagged metal out very carefully then made the inner skin and and tacked that in place.

The outer part was made with a small lip to join to the rear corner panel.The top lip was then welded back onto the top of the corner part.

I also pulled the dent out just below the repair.

I then moved onto the top corner,  with the stop plate and bad material cut way I cut up my cereal packet to get a patten. With the repair patch folded to match both inner and out bends I had to weld a bend pulling pin onto it so I had some way of holding the patch before welding.

With a lot of carefully welding and grinding the patch was in and the stop plate refitted.

A few pin holes in the roof needed patching up as well. This ment I had to re apply some of the seam seal in the gutter aga

 

Battery Tray Repair

My battery tray had been ignored until I started messing around at the rear end and started removing the layers of flaking rust I found sitting back there. I thought about patching the holes but for the sake of £25 I'd replace the panel.



After a trip to Bug Jam I picked up a Creative Engineering replacement panel and started hacking the old battery tray out. Starting with a cutting disk close to the edge.

I then peeled away the spot welded edge and butchered the corner of the battery tray out with a pair of pliers, the way the Pros do it I'm told.

Cleaned up the underseal to discover the corrosion, the wobbly marker pen around the edge of the rust and holes gives you a better picture of the corrosion that needs removing.

 I cut away the marked out area and drilled off the spot welds on the corner fold to assess the rust underneath and cleaned away any lifted paint on the outside of the corner panel. I think I'm quite lucky with how little corrosion there is to my corners, although sometimes its easier to replace a whole panel than spend time patching up holes. 

A bargain Cosco sandblaster was used to clear out the pitting under the lip and to cover me and the rest of the garage in sand and grit.

 After reassessing the pitting to the outer skin of the corner panel I decided to just get rid of all the corrosion inside and out.



 The awkward part of this panel is that the battery tray panel is sandwiched between the rear wheel tub and the lower splash panel

So with some delicate work with a drill I removed the spot welds on the splash panel and the battery tray lip that was fitted between the two, and tried to keep the wheel tub in as good condition as I could.

With the splash panel removed I stuck it in the sand blaster for a clean up, then welded up the spot weld holes. You may be able to see a strip of copper I used to stop the weld penetrating too far through the panel and also as a heat sink.

I replaced the corner that I left attached to the van when I ripped the panel out, using a piece I joggled and bent to fit.

A few hours' work and the splash panel is ready to fit back in.

I then had the task of patching the double curved lower corner panel. This repair piece is cut from a cheap patch panel although it did not fit very well in its original shape I was able to position the panel to cut out a profile that closely matched what I needed for my repair patch.

A few tacks to ensure I kept the correct curve

I then very gingerly tacked the rest of the panel on. I ground off any welds that didn't penetrate enough and used a strong light behind the panel to find any gaps I'd missed once I had ground the welds flush. My method of taking it slowly to keep the panel from distorting was to only weld where the panel had cooled enough to touch, yes just like that bit in Men In Black. 

So a trial fit of the new battery tray panel from Creative Engineering didn't look too bad. The orange stuff on the panel is corrosion inhibitor not Hot Wing juice by the way. It can take me a while to get round to some jobs so best to keep the panels as fresh as possible.

The curved profile wasn't an exact match with about a 2-4 mm gap at either end, so I marked the contact points and beat the lip out on the edges and in on the crown of the curve, this didn't get it perfect but enough to get a better fit for panel beating later. 

With a bit more messing around I finally got the panel in a position I was happy with. I used the joggled edge of the engine bay valance panel as my datum point for the corner of battery tray, (lower edge of picture) clamped the panel tight, then tacked the edge ready for a few spot welds.

I then attempted to slide the splash panel back up between the two panels and spot weld the three panels together. It went a bit wrong. I realise now that I'd painted the edge of the panel with weld through primer and this didn't work well with the spot welder. I managed to get a couple of strong spot welds but the rest of the panel was MiG welded at the edges and where I burnt through the panel with the spot welder.