Gertie the 73 VW T2 bay window

[keeny]

some welding there

hi exuptoy
some good welding there alot of it aswell,
i notice you used cardboard for template
i use old birthday,s n christmas cards, ifound out
its alot better to work with, i save loads of it
great for templating, anyway keep up with the good work, keeny...

 

[Exuptoy]

Cheers dude.

Welded in 2 patches and used the flap wheel in the grinder to get rid of the snobs then used the powerfile to smooth it right out.

then another patch,

I then used a paint strip disc and took the whole panel back to bare metal before giving it all a coat of etch primer.

next up was a cardboard template to make this.

then welded into place. Still getting to grips with the Portamig and I've had some nice welds but I still need to get up to speed with it.

 

[Basley]

Speechless.

The fabrication that has gone into this is amazing, I would of ran for the hills by now.

But i have a real soft spot for the old vw campers, can't wait to see this one finished, have you thought of a colour yet?

Chazz

 

[Exuptoy]

Cheers!.

Her indoors wants it rust brown colour with a white roof.

 

[Basley]

Sounds like a safe bet, There was a guy who had a split screen camper near me in Lime neon green.. wasn't to my taste to be honest, campers look better in pastel and earthy colors.

what kind of engine has this one got.

 

[Exuptoy]

1641 VW boxer 4. It's sat on the floor awaiting a rebuild at the moment. Got loads to do before that lol.

 

[Exuptoy]

Managed around 5 hours work today. After yesterdays repair I cut a strengthening piece for where the cross member joins the chassis rail and welded it in place.

I'm getting used to the Portamig now and was getting some reasonable welding done.

A quick lick with the grinder later and it's covered in etch primer.

Back to my chassis rail. The job I've been putting off for long enough so thought it was time I bit the bullet. I had to dress back the outside face a little which let it sit in a little further than before and gave me the gap I needed to weld it in place. I tacked it in then made a start welding.

Spot welded in the hangers.

Looking good.

Seam welded in the hanger. It was originally just spot welded in place but due to the work I have done I wanted belt and braces. I don't want this coming away later.

I welded up the cut around the torsion tube and started to build up until I had a wide fillet made of weld.

As I say I wanted belt and braces repairs so I decided to cut a piece of cardboard into shape to make a fillet to pretty it up a little.

The shaped and tacked it into place before welding it all up.

I did make a start welding the underside but it's all hanging grapes so I decided to leave that until I flip the beast over on it's other side for the opposite chassis rail.

 

[Tangmere]

Amazing thread, great photo's and so much work going into bringing this bus back to life

 

[Exuptoy]

Thank you.

 

[Basley]

This will be a brand new camper after you are done!

 

[Exuptoy]

I wish!

 

[jammy]

Great work. I've got a mate with one that looks similar, maybe not as bad and would love to sort it out if only i had the space, time and knowhow!!!""!

 

[Exuptoy]

Just make a start fella. Look at each big job as a few little ones. A bit daunting but you soon look back and are surprised how far you have come. I know I do!

Cheers for looking.

 

[Exuptoy]

Managed around 4 hours work today.

Decided to make a start on the infill piece between the end of the chassis cut and the original (read-repaired) mid chassis section along side the jacking point.

This is how the chassis looked before joining to the torsion tube.



I had a piece of the cut left which was meant to go in here but I had been a little too enthusiastic with the plasma so decided to drill the spot welds and salvage what I could and make the rest from new 2mm plate.

This went in first.



Then I used a piece of the old bit.



Then the top side got the treatment.



Then welded a thick multi pass until I had a fillet to git it some strength as per the previous repair from last time then it got all dressed back.




Then I made me another shame plate () to cover everything up and give a belt and braces repair.

Not bad eh?

 

[Exuptoy]

Got another 4 hours in today.

Cut some of the rear bulkhead out as it was perished along the floor and I needed to get to the other side of the repair along the top of the chassis cut.

Cleaned and vee'd the slots ready for welding.

Welded them up and put a few runs around the tube for strength.

Cleaned up the welds but left some thickness there for strength then made another shame plate for a belt and braces repair around the torsion tube.

Gave it all a good coat or Zinc182.

Looking good!

 

[garethp]

That's it! I've had enough of looking at posts of other people making progress on their vans, I'm determined to make some progress on mine this weekend!!!

You're making good progress with Gertie, keep it up!

 

[Exuptoy]

Cheers Gareth.


Got about 2.5 hours in today.

Where I cut out the patch to allow me to weld the top of the chassis yesterday, due to my ineptitude, I was trying to hack out the top of the patch by bursting the spot welds with a chisel, only to find the patch I was trying to remove was not spot welded where I was trying to remove it, it was in fact the full length base of the tank and rear bulkhead! So I cut the panel with a grinder instead which meant I had a poor looking edge to tidy up before I replace it.

So I decided to cut back the edge which would need some tidying up and made another piece about 10mm longer which would allow me to either joggle the edge of the patch when replacing it or even just give me a clean edge to work to, to dress back the patch.

Dressed back with a grinder then a power file, it looks ok. Well, the MOT man will have to look hard when I've finished with the stonechip etc!

Next I turned my attention to the rear corner which was looking in poor condition. Turns out it was just the outer skin. I unpicked all the spot welds and gave it a clean in preparation for a new piece to be made. More tomorrow!

 

[Exuptoy]

Got about 3 hours in today.

I had to replicate the tea bag in the pic below.
There was a 20mm wide high point on the side and lower edge, I can only assume this is to space the panel off to create an air gap or something? Not pretty is it.

Anyway, to copy it, I marked the edge and placed it along the edge of the vice and used a wide blade bolster chisel and beat along the vice jaw into the plate until it was the depth I needed. I then squashed the edge in the vice as the edge need to be flat where it joined to the vertical post behind the panel.

Using my little vice jaw bender I put the required bends in the plate to produce this.

I put my portamig down to setting 3/12 and wire speed at 4 and got this lovely run from it.

All spot welded in place. I just have a small repair in the pillar just at the corner where the inner pillar has holed. I'll sort this tomorrow.

All painted. I'm really pleased with my work. It's nice to buy panels but nothing feels as good as making your own!

 

[jpmillermatic]

Really good progress..nice metal forming, bending and welds....

looks great!

JP

 

[Exuptoy]

Really good progress..nice metal forming, bending and welds....

looks great!

JP

Cheers dude. My work seems to be getting better. Also getting a feel for the Portamig now. Able to dial in settings with a bit more confidence. Still blowing through from time to time, although mostly from previous repairs where I have ground the surrounding metal too thin. (Before I started using the power file sander) good tool for blending.