Gertie the 73 VW T2 bay window

[jpmillermatic]

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.

Yes, good to know....I am finding similar progress with my welding skills...the more I do the better I get...though, your metal forming on that corner piece is more that I would be able to do right now!


great stuff....Im building a trailer elsewhere on the forum....you can see how I have gone from spreading blobs of metal to actual welding at times!



JP

 

[Exuptoy]

Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on it. I can't wait to see that finished. You're doing well.

Flap discs are brilliant but when you get anywhere near levelling out the weld, you've already ground most of the area around the weld and if you need to revisit that area for pinholes etc then I tend to blow through. I use the flap disc to rip it down to maybe 1-2 mm thick then use the powerfile to finish off. Much neater.

 

[Windy Miller]

Nice bit of sheet metalwork there Mate - well done!

 

[Exuptoy]

Cheers WM.


Got about 5 hours in today.

I offered up the rear corner repair section and noticed that the lip at the bottom of the inner pillar stuck out and stopped the panel sitting flush. Maybe the chassis cut I purchased was from an earlier or later T2. I decided to cut it back and replace it with a right angled repair to match the lower lip of the middle panel.

This allowed the panel to sit where it needed to be.
I originally cut this panel to fit the bus way back when I first got the bus and as usual I was a like too keen with the grinder but it was close enough to fit with minor fettling.

I fitted it in place with intergrips and made a start welding it in place. Once in place I filled the hole left from my over exuberance with the grinder lol

I will need to use a thin skim of filler when I'm ready to start the bodywork but it's not too bad.

Gave it all a quick coat of zinc172 primer.

...........then realised I still had to drill and plug weld the panel to the inner structure.

Ground back and ready to move onto the next little job. When it was finished, I drilled a hole through the hole in the rear quarter into the inner panel to allow me to be able to insert a waxoil injection lance when I'm finally done.

 

[Exuptoy]

Managed 3 hours so far today, doing a little repair and then cleaning up my crap to allow me to move the van out and turn it around in preparation of doing the opposite side chassis work.

Got a piece of scrap rear load bay floor from one of the lads on the Latebay forum, so cut out the gash previous owners work and welded in a new piece.

As it was when I got the van!

......and when the plate was removed!

When I finished welding.

Painted.

A little skim of filler I can handle. Plates riveted over bad workmanship I can't! lol

 

[Exuptoy]

Managed to get it outside, turned round and back in and tipped ready to start the other side.

 

[Wallace]

Managed to get it outside, turned round and back in and tipped ready to start the other side.

Pah! You need a chassis dolly to do that properly!

(And don't let your Swede Nipple fall of that 4x2 either. Bike first, Dub second! )

 

[Exuptoy]

Pah! You need a chassis dolly to do that properly!

(And don't let your Swede Nipple fall of that 4x2 either. Bike first, Dub second! )

Haha, I wondered if anyone would pick up on that. lol

I did actually firm it up and move the timber before I left.

 

[Exuptoy]

Got about 3 hours in today although I had to stop and go and get a bottle of Agroshield from my mate.

Set my welder up to power setting 8/12 and wire feed 4.5 and got good penetration and quite a flat weld. (The blog in the middle is where I blew through and had to fill in).

Got the second patch finished after running out of gas! (The thick vertical weld is from my previous attempts and needs grinding back).

The both patches have been welded both sides although there was no need. What's the general opinion on here, should all welds be ground back for neatness even if they look reasonable or should they be left for strength? After all when the work is covered in stonechip and paint you won't see much!

The bus originally had belly pans fitted so there was still some metal which needed removing. I used an 8mm spot weld removal drill bit and hacked it all off. (Brilliant bit of kit).

I scraped back the main chassis rail and was surprised to see it was solid!!!

....and painted with etch primer then ZInc182.

Tomorrows work entails cutting off the crap with the plasma in preparation of refitting the jacking points.

 

[Rrunnach]

Your doing a grande job, nice bit of fabbing and welding. You have a big heart too, working on these old tin wormed Vee-Dubs!!

 

[Exuptoy]

Got about 6 hours in today.

Attacked the majority of rot with the plasma then made a start drilling out the spot welds from the floor to repair the both rearmost top hat floor supports. I then found out that the new sections I thought I had here have been used up!!!! I had one small section left so used it for one repair, then ordered more from Schofields VW. Should be here tomorrow.

Next I welded in a brace so that the chassis didn't fold in half () then I made a cardboard template for the repair section. (Fed up of looking at the small bits of metal I had welded in and decided it would look better with a one piece job).

Cleaned up the underside of the floor where the top hats sit and gave it a quick coat of weld through primer. I repaired one of the top hats, first I cut it to the required length with a 10mm overcut then used the joggler, so I could weld both sides of the cut for extra strength. The penetration was good and you could see 2 lines of weld on both sides of the top hat.
I then welded in the plate I had cut out.

As usual, a quick coat of etch and zinc182 and thats my lot for today.

Selection of panels arriving tomorrow with any luck so I can carry on.

 

[Stubradley1]

If your old enough to remember the 6 million dollar man they summed your van up nicely.
Gentlemen we can rebuild him better,stronger and faster than he was before.

Fair play on all the work done mate. I hang my head in shame and will never complain about the piffling amount of welding I had to do on my discovery (in comparison) well until next time lol.

Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming too

 

[Exuptoy]

Cheers Stu.

Todays work!

Managed around 3 hours today.

Got my delivery from Schofields this morning so set to it, cutting the top hat to fit the rear section, bit of a pain to get in place though. As before, I joggled the edge and welded it in place.

Looked at the piece required and thought it would be better doing it in 2 so then I could weld it in place from inside then put in the second piece.

Then got my second piece cut and spotted in place.

Welded it all up and ground back for paint.

and painted.

Looking better already.

 

[Exuptoy]

Got about 8 hours in today.

Cleaned up the front part of the chassis rail and found 2 small holes where the front jacking point will sit, so cut out the bad and put a plate in there as it is going to be a high stress area. No pics as it wasn't worth it.

Started cutting out the sill area as I need the sill in place to get my jacking points and floor support correct.

Looks bad! Some muppet had fitted a new inner sill and instead of drilling out the spot welds and unpicking everything, they just stuck it inboard of the old sill, leaving the rot inside!!! Worse part is the inner sill is fitted about 40mm further in than was needed so they filled in around the top hat and ibeam floor supports to make it look nice. This meant a lot of work trying to dig out all the crap.

Thankfully the runner is in good nick with minor repairs reauired.

The front of the floor had suffered a little and you can also just about see the weld line from the inner sill, around 40mm further down than the spotweld row I had taken out!

Had a piece of the old floor left so I made a repair out of that. I made a schoolboy error though where I had to flatted the profile where it sits inside the floor area where i had to plug weld it and I should have flattened the next profile across too as the new sill will need to be modified with a slight 6mm offset to account for the ridge I left in!

Painted with etch primer.

Got all the rubbish removed and offered up the new sill.
I assume it sits here?

Just the odd plug weld holding it in place for the moment.

 

[Exuptoy]

Managed 3 hours today.

Started extending the lower runner vertical riser down to the lower sill with 2mm plate but running low on stock to I need to source some more. Welded the 2 skins together as well.

Decided to concentrate on the jacking points now I have the sill in the right place. Before I can fit the jacking points, I needed to put a cable entry into the chassis section. I used a piece of 20mm conduit cut at an angle and drilled a pair of 18mm holes joined by 2 straight cuts.

This is what it'll look like when finished. I also welded the jacking point together as I now have the dimensions from the chassis to the sill.

Thats it for today!

 

[Exuptoy]

Spent around 3-4 hours in the garage today.

TBH I think todays work has been in vain! I purchased a second hand rear crossmember from one of the guys on the Latebay site for £20 inc post, not wanting to use the crap ones like I already have here which don't even reach the chassis sides!!

Anyway, when I bought my sills etc last week I purchased a front crossmember which was totally different to what I already have here, and was of real good quality.

So I decided to repair and tidy up the OG one from the forum for nothing more than a little practice at welding to rust ridden paper thin metal.

This is how far I have got but there is obviously still going to be rust in this piece however much work I put into cleaning it up. I honestly think I had better purchase a proper one as I already have the front one and the heater tube in brand new metal.

I still have a few minor repairs left and I will finish it off but I may still buy new!

 

[Basley]

Nice work yet again Lyn,
Do you feel like your welding has got any better from when you first started the project??

 

[Exuptoy]

Nice work yet again Lyn,
Do you feel like your welding has got any better from when you first started the project??

Thanks fella.

Most definitely mate. I will say though, that it has a lot to do with buying the portamig, although it can't weld itself so I will take some credit.

How's the del sol coming along?

 

[Exuptoy]

2.5 Hours in A&E last night and just scratches to the eye, so a few drops and ready to go again today.

Got 3 hours in.

Cleaned inside the chassis and cut a repair section from 2mm. Total PITA to fold the returns though even with the jaw bender it was tough going. My daughter called in to see what I was doing so I was showing her the use of the plasma, welder, grinder etc then I cut out the slot in the wrong end of the panel!!! At least it gave me a chance to let me daughter have a play with the MIG. lol

This is what it should look like with the heating tube and jacking points in place. Hopefully thats the next work I'll be doing. Not going to get any more done for 2 weeks as I am back offshore on Tuesday. Garage tidied up and tools put away for now.

 

[Basley]

Thanks fella.

Most definitely mate. I will say though, that it has a lot to do with buying the portamig, although it can't weld itself so I will take some credit.

How's the del sol coming along?

The delsol isn't getting anywhere.. Having a right pain with my welder, I'm using a 13a plug which keeps blowing the fuse. I did say don't use anything below a 15a fuse in the manual..

So I guess I'm going to have to fit 3 phase socket and plug in my garage.. or do you think I could get away with a 15a round pin plug and socket lol