trasit welding help needed

[Hopefuldave]

https://fordtransit.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=34736 suggests boltin is ok for the MOT as they're not structural

 

[maroon]

Tigerseal.

 

[al1959]

well things are moving on, have a look at how far i have come to date, i still have a few bits of welding to do here and there, once done i will treat it with hammerite kurust then spray undercoat then red led and finally underseal, i forgot to mention that seam sealer will be the first to do on my list once i have ran the grinder over all the welds and flatened thiem.

 

[al1959]

its the first time i have welded on a motor, i would have enjoyed the experience more had the weather been better but over the last few days its been window and cold which has took the fun away from the experience,
i still have a few things to do such as a few holes in the chassis just under the floor i have welded. i expect to be finished all welding tomorrow then spend time on grinding down the welds before treating and paintong etc.

 

[weldingnovice]

You have done well mate, but it is a transit.

End this episode with the immortal words of the big man,,,

"I'll be back"

 

[al1959]

You have done well mate, but it is a transit.

End this episode with the immortal words of the big man,,,

"I'll be back"

yep tomorrow, once the passenger side is done i will look at the drivers side in the spring, a quick look tells me its not anywhere near as bad.

 

[weldingnovice]

You will be surprised how quickly you get the hang of it.

Push yourself with the type of repair you want to see.

 

[charlysays]

some people can weld fine but are terrified of welding on their vehicle. dont assume.

also to be fair, have you seen the quality of welding done by 'professionals'? because i have, and you cant possibly be worse than that.

Agreed. I literally learned to mig weld in order to repair repairs made by "professionals" on my old Capri. Best thing I ever did and my first repair- inner sill/ floor pan edge and outer sill tie in was better than any of the "professional" repairs. I had two different professionals work on that car before I re-did it myself. Only a few of their repairs remained. Some had to be cut out and re done, others I ripped off with locking pliers lol.
One thing they all had in common was making no attempt to cut out rust and slathering on loads of shutz.

 

[minimutly]

You will be surprised how quickly you get the hang of it.

Push yourself with the type of repair you want to see.

Indeed - the prep and weld type can make a huge difference to penetration and strength. I prefer not to butt weld panels - its hard to get a consistent bead (means I'm rubbish I guess). Instead I like to overlap by a mm or two, melting the overlap into the base metal - means you can run higher amps without risking burn through.

 

[Dcal]

well things are moving on, have a look at how far i have come to date, i still have a few bits of welding to do here and there, once done i will treat it with hammerite kurust then spray undercoat then red led and finally underseal, i forgot to mention that seam sealer will be the first to do on my list once i have ran the grinder over all the welds and flatened thiem.View attachment 421078View attachment 421079View attachment 421082 View attachment 421080 View attachment 421081

Good job on the welding, but I'd suggest you forget about the kurust and undercoat and just use epoxy primer.
I'd also suggest you put the epoxy on first before seam sealing and underseal.
Also whatever primer you use, clean and sand well before applying coating.
80 or 100 grit on bare steel and 120 to 180 on already painted surfaces.

Don't get me wrong, any primer will be better than none but now you have done the work you want the repairs to last as long as possible.

 

[al1959]

just when you thought you had got rid of me....... still here. its been a job and a half for someone new to welding a van. here are the last few photos for the near side, the offside needs a few bits sorted but nothing like the other side so it should be a lot easier to do. one job i will have to do in the spring is the A panels on the windsreen, half the problems with rust has stemmed from the water getting in around the windows especially on the nearside, i have managed to fix up and seal that for now but i will have to sort that out asap! any advice or links to replacing A panels on avan? any van will do especially if they are cutting the crap out rather than bodging. a big thankyou to all who gave there thoughts on this project, you all made the job easier with your advise. thank you. now its still not finished so don`t wander off, i still have bits to do and if we get a mild spell up here i might well have a quick go at sorting something out.
Don`t forget about the A panels around the windsreen, any advise or links on replacing/fixing will be a big help, i know central panels have A panels listed at £126 but do you guys have any other ideas???.
cheers

 

[Wozzaaah]

just when you thought you had got rid of me.......
cheersView attachment 422604View attachment 422605View attachment 422606

Hoping we hadn't! Looks like you're making good progress, well done.

 

[Wildefalcon]

I think that's half decent.

I am leary of windscreen pillars. They are just so structural.

Any photos of the pillars?

I'd buy the panel.

 

[al1959]

Hoping we hadn't! Looks like you're making good progress, well done.

well its a long term project and this is our way of getting away, i bought it in august and stuck it in for a timing belt and water pump and even with a good mot i new work would be needed to keep it on the road so off i went with my eyes wide open, come spring i intend to start cleaning off the chassis and give it a good clean up, as of now i can see one small area thats needs a weld but nevertheless the rest will still get cleaned off and sorted.
i have enjoyed what i have done to date in such a short time, i love learning something new, having better weather would have helped a lot but hey ho, its done for now.

 

[al1959]

I think that's half decent.

I am leary of windscreen pillars. They are just so structural.

Any photos of the pillars?

I'd buy the panel.

not the best of photos but water is getting in, the welding is by no means good but its got the job done and saved the van and me a fortune.

 

[Wildefalcon]

Hard to really see, but that looks like a lot of work. Is the screen bonded in?

 

[al1959]

Hard to really see, but that looks like a lot of work. Is the screen bonded in?

not sure what you mean by bonded in, i gather its like any other mk5 with the sealent placed around the inner lips of the windscreen then the windscreen placed into place and pressed against the sealent with the rubber edging being pushed into place around the edges, is there any other way it would be put in?.
if it needs doing i don`t really have much choice unless i gave it to a garage to do and that would cost a fortune.

 

[mr haynes]

You will need to cut out the bonded in windscreen.
I would bridge/bodge up any holes with p40 type stuff to stop water ingress until you have the right circumstances to pull the screen.
I doubt if any garage would touch that, too much like hard work
When you are ready to weld it, it is basically the same process as the arch/tower you have already done well with

 

[al1959]

another problem i have to deal with is the side door runner, the metal just above and below is rotten so my thoughts are to take the runner off and cut along the bad area and weld a new piece in, what needs cutting out is all within the area of the door runner recess so once welded and ground down as well as filler it should look ok? or do you guys have a better idea.

has anyone come across links to take a smiley mk5 side door off? i have had a look around but nothing has come up as yet.

sorting the windscreen out will be in the spring now, weather is chronic up here so i will get other jobs done when possible.

 

[mr haynes]

If you actually look at it there's not much to it, from memory, all quite obvious