Hello All, i am in the process of fitting new inner and outer front wheel arches. the problem i am having is that when i hang the drivers side door, i get this.... but if i jack up the front, at the A pillar, it seems to even its self out, it wont close tho, unless i lift the door up to the catch. i have replaced the front valance, thinking that this would strengthen everything up and line everything up, but it hasn't. i have also noticed that it is the same on the passenger side as well. any ideas? why have my doors dropped so much? cheers James
Look along the gutter line from the back, they should be level all the way along. your roof appears to be sliced in 2 at the b post?
Ah - it's had a whole new front including roof and cab door frame back to the b posts? New cuts in above the doors?
you are right Zed, the roof is sliced at the b pillar. i had to cut out the drivers side roof because it had rusted away the a pillar and roof. so i got a second hand roof section from a breaker and welded it in place. its tacked at prescent, and seems to be sturdy, keeping all the roof in place. i am trying to fit the arches at the moment. they are klocken arches, so not the best. i will see if i can dig out more photos of the roof so you get a better idea. the guttering is straight from back to front. i had to make sure it was when i was fitting the s/h roof section. cheers
Lets see more pictures of the front end, hinge area etc, looks and sounds like the whole cab moves when you jack it up!!
this was the roof problem the top of the door/guttering was totally gone. the A pillar and the door from the outside
If you force the door shut, the gaps should point you to what's wrong? If the gutter is straight, the bottom of the a post must be too far forward?
Maybe undo the hinge bolts so that they are just about holding, jack the door up till its level and see what gap you have at the hinges?
I worry that you have taken too much metal off the bus in one go and have let it sag. Like Zed suggests, you need to get that door shut, gapped and then make the bus fit the door.
The previous owner done quite a lot of the cutting, so I'm just trying to piece all the parts together best I can, don't really have a lot of reference points on the bus, but yes, I do agree that there has been too much cut out to start with. Do you think that the outer wheel arch would square things up? I think the base of the A pillar needs to be pulled in , and it does when the door is closed, but it's going to be a painstaking task getting the wheel arch welded to the A post with the door closed.
Unfortunately a repro arch won't add the strength that a genuine one would either. It would be best if you can get it hunky dory before fitting your arch.
You say you're using a Klocker arch panel, throw it away you'll never get anything to line up with it, to get something that bad back together you need a genuine arch step to stand any chance!
For sale....... 2 klockerholm front wings!!!! Lol The price of trying to save a wee bit of coin eh!! Should have just got original to start with.
That looks like the A post has been leant back when doing the repair on the roof cut the roof where its been welded and using the door as a lever, lift the door until it fits in the hole and lines up on the b post catch etc... then reweld the roof section which will probably need a gap filled ..If its had the front clip welded at the chassis it might need cut there too to allow the front to tilt forward..... thats my tuppence worth...
the wheel arches will not help you, you need to get it all lined up, the arches are not a simple fit and unless you really know what your doing you may well make it worse, the klokerholm arches will fit but they are not pretty or anywhere near as strong as vw ones
Done a lot of stripping back today, removed inner valance to have a look at the A pillar and found out exactly what was happening. Because of the cut in the roof, and a number of other factors, when the front valance was put on, it was welded in place without the doors on, and it wasn't lined up properly. So, I re cut the roof and lined everything up so that the door closes without any hassle or the need to be lifted up. Not looking forward to welding the inner valance to the chassis again.... Nothing worse than welding lying on your back!! Thanks for all the pointers that put me in the right direction, it's been a great help
Well done, bullet biting was the only way it was going to get straightened. I see quite a lot where the front has dipped from the B-post forwards and once everything's welded in place and painted there's no easy solution.
