Few more bits made. Made the usual blood sacrifice to the garage gods too. Just needs a 90 degree bend for the flange on the end.
Just finished one of those but worse, inner and outer sills plus all 4 arches, had enough now I’m not doing any more T25s
Nice work. Looks the same Marsala red this one is (under the cack respray). I've someone locally who wants me to do theirs after i finish Nicks. I've looked at it and it needs inner and outer sills, jacking points, B pillars, repairs to both front and back arches, cab steps, rear corners and some repairs to the windscreen pillars and round the side windows. Its also in need of the whole electical system looking at as half the stuff doesn't work. I've had to pass it up as even through they've not got a timescale for the work to be done its not something i'd want to tackle outside. Looks like its gonna be sold on again as a project at a loss as they can't find anyone willing to work on it.
Sounds about standard for these, I’ve done 5 now all pretty much the same. It’s a lot of work in a workshop let alone outside. I’m not doing any more full resto’s for customers they take to long and not worth it!
I can quite understand that. I'm just doing a few small jobs on them for friends for beer money. I still quite fancy another bay but theres only 6ft of height in the garage. I'm planning on building an enclosed carport down the side of the garage but the cost of timber has gone stupid since i built my last one. I also need some of the space to keep Moby, so 8ft wide is about the maximum it could be and that'd be a squeeze.
Bit more welded in this afternoon and a couple of templates made for the outer skin. Chopped the exhausts tailpipe off, though to be honest it just needed waggling a little to fall off. Gonna make a tailpipe as they're nearly £20 which is daft for £5 worth of steel pipe with a 90 degree bend.
Starting to loose the love of this camper. Where ever you look theres just more rot hidden under the rubberised sealant. Got the bottom of the snorkel box welded up this afternoon. Put new welding wire in (a different brand than i usually buy) and struggled to get good welds with it. This should be fun to fix as theres very little access on the engine bay side of the panel due to the plastic airbox and intake manifold. Tried to get the plastic base unbolted but even after all the bolts were removed it wouldn't come off. Theres two snapped bolts which i assume are still holding it on but i can't get them out.
Got the outer skin of the rear valance welded up this afternoon. Needs a bit more sanding though. N/S also needs some panel beating where its taken a whack on the underside at some point.
Made up a new exhaust tailpipe to replace the rotten one. New support made from 2mm steel welded to the end of the silencer and bolted to the bracket using a new mounting rubber. Much better than a section of steel hanging it off the back valance. Looks much nicer with the silencer level with the back valance. I also welded some new steel into the chunk that was cut out the valance at some point and gave it a quick coat of black paint.
Finally managed to get the airbox off and cut out the rot in the side of the engine bay. Found some more rot under the other arch though.
Got the rot in the engine bay welded up and filled. Rear arch repaired and new rear lower corner fitted plus a small repair to the other rear arch.
I've spent 38 hours on this camper so far. Got the rear hatch seal mounting channel welded up this afternoon. I think the seal was being held in with good luck only before. Theres a bit either side along the top that also needs replacing as its rotted away. Found a small bit of rot on the closing panel at the end of the sill. Not as bad as the one on my caravelle which is nice. Not very pleased with these welds but the sill was coated in waxoyl so struggled to get it all clean enough to get a good weld that doesn't look like pigeon poo. Its solid though.
Chopped the rot out of the closing panel at the end of the sill and welded some new steel in. Coat of epoxy primer and some seam sealer applied. Had to repair a section of sill too as it was made of wood with filler over it. Wheelarch side of the snorkel box had the rot chopped out too. I still had to cut a little more out to get to good steel. Epoxy prined and seam sealed too.
Got the sliding door seal mounting channel welded on this afternoon. Bit of black paint to cover the primer. Sliding door seal is an oddun'. 3 sides are the right length but the 4th is about 8" too long. Made a start on the rear hatch seal channel thats rotten in the top corners. Sanded down some of the filler on the rear 1/4 and sprayed on some gloss black.
Got the two bits of the rear hatch mounting channel welded up this afternoon. Rear end still needs a little more sanding, though it might just get left for now until its time for paint.
Had a quite productive day. Repairs to engine bay painted, new engine lid seal installed and airbox refitted. New sliding door guide block and new seal fitted. Door is a PITA to close now. I didn't know early T3 used bay window sliding door handle. 211 part number. Late sliding doors do not work on early vans, even though the PO fitted it. None of the locks line up so theres just a bent piece of metal bolted in place.