The odd big brother, trying to restore a rusty A-series

[sven]

Well, I thougt I could share me and my mates attempt to rescue an old A series which we bought four years back...

it is rusty, has a blown engine, so we picked it up for allmost nothing:)

after a little dismantling it looks like this




we got hold of a good 3,5engine last year, and started last monday to dismantle.

but I am afraid we dedn't realize how bad condition the old lady was until I dismantled the grill, and Jørn, my mate picked out the carpet...

the floor is very much see through, and when I took off the grille, the front crossmember broke becauce of rust leaving the front left fender hanging a little out at the top

some pictures:

floor inside cab:



front crossmember:

the cab mount is on the middle of the front x member, you can see where it broke in the top left corner


well that is all for now, and I'll try to keep the thread updated as we go on:)

[grunty]

nothing a little no nails , duct tape , and some chopped up bean cans cant fix

[sven]

that sounds lot like a the rustrepairs done by one of the previous owners:)

I might get another cab for it, that depends on a car club here which owns a five A series, they plan to use the cab themselves, but it has been sitting on the back of a dropside for ages, if they decide to keep it we are up for some major rust repairs, but nothing impossible I guess:)

[sven]

Well, have had some done on the A series last monday and today, but doesn't have pics from last weeks work...

Decided to pull the cab of the chassis, its easier to weld it up, and have to come off anyway if we gets hold of the other cab.

here is the result of a hard days work...



the cab itself is on the workshop floor on its rear wall..

Today we started to tidy up the underside of the floor from old waxoil, paint and other dirt.. and as you can see there is a lot of panelmaking to do:)






some more rust (AARGH I HATE RUST )

this is the driver side doorstep:



and an earlier owner's daft attempt to repir the front x member which holds the front cab mount:



Guess I dont need to wonder what to do in the workshop the next few mondays (monday is regurar shopday)

[Luke]

wow some work there to keep you busy

[sven]

some work for sure

the hardest part is where to begin:)

guess the smartest would be to repair the front chassisrails first, and the front x member next... so that I can get the hood and grille to fit properly before removing the front fenders.

does anybody know how thick steelsheets I should use?
How thick is the transit floor and chassisrails?

my thought is 1.25mm on the rails, and 0.9 on the rest:)

[sven]

well, some has happened the last few weeks....

Decided to start with the part which was most corroded... that was the left doorstep and outrigger. cut out the whole step and left the outer sill as a reference...

then it looked like this:


Fabbed up the doorstep bottom with inner sill and doorstep front.. Guess that is the easy part of it...




The next monday we started to fab up the outrigger in front of the step... I think this part is a little different than the MK2 transit ones as the a series doesnt have the chassisrails integrated in the floorsection. just a frame to hold the floorpan in place..

anyway, the outrigger looks like this now, dont think it looked this way originally, but it will do the job I guess



Well after a few mondays work we are left with this...


Boy I really hate rust.... ecpecially when everything is more or less rusted away so its impossible to see how things originally were....

Slow work, but were getting there.... sometime.... I guess

[Luke]

nice work so far

[sven]

thanx Luke:)

[greek]

Ship muttley out there he loves tin worm, Got yourself a few months work sven good luck with it, I have not seen an A series for yrs

[madmark]

great work keep it up and the photo,s

[sven]

Thanks guys:)

tomorrow it is monday again and another tinwormday.... Ill take more pics when we are progressing

[sven]

Well... another tinwormkilling monday has gone... and we got a fair bit done today.

I started on the innersill, bottom of the A post and the sill today, And Jørn started on the edge around the enginecover, which is halfways rotted away.

Work in progress... this is where the engine cover will go when Jørn gets done...




while he did the painstaking work of making those bits, I made the front part of the inne sill... This was kinda difficult to get right as I had to forge it fo get the folds right so it fits the doorstep



Then I had to fab up the bottom part of the A pillar not an easy task.... tried to make it out of one piece last monday, but I had ot give it up... so today it went on in two parts.

tacked together:

unfortunately I didnt manage to get a pic of the finished result as my phones mamorycard doesnt work right:(

But anyway... here is som pics from the work on the sill

fabbed up this at work last week allmost the right shape for the sill.



drilled out the spotwelds on the old sill (or at least what was left of it) and made the new replacement.


Here it is clamped up, a little more fabbing to do, but its ready for welding next monday..



Next step also includes removing the wing, repairing underneath, repairing the wing and remount it... cant say I look forward to that part:)

Anyway... thats the amount of work done today, Cant hope for this smooth day each time:)

[rhubarb]

great work there

But don't forget to trial fit the doors

[sven]

The drivers door have been test fitted multiple times during the rebuild of the step and sill...

Today we have welded in the sill and finished the inne sill up to the outrigger, starting to look whole now:)

Jørn also have finished the drivers side enginecover profile in the floor, and have started to fab up the floorpan for that side.

sill in place, welded, with the innersill fabbed to fit from the outrigger, and down under the step.







Jørn also cutted out the floor, just to find more rust, he had to replace a piece of the chassisrail which goes under the bulkhead before he could start to make the floorsection.





I found out today, that we allready have used over 1 sqare metre of sheet metal or well over 3 sq feet, that includes the floorsection under the pedals thou.