Refurbished on a budget

[carpetmonster]

Had my Van a couple of years now and its been great. Due to last couple of winters its turned in to a bit of a rust bucket, i have decided to chop out the rust and replace as much as i can I use the van for work so it will need to be kept on the road.
I had a moment of madness and looked at some mk6s but realised for the money i had to spend my van was a better runner just the rust.
Im going to do this as cheap as possible and try to pass on as much information as i can .

Its due a mot in 5 weeks its sound underneath but is at the point of no return.

My plan is to
Fit new wings
Waxoyl underneath
New front disks and pads and rear shoes
New front springs
Repair the small holes on the inside of the steps and any other rot i find and get i through its mot
Tidy up body work with a bit of rattle can white
After the mot ill replace all 4 arches and patch up rear door bottoms and attack it with rustoleum going to colour code bumpers etc and maybe some stripes on the bonnet like the sports vans
I have welded a little bit have bought a mig this week so biting the bullet, the way i see it is if i can weld i can keep her going forever.

Here she is at the moment looks awful

[dodgy01]

good luck with it
it does look a little tired

[AlanN]

Do you live near the sea just think, when its done, she'll love you for the rest of her days

[carpetmonster]

When i bought it the guy had tarted it up with some white gloss its rusted away underneath! the front wings are a result of a poke about!

Miles away from the sea mate!

[whitemice]

Get some of these dudes products, the hydrate 80 will come in handy, just done my rear wheels and spare today with it, ready for polyurethane di9amond white topcoat tomorrow.

http://www.bilthamber.com/search-produc ... revention#

[carpetmonster]

Well been away for a bit due to work/personal problems in the end I fitted new springs on the front and got creative with the gaffer tape and she passed the mot since then I did a quick filler job on arches etc to tidy her up I'll post some pics asap.

Priced up my panels here: http://www.carz2.co.uk/ford-trans-c-174 ... =1&sort=2a. place can do 2 x wings and front and rear arches for under £100 so I'll order them this week and get the gas/wire for the mig and try to rember how to weld !

Just out of intrest I use the van for work and need to keep it in use what would be the best order and how much time do I need to change the wings an all 4 arches? Would you do wings one weekend etc, not sure how long each job will take?

Cheers

[turbotom]

i would allow a day for each corner as once you start cutting away the rotten panels you may well find theres not as much left to weld to. i have managed both wings in a day on one van but other vans its taken me 2 days due to inner arches needing rebuilding.
better to take your time than having wonky arches and wings.

[carpetmonster]

Right i all my stuff has come through the post:

2 x front wings
2 x front arches
2 x rear arches
2.5 litres of rustoleum ral9006
clear indicators & side repeaters
Hopefully picking up 2 x rear doors and driver and passenger doors


Gona try and get cracking but the weather is so awful! Thinking about buying a cheap gazeebo from argos.

[transitandy]

Looks like you gonna be busy

[carpetmonster]

Right finally made a start on the van cut out some rot on the drivers side step and welded "ehem" a patch on there and the passangers side wheel arch only needed the bottom corner replacing so i have tacked that in place.
Both bits i have painted white just to stop rust till i can grind them down and filler/seam sealer them.
ill get more pictures but these were just on my phone.
comments welcome good or bad!
Please be gentle my first ever welding on a car or van, at leat i had fun. Finally got the mig running sweet when i ran out of time! Typical!

[86smithy]

i just started to learn to weld found it very frustrating at first but you soon get the hang of it lol

[carpetmonster]

Thanks mate do you think these bits will look ok with a bit of filler etc?

[ake]

You should really have removed the plastic step trim and taken the patch down to the bottom, easier to hide the weld then

[carpetmonster]

Cheers mate i did remove but should of made it longer going to soundproof and line the steps with carpet tho so should hide it ill do that on the other side tho good pointer.

cheers