Pinto Bill's Mk4 SWB Van

[MinorMatt]

On the rear panel I put on my van, each one of those holes on the outer panel was too close to center... I had to make them 5-10mm wider to get the bumper back on!

[dieselhead123]

Hopefully my panel will be better

TIM

[expertcourier]

Wowsers would be out of my depth I think , superb work that m8, Confident I could stuff like that though , would love to have a go.

Some of the peeps on here do some brave but mega projects makes me with envy this sites just inspiring.

Im gonna follow this with great interest. might inspire to tackle some of my tinworm

Cheers

[oldyellar]

Some nice work going on here

[dieselhead123]

Thought it was about time we got some more pictures up.

Once the rear inner cross member was fully welded it was treated to a coat of zinc phosphate primer;



Seam sealer was applied to the joints to prevent water ingress;


The process was duplicated on the underside, then the outer rear cross member was welded in place, seam sealed and painted;



A good solid repair that retains 'factory' appearance.

TIM

[dieselhead123]

We then tackled the near side rear wheel arch area, the outer arch was removed to reveal a good deal of corrosion on the inner arch;


Since the inner rear wheel arches for the Mk4/5 vans are now available from our supplier, it was decided to fit one of these.
A small amount of alteration is required to the repair panel to attain a good fit.
The return flange on the outside of the arch panel needs to be 'reversed' at the front and rear of the arch;
Here;

And here;

Also, a small amount of material needs to be removed from the mounting flange at the top of the arch to clear the internal support;


More to follow,
TIM

[linsey_young]

That is looking great. If you weren't so far away I'd get you to have a go at mine!

[BigMonty]

That is looking great. If you weren't so far away I'd get you to have a go at mine!

My thoughts exactly.
When are you next up in Cambridgeshire Tim ?

[lampy54]

Its good to see whats there once you cut away the rot, it gives you a bit more confidence to get in there and sort it.
Shame I spoke to Tim just AFTER I had done front wings,arches and sills I could have saved hours of fabrication work on the inner wings

Very knowledgeable bloke

[dieselhead123]

Thanks for all the 'positives' people, happy to offer advice or even carry out repairs for you lot.

That is the great thing about this Forum, help is only a 'post' away


Right then, some more pics of the progress made during the last week;
We have now fitted the N/s rear inner wheel arch, as can be seen from my previous post, the part needs a small amount of alteration to enable fitment, it started out like this;


The old outer wheel arch was removed and the replacement outer arch positioned behind the outer wing panel and secured in place with self tapping screws, the remnants of the inner arch were used to assist in achieving correct positioning of the outer arch, much the same process was used on the O/s, see earlier in the thread.

The new outer arch repair panel was then removed, the locating holes remain in the rear wing panel, these will provide accurate alignment when we come to replace the outer arch;

If you look carefully, you can just see the small holes in the rear wing.

Now we removed the inner arch;

Not too difficult a job, good access if available inside the van once any interior trim or ply lining is removed.

The replacement inner arch was pushed into place from below the vehicle, a small amount of 'fiddling' is required at this point, there is an internal support at the top of the arch that may need pushing out of the way;




You can see the alignment holes for the outer arch in the above pictures.

Next the outer arch panel was pushed into place, the screws were replaced securing the outer arch to the outer wing.
The outer and inner arches were then fixed together with screws, this all serves to ensure that both panels are aligned correctly;


Now we are ready to weld the inner arch to the vehicle, where the panel overlaps the original structure of the van, spot welding was employed, but 'plunge welding' with the mig would be satisfactory;

You can see one of the crews used to temporarily secure the inner arch panel.

Once the inner arch has been welded to the flange inside the van and we know that it is unable to move and loose alignment, the outer arch panel can again be 'unscrewed', this allows us to weld the support at the rear of the arch at 'floor' level;



The outer arch panel is finally fitted once more, this being spot welded to the inner arch panel at the 'arch lip';

we remove the screws as we weld so as to ensure that the two panels remain in close contact.
All that remains to be done now is weld the outer arch to the rear wing, small areas at a time to minimise distortion, and 'fill to perfection'

TIM

[transit mark]

Makes me feel i should get something done with my van. Looking good so far.

Mark

[PintoBill]

Its looking Good Tim, I can honestly say that dealing with Tim has been a pleasure from the outset, he has given advise and guided me through the various stages of repair and as anyone following this can see Tim has done brilliant work on my old bus. I would recommend Tim and his workshop to any owner who may be contemplating any type of remedial bodywork or mechanics come to that, highly knowledgable without doubt and above all a real decent chap ! He is giving my Mk4 another lease of life and I hope to bring this down to the Factory in July for the BBQ and then those interested can have a good look at the work Tim has done.

[dieselhead123]

Glad you are happy with the work Pinto Bill, be nice to catch up with you over the holiday period.

A bit more info for those of you watching the thread.

One more picture of the inner arch removed, this is looking towards the front of the van from the rear wheel;


I also found a couple more pics of the outer wheel arch screwed in place prior to welding;


As can be seen in the first picture, holes were punched in the end of the outer wheel arch where it 'returns' inside the side loading door aperture, 'plunge welding' is used in this area to provide the appearance of the factory spot welds.

I would recommend that any of you replacing panels use these 'self tapping' screws as a temporary securing means prior to and during welding. These screws are quite cheap and are often re-used on the next panel, they provide a good tight panel join and when removed, (after welding), there is only a small 3mm diameter hole left that can easily be welded up with a 'spot' of mig.

Once the welding of both the inner and outer arches was completed, the new inner arch was painted with a coat of zinc phosphate primer and seam sealer applied to the internal joints.


As you can see from the pictures, we have not been 'shy' with the application of sealer and paint!
These internal surfaces, although they will not be seen once the ply lining is refitted, will receive a good coating of white stone chip, this will help to reduce panel 'drumming'.

The joins inside the wheel arch were similarly sealed after painting;



More to follow now the van is in the paint shop.

TIM

[transit mark]

I was up at Tim's on Saturday and i think this van looks great. Cant believe how clean the van is inside. One very good example.

Mark

[noah]

saw this too....

be an even sweater van when finished..............