My 1990 MK3 100L Campervan

[Bryan]

That makes mine look not too bad then!

I spent yesterday removing the engine, gearbox and front axle from the van in preparation for the IFS conversion.



I will have the complete front axle (including shocks/springs/calipers/steering box etc) for sale if anyone in Northern Ireland is looking for one. Could possibly arrange to have it delivered on a pallet. I'll also have the rear axle eventually as well.

The inner wing area on the passenger side needs considerable work - would be good if there was a replacement panel I could buy. Would anyone on here have this section cut from a good MK3?



This area has a piece of metal fibreglassed over the top of it to hide the hole



New spring hangers and front crossmember required



So this is what the van looks like now



You'll notice that the driver's side seems to have been replaced at some point in its life (probably following an accident). They only replaced half the inner and outer front crossmember though so everything on the passenger side needs to be replaced or repaired now.




I've spent this morning removing the front windscreen as well. This also needs considerable attention to the window frame. What's the best way to repair the upper area near the fibreglass roof? I will probably have to weld a few new sections in there but I don't want to melt the roof.

[MinorMatt]

I would say carefully. Keep the fibreglass damp (damp rags) and that will help.

I am almost certainly going to be breaking my old LWB soon (i'm going to try and sell it complete 1st) and I think its got reasonable inner arches. And the windscreen frame is okay

[Bryan]

I had a spare hour this evening so I thought I'd take a leaf out of Mr RVM's book and recycle these spring hangers I cut out of the mk5 I scrapped. Took me about an hour to drill out all the welds and then beat the life out of it until it fell off. Just three more to go now... Should be able to straighten it up and use these to save me a pound or two! I'll have to make new channel parts for the centre because these were rotted in the mk5 but they're easy enough to knock up.

[bignorm]

hi Bryan u seem 2 be making progress took me most off two nights 2 get my cross member all cut away, Then I decided to remove front l/h wing to gain access to the inner wing its completely shot,
The down side the inner wing for mk3 are available so not sure were to go next

[transitandy]

Wow enjoying this thread

[Bryan]

Since the weather was lovely today I took the opportunity to get some more done on the camper.

I started by removing the upper part of the scuttle panel (the bit with the windscreen lip) from the van and then I cut a replacement panel from the scrap bulkhead I kept from the mk5.

This is the new scuttle cut from the mk5 sitting on top of the area I cut out of the mk3.


Continuing on with the window frame I set a few pieces into the A pillars to get rid of some rust holes. Again these repair panels came from the scrapped MK5 I bought for parts.




And the upper driver's corner was very tricky - was worried about melting the roof but it turned out ok.



And finally I patched up the gaping hole in the bulkhead on the passenger side.



I need to get some more panels ordered up before I can get any more done now.

[MinorMatt]

Looks like you are doing a spot on job

[Bryan]

Slowly but surely... not gonna win any awards for the welding but it's not gonna come apart any time soon!

I'm still stumped with what to do with the inner wing area under the bonnet. I might just remove the worst areas and patch it up as best as possible.

I haven't started into removing the front crossmember/spring hangers yet because I'm going to fit IFS suspension and weld in the necessary supports onto the chassis using the existing spring hangers to line it all up. That way when I cut the spring hangers out I'll have something to reference off to make sure they go back in the same position.

[Bryan]

I took advantage of the sunny evening and got stuck into the camper this evening.

The spring hangers were really annoying me so I ripped them out of the passenger side. I was a bit shocked to find that the chassis doesn't meet up with the front crossmember - is this normal on a mk3?



And then I removed the rotten half of the front crossmember




And the rusty mess removed from the van...



If the weather holds I'll be getting stuck into the other side tomorrow night.

[Mr RVM]

The chassis doesn't go all the way to the crossmember on a Mk3 so yours is quite normal

[Bryan]

More progress this evening.

I got stuck into removing the steering box bracket because I won't need it any more. I will just cut a plate and fill the hole instead. Unfortunately the chassis wasn't in good condition under it.




Spring hangers and the remains of the crossmember removed

[bignorm]

your going well mate was at mine for an hour 2night, just more an more rot never seen so much filler in wheel arches, an most other places you can hoke a screw driver at

[Mr RVM]

Looks familiar.......


but it can be done......




Bit of patience and a lot of faith

[bignorm]

Excellent work mate, wot sort off steering unit is that am I a bit uneducated when it comes to these things

[Mr RVM]

Excellent work mate, wot sort off steering unit is that am I a bit uneducated when it comes to these things

That's just a manual steering box as fitted to Mk3 LWB's with beam axle on the front (I'm leaving it non power steering as its only having a Pinto put back in so not really going to have heavy steering) power steering bits are quite rare too (so expensive)

That job was done "on the cheap" using reclaimed bits from a scrap van and a cheap pattern front crossmember/cover then painted with a brush