PUTING THE SMILE BACK ON A SMILEY

[baxx]

Hi just joined and thought I,d start a thread about my van, It,s a mk5 190 hi top I,ve owned for 9 years or so.
She,s hardly turned a wheel in the last 5 years due to the company I was sub contracting to supplying us with
their liveried transit jumbos. I didn,t want to sell it so she,s sat on my driveway for several years and although
started and washed regularly time and the damp weather has taken its toll.




Rear arches still solid enough and one front arch has faired well, but both front wings and o/s arch are toast.
I knew before I parked her up that all was not well as the floor had developed the all to common spring when walking towards the rear,this was confirmed when the ply floor was lifted to reveal the usual rotten floor and floor stiffeners
I removed what was left of the floor and cut out and replaced the crossmembers

That was nearly three years ago but work comes first and so I started to collect panels I would need, many an hour was spent scanning ebay, the adtrader etc to see what I could find.Finaly the dust has been blown from the angle grinder
and the mig sparked up so the nieghbours won,t be getting their long lie in at the weekends.....

[G40GES]

oxide groute looks well cool on block paving
good luck and mind those fingers!
Gadge

[blue.van.man]

Hi mate,

Looks like you are doing a thorough job on the floor, it should last a while now, once you've finished. The back arches look mint, should be a good un when its done.

I like the title, great minds think alike, my van is on here in this section titled mK 5 smiley, putting the smile back

Have fun with it

[dirtydiesel]

there is transit in your blood!!! doing a good job, like it

[redcube]

That some work done removing the floor must have been hard don't forget it missing

[baxx]

Thanks for the comments lads ,theres a lot of spot welds in a transit floor but it does help when half of its missing :
Rear spring hanger not too clever

Rear crossmember from below ,biggest box section on a Transit and not a trace of any rust proofing.

Rot cut out


At last some waxol



repair section formed and trial fitted

Holes drilled for plug welds.



Repair section welded in place.

Angle iron in place to keep every thing level


Spring hanger trial fitted

Weak spot on underside of chassis cut out and plated

At last one spring hanger in place only three to go....

[AlanN]

Most Impressed, Well done, I'm sure most others would have scrapped it

[fordboynick]

looking spot on mate can u still get the shassi rails ???

[Grenadekid]

All i can say is you really must love mk5,s Baxx

[baxx]

The biggest problem with the mk5 is that most of the rust is hidden and you
dont realise how bad it is until you,ve started to poke about.
I did think about scrapping it but I thought about the pros and cons and decided to
continue as good smiley,s are pretty thin on the ground up here in Scotland and getting
an other needing no work is nigh immposible .
I,ll take a note of the finnis codes of the parts I,ve used if it helps anyone,as far as the chassis leg being
still available I couldn,t say but there used to be a link on passion ford for the ford microcat
which was like a computerised version of the old microfiche, which gave diagrams of all parts and panels
produced .I,m sure there was what they called collision repair panels available which did include
a portion of the chassis leg but this link has scince been disabled maybe someone who works in the
parts department could help ....

[G40GES]

http://www.carz2.co.uk/ford-trans-c-174 ... =4&sort=2a

found this here a little while ago but havent needed it yet ('95 15 seat bus)

hope you have some joy looking at your tin sticking skills you well on the right path
all the best Gadge

[transit mark]

Intresting thread. Will keep an eye out and see whats happening.

Mark

[baxx]

Here,s a few more pics


A small repair to the rear chassis leg .

new spring hanger in place

will need to get creative here multi layer metal = rust

rear crossmember plug welded to chassis legs

still to clean up welds and surface rust then give a lick of paint



rear tub removed and chassis leg repaired at bumpstop

repair to front spring hanger still to be done

new floor sat in place

rear panel clamped in place just to give me a boost so I can see what the
end result will look like.....

[redcube]

That is a lot of new metal are you trying to make a new mk5 transit top work there

[Jim H]

It does my head in the amount of time and work you've put in there, Brill
Gotta keep up with the body work to some how make it last as long as the Di that's in it!
Well done Mate, Top