Panel replacement work underway !

[fmr]

Just a quick browse on ebay and saw this
Item number- https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110145483645

Thanks retrohowla for the link, but this was meant to be a quick repair which I thought was well within reach of my capabilities Maybe I should have paid more attention to dangeeeeerousss post before deciding to whip panels off
Read enough posts on this forum and you will find one thing becomes common The more you dig on a transit van the more you WILL find
My neighbour has now kindly offered his welding expertise ( as well as his machine) to hopefully complete this task.
If I was going to spend £300.00 on a welder I would fly Fredrik over from Sweden, now that's the best welder in the marketplace Have you checked out his post in Members Transit Progress Reports

Phil

[Retrohowla]

No prob, fair doo's, just one thing to remember is if you intend to keep the van a few years you will soon get your money back for a £300 welder and a lot more when you see how much you can spend in welding bills over a few years cos no matter how you look at it, a tranny is always gonna rot once its started!

[Retrohowla]

Just read trough some of Fredrik's posts, talented guy indeed, it dont take long to pick up when your deternind to make the old girl good again, i did a little job for a good friend of mine last year, his VW Type 25 failed mot on £550 YES £550 of welding!

i took the job on, took me a weekend and some working 10 hour days
got it through the mot and the tester asked who did the welding and what did it cost, my mate replied "my mate did it for the price of a few flap discs and a reel of mig wire", the tester asked "dose he want to do it for a livving?"

Like i say you get enough practice and the sky is the limit

[djswampy]

Kids!
No fear! the sad reality is i should know stuff like this as i am only 24
ten year olds have more IT knowhow than me!

Very true but the internet is dumbing down kids as they simple cut and paste without reading and digesting the information. I had to go to the libary and READ the information then cite the source but as I had to read a lot of stuff that wasn't directly the info I needed I learnt other things at the same time.
Getting exactly the information with no effort doesn't teach you anything, plus everyone else in the class will be using the first 3 links from google and the papers will then all look the same. No wonder A levels seem to be given away with cereal boxes these days.

Anyhow threadjack over back to welding

I think Computers are used too much in schools, I am 19 and they were being used more and more as I left school. Although most of my work was paper based, The younger years were having whole lessons on Laptops etc for maths. You can't have maths on computers, Sums need writing on paper!!!

Hey, Welding is easy for those who know how to. I'm not much cop at it. But I have a bloody good go (get nowhere but have fun )

[Retrohowla]

I am no expert by far but when i started doing it about the age of 15 on my first car it was awfull, i could hardly get the new metal to stick let alone be structrally sound, so that mk1 fiesta never made it back on the road.
Wasnt till i bought my first tranny at 17 (mk3 100, 2.0 pinto low roof) that i started to get the hang of it, when the garage quoted me £250 to weld it up and that was three weeks wages to me at the time!

I just battled on till i got the hang of it, people showed me different little tricks and i used a few different borrowed machines of varying quality, after i got the tranny through its mot i thought 'hey, im not as bad as i thought'

like i say i was rubbish when i started, now i can weld better than some garages (but thats not saying much!) if you want it bad enough you will get better, with time, practice and a whole lot of spent grinding wheels

[fmr]

Well guys I am going to do as you say. When I decided to take this job on I thought I could weld and I could 21 years ago
I am still practising, it is probably going to cost me dearly in gas and wire not to mention time But as you say the end result will still be better than they turn out at my local garage
Job satisfaction is the biggest thing you get from doing the job yourself

They do say that if you scare yourself often you will actually live longer

And after this mornings exploits, there is nothing more scary than turning your angle grinder on to your Transit

Dangeeeeerousss and Fredrik your both going to live 200 years

Pics to follow this evening.

Phil

[Retrohowla]

Thats the spirit, best of luck with it and if you still cant weld by the end of it blame the welder!

After my engine change the mk2 will be treated to some new panels so i have it all to look forward to very soon!

Its always easier said than done but if i can be of any help i am more than happy to but my standards prob dont match that of Fredrik etc

[sportscott]

Well retrohowla,It appears that I may well have lost my touch

Doing a whole lot of practising but other than using a whole lot of gas and wire the standard does not seam to be improving

3 litres gas a minute is about right for MiG welding indoors.
The best Gas to use on Car bodies is Stargon or Goldmix which are 90- 95% Argon with the rest being Co2.
I can't understand why everybody is recommending drilling spot welds, when although is OK is very tedious, I use myself an Air Chisel with a Vee shaped chisel, which makes short work of separating a seam

[fmr]

Not posted for a couple of days but don't worry I have not given up
Firstly I have managed to come down with a stinking cold so obviously being male I am in a very bad way
I am though still digging out the rust on the near-side, not easy getting in this tight area with the angle grinder. As I have said before this whole area gets a real hammering as it is behind the back wheel and on the gutter side of the road. The extent of the damage in this corner is now a section of the floor, four inches or so has been removed from a outrigger and the inner wing needs plating. The rear cross-member has sustained damage but is still solid.
I will try and get photos this evening showing all this damage. My next job is to cut stencils for repair out of cardboard, then steel. I need to go back to the local fabricators to get some more steel of a lessor thickness than I got before, as I think this is the cause of a lot of my previous welding problems. While at the fabricators I will talk to them about making up a box section to replicate that of the outrigger, if I get this made up about six inches long I can overlap the existing outrigger by two inches and weld in place. This is quite a complicated section to make up as it has flanges on the two sides which attach to the van floor, and flanges on all three sides at the end which attach to the inner wing Hope your all keeping up with me photos of this area which I will add later will help

To be continued.................


Phil

[dangeeeeerousss]

Well guys I am going to do as you say. When I decided to take this job on I thought I could weld and I could 21 years ago
I am still practising, it is probably going to cost me dearly in gas and wire not to mention time But as you say the end result will still be better than they turn out at my local garage
Job satisfaction is the biggest thing you get from doing the job yourself

They do say that if you scare yourself often you will actually live longer

And after this mornings exploits, there is nothing more scary than turning your angle grinder on to your Transit

Dangeeeeerousss and Fredrik your both going to live 200 years

Pics to follow this evening.

Phil

thanks mate

ill probably be 200 year old by the time its done

[Retrohowla]

Phil, with the kind of quality repairs you talk of i hope your keeping this van for a while!
Most people patch them up and move them on but this sounds like your doing a great job, keep it up

[fmr]

Well guys the photos as promised

This first picture shows my first attempt at welding 2mm plate to the inner wing, this is coming off and a thinner plate is being applied to the inside of this panel. I here your cry "bird sh#t"

This second picture shows the extent of the damage to the floor of the van in this corner, also note the outrigger has been cut back four inches to good metal. The wood you can see is the ply-lined floor !

A view from the other side.

This last picture shows rust damage I cut out from the sill in front of the near side rear wheel.


Enjoy my pain, to be continued.............

Regards
Phil

[djswampy]

[Retrohowla]

All the same areas shot as my mk4 for last years mot, look to eliminate all rot even if it means cutting out allot more than you feel comfortable with, it makes welding far easier and slows down the spead for next year!

Keep practicing on the consealed areas, a few rough looking bits can be lived with as long as its sound, good work, we will make a welder of you yet!!

[fmr]

Encouraging remarks fellas. A quick question, is it better to weld the new floor section on from the outside or inside ? I was hoping not to remove the ply lining, and quite looking forward to the challenge of welding up side down !!!. The weekend is not a good time for me to press on as busy at the shop and also do a market on saturdays. But progress is going to be much faster during next week. Engine is yet to be replaced and MOT is due early october
Also looking forward to getting the rot problems dealt with as I can then give the old girl a fresh coat of paint

I will keep posting progress.

Phil