rear wheel arch repair pannel

[avgenisis]

Merry Christmas - nearly!!

So, having replaced the full outer sills on the connect, i (stupidly) investigeted the back end of the wheel arch around the area of the rear clip points and under the rear bumper corner...

So haviong found crumbly stuff, and the outer lip isnt great either, ive drawn a blank on repair panels of that part of the van, I have found a picture of one but no supplier - also possibly needs the rear panel too.

are these available anywhere.. or am i looking for a "good" old van to chop the sides out of and construct my own repalr panels...

any thnoughts greatfully recieved..



this is the full panel im basically after the area in red to the first crease

IMG_3764.jpg

[metalworker0]

Well that bit in the diagram with a sticker on ..its about 2.5mm thick in that region (or is it double skinned by there ..think it may be..cant see that bit being rotten..that panel must be made up out of several pieces.

Most of the bits you are going to be replacing will be hidden, behind the spats and the bumper corners, the only thing you have to worry about is getting the holes right for the spat clips.
Honestly don't know if this panel is available.
Don't know how extensively you repaired the sills...cause i know mine had a lot of hidden stuff i had to cut out...you say outer sills only.

Factoring in how many years you are going to get out of it................would it matter if you made a scruffy welding fabrication job that is hidden under the spats.

Factor other things in like ......how many miles do you have left on the engine or other components.
If this all adds up to less than five years use ......then get welding .....and neatness does not matter . just make that job last as long as the sills will.

all the best.mark

[avgenisis]

tbf, the job kinda ballooned, so its had a replacement low milage tdci engine, the gearbox repaired and new syncros fitted, complete front end rebuild (legs / struts / bearings/ rack and pump, drive shafts / all droplinks / cambelt waterpump etc etc.brakes all around ..

the inner sill and centre web were fine, only the outers had gone in several places so new full length complete galvanised original sills fitted. its a full tourneo connect, and a good old truck to be fair.

its really the lower rear foot of that pannel and the lip of the arch that is getting rotty, just thought as id done so much of it, if there was a part panel available, it would be churlish not to do it kinda properly..

good advice and input though..looks like that panel is hens teeth... i did find the entire side panel new (upto the roofline) for £350 per side seems silly to buy it just to take the corner out though...

[metalworker0]

The only other way is get them to cut out a chunk from one in a scrap yard ..that picture is such a chunk i think ..do it oversize to include a few surrounding bits and paces of the inner arch..and then undo the spot welds...and then cut down to size and graft it on....don't try and butt weld it though ... without a joddled joint (edge step tool) or strip behind it. these panels are far too thin ...you can try ......but you'll be disappointed! and make the panel tissue thin and distorted trying to grind out your mistakes.

There is brilliant a youtube channel called "salvage rebuilds" where they do this quite often....sometimes they cart the whole scrap car to their workshop..take off the chuck themselves carefully ..then take the car back and just get charged for the bits they have taken off.

https://www.youtube.com/@sruk/videos

all the best.mark

[metalworker0]

The big challenge is to find a rot free example though!


all the best.mark

[avgenisis]

Thanks for all the help and links Mark,

Merry Christmas to you, and yours.

A