Dad's Mk 5 SWB ex-TNT renovation

[smgd]

Dad has finally had enough of driving a shed around so, after getting the general concensus from the rest of his builder friends that the mk5 is the last of the proper Transits and the later marks are money pits he has decided to repair his S-reg van
Well, saying he has decdied to renovate it actually means I'm doing it with his help.
First job is to make it MoT worthy: RH sill and arch are rotten, LH not bad, chassis is good, rear quarters bashed & LH rotten beneath door runner, a couple of rough patches in the inner arches. So, replace front wings, RH sill & arch and plate rear inner arches for MoT.

Then replace rear quarters. Panels all sourced and delivered, practically new minibus rear doors bought through eBay & collected from Salisbury. Camper side door with window bought & due to collect from Lancing. So getting there. Oh, replacement drivers seat fitted. Forgot to mentionthe plan to fit minbus seats in the back so can take the grandchildren out. I feel my trips home to Hastings are going to be busy from now on.

[smgd]

I'll post some images once I figure out how to

[smgd]

Stripped out the front RH ing to find more corrosion. Didn't get any better removing the arch and sill. Lots of holes around the step inside and out so used the old wing as repair material and plenty of cutting, shaping and welding later..... no holes.



Sill offered up and dad doing something useful (other than making coffee) shaping a couple of repair plates



Sill, arch and wing welded in. not perfect but the first time I've welded in 4 years and the first time I've had such a big job to do (only did little bits on the Imp, farmed the sill replacement out to our workshops, but next time I'll do it)



Day and half's work and that's the first side done... got to weld a patch on the inside of the sill and another in the arch next time I'm down. Luckily MoT isn't until July

[oldyellar]

looks neat work keep it up

[Munster Boy]

good transformation in 1.5 days, looking smart

[smgd]

Before we started.
Images taken from googlemaps streetview as didn't take any ...

[dieselhead123]

Good work on the re-furb there mate,

TIM

[smgd]

Some further progress on the van....


Found this when I whilst repairing the inner arch; a couple of hours works turned into 5. LHS wasn't so bad, but we did have to patch a fair few bits in the floor



Before we started the RHS rear quarter repair


Cutting it out: most of the work was done with a sonic saw. uch cleaner than the angle grinder and doesn't tend to snatch quite as much. It's also far less likely to gouge if you slip or get your hands a little too close to the cutter. Well worth the cost


RHS Rear quarter removed


Tacking on: Gap was a tad big in places but not bad for my first time


The finished product... well nearly. Needs a bit more grinding and finishing before paint. The replacement doors look good too.

It's getting there slowly. Just the LHS panels to do and reskin the fwd LH sill as kwikfit crushed it when they replaced a tyre... just because she's a bit tatty doesn't give them the right to cut corners and damage her further: it would only need a small patch repair otherwise.
Progressing much faster than expected so will be looking at paint in a few months time and fitting the front and rear nudge-bars and parking sensors...but what to do about the wheels?

[smgd]

Well... that's the main repairs carried out on the tranny; all 4 corners have been replaced (more images to follow shortly) and an attempt at tidying he paint up (dad's sprayed one side in satin black as an interim to a full paint job, but doesn't like it so she's 2/3s satin black now). A few little minor bits and pieces to be done, oh, and the LH sill as those muppets at Kwikfit jack it on the only good sill on her so have to replace to keep her looking good for the paint.

Anyone got side bar for a Mk5 SWB? Or any ideas how to make some cheap ones? After all, she's a builders work van so the more protection the better...

[walt1984]

Great, keep posting ur progress. I wish we had kept our mk5 it was a S too owned by my dad from new.
It was slow but had more character than mk7.

[Frank190]

Good job there mate - top man for saving your dads Mk5 .

[mrepson]

nice work,where did you get the complete rear wheel arch panel from,as i could do with one

[MinorMatt]

Dieselhead 123 does them I think they are £20 + postage

[dieselhead123]

The lower rear quaters are now £22 each plus postage, BUT.....
I still have some of the Transitmania stock left, if members were to collect from our works or from me at a local meet then we could still do them at £20 each.

TIM

[transitandy]

Good thread m8y