Baz has a new home!

[transitandy]

Wow, I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Great job tim

So will I with a little help from the rw

[RustWidow]

Wow, I've said it before, and I'll say it again... Great job tim

So will I with a little help from the rw

:rofl: anytime Andy

[jonochap]

Thirded! Nice work DHT

[dieselhead123]

Had a bit of a 'rush' on the old boy today, some more pictures of the rotten O/s front chassis leg;



As can be seen, we removed the steering box support, Mr RVM is correct, this is only welded to the inner wing, being bolted to the chassis leg top;



This is the section of the chassis rail that is above the front spring hanger, removal was essential;



Here you see what is left of the chassis leg once the rotten material has been removed;


A replacement top plate was made for the chassis leg;


Holes were cut in the plate to match the original, dimensions were used from the near side leg;


The missing part of the chassis rail was folded up and attached to the chassis rail;




The front spring hanger and cross member were now fitted, this allows us to check accurate alignment of all the parts before welding. While the parts were held in place a few weld 'tacks' were applied to the front spring hanger;



The front cross member was removed again, this allowed access to the hanger for the spot welder.

Once the hanger was fully welded the cross member was once again fitted, this allowed the chassis leg top plate to be installed. The steering box mounting was bolted back to the top of the chassis, this secured the chassis top while welding was carried out. Mig 'plunge' welding was used to secure the top plate to the chassis rail;




The front cross member and steering box mounting will have to be removed yet again to provide the necessary access to complete the welding task.

TIM

[karl]

top job its always god welding good steel other wise as i find you just chase you welds till you touch soild stuff

[Mr RVM]

Almost Identical to the repair I had to do to my Mk3 (but I cheated and used "reclaimed" Mk5 chassis tops, tho probably took longer to cut them out clean them up and bend them to fit the slightly different shape of the Mk3 chassis than it would have taken to make new one's)



Worth it in the end tho

cant wait to see Baz in fresh BLUE paint

[karl]

Almost Identical to the repair I had to do to my Mk3 (but I cheated and used "reclaimed" Mk5 chassis tops, tho probably took longer to cut them out clean them up and bend them to fit the slightly different shape of the Mk3 chassis than it would have taken to make new one's)



Worth it in the end tho

cant wait to see Baz in fresh BLUE paint

[RustWidow]

Omg that sure was rusty! Ace job Tim

[dieselhead123]

Earlier this week we got a bit of stone chip on the top of the chassis legs.

Left;


And the right;

The right hand side will need to have top coat applied before the steering box mounting is replaced.

Now to the steering box mounting bracket, the 'base' of this was badly corroded, bolted to the top of the chassis leg by Ford, the two touching faces were never painted

Here we see the rotten 'base' part removed;


Here you see the new 'base' part ready for welding to the main part of the bracket;


This was produced in 2.5mm steel to 'match' the original part. The two parts were bolted back onto the van and tacked together to ensure a good fit. The repaired bracket is now awaiting some paint, the underside of the part will be painted, bolted back onto the van and then re-welded to the inner wing.

TIM

[Mr RVM]

I just bolted mine back onto the inner wing (every spotweld was drilled out and replaced by a stainless bolt, 10 in total) that way I could use PU sealer all the way round the joint on the "mating faces" and the same underneath between the chassis top and bracket, which were all painted so shouldn't ever get water in there again

[dieselhead123]

The steering box bracket has now been repaired and painted prior to re-fitting to the van;



The top of the chassis legs were also painted;



We also got some repair work done on the left hand headlamp panel, the repair part seen in earlier pictures is now welded to the van;



The welds were ground off and some filler applied to hide the join;


The next job will be to re-fit the steering box bracket once the paint has fully cured.

TIM

[RustWidow]

Nicely done Tim

[dieselhead123]

The steering box mounting bracket is now fitted,


Primed;


Now when I made the replacement front cross member, the vertical returns onto which the outer cross member cover will be welded to were of 'irregular' depth, by clamping a 'fence', (in this case an old lathe tool), to the return, we were able to grind down the flange so that it now is a uniform hight;


Next job is the right hand headlamp panel repair!

TIM

[RustWidow]

I love seeing your excellent progress tim, well done and ty for sharing

[dieselhead123]

A few more pictures of progress.

The steering box mounting bracket has now been painted;


The steering box re-fitted;


Some under-seal applied to the inner wing;


The o/s lower headlamp panel was repaired and then the front cross member fitted. A combination of spot welding and mig plunge welding was used for this;



Here you see the spot welds where the cross member passes under the chassis top plate;


On the left hand side, the chassis top plate is the original, so the holes drilled in it when removing the old Cross member have been mig plunge welded;


Here you see the spot welds applied where the lower face of the front Cross member attaches to the front spring hangers;




Here you see the spot welds applied where the rear face of the Cross member sits in front of the headlamp panel;


Looking down, we can see how close the radiator bottom hose is to the front cross member, the shaping incorporated into the cross member rear 'face' is imperative to provide the necessary clearance;


Finally some protective paint has been applied to the inner surfaces of the cross member;



More soon,

TIM