Hi all,
As the rear quarters of the camper are rapidly becoming fresh air, I thought is was time to tackle removing the plastic arches and rebuilding the rear quarters. As expected new ones are not available, and the only people who I've found who sell the rear quarter panels for the single wheeler mk3 lwb / hi-cube don't actually keep them in stock I haven't been able to look at those to see how different they are. So, reluctantly, it's do-what-I-can-with-sheet-steel time.
The story so far...
The right hand rear are actually the worst, but as the left-hand plastic arch was in most need of repair as it was cracked I thought I'd tackle that first.
The plastic arch is held on with six nuts, all rusted, so out with the grinder. Fortunately there are extra thick washers under the nuts, so no worries about grinding through the body.
Next, I had to work out just how the plastic arch is put together. It's two pieces, held together by a resin type glue and plastic studs through holes which are melted together. A soldering iron and careful prising got the two halves apart.
Next, the ground off screws needed removing. They are held in with the resinous glue. Again careful prising removes them.
I now need to find or make a replacement for these studs. If anyone knows of anything that can be bought then please let me know. Otherwise I think I'll try friction-welding an m6x20 stainless screw into a stainless repair washer. I'll drill holes in the repair washer to replicate those in the original. I'm assuming these give the glue more grip to prevent the screws coming loose when being tightened or undone. The whole lot will be put back together using TigerSeal and occasional plastic welding.
I'll let you all know how I get on.