Factory body kit + seam rash

[naff_monk]

Afternoon

I’m looking at an Atlantic this week that’s got some visible seam rash, nothing that’s going to scare me away but I’d really like to see all of the seams if possible especially the sills. I’ve never had a t3 with a body kit before so don’t know how they are attached but google seems to suggest they are riveted on which is going to make the inspection challenging.

Is someone able to confirm this and maybe offer some advice? I’m assuming the owner probably isn’t going to be too keen on me taking a drill to his van!

Cheers
Laurence

[davidoft1]

look under the kit and there are 10mm nuts , undo them a few turns and the kit should lift off, if you do a cab door pod its easy to see, you pull the bottom out and the top unhooks

[naff_monk]

Ok, thanks. Struggling to visualise that but I get the general idea, if it’s just a spanners sort of a job then that’s a bit easier to approach. Sounds like it might be fiddley though? Would a ratchet spanner be helpful?

[davidoft1]

Ok, thanks. Struggling to visualise that but I get the general idea, if it’s just a spanners sort of a job then that’s a bit easier to approach. Sounds like it might be fiddley though? Would a ratchet spanner be helpful?

you need a small 10mm long socket with an extension.

[naff_monk]

Right you are. I’m sure I can manage that, thanks for the help.

L

[R0B]

Would like to see the sellers face when you tell him you want to remove the planks.

[multisi]

Not the sort of thing a buyer should do ! The nuts/bolts could be rusted together and you could break the planks near the fixings. Get your fingers under the planks to check the outer sills, take a torch with you as well.

[naff_monk]

Ok, so I should be able to get a look at em without removing? That would be much better for sure.

[naff_monk]

So we ended up taking the panel off as we couldn’t find the seam line. Turns out there wasn’t one! I’m assuming this is the result of a replacement but I can’t see an appropriate panel on schofield’s website, can someone hazard a guess about where then panel came from? I really can’t think how you would weld this up in one peice.

IMG_0009.jpg (116.98 KiB) Viewed 1778 times

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[multisi]

Its missing a mounting brackets as well. Perhaps the lower seam has been filled up with filler. Is it a high top you are looking to purchase ?

[naff_monk]

Certainly possible but I’m minded to give the benefit of the doubt if a plausible repair exists without having that seam. It would be a good way to go if the panels were available, just not seeing evidence of that atm.

I’m leaning towards a pop top but currently have a high top so well versed in their benefits so would consider both.


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[multisi]

There are cheap lower side repair panels but they are full width without seams so a bit rubbish really, the lower seam is there because the main side panel is spot welded to the lower outer sill which extends inside the vehicle to join on to the main floor panel, brickwerks have the genuine outer lhd sill in stock as well as the cheap full width panel.

[naff_monk]

Sorry, can you share a link? I can only find the schofield’s panel on brickwerks:

https://www.brickwerks.co.uk/t3-parts/b ... tline.html


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[multisi]

Page 6 for the genuine lhd outer sill and page 11 for the cheap full width lower repair panel.

[naff_monk]

Ok, but these panels are complimentary rather than replacing each other. You would potentially need both depending how rotten it is and you would still end up with the seam line as original as they all spot weld to the inner sill at that point.

The question is whether a panel exists that deletes that seam altogether. I’m now getting concerned that the answer is no and it has been filled up :s


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