Rusty Westy - My Diary

[16vmini]

just bought a rust tailgate off ebay ...
i should now have enough tail gate parts to create one good one .. and i can then get sliding door and tail gate painted without taking the bus off the road.

also bought some new headlights from brickwerks as i still have a german left hand one still fitted.

also bought some bbq / lpg bits .. as we are off to the new forest this weekend with out kids !!! yea baby !!

so fancy a gas bbq trial

Matt

[16vmini]

ps . must take a look at the leaking oil

[16vmini]

well .. off to the new forest tommorow with just the wife kids are camping with the guides

so .. the wife and I thought about sleeping up top to save moving lots of things around , but the other day we noticed allot of light coming in through the canvas.(dont want to wake up to early ! ) so i thought i would do a DIY thermal poptop cover... 1) block out light , 2 ) maybe keep some heat out/in.

i know brickwerks sell them for around 150 , and i know his stuff is good as i buy lots off him but for the cost of 30 quid i was able to by a 9m roll of this stuff :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... _857wt_905" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

allthough when it arrived ,it had no thermawrap labeling on it , and it seemed to be in two lengths .. did not really effect me .. but worth a mention.

ok , lets start ,
basic tools , siccsors , tape messure , pen and some weights to stop the stuff blowing around. ( got some no nonense silver tape from screwfix for 2 quid )


cut out the front section


then the sides , did one first then laid it over and cut out the second side





black tape was just used to mark cut line.

then in blue peter style i stuck it together :


then i tried it on for size



slide curve of roof , so just cut a small curve out the bottom of the front peice :



little short on top , but will see how it goes (limited to size of roll , could add more on later ):


test clips for back : lol


then cut a section for rear panel :


and it fitted :


took a few hours , with people disturbing me ...

may need some more secure method of holding it , but will test it out over the weekend.

will get a pic up of dimensions soon .....

[Cyrus]

Excellent work.
This should be added to the wiki.
My canvas has a few rips and will take up this idea! (until I can aford a new canvas)
Please give us some feedback, did it block out the light/keep you warm etc.

[16vmini]

My canvas has a few rips and will take up this idea! (until I can aford a new canvas)

another reason i did it ! LOL

[16vmini]

back from the new forest ... thermo top seemed to do its job for now , did not blow away
and it kept the light out .. the wife and I only sleept up the top once , as she did not like it ! LOL , so 2nd night stayed down stairs

my 2nd tail gate should arrive today .. so its time to get rid of the last of this rust.

Matt

[16vmini]

my 2nd tailgate turned up :


not as good as i hoped .. but it was advertised as screen only .. so i have nothing to moan about ... 40 quid delivered...

had some dents around the window frame that i have pulled out a little allready .. my view is that i dont mind filler .. but dont want rust

before :

after :


before :

after:


now the idea was to just chop the top off , and weld to the good ish bottom i have , just at the bottom of the window frame to reduce the welding/warping...
but looking at what i have i might go lower , and cut right accross bottom panel ... we shall see

[16vmini]

ok , got some time to hack the rear door about...

started by tacking some bars on to help keep the position of the new bottom part of the door. :

basically its welded to the window frame , but has some location plates to locate the bottom of the door. so when i weld the new one on ,i know the bottom of the door will be roughly in the right place ! lol

once that was done , and after a small bit of marking .. i choped the bottom part of the rust door off :



the white donor door has some bad dents in part of it , so i did not do a stright cut accross the rear door :



the white bottom door was then cut the same , and test fitted :



once i was happy (ish) i got some tacks going :



started welding it all up , removed the location bars i welded on :



outer edge and most of back fully welded , ground down skin weld ... will need filler .. but filler is better than rust.



need to buy myself an orbital sander now !

[scottbott]

very good post,that wiring loom looks like a nightmare,how much will be not required??

[16vmini]

very good post,that wiring loom looks like a nightmare,how much will be not required??

about 70% will go i hope ! ... bit of a guess that .. must get started on it...

unrwapped my RJES engine cradle today to take a look ...

[16vmini]

bought an orbital sander to start on the body work prep


started on filling the newly welded tail gate .. and some dents on the van .. will post some pics soon of that mess ! LOL

spent saturday afternoon in the garden , as daughter had sleep over , so best if we just stay out the hours

so thought i should start going through the wiring ...

removed after market immobiliser so makes it simpler later ... and just spent a few hours unwrapping some of the insulation !

just trying to work out what some of the 9 ecu/modules are for/do ! :

[Cyrus]

great work on the tailgate, I`ve been away a week so just catching up on all the posts.
I don`t see why no one does a door skin for the doors/tail gate. You can buy them for modern vans ( transit for about £20)

UPDATED Good feedback on your thermal roof, ill be making one of them.

[16vmini]

started slapping some filler onto the tailgate join , to be honest , i dont think it needs that much , there is a slight dent/distortion that needs a bit though


started fillering the front end as well , b post , and arch :

b post needs a bit . as it was done once before ! , so not perfect.



also the passenger door and front panel recieved a dent in its life time


door is taking a few goes to get right

also at some point in its life , it got a scrap/dent from the sliding door to the rear panel !! 3 panels ruined !!
anyway . sliding door is being replace , rear wing has been replaced .. just rear panel to be sorted



cleaned it up a bit ,again found filler , someone else has been here before me ...allthough for a 25+ year old bus its not a surprise



then i dont have one of those fancy welding/puller tools .. so i just welded on some big washers ! lol



then pulled on them with mole grips !


a bit better, at least i only need half the filler tub !



stuck some filler on it and thats it for tonight .. time to put kids to bed

[Cyrus]

I like your dent pulling! I will use that idea in future

[16vmini]

after owning the camper for nearly 9 months , i finally got round to looking at the sliding door not opening properly.
pulled the door panel off , and adjusted the cable to the rear lock. and pow !!! , my door now pops open at the back when pulling the handle !! no need to pull or use the big butt to open the door.

better still the kids can now open the door !

added some grease while the panel was off.

need to make some new panels now though ...