In March this year it was clear that my van was going to fail the MOT due to a rusty inner sill, so I took the decision to get the rest of the bodywork done at the same time. Here are a few picture before anything was done. She wasn't bad, but there were a few areas, particularly lower few inches and guttering that needed some TLC.

I hope the pic upload works as it's my first time

Due to a lifetime spent as a minibus in South Africa it's probably no wonder there was a fair amount of filler to be worked through:







The cab doors were bubbling up at the bottom

Fortunately as more of the paint and filler was worked through it became clear that the bodywork underneath was much more rust free than we had first thought. The layers of filler had caused the paintwork to bubble, which looked like there may be rust underneath. As you can see there is loads of good metal








This corner is perfect


Not too much needed here either


A new lower front section needed. I intend to make up a spear based tale about the hole to the left of the badge (third pic down)...

A few moe pics as the cutting gets started.

Taylor and Sons Campers are doing the work and used the van as part of their stand at NWVW at Tatton on Sunday. Not sure if anyone on here saw it...

Ed Toogood wrote:Taylor and Sons Campers are doing the work and used the van as part of their stand at NWVW at Tatton on Sunday. Not sure if anyone on here saw it...

Wow dude, that's a cool display

Shalom, Lee

The guys are starting to position lots of the new metal ready for welding now.








The scary bit is yet to come though, which will be the gutter repairs. The hightop is fibreglass and has been bonded just above the gutter. So the fibreglass will need to be cut away in those sections to allow the metal to be cut. Not too sure how 40 year old fibreglass will take to being cut into, but I think it's the only option

Hopefully soon we will be on to the decision of what colours to go for... Thinking of sticking to green and white / cream, but with so much choice I'm finding it tough. Pretty sure we won't go back to the original orange colour though as I think it might be a bit much on a hightop. Any suggestions?

Ed Toogood wrote:Hopefully soon we will be on to the decision of what colours to go for.... Any suggestions?

Satin Black all the way. But then i would say that because everything i own ends up painted satin black
just out of in terest when make of panel dod you go from on the lower front and how was the fit???
shalom, Lee

Hi,
The front panel is from Autocraft, as are all of the other ones in fact. The fit and quality of these has been excellent. I hope I'm not speaking too soon before the welding starts in earnest, but at the moment thay are lining up a treat.
Ed

are they bonding the panels at the top and when the adhesive is set removing the screws and plug welding? or is that not adhesive

Yeh the panels are bonded at the top, now done.

The adhesive will stay at the top as its a specific panel adhesive, so as far as I understand it won't need welding. As you can see its spot welded underneath.

A few more pics of progress...

I got a call from Trev today to say he's got some ideas about things he'd like to do to the van.... Looking forward to finding out what he is thinking of! He sounded excited an has done some sketches, hmm, interesting.
Trev recently bought Taylor's campers from Chris and has some really good plans for the business. Chris has put the business in good hands I think.

The outriggers and sills are now welded into place, along with some repair patches to the front wheel arch. Next up the new steps/outer arch skin needs to go on.