167 replies to this topic

[Dog]

You sorted out the Van from the antics of SMD?

[minivanman]

yep, its in the bodyshop now getting the wheelarch and doorframe repaired (see minilukes thread for the pic) and then it should be ready for stanford hall and hopefully a proper mag feature...

[Southy]

Top work there minivanman, its coming along nicely, looks like thats a fairly clean car from what ive seen and read cant go wrong there, just a shame about the crash.

Look forward to seeing the rest of the work (Y)

[minivanman]

Cheers Southy - it really is in great nick. Think I caught the rust just in time. So long as the subframe bolts in the heelboard come out ok, I really don't think there's gonna be many major issues with it. *famous last words*

90% welded up Just a couple more spot welds to do tomorrow night and it'll be more solid than it has been in years!

[Southy]

Top banana mate, looks a little bit more healthy now its got the front end back together right.
Is that bonnet creased aswell or is it just the light on it?

Edited by Southy, 29 August 2008 - 06:31 AM.

[minivanman]

The bonnets got a bit of a dent where the catch has pulled the spot welds a bit. Other than that, its ok. Got a bit more welding done tonight, and while I was waiting for it to cool down I got the rear subframe ready to drop. All the bolts came loose and everything else is freed off now.

[MiniLuke]

It's all coming back together nicely! Looking good.

How is the van? Did they do a good job?

[minivanman]

They did a great job on the van. Can't even see where they've blown it in. I'll get it all scrubbed up tomorrow and get some good pictures up.

[minivanman]

Got the welding finished on the front end, then seam sealed it all and got some stonechip on it today - looks great!



Yesterday I got the rear subframe off - it was a tad bent



The bolts all looked like new though, not bad for a 23 year old car!



And then this afternoon I started stripping the rust, mud, underseal and general crud that was on the underside



I've never ever been so bloody filthy after working on a car - covered in stonechip, grinding dust and subframe ming. Ended up washing my hands and arms in pure thinners to get it off

[minivanman]

Today I got the back end degreased fully, and started welding. Few little holes in the valence, couple of patches in the boot, all the holes that had been drilled for various arches and two patches at the front of the rear arches are done now.


And while the welder was out I made a tool for doing up the trunnion pin thing out of an old trunnion pin thing, a couple of bolts, a snapped 1/2"-3/8" convertor and a fairy liquid bottle.


Think this is the worst area I've got to deal with now:

And as I've got tomorrow off, I should get it done

[minivanman]

And I did...



And this one:



And all the other welds smoothed off properly ready for fillering. Then when I started to clean up t'other rear window frame I found a fine example of a fillertastic bodgery - this looked nearly perfect before I started. Think I've found why the rear seat was soaked...



Then I got the rear seat repair patch fitting pretty well -only needed a bit of "persuasion"



All thats left to do now welding wise really is weld this seat patch in, repair that rear window hole, weld the front floorpan up a bit where its split in the crash and repair a bit on the front screen surround.

[minivanman]

Welded the seat up


And got the back end stripped, seam sealed, primed, stonechipped and a coat of gloss black on.


Spent all week sorting out the garage for the new toy (sandblaster) and polishing the van. Hopefully tomorrow though I'll get some more paint on the underside, and the subframe so it can go back on and I can start rebuilding it all.

Edited by minivanman, 12 September 2008 - 09:23 PM.

[minivanman]

Things have been going very well with it! All the stonechip has had 2 coats of paint, the rear subframe has gone on, all the welding around the back end is finished, both radius arms are now on (after major issues with a faulty recon one...) and the suspension is fully built on one side. The hilo decided to banana itself as I was trying to free it off, so when the new one gets here I can finish getting the other side together. Couple of pics:
Rear subby on:


One side built up:


Using the aga to dry the radius arm seemed a really good idea, till I came back a few hours later and found that as it heated up the grease came out the handbrake quadrant hole and spread itself across the top of the cooker....


New wheels will be here on wednesday as well

[minivanman]

I lied, the new wheels were here today Minispares and huddersfield packages turned up at exactly the same time so we got the other radius arm bolted together, the handbrake connected up and the new hilo adjuster in the other side. Then had a quick look at the wheels on it, and sportpack arches look like they'll fit perfectly! So it should look quite similar to how it did before.

[Tomf]

Those wheels are sooo nice, iv never actually seen them fitted only online and they look even nice fitted, Do you know if they do them in 10s?