Further Prep Work

It's been a while since my last post, but things have been ticking on slowly.....

 

The tub which I removed got sanded down.

Then filled, sanded further. Then sanded 3 more time with finer grades.

 

 

 

The removed sills where then brushed, cleaned and all glue / sealant stripped back to allow for paint.

Closer inspection of the sills revealed some fairly large rust patches. I looked at buying new sill parts but in the end opted to repair these ones as some form of welding was required either way. Firstly the rotten sections were cut out.

 

 

Then I measured, cut and prepared some infill sections from some sheet steel.

 

WARNING: Prepare to see some shocking welding!

I then welded in the infill sections. Now I haven't done a lot of welding but I'm planning on doing some practice very soon. But in the mean time these section's won't be seen and the angle grinder tided them up OK (plus a little filler won't hurt). Important thing is that the weld is solid. (I also partly blame the cheap hobby welder)....

 

The removed roof was set up in the garden and treated to a rough sand, followed by filling and sanding then 3 further sanding runs at different grades (bored of prep work now).

 

 

 

I then turn my attention back to chassis. I decided at this point I would replace the rear cross member (as my welding skills were ready!), the edges had started to flair and the same scum bags that patch my bulkhead did two patches to this also. So I set about removing the tow bar followed by fuel tank.

Mid way through the removal of the tow bar the decision to replace the cross member seemed very sensible and the patches as suspected covered vast amounts of rust. Fortunately only the cross member itself needs replacing and not the extensions.

Tow bar removed.

 

 

Then out with the fuel tank.

 

 

 

While the fuel tank was out and floating around I decided to carry out some work to it...

Firstly to replace the rusted fuel pump top. I could only find the pump as a complete unit so out with the old....

 

In with the new. I covered the end of the pipe with some electrical tape to protect it when I rust proof the tank.

 

 

Next was to replace the fuel level send, this has been faulty for a while. 

 

 

Again I covered parts in electrical tape for protection.

 

 

So next job up is to replace the cross member....

I have a decent welder on order, a load of scrape to practice on and some free time to get my welding up to scratch before I attempt that one.

 

Once that's in place I'll be moving on to rust proofing the rest of the chassis and the tank.

 

After that I will learn how to spray body paint..................