Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 In most cases wher I need to make a decision on just how much to cut back, I probably erred on the side of caution. We would cut back until we couldn't feel any more crust on the back of the panel before Barry started rebuilding each section. This post covers the work done on the driver's side A pillar base. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 The beaver panel only showed signs of slight rot from the outside, but opening it up revealed the true extent of the rot and some replacement metal sheeting was grafted in. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Next on the "to do" list was the right hand front wheel arch. The blue inserts were cut out of a mint spare panel that I had. It was the only piece of second hand metal that we used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 The joint between the left hand front fender and A pillar was also showing some slight pitting from the outside and after a quick on site discussion I gave Barry the nod to open it up for a closer look. Throughout this phase of the project I stuck to the "when in doubt cut it out" philosophy. It probably added to the cost, but I figured I was only going to get one shot at getting this right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Both head light buckets are an ideal trap for moisture. The left hand side was a relatively easy fix but the right hand side needed a new lower panel fabricated. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 I also took a decision to remove and replace the dodgy metal repairs from the right hand side rear fender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 Needless to say I have plenty more images of similar repairs in a number of other areas, but I'm guessing that you have seen enough by now so I'll move on to more exciting aspects of the build. So after just over two months and 133 hours of repair work it was time for me to trailer the van over to Dave to have the new patches sand blasted and metal sprayed. The donor van certainly earned his keep that day dragging that load across the Harbor Bridge. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 While the van was across at Dave's place I had a chat to Barry to see if he was keen to do the rest of the panel beating and prep work prior to paint. Although he is a qualified panel beater this isn't part of his current business offering, but his workmanship is really superb and I was keen for him to take it through the final steps. In a moment of weakness he agreed, so the plan was to get the van back to Barry's place for the final bits and pieces of bodywork. After working out what the trailer hire and my fuel had cost for the trip to Dave's place I phoned around a few budget towing companies and discovered that it would have been cheaper to get the van transported. I'm an hourly paid contractor so it also meant I didn't have to take time of work ... bonus. So a few days later the van was safely back in Barry's workshop for a bit of slap and tickle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 So things turned into a bit of a joke. Barry's business is called The Rust Guy, and at the time of doing my van he was working from a double garage with his house on the level above. It didn't take long until the whole place was covered in a fine layer of bog dust. Barry's missus was pretty good natured about the whole thing, but she started calling him The Dust Guy. I wanted to keep the classic interior look which consists of acres of color matched metal dash and windscreen surround, much to Barry's delight... not. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 In another moment of weakness Barry agreed to do the final coat of primer and after investing another 140 hours in body prep, primer and door hanging the van emerged from Barry's workshop. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 So while Barry was finishing off the body work my thoughts turned to the final painting. I'm a dab hand with a compressor and have painted my fair share of cars in the past, but I really wanted to do the van justice by going base coat, clear coat and anyone who has tried that without using a spray booth will tell you just how treacherous it can be. This coupled with the fact that our house is located on a 300 square meter section would have meant incurring the wrath of our neighbours if I was to do it at home. I got three quotes from professional painters, but just couldn't justify the huge costs quoted. My plans weren't to build a show pony, just a clean looking old van that would be regularly used as an optional daily driver as well as weekend trips away. I thought about hiring a booth and doing the paintwork myself and that is when I met an old mate of Barry's called Warren. Warren runs a small shop and after a good chat he agreed to squirt the van in his booth one weekend. The agreement was that I would do the final prep work with some cash his way for his time and the use of his booth. I spent two days at Warren's place preparing the firewall and dash, but then got called away to a client so Warren got one of his mates to finish off the roof as we were under pressure to paint these areas that weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 I spent every spare moment of the next week at Warren's place getting the rest of the body ready for the second paintings session. We rolled the van into the booth about midday on Saturday and by 9:30pm on Sunday night she was done and dusted. I skipped work a few days the next week and Barry came down to help re-hang the doors. I had already sourced a new windscreen rubber from the UK and decided to use Warren's contact to get a new windscreen fitted whilst the van was still at his place. I wasn't on site when the screen went in, but got quiet a pleasant surprise when I got back as the windscreen turned out to be fully tinted. ... bonus. By the end of the week I was ready for the transporter and the van made a short trip back to base camp. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 So my plan was to get the van back together in standard format as quickly as possible, chuck a fresh WOF on it and then start the rest of the mechanical transformation. For the many months while the van was at Barry's place and stripped down to a shell I had slowly been going through all of the removed items either replacing bits or refurbishing where needed and then packing everything back into boxes ready for reassembly. By doing this Mrs Flash and I were able to re-assemble the whole van over a single weekend. Notice the new chrome work on the front bumperettes and light surrounds, the colour coded MX5 exterior mirrors, my new griffin badge imported from the UK and heaps of stainless steel nuts and bolts to replace the old standard items. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 By this stage the poor old Vauxhall motor was really sick. Despite my best efforts I think it had ingested heaps of sand blasting garnet, bog dust, spiders. small children and anything else that had been lying about. It coughed and spluttered its way down to my local WOF station, but the tester was so busy admiring the bodywork he didn't seem to notice that it was far from well. It sailed through and the next day I took the donor van down for its last WOF before the big strip down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 So with the 4 day Easter Weekend fast approaching we decided it was a good opportunity to pillage the V8 and associated mechanicals out of the donor van and to slap the Vauxhall awesomeness in as a replacement. First step ... Vauxhall be out !! Note the OHS complaint axle stands needed for that extra bit of clearance. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 I then temporarily fitted a spare front suspension beam and axles and pushed the yellow van into a corner of the shed to provide sufficient room to pillage the donor van. The newer CF2 model has a removable front panel which meant that I didn't have to use my OSH compliant axle stands this time around. Let the pillaging begin ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 The next day we slapped the Vauxhall motor, gearbox, drum based front suspension and diff back into the red van and parked it back outside. With the red van out of the way I now had enough space to give the 350 the once over. The initial plan was to tidy the 350 up a bit before installing it into the yellow van, but over the previous few months it had developed a noisy lifter so the decision was made to open the motor up for a closer look at the internal condition. On pulling off the first head we discovered that the bore was already 40 thou over and there were definite signs of overheating and blow-past oil around cylinder 3. There was no way I was putting this motor in as is. A quick chat to a couple of engineering shops gave me a good idea of costs, but my concern was investing in a block that would possibly have to go to 60 thou over. I then decided to do some sums on a crate engine as another option. I wasn't looking at building a race machine, so the 250 HP cast head GM unit at just over $3,000 sounded like the way to go and a deposit change hands for an engine that was already on the water. A few weeks later I took a short trip in the now Vauxhall powered red van (affectionately renamed "Puff the Tragic Wagon") to pickup my newly landed crate engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 In the mean time the head went back on to the old 350 with a new gasket set, the plan being to auction it off on TradeMe to the highest bidder. I'd also taken a decision to leave all of the existing ancillaries on the old 350, the only change being to remove the Holley rocker covers and replace them with the standard tin items off the crate engine. So onto TradeMe she went with a whole splurge on the current condition and the findings on removing the head. I then sat back and watched in awe as the hammer fell at $1,600. Bonus !! The successful bidder owned his own Engineering Shop and was looking for a donk for a jet boat project, so was happy with his new purchase. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 I quickly invested that cash in a brand new set of ancillaries for the new motor and its started to come together nicely. The TH350 auto box had already been shift kitted so I ended up just replacing all of the seals, the filter and a brand new vacuum modulator. A quick lick of paint made it look like a million bucks. In hindsight I should have invested in a new torque converter as she started to leak from the main seal shortly after getting the van back on the road. I suspect excessive wear on the torque converter neck. Its still on my list of things to sort out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Shortly after buying the red van I noticed a vibration at speed and a quick poke around underneath revealed a sad looking drive shaft. A quick visit to Russell to get the drive shaft re-tubed and balanced and she was sweet as a nut. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.