WELDING MARION'S VW T2 REPAIRS
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RUSTY TOUR BUS - VW Camper, or Kombi vans are symbolic of the earth movement, made famous by the likes of Joss Stone, Jamie Oliver and BBC Top Gear presenter, Richard Hammond - all great fans of Volkswagen campers. The Volkswagen van uses the same air cooled 4-cylinder boxer engine as the famed Beetle designed by Professor Ferdinand Porsche. Seen here the front bumper mount was rusted so badly that it was decided to remove it and weld in more substantial panels. This was long before we were given use of the vehicle. Copyright photograph 2007, all rights reserved.
Production of the air cooled VW T2 combi van, or camper, ceased in Germany after 1980. Marion's van was one of the last to roll off the production lines and is unusual in that it has twin sliding doors and an alternator instead of a dynamo.
These vehicles were made of steel welded construction from pressed panels ranging from 20 to 18 gauge and in the days before design for corrosion treatments were that comprehensive. This means that they rust badly over time, and the patterns of corrosion are near identical. As the areas prone to rust have been identified, specialist steel folding companies have produced repair panels for enthusiasts. They started with door panels, then wheel arches and sills. Now you can buy a whole floorpan if you need one.
Timothy was not trying to faithfully repair this wagon to original factory specifications for club shows and the like. He is repairing this bus so that it is strong and reliable in service as a family recreational surfing vehicle, and for touring the British countryside, with especial affection for the West Country, Cornwall, Devon, the Lake District and Scotland.
THE NITTY GRITTY - Always wear a breathing mask and eye protection when cutting out rotten sections of bodywork or chassis with an angle grinder. Here our expert restorer is using a 1.5mm cutting disc to accurately slice out the old chassis outrigger. He works with the precision of a surgeon - the workshop is his operating theatre. Do not attempt this level of repair unless you have a great deal of experience with sheet metal and as a welder. Copyright photographs, 30 November 2016, all rights reserved.
SEAT BELT MOUNTINGS - This is an example of an area where it is vital that your repairs are spot on. We could have fabricated a large plate to remount the seat belt threaded section, but thought it better to weld in a new section as supplied by Alan Schofield. This company are specialist producers of body and chassis repair sections. Copyright photograph, 1 December 2016, all rights reserved.
STEEL THICKNESS CONVERSION TABLE (gauge - inch - mm)
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Birmingham Wire Gauge for Iron & Steel Wire
BODY & CHASSIS RUST SPOTS - [LEFT] The 'B' post always rusts where it mates onto the front jacking point and sill intersection. Alan Schofield make one and two piece jacking point repair arms, but there is nothing you can buy for the junction. We will have to fabricate joining sections. [RIGHT] Detail of the butt from a chassis repair section to the original framework. We used some of the excess steel to make reinforcing corner plates. Copyright photograph, 1 December 2016, all rights reserved.
CHASSIS OUTRIGGER - This part of the frame supports the front bumper and 'A' post that takes the front door hinges. In the event of a crash, shock loads are transferred from the impact area to the chassis via this beam. The company that produces the chassis repair section are specialist also producers of body repair sections and suppliers of original pressings. Copyright photograph, 1 December 2016, all rights reserved.
DIGITAL STABILITY - The heavy duty drive on this versatile inverter based machine provides a crisp melt and just the right amount of penetration for an extremely strong weld. Once you find a voltage and amperage combination that you like, you can store the settings to recall as you swap between metal thicknesses. Copyright photographs, 6 December 2016, all rights reserved.
A & B POSTS - All VW combi vans corrode in the same places. It all depends on how the vehicle is stored and how well the previous owner painted underneath. Here you can see how we repaired the door mounting post and the door catch post. Note the high quality earth clamp of the R-Tech equipment. Copyright photographs, 14 December 2016, all rights reserved.
DOORSTEP - The inner and outer step panels are available from Alan Schofield with a very fast delivery service if you need it. Be sure to check clearances before seam welding. We tack weld until we are sure it all fits. Copyright photographs, 14 December 2016, all rights reserved. You will need the permission of Jameson Hunter Ltd to reproduce this picture.
WELDING EQUIPMENT
Jimmy Watson has MIG and TIG machines in single and three-phase, and a spool on gun setup especially for aluminium. You'll see more details of these machines as we move ahead with the project.
RESTORATION - These vans are all pretty old. This is a very rare twin sliding door wagon from 1978. At this age, unless garaged in very dry conditions there will be a lot of rust that a purist will want to eradicate. Our advice here is not to cut out too much - only the really bad sections. Then again, it is sometimes quicker and cheaper to weld in new formed steel parts, especially where chassis members are being repaired - when strength is the priority. Copyright photographs, 30 November 2016, all rights reserved.
CLAMP MEASURE & WELD - We test fit new replacement panels, especially when they have to be accurate enough to slide a door on and not get either jammed or be too loose. Once we are sure that the doors will close with acceptable tolerances to the shut line, then and only then do we spark up the welding kit.
JACKING POINTS - The chassis main member have outriggers that are strong enough to jack up the vehicle. These are nearly always rusted away beyond repair, when plating will not produce a satisfactory repair. Our mantra is to have a strong vehicle, mainly because it will take a beating on the road on tour.
WELDING ON RUST - It is near impossible to get the smooth welds you will see on clean metal and production items. Paint and rust dust and residues will affect the quality of the weld. Even where the rust has been ground away, the thickness of the steel varies enough to make smooth seam welding extremely difficult. Our advice is not to get flustered, but to do the best you can, so long as the metal is joined sufficiently and the repair is solid. We put in extra reinforcing under the seating arch section.
REAR ARCH - The sill to rear arch corners also rust like crazy. You may be lucky and might be considering a bodge, but it is usually quicker and safer to cut out the peppered metal and weld in a new section.
SILLS & MORE - Alan Schofield do six piece kits for anyone faced with replacing the sills and sliding door runners. Don't tackle this unless you are feeling exceptionally brave, or have considerable experience as a panel beater.
R-TECH MIG - This digital welder can be used in MMA or TIG mode, but here is fitted with a very good quality Eurotorch and is being used to weld in a chassis member at the front of this classic surfing wagon. Another (almost) unique feature is the spool on gun facility that is particularly useful for welding aluminium alloys. Copyright photographs, 6 December 2016, all rights reserved.
BBC ROBOT WARS - In the last 12 years, technology and materials have improved significantly. These include ultra-lightweight and powerful Lithium Polymer batteries giving increased performance and more spare weight to dedicate to weapons and armour. Motor technology has improved significantly in the recent years with small lightweight and powerful brush-less motors, these can be up to 10x lighter than older brushed motor technology.
WINDSCREEN - Once the windscreen rubber goes, water is trapped in the backward sloping gully until it rust the front panel through, then the water trickles down inside the vehicle and rots the floor and then the chassis. Make sure then that you do not neglect this area of your restoration, otherwise it will happen all over again. When refitting a new rubber, make sure you use the best quality item you can find. It will pay dividends in the long term. Copyright photographs, 22 March 2017, all rights reserved. You will need the permission of Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd to reproduce this picture.
RUSTED THROUGH - This might look hopeless, but a skilled vehicle restorer can work miracles with a sheet of steel, a good set of hammers and a nibbler. We ground out all the filler and welded in good metal so that our event bus will give us trouble free operation for many years of campaigning for cleaner oceans. Copyright photographs, 22 March 2017, all rights reserved. You will need the permission of Jameson Hunter Ltd to reproduce this picture.
REAR WHEEL ARCH - The bodywork was so far gone in places that we needed to weld in steel extension plates before we could attach the pressed panels for specialist suppliers. Note how the welding earth clamp is attached to the clamp that holds the panels in place to spread the load. The replacement rear arch section is then spotted in place before being continuously seam welded. Copyright photographs, 29 March 2017, all rights reserved.
BATTERY TRAY - This is not the standard setup. A more robust tray has been fabricated that is supported by box section tubing that is welded to the main chassis rails. The usual tray, that uses the outer rear quarter panel for support leads to excessive corrosion problems. The old quarter panel is cut out completely to allow the fitting of a fresh steel pressing. Copyright photographs, 29 March 2017, all rights reserved.
DRIVERS REAR QUARTER PANEL - You may need to trim some of the panel as it is provided to blend in with your requirements. Make your adjustments and dry fit at each adjustment to be sure that you do not remove too much metal before finally welding in place. The R-Tech equipment has been used almost continuously in harsh conditions for many months and is still as good as when we started this project. You still need to inspect the equipment and clean the shroud, but other than that most of our problems were just keeping welding gas and consumables coming. We've used three large cylinders of gas and two spools of wire already on this project. As you can see we still have the tailgates to come, and the sliding side doors. Copyright photographs, 29 March 2017, all rights reserved.
TOWBAR - One nice feature of this camper van is the towbar that unbolts easily with just six fixings so making it a simpler task to remove the engine. On the standard van you have to jack the bodywork up in the air to be able to remove the flat four. In this case the towbar is the lower bodywork. Copyright photographs, 30 March 2017, all rights reserved.
PASSENGER REAR QUARTER PANEL - As with the matching panel on the driver's side, we cut out the rusty section completely, fabricated an inner tray and repaired the chassis rail. Copyright photographs, 30 March 2017, all rights reserved.
Jimmy Watson dreamed of having an intelligent robot friend from a very young age. What a great Christmas animation (Anime) this would make. Or, maybe, a graphic novel, or Manga adaptation. What do you think?
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BEGIN AGAIN OR READ JIMMY'S PROJECT DIARY
ARCHES - ENGINES - BODYWORK - BRAKES - KOMBI T2 - PAINTING - TINWARE - VINYL - WELDING
ANTICS - ARMOUR - ARTWORK - BLACK BOX - ELECTRONICS - ENERGY - FRAME - HEAD - JAWS - KITS - LEGS - MECHANICS MOTORS - R/C DRONE - SENTRY - SOFTWARE - SOUND PROOFING - SPEED - SUSPENSION - TAIL - WARGAMING - WEAPONS
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