Bodywork - Part 4 - Repair Patches

After the last part 3 - Cutting each repair area could be assessed and CAD (Cardboard Aided Design) templates can be made.

These CAD models can then be transferred to sheet steel, cut and folded to fit the exact CAD model.

The metal repair patches are the trial fitted and fettle to fit. Once a good fit is found then they can be primed with weld trough and ready for the welding in part 5.

Front wheel arch / Sill

Nice simple patch for this to close up the sills. This will be one of the last panels I will weld in as it allow me to get pain into the sills.

Inner sill front

Simple patch. I decided to go down onto jacking point to give it some extra strength.

Inner sill rear

This area was a mess. There are two holes on the inner. either side of the jacking point.

The worst area is at the end of the middle sill and inner sill where they meet the wheel tub. The sides and of each and also the bottom need to be recreated.

The wheel tub closure panel will be welded over this to close it up.

Outer sill

The purchased outer sill will cover all the external edge. One small area of the edge of the inner sill was required

I then had to decide where to cut the old sill out. I had two choices, Cut at and leave the old sills door rubber OR cut at the lower edge of the sliding door track.

Both options are fine as the old sills rubber seal area is in good condition but cutting and joined old and new is hard. So I opted to cut out all of the old outer sill and join at the sliding door track as per the stock design.

The only downside of this is that I have to cut the old sill to track out without damaging the sliding door track. First thing was to remove the door. Then cut into little sections and remove old spot welds.

This was slow work, as I did not want to damage the sliding door track.

Then trial fitted the new sill

Nice to have some new metal fitted!

Rear wheel arch

This is one of the largest panel in length covering 1/3 of of the whole length.

I made the decision to leave the inside wheel tube repairs until the wheel arch is in place. It means that you have the best chance of joining the tub to arch alignment. The only downside is that you have to recreate the wheel tub lib when inside the tub which is tight to access.

The arch is trial fitted as full size. My plan was to flange this panel BUT it is too close and joined to the upper part of the wheel tube.

So I am going to have to cut the arch panel and the van and butt weld them together! Nightmare but possible. 

The panel will be cut down as I only want to remove as much as I need so in years to come there will be still original metal for future repairs.

Rear Bumper Mount

This was a nightmare to bend and fold. But got there in the end.

Battery Tray

The battery tray was an original VW part. 

Fitting the panel was a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE! having the rear corner and van complete it does not go past the light metalwork. Had to do plenty of cutting of edges to get it fitted.

Painting

Once all parts and panels are fabricated then I then coated everywhere with the weld through primer.

When looking at this there is not actually that much metal.

Recap

All repair patches have been through a complex CAD modeling then transferring to metal. Trial fitted, primed and painted.

Next step. Final clean and then welding!

Stay tuned for Bodywork - Part 5 - Welding