Left Hand Wheel Arch Repair Part 1

 Gosh been a little quiet around here. Global pandemic does not help.

Betty has been resting on a new Barn over winter. With Covid restriction not allowing me to visit her until now.

With regular access since April I have started work on the Rear left hand side wheel arch.

The left hand wheel arch has had a small amount of bubbling just above the pressing over the wheel for a many few years. It never looked as bad as the right hand which was done a few years ago. But now was the time to have a good look.

Small amount of rust in two areas

Lower area around sill

Along the top edge

As always it starts with a few rust bubbles and then turns into holes.

Needed to understand why the lower corner where it meets the inner sill was rusting out. A bit more picking and the cause was found.

Under the underseal a hole had grown into a major entry point for all the water

So started to remove the rest of the paint and a good amount of cutting off the old outer wheel arch later.....

Quite a lot worse on the inner tub edge

Caught the rot not to effect the sills much

Gone up quite high

All the way back to the Battery tray. Rear corner and tray look okay

The rust had been a lot worse on the inner wheel rub area on the inside then obvious on the outside

So some inner tub repairs are needed. I always prefer to do these first and work my way outwards. Start with the flat vertical areas and then move onto the outer skin. Then coming back to finish the inner / outer closing lip once both are done. It makes life a lot easier then trying to do inner edge in free air not knowing where the outer is going to end up.

Cut out the inner sill closing

At least the C Post has not been badly affected. Only surface rust.

So much cutting and a lot of rusty metal removed. Nothing I have not done on the other side. After cutting and cleaning back a good coating of FE-123 rust converter was applied to all areas.

Moved onto starting to build up the inner wheel rub.

New straight area at the top was grafted in. New curved area on left created. New angle on right between the tub and the "mud flap" of the tub also built back.

Now I was happy the areas of the tub has been recreated I moved onto the outer skin.

Outer skin cut down to size and trial fitted

Outer body cut to fit

So the repair panel and outer body cut down for a massive long butt joint weld.

Painted all non welded edges with Epoxy mastic paint to ensure the area is good coating.

Coating the whole area again with Weld through primer again to ensure a good seal.

Moved onto the welding.

Tacked and then welded along. Ground down the weld.

I chose to align the butt weld at the top and then move downwards to the sill and battery tray to ensure I had a good panel gap without compromising the flatness of the join at the top.

Clamp the bottom sill on the left. Had to clamp down quite hard to get it to meet the lower sill limp. Poor cheap reproduction pressing. Tacked it in place.

Then moved onto the Battery tray on the right. again had to press in, clamp and tack weld. This allows me to get a good body gap which runs down.

That's all for Part 1. So far I can only have work access on Saturdays. So I did this over 3 days worth of work.

In Part 2 I will conclude the welding and hopefully have it finished. Maybe in 2 weeks time. Might be a part 3 with paintwork.

Stay tuned.

Rear Wheel Arch Polished

Finally found the time to get the van's rear wheel arch paintwork finished.

As per the previous post shows the paint process I was left with a orange peel rough surface.

To finish it off I wet sanded with 1200 Wet with soap. As I was flatting it back I say a few spots of primer to show through.

Worried that I was cutting back too far I switch to using a G compound instead. I had purchased G3 but they sent G6 and also G10.

As I was worried about cutting back too far I went for the G10 compound as it is a finer cutting compound.

I started 2 passes by hand and then dug out the old buffering machine. Lots of water and gentle cutting back the process started to work.

Gave a good rinse off the compound to ensure it was not left on the surface.

I then polished a wax in. I am please with the shine. Yes the reflection is still not mirror finished but could cut back again using the G6 and repeat G10 at a later date.

New Brazilian Watercooled Service Manual

I have finally got round to publishing the first version of the Brazilian Water cooled service manual.

Please not this is a DRAFT copy of the manual, so is incomplete.

as I don't own a water cooled van I have not been able to check the contents fully. So please use with caution and any feedback will be welcome.

I am still working on the updates and will update sections like gearbox, Wiring, brakes etc as I find the time.

The manual is in the Pages section on the right hand side and can be accessed here:

https://t2bay.blogspot.com/p/brazilian-watercooled-service-manual.html

Enjoy and please let me have any feedback.

New Engine.... Part 6 - Fitting & first start

With the engine fully built up the fitting and then engine could be started!

1. Fitting

As the engine was built on the ATV jack it is ready to be installed straight in. The ATV jack and removable valance is the way to go for installing engines. So stable, slick and quick. Especially as I have to work solo.

Engine waiting ready to slide in on the plywood flooring.

There is quite a lot of wiring and cables to and from the ECU and also fuel and accelerator cable

Finally home

A Little tricky to get fitted. Last few inches always tricky to find the right combination of height and angle.

I recalled the great words of wisdom of the late Bob Hoover.........

"If it doesn’t want to go, stop. Take it out. Think about it a while. Check everything over and tackle it again after taking a break. (This time it’ll slide right in and leave you wondering, it was so easy. Veedubs got a sense of humor.)"

After a break and a cup of tea...... Slipped straight in :-)

All home and connected up Wiring and Fuel Lines.

Welcome to your new home!

Quick check of the Accelerator cable movement Fan belt attached, removed spark plugs and filled the oil read for the oil pressure test.

Not the final oil but okay for first few hundred miles.

Oil Level checked

2. Oil Pressure Test

Following the engine warranty and instructions supplied by the engine. Removal of spark plugs and fuel & HT, turn the engine over on starter motor until oil pressure warning light goes out.

Here is the video proof.

Also timed the time for the light to come back on. First time about 30 seconds. Second Oil pressure test around 78 seconds. Not bad. Seems to be holding pressure.

Quick check for any signs of oil leaks........

All dry and clean

4. First fire!

Checked tappets.

Its odd value of 0.10mm for the tappets but the instructions said to check the push rods for either Steel or aluminium. After checking with a magnet the new engine uses steel push rods so had to go for 0.1mm tappets.

So Tappets set. Oil pressure checked.

First fire up! Took a while for fuel to pump through. Used the 1 seconds prime of fuel pump repeatably to ensure fuel was there.

She is alive!

The engine fires up. No leaks and idle and accelerator fine. Yipeeeeee!

Moving on I have to fit the rear valance - Still got to put some paint on it.

 

All sort and snug and sealed. New Valance is okay.

Valance was filled but the etch primer had eaten a small edge of the filler.

Next job is to refit the bumper - It needs some serious rust and paint work. So much for powder coating