The plan now is to get the chassis done as soon as possible so that the van can be moved if required and worked on in a more daily basis.
As with most things, life seems to get in the way of a good idea. Job changes, redundancies, house moves and a marriage all meant that Rusty has sat quietly for years, but no more! The plan now is to get the chassis done as soon as possible so that the van can be moved if required and worked on in a more daily basis. Remarkably other than some light surface rust, the van hasn't changed at all so we got back to it, with a petrol compressor and generator, cleaned the metal and have painted it with a primer. The welder works fine with the generator and we have at last started putting metal back on Rusty!
0 Comments
I am doing the van a bit at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed and as more is pealed back its clear that there is quite a lot of hidden rust. What appears to be a usable support strut seems to be readily pitted with rust once I wire brushed the surface. The front section and wheel arch had to be removed because the chassis panel needs a repair. Above the wheel arch is a small triangular piece that readily rusts on HY vans I've seen. When the front panel was removed it appeared that the previous owner had done some DIY and made two previous panels. I found a label on one but couldn't work out what it was until breakfast out a few days later...... ..... its metal from a large coffee tin! I certainly intend to use a better quality material when I replace the triangle.
Up to now I have felt that the work on Rusty has been to deal with all of the mess and prep the van but now it is time to start replacing and building the van back to its best. Using lengths of metal with a bent lip I cut the correct piece needed and then cut the edges needed to make a tight fit to the existing panel. Using the new plates as reference points has now made it much easier to start adding more parts to the van, including new body plates.
I decided that the best bet was to cut out the bad metal and replace it, placing new against old to strengthen the chassis. Even though some of the old metal could be flattened much of it was pitted and corroded and I wanted a straight edge to weld too. Some of the vans internal panels have been beaten through many years of farm work but I didn't see that they needed replacing. I took some time to straighten them where possible but they will end up covered so will not need to be perfect.
My friend has had the HY van bonnet for a while now and today the results have been worth the wait, the bonnet has never looked better. When the van arrived there was a large dent in the front and I had considered the need to get a new one but I now don't need too.
After an initial look over I decided to cut out the heavily rusted back section of the chassis and have a new section built to replace the original as it was just too far gone. With the gentle persuasion of a lump hammer and the delicate cutting from a grinder the back piece was off! A large part of the front of the chassis has been damaged and heavily dented but instead of just cutting it all out I asked a body worker friend to look it over and give an assessment. I was expecting a lot of ummmming and comments like 'that's going to be expensive' but instead I was surprised to hear that most of the damage can be rectified. The plan is to cut out the heavily damaged and rusted metal, beat out the dents then sand down, paint and reweld the sections.
I am going to use a brush on primer and top coat as I can put a more liberal coat of paint on this way and no one is going to see it. Because I don't have a car lift and due to the amount of work required on the chassis, I decided that the best option was to tip the van, sort the underside out, then roll it back on its wheels. Using bales and a car winch I got my Dad to help and we simply took out the front chassis and rolled Rusty over! Looking at the chassis properly it doesn't look as bad as first thought. I knew the back end was rusted and that either side at the from had taken some damage but other than that it seems to be a manageable project to sort. I was also relieved to see that the underside of the floor was in good nick and that it wont need replacing.
With the van being in the dry now there was no need to keep the doors and window in so I decided to take everything that was bolted down off of the van. The doors just lift and slide right off and the only problem came from the previous owners 'fix' of adding extra hinges at the back but an electric drill soon sorted that out. Due to work and spending my time off on my motorbike little else got done until winter came around and the bike went away. As the weather set in the van continued to rust faster than it was being fixed so I made the decision that it needed to spend the winter indoors. Finally I found a quiet corner of Somerset to settle the van into but now needed to move it once again. I decided to free the brakes, remove the engine and get it moved. The brakes were the first issue, I was unable to get the hub nut off of one wheel and a wheel nut was being stubborn on the other wheel. After breaking two socket wrenches I realised that the thread on the hub nut was the other way and got that off. A grinder helped with the wheel nut and I was ready to free the brakes. A large hammer and a lack of worrying if I broke anything (I'm adding disc brakes to the van) got the hubs off and moved the pistons so that the brakes were free! Next job, remove the engine. Again another rather simple exercise, just set up a medieval looking contraption, undo four bolts and lift the engine out...... whats the worst that can happen? With the chassis back in, the van was incredibly light and easy to move, not having the handbrake on helped too! Rusty was pushed onto a trailer and hauled off to its winter home. I was concerned about the suicide doors flying open and as the bonnet had been removed I did wonder if the back doors might come flying off too! Luckily it was a quiet police free drive and the van is now settled and drying.
The HY van has a clever system in that the engine sits in the front chassis and is removable by simply (he says) removing four large bolts, lifting the van out of the way and rolling the engine block and chassis out! Due to cow poo, mud, rust and a lot of cables, pipes and nuts and bolts this took a lot longer than hoped! Due to the handbrake being on for so long it had seized the front brakes meaning that the van had to be dragged into place........ enter my retired Dad (always good to help keep the parents fit and active). After a lot of grunting and sweating Rusty had landed in what hoped to be the place for its reincarnation into a working, running, water tight van. |
AuthorI have always wanted a project and enjoy working with my hands so decided to buy a van, restore it and travel across Europe Archives
May 2015
Categories |