Nose panel replacement

With the acquisition of the panel this week, and a day to actually work on the van, I went to town on the front end today.

As a reminder, this is what I have to work with:

Swiss cheese of a panel.  Both above and below the directional location is toast. 

So this is what I did to repair it.

I started by carving out the bad parts of the panel.

I ran a tape line to keep the cut straight.  Then I cut down alongside the seam leaving enough to be able to clean up the seam perfectly.  I used a drill to cut the spot welds and then sandblasted the surface so as to have a clean weld point.

This is what the panel removed looks like prior to sandblasting. 

I then put the cut out piece upon the donor panel and marked off my cut lines. I added approx 3/8 of an inch so I would have the material to flange the panel in order to have a place to weld and secure it to the body. 



With the flanges, I can weld in the panel and have a recessed portion for those welds.  This will keep it all secure and beneath any needed body filler, which will be minimal due to stitch welding and keeping panel as cool as possible.

Also did the panel behind the bumper.

First, started by sandblasting the mating surfaces again. 

The holes were punched by me.  The lower ones were allowed to be further apart as it is a known seal and will contain a better than factory type sealant.  The upper ones were done about an inch apart to keep it strong and eliminate any potential movement of the joint.

Still needing to finish the welds, and clean them up, but this picture shows the piece of the panel I also used to replace an iffy portion of the original.

All things considered, it was a successful afternoon.  Still need to finish up, and clean up the welds for bodywork, but warpage was minimal, the panels are strong and do not look like Swiss cheese.

Got it

Made a new Vanagon acquaintance yesterday.  Has a few vans he is parting out in the center of the Hudson Valley of NY.  Celebrated with a Liga Undercrown cigar on way home.

Anyway, I have my new nose panel and will probably start fusing it into the van this afternoon.

Stopped by Harbor freight for a cheap (in cost and quality) panel flanging tool and a sheet metal nibbler.  I will not be using the entire panel, but rather trimming the piece to fit while avoiding any major support elements.

This will be tricky to do right, and also keep all subsequent bodywork to a minimum.

Hell, this will be fun.

The purchase of new tools has been a tremendous help, but also a thorn in my side as I owned most of this stuff before.  Just lost it when I got rid of 120 pounds of dead weight (my Ex).  Suppose I learned something - if I had not needed the tool in the past 10 years, I should either borrow it, or buy a cheap version as I may not need it again for 10 more years.  Hence my willingness to step into a Harbor Freight store and their cheaply made crap.

Rain delays

Rainy days means no epoxy primer will set up well and I am out of luck for sandblasting too.  No way I am making that kind of mess inside the garage, not with all the other things in there.

So, a cleaning was in order for the garage.  I also installed 4 of the new (to me) lights over one bay, and two over the other.  Need to wire them up tomorrow night, then there will be plenty of light.

Funny thing - when I was up on the ladder installing the lights on the ceiling - I noticed that there had to be 25 pounds of blast media on the roof - especially in the luggage rack.  That's going to be a pain in the ass to clean. 

100 posts of Vanagon stuff, 2900 plus page views in a year and two followers.  Cool.

Body preparations

The goal for today was to get the wheel arch and lower corner panel installed.  I broke out the sandblaster and cleaned up what would be the mating surfaces for the welds.

Cleaned them up, made sure there was not any caulking that would get in the way (or burn).

I found that once I had them fitted, that I was better off mounting the corner panel and then used that to locate the wheel arch.  There was no place for any clamps if I had not welded in the lower panel first.  Worked out quite well.

The upper portion of the panel was welded through the access afforded through the removal of the inner panel.  The drivers side will be more interesting as the cabinets will have to come out. 

So while the blaster was out, I cleaned up the seams on the nose of any sealer that I could get at.

Then prepped the panel, the A pillars and primed with the Metalok.

I miss having a paper/tape gun.  Peeling off pieces of paper, and then tape is easier from the machine.

The funny gold color is the Metalok.  I will use this to seal up the body while I do the rest of the panels.

For anyone who wondered how you make provision for spot welds, its done with a nifty tool that will punch holes in the panel.  The tool I have used in the past was an expensive version that my body man friend owns.

I bought this cheaper version on ebay for around $30.  Honestly, I do not expect it to last much past my needs for this van, but sure does make things easier.

So now that those items were completed, and the rain seemed to have held off, I started on the tail section again.  Cleaned up the seams, blasted the very bottom of the valence and brought out the Metalok.

Now that part is done, time to work again on the wheel arch, get that into primer.

Doors revisited

So after getting the doors ready:

That is stripping exterior with chemical stripper and interior with media blaster.  Then cleaning up to remove residue, spraying Metalok by Dupont (epoxy primer), and on the exterior a high build primer for blocking out.  The doors were then sprayed.

I had a friend squirt the paint.  The booth made it easy and clean.  They were about to be baked when the picture was taken.

The paint choice was Dupont's Imron, a high strength paint that will stand up to years of abuse. 

Code L567 Ivory as stated in prior post.

Following picture is the tint codes to make the color in Imron

Paint codes

So upon doing some research, there are a few possibilities for a location of the paint code sticker.  I did not really need mine, as I have a friend with a Dupont paint chip book going back past 1980, but it was a fun search nonetheless.

One location is under the dash, upon the cross brace that extends across the front of the van, on the drivers side.  Look around the fuse panel.  Mine was not there.

A far easier location, if you still have your original documentation, is in the owners manual.  The sticker is often placed within the cover for easy reference.  I do not have any such original documents.

Another location is within the auxiliary battery well behind the drivers seat (US Version).  This is where I found mine.  It is within said well, on the wall closest to the passenger seat.  It is a sliver-ish sticker, about 1 inch by 3 inches and looked like this:

The translation of my sticker is: Elfenbein = Ivory, or Bone color.  And the L567 is the actual code that you would provide the paint supplier to mix up your color. I called up a friend who is a Lt Colonel in the US Army and who spent many years in Germany to get the translation of Elfenbein.  Its good for the soul to speak with old friends.

Helpful?

Well - progress has been slow. 

Flu for a week, led to a sinus infection that kicked my ass, and then my grandfather passed.  A few days getting ready to execute his Memorial and the dinner afterwards has put a damper on REAL progress.

I did however outfit the garage with a new toy (grin)

60 gallon tank, 3.75hp should keep up with the air tools.  If I was a professional mechanic, I probably would not have gone with this unit, but for the Chef playing Wrench, I am good.

Hard lined the compressor (since the picture) with 1/2 inch black pipe.  Three pressure releases along the hard line to release the moisture, plus a moisture filter built in.  Ran the hard line down the center beam of the garage with 12 inch drops every three feet attached to two quick disconnects per drop.  Will probably add one outside the garage in order to have a place to attach an air hose when the door is closed. (For example - when the wind is blowing, or when I am sandblasting and want to keep crap out from a clean garage)

I still need to install the vibration pads on the feet and anchor it down.  Have the parts, just need to borrow a hammer drill.

After I shop tomorrow for my grandfather's memorial, I may find myself tinkering again.

EDIT: Said screw it, couple days later I decided to buy an inexpensive hammer drill.  Not sure what I will need it for after this job, but a Hitachi drill was 60 bucks. Not worth waiting for contractor friend to bring it over to get job done.

EDIT 2:  The choice of black pipe may not have been the best choice.  I wanted something strong and durable, not easily bent and easy to assemble.  What I ended up with was strong and durable.  But due to the cheap Chinese castings for the T's and elbows, I have some leaks.  I will try and disassemble so I can really tighten down on the joints, but its a pain in the ass.  I know copper would have been more expensive, but I cannnot help but wonder if that would have been a better choice?

I am also going to need another water filter.  The one I installed is too close to the compressor.  The vapor in the lines does not condensate until further down the line.  Noticed it accumulating in my sandblaster's water filter, which is on the end of the black pipe line.

Light it is

Picked up 8 four foot T8 light fixtures yesterday.  Contractor friend is gutting a Chinese restaurant, and I got me enough fixtures to light up the two bay garage in excess.

Stainless sinks were already claimed.  There is one of those silly stuffed animal crane games that was left there.  Of course some chucklehead broke into it to get whatever change they could.  I am thinking it would make a great sandblast cabinet.  Its all tempered glass around the sides, with a light up top.  I may grab it to do all the front end parts.  Install some 1/4 inch plastic in front with holes for gloves, might work but its a large footprint in the garage.

New 60 gal 3.75HP compressor delivered tomorrow morning.  THAT is very exciting.  Electrician coming by sometime soon to wire it up.  Should handle my DIY needs.

Received some goodies in the mail - healiner material, T moulding for the cabinets, leather wrap for the steering wheel and a shifter repair kit freom GW.

Also got a BMW brake booster from an early 90's 318.  When I take the dash off, I will install that and provide instructions.  It is a precursor to bigger brakes, but as I will have dash off anyway to do heater core/motor, and the wiper motor, I might as well do the brake booster now.

Tyrell's school of hack body repair

Removed the layers of filler off the panel today.  Had four distinct layers of filler, with the last one being a version of tiger hair.  Neat part was the change in filler, or hardener that changed the colors by layer.  Not sure if it was intentional, but amusing nonetheless.

That last one was a real pain in the ass to strip off.  But when I did, I was left with a Swiss cheese looking panel like this:

Hello and welcome to the wonderful world of Morons, Psychopaths and Mental Defectives! 

   

We are making today's short bus / window licker trip to Tyrell's school of body panel repair. Here is some real old school hacking right there folks.  Drill a bunch of holes so you can put instruments in there to pull out the dent, but don't bother to weld up the holes when we have all the plastic filler you could ever need!

Have seen better work on some of the ghetto versions of Asian tuners buzzing around.

Need to cut out the offending metal work and weld in a new panel, or carve a piece from a scrapped Vanagon.

Some supplier of used parts in Indiana wanted $200 plus S&H for the piece, and said he could get it to me in three weeks.  I am still looking.

March comes barrelling in

Been a really shitty couple weeks.

Had two family members pass away (a great Aunt and my paternal Grandfather), and a good friends wife finally succumbed to cancer.  Fighting the flu for a week, and for the first time it has REALLY kicked my ass.

Have not done squat on the van, except wish that I had the energy to do SOMETHING!

Did manage to order a few interior trim pieces, some headliner material and a spiffy Go Westy shift repair kit.  That combined with my T3 Technique shifter fork pieces should ensure some sweet shifting.  Got me a used BMW brake booster for upgrading while I am in the dash.  Will make my future braking upgrades that much easier.

Also bit the bullet today and celebrated tax season - ordered a new compressor.  60 gallon tank, vertical with 3.75hp. I bought the 4 year extended warranty so if anything happens to it, they own the problem.

Also bought an Eastwood sand blaster that converts to a soda blaster.

So, part of being sick and stuck indoors was that my time was spent looking through some old photos for pictures of my grandfather for part of the memorial.

Came across some cool ones of the years past Westies.  Here is one from July of 1970.  I am the little 1.5 year old tyke on the right, and the guy in the funny pants is my father.

Or this one from the Northeast Blizzard of 78.  The woman in the picture was the person who fostered my love of travel and of Westfalias - my Grandmother Aurea.  She and my Grandfather saw every state in the union (except Hawaii - after WWII Grandfather did not want to return) and every province in those Westys.  Thanks to you both, I have never regretted a minute spent travelling.

Or this one of an obnoxious 14 year old me, stealing rides in the 82 vanagon when nobody was home.