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Devon Eurovette (Bluebell)rolling resto

19K views 154 replies 10 participants last post by  trebus 
#1 ·
Hi all look what i brought,,, a ÂŁ5250 pile of rust in the shape of a VW camper van from Brighton sea air and all that,,there is a ton of work to be done here but i plan to do it as a rolling restoration coz i need access to the garage to get silvia (71 all original beetle)in and out for her weekly run,,,im also going to spray or roller some rustoleum just because im interested to see if i can get a good result,,ive got an old mig which will hopefully do most of the welding tasks and cut up an old roller locker from work for the sheet metal to get me started,,
PS want to keep this cheap as possible as im skint now..:lol::lol:
 

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#2 ·
todays jobs

thought id give the roof and awing a good scrub took a few pics of before and after come up a treat apart from some squeezy and elbow grease i used some of my bike cleaner which really does shift the grime,,,,,;);)
 

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#3 ·
todays jobs

Where to start god knows but removed front bumper after grinding last two bolts out as knackered and look what it revealed,,, yes more rust,,, thought id try and knock the huge dent out first which took longer than i thought, there is a split which i will weld up and alot more metal bashing to get back into some sort of shape,,will still need filler but hey ho its the way to go,,,
ps will order a cheap panel bashing kit with a few dollies to make my life a bit easier
 

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#9 ·
todays jobs

Arr too late brought a cheap set last night,,,,no worries they are dirt cheap so i can bin em if no good,,,done a bit more knocking out to some sort of shape and dug out the old mig to weld that split up which it done quite well then as i had a practice on some spare metal it was rubbish,, birds nest a few times,, i then spayed some WD40 over the wire which was also rusty lubed the internals of the gun and line then it was fine again..strange but true,,,:lol:
As you can see there is a lot of filler even on the bumper so will probably strip it all and go from there,,had noticed they had used a spray underseal on the back which is just peeling off mostly,, obviously didnt key up the painwork prior to doing and turned it into a water trap as it gets under the paint,,, ive got a nasty habit at the moment to take a screwdriver and stick it in blisters of paint:p
lighter evenings soon whoop whoop,,,,
 

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#14 ·
todays jobs

More cutting out rust today and making up a few new bits to weld in later,,not one of the easier bits to fabricate but it fits well,,treated with rust killer then move on to the next bit,,,:lol:
 

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#15 ·
todays jobs

yes you got it,,, more cutting out and fabricating repair bits n pieces takes an age to do these little bits but the prices some people are charging for a spare lid are ridiculous,,,,just need to weld these bits in but waiting for some gas for my new purchase!!!!! yes a new Rtech mig (going halves with my son), and they do interest free credit,,my old migmate 105 just hasn't got enough balls to do a decent weld and ive a whole load of welding to do so i cant blame the tools now :D
PS do you like my beetle workbench?
 

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#17 ·
todays jobs

cheers hong kong phooey spare lids are expensive secondhand even then some have a certain amount of rust,,,
right so gas connected on new welder a quick lesson from son last night then into welding repair patches on,,, and what a difference a ÂŁ450 welder makes on 06 wire,my weldings pretty crap but not one birds nest in sight and very easy to adjust variable amps and wire speed compared to switching from high and low switch only and praying,,, anyways all went well and used flap disk to take off welds followed by about an hour of knocking out panel to get some sort of level,,, couple repair panels knocked slightly low to receive a coating of fibre filler which covered any remaining pin holes and made the repairs water tight. Off to buy some easy sand filler tomorrow and some sand paper..
PS whats peoples views on priming before filler or after filler lots of YouTube recommend epoxy primer i was thinking of sticking with the old red oxide and rustoleum on top of that even though you dont need a primer with that apparently,,,
 

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#18 · (Edited)
Engine lid looks great. :cool:
Usually its filler over bare metal, otherwise its only as good as the adhesion between the bare steel and primer.
Though if using epoxy primer i've heard you can fill over that once its keyed.

Wanna fix my engine lid next? Its a little bit worse than yours. :crazy:
 
#19 ·
todays jobs

cheers zeb but if you count the man hours up you could buy a new lid,,,,:lol:
Right stuck a bit more filler on lid and rubbed most of it off then stuck some more on and and rubbed that off to,,, wish i brought shares in filler as id be a millionaire by now,,,went to c&c colours and brought some filler and long board file just need to get some hook and loop sheets now,,bloody expensive this lark quick forty quid,,run out of time that day so will do more next week but while i was at work had a few hours to kill so i got out the bumper i had straightened best as possible and stuck some fibre filler on that followed by normal filler then got to some sort of shape im happy with,, probably need a few more goes to get it to painting stage.
 

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#21 ·
todays jobs

Ok so still got lots of fetling to do on the front bumper and tail lid so thought id take off the rear bumper to gain access to the panels in that area and see whats on the shopping list for next month,,,First get the 4 bolts out on brackets,, always the bloody!!! same eh, 3 out 1 spinning the captive nut in box channel,,, no worries gained access through massive rust hole tried mole grips, no good so dragged the mig out and welded best as possible until it freed off.
Looks like most of the panels are going to need replacing will know more when i make a start in each area also battery trays by the look of it,the left one has a diesel tank for the internal heater which is shot other one not much better probably,
Right back to bumper also looks worse for wear and a load of rust on the rear with several holes coming through,,,managed to remove paint and access damage, bent as buggery and rusty as hell,,spent about 2 hours bashing back to some sort of shape and thought if it was worth it as a new one is about ÂŁ110,, so im going to compromise and save abit of time by cutting out all the rust and instead de-rusting and fiber pasting for now until funds permit,, hopefully last for a year or two who knows?? unless someones got one they dont need in much better state than mine ,,,,cough cough!!!!
 

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#23 ·
todays jobs

got a few bits done removed the bumper irons cleaned up and gave a few coats of red oxide,,both were quite rusty but salvageable gonna give it a few days before the topcoat just so i can rub out a few of the runs on them,,, also removed the diesel can for the auxiliary heater,, well it almost fell through the tray,,has got a few pin holes in the base but thought i might do a bit more fibre pasting as inside looks like new,,as its diesel not highly flammable compared to petrol should be ok well will test it for a few weeks to see for any leaks,, but first wire brushed best as possible and added a coat of rust killer before the next step.
 

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#24 ·
todays jobs

Not done much last few days as working but today had a fiddle with a few bits managed to rub down the bit of primer i put on the deck lid its getting there maybe a few more coats before the top coat gets a look in,,,,also got rid of the paint from that old Jerry can and gave it a coat of rust killer,,still not sure it does much apart from going black i still find the need to rub must of it off before i paint over it as it seems to have a powdery surface which paint aint going to stick on,,,if anyone else has the same problem or can recommend something else then drop a line,,,also gave the rear bumper brackets a first coat of white Hammerite type stuff actually lidls i think,, not worried about runs as not seen just building up a few protective coats.
come on summer need the temps to rise so some spraying can commence,,,,,,
 

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#25 ·
todays jobs

Hooray the suns decided to show itself again that means a bit of painting could be done,,, had a few hours spare so scrubbed that old Jerry to get rid of the rust converter gave it a bit of primer and thought id spray it with a small pot of red rustoleum painter touch i brought for 50p last year,,, what a big mistake!!!! tried to thin a little bit in a spray can top with rustoleums own thinners er no to that how about white spirit,,,no what about cellulose thinners? nah!! onto xylene did the trick i thought until i started spraying in which after a couple of mins started to blob and then turned into a blancmange in the bottom of the gun,,,took 2 hours to clean out,,, fortunately some managed to get on the jerry can before it totally gummed up looks ok for now...
also managed to prime the rear deck lid gave it a quick rub down with a bit of wet n dry and hit it with the blue rustoleum just wanted to see how it looks,,went on a bit thick but will thin a bit more next time,, in this case the rustoleums own thinners worked fine even white spirt is ok to use as i used it to clean down the gun fine...
Ordered some panels from vw heritage and hopefully move on to the next bit,,,also gave bumper brackets another coat of white,,
 

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#26 ·
todays jobs

had a few hours to play so thought id take off the sliding door and see the damage,, took a while to remove as heavy and awkward but once off stripped it totally also removing the glass as i will be replacing all the rubber seals as their all cracked,,my vw heritage package included bottom outer and inner door repair panels but looks like i will be fabricating a whole load more for the window area,, hopefully make a start cutting out tomorrow,as you can see ive made a few measurements to act as some reference on replacement.
 

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#28 ·
todays jobs

What a glorious day it was,, managed to get out and chop the bottom of the sliding door well it almost fell off as it was so rusty,,1st to tackle was the inner repair panel, in the end i welded the ends as appropriate and spot welded the rest along its length with a lap joint,the bottom roller fixing bracket was so rusty a new one had to be fabricated and welded in, took all day to complete this one panel but im quite happy with the result,,ive used seam sealer along all the length and sprayed a bit of rustolium primer to keep the rust at bay(for a while).
next is the front panel but going to take a bit of prep as theres a 1/4" of filler to clear off first as well as the usual fitting hassle that goes with it..
 

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