[chilla]

Hi all

Here's my Westy - a couple of pics taken during a trip round Scotland last year... looks nice and shiny yes??? would you buy it unseen off Ebay (I didn't by the way)

Well it's always passed it's MOT with no problems body work wise untill this year that is, i took it to Berkshire bugs and Ashley really knows his stuff down there.

It wasn't good news - failed on loads of structural stuff and worse news was they couldn't take on any resto work any time soon.

so no MOT, can't use the van this summer, can't take it to Glasto

but on the bright side, an opportunity to get it sorted properly and safely.

more to follow

 

[Beagle_Hound]

My Bug was the same, decades of bad repairs and rust hidden by filler and paint. Good luck with the resto. Are you doing the work yourself?

 

[chilla]

Cheers Beagle, no I needed someone who knew what they were doing! Step in Fletcher (Brothernumberone on VZi) Vw welding expert.... and the extent of the horror show is revealed

I wondered what this bulge was along the passenger side, I even rubbed it down (filler and more filler) and sprayed it myself...

lovely job on the repair patch

apparantly came off without needing the grinder

 

[chilla]

niice job with the chicken wire and expanding foam - amazing what underseal will cover up

and the lengths some people will go to, to avoid a welder!

 

[chilla]

Suspect fit to the front wheel arches...

and a nice mess around the rear wheel arch

 

[chilla]

Is that an original VW wooden chassis rail?

Just keeps getting better!

 

[chilla]

So that's it for now.... I'll post up pics as it starts to go back together.

 

[shielsy]

thats a common problem shiney paint rose tinited glasses , but it happens to us all , your right to get it done then you can go camping in style , good luck keep up the good work owen nw :group:

 

[Fergie]

why the hell would people use chicken wire and ex foam
good luck with it dude

 

[chilla]

crazy the amount of effort they've gone to, to make it look like solid metal! why not just weld the thing, surely that would have been quicker

 

[outlaw0a37]

It is very surprising just what they will use and even better how they get them mot -
Keep up the effort and keep us all posted

Dale

 

[moggsy]

mine didn't have that many bad repairs-they just didn't bother repairing it at all!
good luck-keep posting

 

[chilla]

mine didn't have that many bad repairs-they just didn't bother repairing it at all!
good luck-keep posting

"they just didn't bother repairing it at all!" LOL I wish they'd done that with mine, I probably would have got it fixed up before driving it to Portugal and back if I'd known half the chassis was made of chicken wire!!!

Have decided to lose the spare wheel box on the front and go for a standard look - I was never that keen on the "Jimmy Hill" conversion anyway.... I'll stick the fibreglass box up for sale when I get it back - they must be pretty rare

I'll need a new front bumper as well - painted or stainless steel? what do you reckon?-

 

[chilla]

Been a whle since the last post, I was at Glasto and took a bit of time to recover

Here's a couple more of the rot... the windscreen seems to have been taken out at some point and stuck back in with gaffer tape

Hopefully have some of the rebuild soon

 

[shielsy]

i welded the sill and side paenl on a t4 last week some one had used a pair of ladies nickers to fill a hole then fibre glased over it , that was a first for me , and they were nt nice ones lol owen nw :lol:

 

[chilla]

:lol: that's a classic - whole new meaning to leaving skid marks with the van!

 

[chilla]

Hi all

Sorry, been very slack about keeping this thread up to date!
Heres' some photos of the Chassis going back together

Nice to see all that metal under there - and no expanding foam or chicken wire in sight!!!

 

[chilla]

And here's the side windows out, loads of rust around the bottoms...

I put that filler in there a couple of years ago to stop the kids cutting themselves on the rust that had come through to the inside

All cleaned up and new metal welded in...

 

[chilla]

last big job is the front panel - pics to follow, hopefully this week
then that's all the welding done (CHEERS FLETCH!) and on to the body work

should be done just in time for summer to be over :lol:

 

[chilla]

Front Panel off, you can see the inside panel under the dash is all rusted out as well.

more rot under the drivers side cut out

putting it back together