Finishing Touches to Body Work

We're only a few days off the van going to the paint shop, so some minor finishing touches to the body work before it goes off:

The side cargo doors have gone on and we've been making the locking rods for the doors too.

Arrow-straight body work is what we're looking for:

The back end of the van is now all finished and ready for paint

Just some tidying up inside of the van before its off to paint

In approx 7 days, the van will be on its way to Cotswold Group Body shop for its final prep then paint!

Star Coil

We've managed to find a brand new 6v Star coil - so called because of the 'star' shaped patten in the end of the coil. This will not only look perfect in the engine bay, but will make the engine run perfectly too.

Check out the blog over the next coming weeks for the start of the engine re-build using all NOS parts.

Check out the detail in the BOSCH logo and stamping - this changed on later coils.

A Milestone of a Day

Tuesday 10th July, 2012 - A Milestone of a Day

This was the day that the last panel was welded into the van!

Apart from some minor tidying up of some welds, the basic restoration is now complete. Almost 12 months to the day of non-stop welding, grinding, cutting, welding, banging, welding, fabricating, welding, banging.......

The van will shortly be going for paint (there will be more pics before it does) then the fun re-build can begin.

Exciting or what??????

Back End Fit-Up

We've taken the opportunity to fit all the lights and reflectors again to the back of the van, just to make sure everything fits ok before it goes to paint.

The centre brake light and number plate lights are all fitted. The number plate itself is fitted.

The back end is now ready and finished (apart from the engine lid handle that we still need to find......)

Rear Bulkhead Back In

As you saw before, we removed all the rear internal panels from the van so they could be worked on and straightened out after years of cargo rolling about and bashing about inside

The bulkhead piece sloping up between the rear wheel arches was pretty bashed up, so Carl set about working on it and repairing it. Here it is now back in place in the van:

The area where heater tubes come though was badly corroded, so these have all been repaired

Looking from underneath, the hole you can see is the drain hole off the spare wheel tray

Wiring Loom

The nice people at vwlooms.com have made us up a brand new wiring loom for the van. They make looms for all vintage models and are supplied with a wiring diagram too.

Bulkhead Repairs

As we previously posted, Carl removed all the rear bulkhead and parcel tray, so they could be worked on properly.

There was damage to the bottom edge which has been cut out and Carl has made little pieces to 'let-in' to repair this damage. The ribs will then be repaired using the mould he made for the firewall as its the same pattern in the ribs

Engine Lid Fitted

The engine lid has now been finished and trial fitted:

The back end is looking nicely barndoor-ish now!!!