After what seems like an age and totally losing my drive to carry on the break seems to have made the world of difference and i feel really up for the challenge, i made a couple of models one of the van as i want it finished and all of a sudden it was like a kick up the ass that it won’t build its self……so with that in mind it was time to crack on, obviously better weather helped with the long long hours i was now putting in to get on with it, the time had come after finishing the absolute pain in the arse sills to do the one part i was actually dreading from the start…..dont know why because it was all horrible to do up to this point with little to no experience but this one was giving me sleepless nights, i think because the absolute state the area was in i was expecting the worst, as it turns out when you cut away the rot (this i have found with every area) underneath wasn’t so bad and i was starting to treat it like a big jigsaw puzzle, taking off the rotten parts and replacing with new shiny parts, i made the mistake most people do by the looks of it that if you buy cheap then you buy twice, after learning that and wasting a bit of money i have now found that if you buy good quality they pretty much fit with very little interference, on this occasion i could not locate a new sliding door rail (dont think they exist) but i was lucky enough to find a rot and rust free body cut and fettled that to fit (getting the hang of this metal work stuff……slowly) and finally after many measurements and tacking in parts then fully welding i could for the first time in my ownership get the sliding door on the rail and supporting its own weight, probably for the first time in a long time, the first swish bang of this door made my absolute year and i could not stop smiling and it only lined up bloody perfectly!!!!!…..this was a massive milestone for me and the build, didn’t matter what else came up eventually this van was getting finished and getting finished 100% all over, new everything!!! there won’t be a panel i don’t touch from here on out and i even decided to visit the front end again when i had made it all round the van to make sure it got the proper attention it needed and not by some first time novice welder…..the last few weeks were dare i say it enjoyable!!!!
Lower C Pillar and Rear arch next…….
High Top Edith 