First pass without really prepping for final finish done on passenger side, obviously i will have to go over it all again with filler and prep before any finish can be applied but that can all get tackled at the same time, for now the welding is complete and metal is protected on that side, so now it was time to move the van over and get some good access to the drivers side of the van, when all you concentrate on was one side and now that side is looking so much better and solid it came as a bit of a shock (not unexpected) to see the extent of the damage and rust on this side now, how i ever thought this was a small project i will never understand, as before but a lot less hesitation i began stripping out all the old metal (mostly filler) and get it back to a shell again ready to start the process again…..

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Fiddly job but a needed one on this occasion, spent the weekend repairing the valance support cross member, the ends were rotted out and after making a couple of cardboard templates and then transferring it to metal, i got the pieces bent into shape, again after a bit of tweaking and cutting the passenger side at least was ready to fit, i had the other side ready as i made two but that side could not be completed as i had more work to do stripping the drivers side ready for the same treatment this side has had……..this is a long journey, my idea when i bought this van of going camping pretty quickly long since has vanished…….

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Onto the next part, there was a lot of rust in this area around the battery tray and lower rear quarter, i had to cut it back quite a lot to get back to decent metal, there was a chassis leg repair to do and a whole lot of little fillet pieces to make to get this lot to fit, again i tried to keep the seams and not just the fake ones (this will probably come back to haunt me a few years down the line) Old battery tray was removed in pieces as it was like lace, the air ducting around it was repaired although it serves no purpose on this side of the van, i had to remove the rear valance to get access and test fit all the parts when reassembling, that took a whole lot longer than expected due to the number of spot welds to drill out but eventually was left with a nice blank area with all nice metal to weld to, i started fitting the new parts back on and after a bit of fettling and tweaking the area cam back to our it should look, rear valance was taken back off as i needed to repair the mounting cross member that sits behind the actual valance and again this part is not available to purchase so it looks like ill be getting lots of cardboard out to make some templates!!

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