I have suddenly found myself with a lot of time on my hands having been suspended from work for a few months (standard police procedure following a serious incident) so I thought I would make the most of it and steam into the Splitty.
One of the jobs I have been seriously not looking forward to doing was replacing the A posts.
A while ago I managed to get a set of Gerson posts from a member on the forum. Nice looking posts and the ususal Gerson quality (and price tag) however they were handmade which gave me some concerns.
Anyway, pics.....
This-
Became this -
which became this-
At this point I am happy to say that the post appeared to be a good fit but time will tell when I come to fit the doors.
The hardest part was deciding how far up the windscreen post to cut.
I didn't really get mine right and was left with a gap of about 10mm wgich I had to fill with weld-
After spending some time welding, grinding, welding, flap wheeling it looks ok. Will need a bit more work but not bad.
Then I decided, after carefully unpicking the dashboard when removing the old Apost, that I would remove it to get it media balsted and have the top edge repaired slightly.
So I blasted a load of high zinc primer on the post and valance and, after this taking me 4 hrs, decided to do the other one.
So I then went from this-
to this-
The second post only took me an hour to do, despite the fact that it was the hardest.
The top would not line up and always appeared to be twisted on one side so I had to resort to pie cutting it slightly and rewelding-
A bit of light hammering later and all seemed to line up ok.
Bit more welding and primer and it is done for now.
Admittedly the second weld needs alot more work done to it, but thank god the windscreen repair panel will hide a lot of it. Even with my MIG on its lowest settiing it kept blowing holes in the crap original windscreen post.
But I am happy with todays results.
Need to get the front panel media blasted now and the lower 50mm repaired and try and source a new headlight support panel and I can try and put it all back together again.
As above, or at least do lots of measuring. If your trial fitting doors try to remove as much weight as possible and get someone to help with supporting them otherwise you might twist the a posts.
If all ok it'd also be worth welding in some braces whilst you fit the rest of the panels so nothing warps the position of the a posts.
THere's nothing worse than finishing the job, incl paint, going to re fit a door that did fit perfectly and find its now out of line and yes i've been there!
keep trial fitting the doors at every opportunity
Otherwise looking real good. were those a panels from autocraft?
They are the US ones made by a company called Gerson and inported by a guy on the SSVC site.
Yeah will try the doors but only have a passenger side one at the moment cos I had to cut through the hinges on the other (screw heads were messed up)
Doing well there mate ive doing a lot of work to mine this week before i start me new job all the front panels on now. And looks sweet but well impressed there good luck with everything else
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Ok did a little bit more today, albeit very little.
First thing this mornin I took the dash and front panel to be media blasted to highlight and repairs that may be needed.
With it raining all bloody day, I was itching to get out and have a bit of a play but couldnt until my 2 year old had gone to bed at 9pm...gutted
Anyway, I trial fitted the old headlight support panel to see how it all lined up.
To be honest, not bad.
As you can see this panel is a mess and I really want a new one. PM me if you've got a spare.
This next pic shows how the original panel does not follow the contours of the new inner valance at the centre -
This could be down to two things. One, the Gerson panel is the wrong profile. Extremely unlikely as it looks to be a very well made panel and they have a high reputation.
Two - the support panel is bent in the centre.
The later is probably likely as the old nose had a bit of a ding in it -
This panel looks to be a real bitch to repair, so I've got to track a new one.
ask this guy - he is the supplier of the gersion panels in the uk
http://www.musclebus.co.uk/
he doesnt list a headlight support panel in hes stock pile but they make one ans may post one id guess?
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wanted
t4 flywheel - not 228mm
36hp fanshroud for t/p t1?
http://www.bus-types.co.uk
http://www.dubtypes.co.uk - shrewsburys vdubya club
meeting at the Red barn from 8pm.
The address is:
The Red barn
108 Longden Rd,
Shrewsbury,
Shropshire,
SY3 7HS
01743 362503
and yes i've been there!
but well impressed there good luck with everything else