where are we??? ill tell you where we are... slightly further forward
decided to get the last few bits out the van today and work out just WTF I am going to do first on the reassembly side of it all...
started with jacking it up (centre of gearbox tunnel where bracing is welded to it)
and popping the front wheels off to see out of interest what the brakes looked like, drivers side appeared to be sporting new wheel cylinders and shoes so my mojo rose a small bit but got to passenger side and found it had been ground well and truly to the rivets and then they had simply put the new shoes into that...nice..........
ridge in drum
then dropped off the front suspension unit by snapping the bolts off the lower part and undoing the top part, it was still reluctant to come off so a fwe good hammer blows seemed to help, the reason for it not releasing was soon found to be gripfill/fibreglass ype substance on NS fixing points...
nice repair whoever you were...
the reason for using filler etc will be revealed in a minute so bear with me, I then got the fuel tank out and miraculously the 5 litres of wee coloured fuel that was still stuck in it..
and no I couldnt find a funnel.. so had to prop can on tool set and wiggle the fuel out that way before you ask why im laying down doing it..
steering column was next
a simple cotter type pin like a bike crank had was all that held that onto the rack and amazingly undid and came out without any hassle at all
found a few more horrors of MOT bodgedness..
this was NS chassis to crossmember mount
this was OS one..
one last bit to get off and I figured I would call it a day...
"with a flick of my wrist........." from this....
to this......
ok yes it was a ballsy thing to do but i had no choice....
the reason I said they had used filler was revealed once I could flip the front clip over..
brace yourself for the best bodge on this little van yet...
now i must point out I have not touched this.. this is as found on the van all cut and folded in and filled with boggo, gripfill an fibreglass..
OS one wasnt in much better shape
this shows full extent of rot on the rails at the front.. anyone got dustpan and brush?
well ill try and get the welder on it tomorrow now I can get to the bulkhead easily and maybe finally some decent progress can be made...
thanks for checking in!