Bazil's 1972 Commer PB

[Bazil]

Thats what I thought he meant

The thing is, I am trying to do the van as close to original as possible and the frame has come straight off GreenBean and straight into my commer. There was never any rounded corner braces on the frame like my original frame. [)] It's strange, unless they have very expertly been cut away?

There are rounded corner braces to be fabricated for the door side of the frame, but I might just cut out the rounded section of the old brace and weld them in place, as original.

Thanks for the comments.

P.s. The Commers metal seems far better to weld to than the Fastbacks!! [8D] just a shame that the paint was so thin on the Commer compared to the VW, might have made them last a lot longer and better.

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Bazil]

After close examination I am pretty convinced that the corner braces have been cut off, so one of the next jobs is to cut off the old ones and weld them back in.

I have had a go at trying to repair the rear cones, but the welder started to play up and I ended up with hardly anything left after 3 hours in the garage

Another attempt this week.....

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Panky]

Bugger : (

 

[Bazil]

This is the Drivers side Cone I intend to use to replace the even more rotten original

This shows the bottom lip that has rotted away and I have got to replace

This shows the top of the Cone that has tin worm set in and also shows the repair panel I made today while I had a few minutes spare

I am completely open to suggestions if somebody thinks I am going the wrong way about sorting out this Cone.
It would be possible to give it several doses of Aquasteel and then lead load the pits, but as I am trying to fully restore the van I want it done the best I can first time around.

Pictures of the original Cone are uploaded onto the photobucket link, I may repair them aswell and keep them as spares or sell them to fund the project as I am skint

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Panky]

I don't remember any one doing this repair before so you are ahead of most of us. I cant see anything wrong with the way you are tackling it[^]

 

[commerchris]

progress whilst skint is very good progress [^]
I am glad we are not the only skint ones welcome to the skint club

Sybhil & no1

 

[Bazil]

quote:
Originally posted by Panky

I don't remember any one doing this repair before so you are ahead of most of us. I cant see anything wrong with the way you are tackling it[^]

Do you mean that nobody has repaired Cones before and just bought replacement ones or they have used a different method?

As I mentioned, there is metal everywhere that I have made that repair for, but it is pretty rotten and pitted and it doesn't seem quite right to just leave it in.

Bear in mind, this is my first restoration project and I am learning as I go along! same with welding

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Panky]

No you are doing brilliantly - what I meant is that no one I can remember has ever even worked in the area you are sorting out. Some one somewhere has obviously replaced them before (probably Martin or Woolfy) but I can't remember seeing it. I can't believe this is your first resto, you are doing a fantastic job[^] but remember all those little pits contain rust and it will eventually re-emerge if it isn't killed or cut out. The aquasteel has a good reputation and, I'm using it all over the place, but a good dose of a knotted wire wheel on suspect areas doesn't do any harm

 

[woolfy]

if you take a look back at some of the earlier pictures of basses van we did replace the lower parts of his rear cones using a patch repair panel that we make and can sell to people. only trouble is i dont know how to pull the pictures from basses topic into this one so someone else will have to do it.

Big Bad Woolf

 

[Panky]

This is the nearest I could find[|)]


http://66.129.69.181/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2737&whichpage=3

 

[Paul Goldsmith]

Looking fabulous - nice work !

Here's the pics of Woolfy's fine work on Bass' cones ;

BTW: To 'rip' existing pics, simply right click on the image you need and select 'Copy Image Location' - this copies the URL for where the image is hosted. Then all you need to do is use this URL in the same way as posting any new pic.

Unless you're a real geek and want to rip out from the HTML directly behind the page !

'Hunny' our Commer Hi-Tor by TorCars

 

[Bazil]

Todays work......

Marked up and cut out the section of rear Cone

With Repair section I made welded in and ground back as best as I could. A couple of thin coats of etch and a bit of sandpaper and I doubt it will need any filler or lead loading. (the photo makes it look worse than it is! [xx(])

#EDIT# Just realised the repair looks worse because I had to wipe it horizontally with a rag after I gave it the coat of Etch Primer I have sanded that back now and given it another coat and it looks a lot better)

Found welding the bottom of the cone (which was right on the corner) a lot easier to weld and grind to a decent finish.

More rot cut out of side panel

And then replaced with nice new metal.

Small repairs to lower corner which I did not get enough time to finish.

Trial fitted the Cone and was very happy with the fit.

Hoping to finish the Corner repairs and get everything Aquasteeled and primered up tomorrow ready for the Cone to be welded in.
Then start work on the otherside (which looks better) and then on with the new gutters



View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Panky]

Doing a fine job on a complicated repair[^]

 

[Bazil]

I will post a photo of the lower corner later which I have finished repairing. I have not had time to weld the Cone on due to waiting for each coat of Aquasteel to dry and I still have to give it all a coat of Weld-Thru.

Stripped the last section of Wanderer roof off the passenger side to examine the damage and found that the side panel and the roof gutter are pretty much decent enough to leave, there is just one or two places where there is a tiny bit of pitting for an inch or so at most.
It is mostly surface rust that the knotted wheel on the grinder is cleaning back to bare metal. So a good cleaning up and aquasteel in the pits and I am confident it will all be ok.

Still got to strip the remains of the roof where it sits in the gutter, which is probably the best bit of roof on the van, hopefully I will salvage something from it for the roof that is taking its place.

I tried the Cone in place and clamp it all up and I am very happy with the results. Can't wait to get it welded up.

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[commeracer]

Good work there fella

"you were only supposed to blow the bloody SLIDING doors off"

 

[Dodgemark]

proper job[^] excellent

Dodge Glendale

 

[Chamba]

He who dares wins! Good work

 

[Bazil]

Here is the finished lower corner with several coats of Aquasteel:
(you will also notice the triangular repair by the door, this is still to be seam welded and ground down yet, but it is finished enough to get the Cone in)

It has had a coat of Weld-thru now as well, ready for the first opportunity I get to weld the Cone in. [8D]

The quality of finish on the Cone repair at the top was bugging me for a while so when I was messin around in the garage I took the hammer and dolly to it and straightend it out even more to hide the ground down welds.

I am looking forward to getting the Cone in and getting some Tiger seal in the joints, followed by a good coat of Etch Primer and then I can finally say that I have finished one corner

Or at least, the top half

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Bazil]

Had a few minutes to tack the Cone into place today:

Haven't had time to grind any welds down yet or completely plug weld up the spot weld holes. Had to do some hammer and dollying where it met my side panel repair, but apart from that I am very happy with it.

Looks better than what it did look like:

I have tried the Gutter sections that sit on the side panel and Cone and everything seems to fit well. So, when the littl'uns are in bed I will get as much of the welding done as I can ready for grinding down.

I also stripped the roof section of everything yesterday but haven't took a picture yet, I will post one as soon as I get chance.

View the Commer resto pics here: http://s786.photobucket.com/albums/yy149/bazil1972/

 

[Comm - Don]

Quality work matey. This Van will look the mutts nuts when finished;-)