I wasn't sure my welder was up to the framehead job and I'd not tried this myself before so Paul came over and gave us hand and did the welding with his welder. Lots of rust inside when we took it off but no more holes which was good. The replacement framehead bottom panel from gsf was a good fit and only required minor trimming to make it look original. There was a bit of head-scratching with ligning the panel up until Paul came up with the idea of tacking the back of the panel in place then clamping the front down whilst 2 of us were stood on it. Measurements were double-checked beofre it was seam welded into place.
After the bottom plate was done there was the usual 1302/03 rot at the front of the spine, which had been patched over numerous times (why can't people do it properly in the 1st place?). This was chopped out and replaced with appropriately thick metal) That was the welding finished and some sanding and prep later it was ready for paint.Whilst the body was away being painted I decided to spray the chassis so it would be ready for the bodys return. The temperature was baking so I painted it in the garden in a borrowed gazebo. First was some etch primer followed by 2 coats of primer, 1 light coat of stone chip on the underneath and 3 layers of vw metallic silver over the whole lot then laquer. The heat meant the paint dried in no-time which gave me some time to paint the suspension and steering components. I would have liked to spend a bit more time on the chassis but time was tight having just 4 evenings and a saturday to have it ready for the body.
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| A very cool shot of blasting process by Andy | ||
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| Post-spray take with Chris & Andy of Skibbly |
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