Re: Zel's Fleet Blog...Lada, Citroen, Mercedes, Sinclair & AC Model 70
Posted: Sat Mar 23, 2019 10:40 pm
One of the things I always tended to do my best to avoid when helping out with preserved buses was the fiddly bits of bodywork...oily bits I'm good with, but the bodywork is something which I always find it takes a massive amount of time for little visible gain.
However with it being my own vehicle that's less of an option as I can't delegate it to the new guy!
So it is a day of "annoying fiddly bits."
First up, the last two bits of infill that were missing.
Offside...
That whole lower panel skin is in pretty poor state with quite a few tiny holes in, so I may need to think about changing it at some point. For now I've just touched them in with seam sealer to keep the elements out.
Nearside...
That was the nice easy bit done. Just wanted those done first as it meant that I could get rid of another bag from the box of bits of van as all the trim is now actually attached to it again.
Next up was replacing the missing upright infill from the nearside rear corner. As this runs all the way to the front of the van, I'm not doing it all right now. Just the last couple of feet. However before I could do that I first needed to dig the silicone sealant out of the channel. This must have taken me the best part of an hour. Turns out that it sticks really quite well to tarnished old aluminium.
Eventually though I managed to clear enough of it out of the channel that it was possible to get the strip in.
The strip directly above the passenger door on the cab I noticed a couple of days ago had come away from the cab and was just barely hanging on by a couple of threads on two screws. Was a quick matter to pull that off, clean it up, stick a new mastic strip to the back of it and slap it back in place. I used slightly larger screws to help take up the slack and then put a new infill in there.
Getting the infill in was a bit of a chore purely because it was done teetering on the door step. Funny how jobs like this make you appreciate how much bigger the thing is than a car.
This had been on my radar since the day I bought the van.
In fact I bought a new hookup unit about a week into owning it... replacement of this definitely needed to happen, as aside from just looking awful it also insistently would flap around going click-click-click-click-click-click anywhere north of 40mph.
Ten minutes later...
Much better. It actually latches closed as well so hopefully won't drive me demented next time I'm on the open road.
This was the point at which I spotted two (blindingly obvious afterwards!) bits of infill I had missed. These were on the surround of the gas locker and luggage compartment doors.
You can see how it just fits into a groove around the edge here.
Now this was a task which I went into thinking it would be a ten minute thing to finish the day off with. Yeeeeaahh...About an hour later I had both doors done.
One of those jobs that is just incredibly fiddly and time consuming. Does help make the van tidier though as a whole bunch less screws heads are on show how.
Getting there bit by bit.
Really do need to get some decent wheel trims though and bin the bargain bin specials currently on there as it drags the whole thing down.
However with it being my own vehicle that's less of an option as I can't delegate it to the new guy!
So it is a day of "annoying fiddly bits."
First up, the last two bits of infill that were missing.
Offside...
That whole lower panel skin is in pretty poor state with quite a few tiny holes in, so I may need to think about changing it at some point. For now I've just touched them in with seam sealer to keep the elements out.
Nearside...
That was the nice easy bit done. Just wanted those done first as it meant that I could get rid of another bag from the box of bits of van as all the trim is now actually attached to it again.
Next up was replacing the missing upright infill from the nearside rear corner. As this runs all the way to the front of the van, I'm not doing it all right now. Just the last couple of feet. However before I could do that I first needed to dig the silicone sealant out of the channel. This must have taken me the best part of an hour. Turns out that it sticks really quite well to tarnished old aluminium.
Eventually though I managed to clear enough of it out of the channel that it was possible to get the strip in.
The strip directly above the passenger door on the cab I noticed a couple of days ago had come away from the cab and was just barely hanging on by a couple of threads on two screws. Was a quick matter to pull that off, clean it up, stick a new mastic strip to the back of it and slap it back in place. I used slightly larger screws to help take up the slack and then put a new infill in there.
Getting the infill in was a bit of a chore purely because it was done teetering on the door step. Funny how jobs like this make you appreciate how much bigger the thing is than a car.
This had been on my radar since the day I bought the van.
In fact I bought a new hookup unit about a week into owning it... replacement of this definitely needed to happen, as aside from just looking awful it also insistently would flap around going click-click-click-click-click-click anywhere north of 40mph.
Ten minutes later...
Much better. It actually latches closed as well so hopefully won't drive me demented next time I'm on the open road.
This was the point at which I spotted two (blindingly obvious afterwards!) bits of infill I had missed. These were on the surround of the gas locker and luggage compartment doors.
You can see how it just fits into a groove around the edge here.
Now this was a task which I went into thinking it would be a ten minute thing to finish the day off with. Yeeeeaahh...About an hour later I had both doors done.
One of those jobs that is just incredibly fiddly and time consuming. Does help make the van tidier though as a whole bunch less screws heads are on show how.
Getting there bit by bit.
Really do need to get some decent wheel trims though and bin the bargain bin specials currently on there as it drags the whole thing down.