I'm sure I started a thread about thevan ages back but cant find it to update it...ah well,here goes again.
A few months back, I stumbled across a mini van shell on ebay.fr. It was pretty close by, and I snuck a wee bid on and to my surprise won it for not much money. I went along to collect it a few days later, and this is what I brought home....
Surprisingly, still on UK pates. It had been used in France up till 92, then taken off the road and dismantled sometime after.
A previous owner had started a "restoration" and made a right chuff of it. Badly deseamed the a-posts, chopped about the floor and welded in a mix of new sections and flat steel, then left it all torust.
Well, Money was tight (still is!) and it sat without being touched for a few months, till recently, I took off the subframes and hd a proper look at it all. Its reasonably sound apart from the floor and a-panels, which are gassed, the rest is easilly patchable.
I made a few fruitless bids on ebay for a donor mini to give me some mechanicals, then found one for sale on a free ads website. A good 3 hours drive away, but a decent price and the guy seemed honest enough. Off I went, and came back with this....
Its an 85 mini with an MG Metro engine (non runner when I bought it) complete with a few boxes of parts.
So, I set about stripping it...
The shell was actually really sound, so I decided that to save money, I would chop up as re-use as much of this shell as possible to save me having to buy new panels for the van.
I turned my attention to the floor...
The vans floor is completely gassed...
replacement panels badly tacked in place and left untreated. they are the wrong panels too, he used mini saloon rear parts, which are 4" too short for a van, so he added in random bits of steel to close up the gaps, then left it untreated to rust.
The donors floor is pretty solid...why spend £100+ on new sections when I have everything here?
Out came the grinders....
and after a days chopping, I was left with this...a solid saloon floor.
A Vans floor is 4" longer though, but I managed to salvage enough good steel from the mess to give me a strip wide enough to extend the floor.
So some carefull cuting, measuring and welding...
and voila - a solid, exteded floor, complete with inner sills ready to fit to the van...
If I have the energy tomorrow, I will remove the floor from the van shell...Its chuffing hot here just now though, and although I'm sheltered from direct sunlight, I'm still working in the open really, and temperatures under that roof are well over 30degrees. Way too hot for a boiler suit, but with just a t-shirt, I'm getting my arms burnt to bits from grinder sparks and welding.
Might have a rest tomorrow and start afresh on monday.
A few months back, I stumbled across a mini van shell on ebay.fr. It was pretty close by, and I snuck a wee bid on and to my surprise won it for not much money. I went along to collect it a few days later, and this is what I brought home....
Surprisingly, still on UK pates. It had been used in France up till 92, then taken off the road and dismantled sometime after.
A previous owner had started a "restoration" and made a right chuff of it. Badly deseamed the a-posts, chopped about the floor and welded in a mix of new sections and flat steel, then left it all torust.
Well, Money was tight (still is!) and it sat without being touched for a few months, till recently, I took off the subframes and hd a proper look at it all. Its reasonably sound apart from the floor and a-panels, which are gassed, the rest is easilly patchable.
I made a few fruitless bids on ebay for a donor mini to give me some mechanicals, then found one for sale on a free ads website. A good 3 hours drive away, but a decent price and the guy seemed honest enough. Off I went, and came back with this....
Its an 85 mini with an MG Metro engine (non runner when I bought it) complete with a few boxes of parts.
So, I set about stripping it...
The shell was actually really sound, so I decided that to save money, I would chop up as re-use as much of this shell as possible to save me having to buy new panels for the van.
I turned my attention to the floor...
The vans floor is completely gassed...
replacement panels badly tacked in place and left untreated. they are the wrong panels too, he used mini saloon rear parts, which are 4" too short for a van, so he added in random bits of steel to close up the gaps, then left it untreated to rust.
The donors floor is pretty solid...why spend £100+ on new sections when I have everything here?
Out came the grinders....
and after a days chopping, I was left with this...a solid saloon floor.
A Vans floor is 4" longer though, but I managed to salvage enough good steel from the mess to give me a strip wide enough to extend the floor.
So some carefull cuting, measuring and welding...
and voila - a solid, exteded floor, complete with inner sills ready to fit to the van...
If I have the energy tomorrow, I will remove the floor from the van shell...Its chuffing hot here just now though, and although I'm sheltered from direct sunlight, I'm still working in the open really, and temperatures under that roof are well over 30degrees. Way too hot for a boiler suit, but with just a t-shirt, I'm getting my arms burnt to bits from grinder sparks and welding.
Might have a rest tomorrow and start afresh on monday.
