The start of my van's body build

[Peter Naulls]

Very ingenious Steve, I have learned something new today!

[Malcolm Parker]

I know that in the making of craftsman oak furniture (Mouseman and the like) the pieces are 'fumed' in a cabinet with ammonia.  This darkens the oak and gives it that aged look.   I didn't know that ammonia could be used for softening and bending hardwoods.

[Steve Bryant]

Sometimes looking at photographs of other A7s  can provide the answer to a question that one has that is not apparent.
 
I am in the process of working out how much aluminum sheet I will need to cover the body frame. The question I was trying to find the answer to was: is  the surrounding frame to the rear double doors wrapped in sheet alloy? The recessed edge was obviously for the side sheet to be set into, but did the edge of the alloy wrap around the edge? This would make for an uneven overlapping joint which didn't make sense to me.

  SIDE VIEW OF FRAME MOCK UP.jpg (Size: 94.92 KB / Downloads: 425)
   

After looking at a lot of rear aspects of AD type vans I found this pic and all was revealed. The doors are wrapped but the wood  frame is painted, which now made sense as the let in edge on the side of the frame would make the allot flush with the wood. The "D" strip would be pinned over the joint to hide it.
   

Sometimes just looking at pics can be very helpful.
Cheers,
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

Things were moving along quite nicely. 
Issues with the rear wheel arch areas of the body have been resolved and I was looking forward to building the rest of the wooden framework that make up the sides of the body. This all came to a screeching halt when I tried to interpret John Heaths instructions for the area around the B pillar and "C" cab aperture. All the wooden components that join the B pillar where they come together are much thicker than the B pillar by about 1/4 of an inch. There is a a heavy reinforcement plate that is supposed to tie all the components together on the inside but the difference in the B pillars thickness mean I'll probably have to laminate some wood to the pillar to make up the difference so that all the parts are even and in the same plane. John's instructions make no mention of any of the thickness differences, so I'm wondering if the B pillars were make of a thinner wood by accident.

So... I'm looking at what the best method of resolving this issue with this most important area of the body where it requires strength to resist door closing / slamming.

Otherwise I'm pleased with the progress to date as are my colleagues who are watching with interest.
Cheers,
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

JULY1
Still sorting out how to best do the joint at the top of the B pillar. To get a better idea of how to resolve this I put the side frame together with screws to allow me to see how it fits in relation to the B pillar and everything else. Once everything is trimmed to proper height and length it should be more apparent as to how to proceed.
   
   
Please excuse the messiness that is depicted in these two pics taken today as everything was hastily put back in or around / under the car to give some space around it when I am not working on it. Normally I take everything out of it and away from around it etc. to give me a proper work environment.
Cheers,
Stephen

[stuartroach]

Don't know if this is still useful to you but this is how we did the rear panel on our van bodies. If you zoom in at the top rear corner you can see that the rear panel had a flange turned that fits into the rebate on the outside edge. The joint line is then hidden by the half round moulding.
Our patterns and details were taken from a very original C cab van we restored many years ago.

[JonE]

were the AD and AE vans the same floorpan as the tourers? Does anyone know of an original van, as there are no body numbers recorded and I'd like to find whether they were part of the same series, as per Aus/Holden-assembled cars which appear to be...

[Mike Costigan]

The so-called AD and AE vans were built by Startin, so in all probability they were on chassis supplied with standard panel-work for the bulkhead and front floor, but since these were not assembled into a complete body at Longbridge, they are unlikely to have been stamped with an identity.

[JonE]

Mike - do you think that what would be supplied to export for Holden would be much different though, where there is evidence that numbering has occurred? Hence my question about the rear floor area. And actually finding a van...

[Mike Costigan]

Our Australian friends can probably comment on that better than I can, but my understanding is that Australian Sevens were suppled as rolling chassis with no body panels at all.