The start of my van's body build

[Steve Bryant]

That's a great idea Howard. I hadn't thought of doing something like that. Simple and effective from the looks of it.

Having second thoughts on the rear wheel arches which have been giving me all sort of issues in trying to get things to work. 
I've decided to adopt Stuart Roach's suggestion and make new wheel houses out of sheet metal which will solve a number of problems. Thank you Stuart for suggesting this.

The weather has returned from minus 30C temps to plus 5 to 10 C which pleases me immensely.
Cheers everyone.
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

March 4th 2023
Not a lot of progress to report. I went into the shop Saturday (yesterday) with the goal to assembling front wings, cowls and running boards to allow the development of the patterns to make the wheelhouse bits for the rear wings.  Well it was a case of one step forward and two steps back. I got the cowls lined up with the inclined toe boards and positioned so as to drill the holes for the attachment bolts. This enabled me to attach the front wings to the cowl and all the other associated parts so that things could be positioned correctly and would allow the positioning of the running boards to permit me to  make the patterns for the wheel house sheet metal....or so I thought. The bodged right angle back end was cut off to allow the running board to be positioned under the sill on the drivers side but nothing fit or lined up. I bolted the running board to the front wing but it was contorted and twisted out of shape. It wasn't until I clamped both running boards together that the problem became obvious. The running board had been trimmed at the front as well as the inner edge so that it is unusable in its present state.  Words of unpleasant nature were uttered with the realization that I have a lot of metal work to do to fix the problem.

Meanwhile I turned my attention to a few other wee things when I got home so it wasn't a total loss.
   
   
   
   
   
   

Cheers,
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

I haven't posted on my build for a while as other things requiring my attention have taken me away from it.

I have managed to weld up the right hand running board to correct the fit problem, but the rear up turned end has not yet been fitted as I need to make up the missing wheel house sheet metal that is part of the floor body that the rear wing fits into. It took me a while to understand that this sheet metal was missing from the floor part of the body kit I bought from John Heath which the wood arches locate on. Thank you Stuart for clarifying why I was having so much difficulty with this. It all made sense after looking at your pics and doing some research. The next issue was what appeared to be the rear spring camber which looked to be too much so new ones were ordered from one of our cherished suppliers of parts. These are in the process of being fitted.

I hope to be able to move things along soon as all my friends and associates are watching with interest and continuously asking "when will it be done" ? To which I reply "when it is"!

Cheers,
Stephen

[Steve Bryant]

Its been a while since  I updated you all on the van's body build.

I've been struggling with the relationship of the rear mudguard wheel arch and body extension as it isn't really clear from John heath's instructions. I realized that I would need to make up the rear body and door frame in order to place it in position and use it to asses how things go.

I made up the pieces of the frame on a square of plywood that I could clamp them to on the floor of my garage in between the chassis and body shell of my MGA as it was the only flat surface I had that was big enough to allow me to do this.

Everything was dry fitted and made square and screwed together without glue. Once satisfied that all was square, the pieces were unscrewed and glued together and re-screwed back together checking that nothing had shifted (it hadn't).

When the frame joints are fully cured I'll offer it up to the body to finally resolve the issue I've had at the rear of the floor pan.

Cheers,
Stephen
                   

[Steve Bryant]

A long day yesterday spent assembling the rear doors using the rear frame to provide sizing. I had a lot of trouble trying to find 4MM material to act as the packing for clearance around and between the door frames. I discovered that corrugated plastic sheet was exactly 4MM thick so ended up using that which can be seen in the pics as the white strips between the door frames and the rear frame. One benefit  of using this plastic is that the glue won't stick to it
   
   
Today I get to glue and screw the frames together which is a big step forward.
Cheers, Stephen

[Bluebird7]

What's the 'other chassis' looks very interesting ????

[Steve Bryant]

That would be the chassis to my '57 MGA.
Stephen
   
   

[Steve Bryant]

The rear door frame and doors turned out quite well and I am happy with the results. It job was quite involved and required a lot of checking measurements and fit  before screwing things together dry and then taking it apart and gluing  the joints and putting the screws back in. The doors were secured  in the frame with blocks on either side of the door and frame and retained with a wood screw that went through the gap  between them.
   
   

The glue sticks to skin really well and I am still peeling bits of it off my fingers days afterwards. Yes I know i should have worn latex gloves but I can't feel what I'm doing with them on so I have to suffer the consequences.
Cheers, 
Stephen

[Jamie]

I am just curious: what type of glue are you using?

Jamie.

[Steve Bryant]

Hi Jamie,
 the glue I am using was recommended to me by a specialist wood working supply store here.
   
   
Cheers,
Stephen