Restoration Tips

[Gas On]

Gday,

Theres a thousand ways to skin a cat.... I'm sure you'll get a variety of opinions on here.

I know rare spares stock all the common replacement panels, would be more ecconomical to buy than fabricate, unless you have a mate that can do it for a carton

If you do however goto the trouble of panel replacement, why not do a full ground up rebuild? Ie - Body Off Chassis.
Monting Points, Chassis Checks, Body Rubbers, Alignment etc... after all, drivability / safety is more important than looks, right people?

In regards to your specific questions, well... I'd just bog `er up and then we can go for a spin, blocker

Cheers

[hj308]

Blocker, my HJ has similar rust problems and I was considering buying all rust replacement panels from Rare Spares but after I had a panel beater come and look at the van I think I will just be buying a new rear beaver panel and front cowlings. The panel beater told me he can cut out sections of the sill which has rust and my van also has the rust behind the rear wheels which again he get fix this, his brother owns his own metal fabrication business and he will utilise him if sections need to be made up, I also have a hx ute which can be used as a donor for lower sections. My advice would be to get panel beaters to come and look at your van and get a few opinions and rough costs verus what will be best for the van long term. Like a lot of things in life it comes down to how much money you are prepared to throw at it and how long you think you will keep the van for. My thoughts on my own project are to do it once and do it right. I have been quoted approximately $800-$1000 for all rust repairs/panels etc including filling in the sunroof , mine is a windowless so as previously discussed on another forum you need to get someone experienced in tackling this job. I wouldnt cutting any donor cars up unless the guy (panelbeater) that is welding them back in had come out and shown me exactly where he wants you to cut them?

[HZSandman]

Only fill the window holes themselves. I did this and you would never know it had windows. No need to do the full roof thing or even the whole sides thing. Cut the side supports out of another van to weld in where the windows were. I think you have all my pics of this process if not let me know and I will email them to you.

Same for the sunroof. Little trickier though as they will need to get the curving spot on.

The windows and the sunroof can be fabricated easy enough.

Rust panels for most other areas can be bought from Rare spares and welded in. This is usually cheaper than fabrication.

Why not do a full body swap with the other van you purchased if it is ok as far as rust goes?

If you need to get help, get many opinions as suggested and don't always go with the lowest quote. Ask if and how many of these things they have done before. Always go with someone who has experience not someone that says it should be easy enough.

[Blocker]

Thanks guys very helpful info.

I do have a large shed to work in (ex- bus service buildings) I have two pits and enough room to do whatever.

The question I am asking is for me to keep things in perspective.

I visited an abrasive blaster yesterday, they use garnet and work with vehicles regularly. Got some tips, because this project has always been planned to be a bare metal - body off resto.

Noobie question.
Is the body and chassis blasted before panel replacement or after?
If it's blasted after rusted panels are replaced or repaired, how sure can you be all rust has been removed considering this car has been bog patched?

[ozbox]

with that much rust i would get the body blasted first if you cant find another clean body....

someone said something about patching sills...if a sill has rust at the front and the back replace the hole sill...

[jennie285]

Thanks guys very helpful info.

I do have a large shed to work in (ex- bus service buildings) I have two pits and enough room to do whatever.

The question I am asking is for me to keep things in perspective.

I visited an abrasive blaster yesterday, they use garnet and work with vehicles regularly. Got some tips, because this project has always been planned to be a bare metal - body off resto.

Noobie question.
Is the body and chassis blasted before panel replacement or after?
If it's blasted after rusted panels are replaced or repaired, how sure can you be all rust has been removed considering this car has been bog patched?

Rodney said (he lets me be is secretary)
My local panel beater and spray painter tell me not to get a panel van garnet blasted, or sand blasted (same thing) behind the doors, or on the roof, they recommend only soda blasting, because a heat build up can warp the panels. We are getting the yellow van soda blasted first, to see what panels need to be replaced, we know one door, bonnet, and a section of the front window sill certainly need replacing....We have a bloke who is taking some time of regular work, he is going to get the panels ready, he doesn't like to use bog, and we know this will be time consuming...after preparation we have a local panel beater who will spray it with 2 pack.....Jasmine Yellow

[Blocker]

Yea Jennie (and Rodney) They advised e the the garnet will heat up a lot and therefore they do not blast large panel areas.

They only blast areas that are difficult to sand manually. However I do have a contact here in Adelaide that does soda blasting and he has already done a HQ van and I have spoken with the owner who said he was more than satisfied.

[Absinth]

There is an awful lot of rust repairs to do to that body Andrew, add filling in the windows and the sunroof if you can't do it all yourself it is going to cost a fortune in body work.

Personally I would be looking at using the Aquarius HJ body you found at the wreckers as it probably has a lot less work in it. Either that or use the body from the HZ you got off Jason, you will have to swap out the firewall sections and use your HJ ones but again a lot less work. You will end up with a better car for less work and outlay if you re-body it. At least the HJ has th hood lining strips in it and if that body was up here I would use it to replace mine.

Some think a body swap makes the car no longer original..... pfttt.. The Sandman ID is in the chassis, plates and Sandman parts, the body is just another part and no different than replacing doors, guards, panels etc.

Get your body soda blasted... stay well away from sandblasting unless you know your blaster really well and have used him before for similar projects. Blasters will all tell you how good they are and by the time you find out they are not your car body is stuffed.

In answer to your restoration questions....

I do the major rust repairs before blasting the body, all the places that are obvious otherwise you will be doing a lot of priming, sanding, priming etc. Once you think you have all rust repairs done then get it blasted and primed, you will have a lot less work repairing the small spots you have missed that were covered by paint etc.

The rust along the seam of the side panels says to me that the top of the rear quarter panel will also need repairs so if cutting panels from another car cut along the quarter panel an inch or so below the seam, I would also cut along the roof an inch or so above the gutter joint. You can then unpick these sections and if needed have them as repair sections.