Update time!
I hooked the crane up to the bulkhead ready to begin the amputation!
And began cutting.
I then carefully prised the sections apart.
Inside the sills there was a lot of dirt.
I moved the crane to the rear of the body and rigged it up for lifting.
I then lowered the body down onto the chassis and pushed it outside.
I gave the sills a good wash out with the hose.
Once it was dry I pushed it back into the garage.
I drilled the spot welds out and marked where I needed to cut the ends off the inner sills.
And other side.
The sills had at some point been filled with a waxy grease like substance and this seems to have helped preserve them quite well, seen as their one of the least rusty areas on the body.
It was then time to get the new bulkhead removed and prepped ready for fitting.
I set the gazebo up and got the 75 body under it ready for cutting.
And put the old bulkhead next to it so I could compare cut marks.
After marking where to cut and triple checking, I cut!
I purposely cut it oversize, so it would need a bit more work.
First job was to remove the sections of outer sill that came off with the bulkhead, as I would obviously be using my original outer sills.
So after drilling the spot welds out and carefully prising and levering I had one off.
The inner sill would be staying as it would need to be welded onto my original one, but would need trimming to length still.
Other side.
And they were both off!
I cut the end off the inner sill off cut off the original body, to use as a template to cut the new ones.
I then gave the floor pan its final mark and cut.
And that was the new rot free bulkhead all ready to go on!
Moment of truth!
Fitted like a glove!
Next I tried the doors on to make sure they would fit OK.
Drivers side was good.
But the passenger side wasnt perfect.
It was OK and would work but the gap was running out by about 5mm and I wasnt happy with it.
I couldnt get enough adjustment out of the hinges and the distance between the A pillar and B pillars was the same as the drivers side, so I decided to die grind out the holes in the top hinge to give me a bit more adjustment.
After grinding that out the holes the door now had a perfect gap!
I then removed the doors and bulkhead and got the bulkhead onto the bench for a slight bit of trimming.
It didnt need much off and in hindsight I wish I had left both floor pan sections a bit over size as it was very easy to slide it under the rear section and mark the cut.
I cleaned up the sills on both sections, grinding down any old spot welds and cleaning any grime out of the inner sills.
Then it was tie to give any sections that will be enclosed a good coat of weld through zinc paint to protect the metal against corrosion.
I refitted the bulkhead and bolted both the body and bulkhead down to the chassis.
I clamped the new inner sill sections to the outers with vice grips (mole grips if your in the UK).
As well as the edges of the transmission tunnel join.
The floor pan join on the drivers side wasnt perfect with a slight gap in one section of about 4mm.
But the other side was perfect.
I refitted the doors again just to double check it was all going to work OK before welding.
Again drivers side was perfect.
But passenger side still wasnt 100%.
So I fitted a wedge to help keep the gap nice while welding.
I then fitted lots of clamps and panel beat the sheet metal sections back together ready for welding.
All done!
The doors came back off.
I had mistakenly removed some spot welds from the top of the sill that hold the outer and inner together.
So I clamped and welded those sections back together next.
Top tip of the week, holding a piece of copper behind a hole you need to fill in, really helps as the weld wont stick to the copper and you end up with a nice flat weld against the copper.
More clamping and welding.
And that was that side welded and floor pan tacked.
I cut a piece of wood and used that to keep the pillars apart for welding, as I wanted to remove the door and wedge.
More clamping and welding.
To fully weld the floor pan I first wanted to remove it from the chassis.
So I rigged up the crane again to lift it off the chassis, but I needed to be careful not to bend the thing in 2, although it was now feeling incredibly rigid.
That worked well and I was able to remove the chassis and get the body back onto the rotisserie.
Although the join in the floor pan on the passenger side was the better of the 2, there was one spot where the profile was slightly out and that needed some attention.
Nothing a little cutting with the angle grinder followed by a bash with a hammer and dolly wouldnt fix.
I welded up the inner sill joint.
I flipped the body back over and started welding the join up in the floor pan. To avoid distortion I started by putting a tack ever inch.
I then started joining the tacks up, randomly moving around so as to avoid putting too much heat in one area.
Until eventually it was fully welded.
Next top tip, never weld out to the edge of thin sheet metal as it will blow a hole in the edge of the panel.
And again a piece of copper really helps in this instance too.
I finished welding as much as I could on the bulkhead and floor pan joint and the next job was to repair the rotten sections in the floor pan.
I used a wire wheel in the grinder to clean up the rotten areas of floor pan so I could see exactly which bits to cut out.
Next I needed to remove the repair panel sections from the donor body.
I cut them over size to allow for trimming to a precise fit.
Bit of trimming later and my repair sections were all ready.
I cleaned them up and gave the underside a coat of the weld through paint.
And welded them in.
I put 2 grinding discs in the grinder at once.
The idea is to knock the top of the welds using the edge of a grinding disc(s) to avoid putting too much heat into the panels which is what could happen if I just went straight in with a flap wheel disc. Much better to take most of them down with a grinding disc and then just finish off with a flap wheel disc.
I repaired the only bit of rot on the new bulkhead next, the bit below the windscreen.
Cut the rot out.
I clamped a piece of steel behind to help hold the patch in place.
And welded it in.
