1995 2.4D... In at the deep end!

[Tango91]

One step forward, two steps back.

Just offered up the replacement outrigger to the sheet metal on the offside front and... Completely different. Just Kampers says it is for 90-03 but as you can see there's a 3/4 inch gap all up the inside and parts of the outside. I could cut all the sheet metal out and start again but it'd mean a lot of trial and error compound bending, including re-imagining the bumper brackets etc.

Suggestions?

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[Tango91]

Answering my own question here, I decided to modify the pattern parts rather than try any butchery with what's left of the poor van.

The process is as follows:

1) Locate and remove the problem:



2) Make CAD template, transfer to fresh steel:



3) Cut and bend where appropriate, grumble about the nice new paint you needn't have bothered with:



4) Weld new section in, get carried away with the heat and warp the metal, grind it back, decide that it's now too thin, you hate it and need to start over:



5) GOTO 1

[Activ8]

Answering my own question here, I decided to modify the pattern parts rather than try any butchery with what's left of the poor van.

The process is as follows:

1) Locate and remove the problem:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13097[/ATTACH]

2) Make CAD template, transfer to fresh steel:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13098[/ATTACH]

3) Cut and bend where appropriate, grumble about the nice new paint you needn't have bothered with:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13099[/ATTACH]

4) Weld new section in, get carried away with the heat and warp the metal, grind it back, decide that it's now too thin, you hate it and need to start over:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]13100[/ATTACH]

5) GOTO 1

Shit - I'm stuck in a loop reading your last.... post the result soon!
Good work by-the-way, loving the build - any Sally photos or drawings this week, you'll be letting the forum down if not! [emoji38]

[S49]

Could you not have cut a V in the outrigger dressed to fit then made a little bit to fill the V? but I have to say the way you are going about it is nice and tidy, don't give up you'll get there.

[damont4]

Feel for u bud I've bought plenty of panels in the past and have only ever heard bad things about the panels from just kampers pple always moaning there shit and never fit right
I don't know but I always get my panels from Alan schofields and they pretty much fit perfect first time but not sure if he does t4 stuff ile have a quick look
I know this doesn't really help u now but in the future maybe [emoji106]

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[damont4]

Just looked he don't have much t4 wise but custom and commercial have quite Abit and like wise there normally pretty spot on

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[S49]

I use Central Panels in Oxfordshire on the bay of flea.

[Tango91]

I've been asking around shops and sellers online and nowhere seems to do outriggers made by anyone other than Klokkerholm...

Spent all day banging my head against the damn things and going nowhere.

I managed to take off the N/S outrigger without _completely_ destroying it. I have no idea how they manage to get plug welds down the inside right at the back of the damn thing...



You can see the differences between the pattern and OEM part here:



Note that the original lip at the top is taller and continues straight but on the pattern it dips downwards.

From the other side you may be able to see that the original part is taller all the way. The pattern part's not particularly well cut or bent, and the cutout at the front there fouls the diesel filter hole.





Finally, a question for you nice people:

Is the purpose of the outrigger just to transfer the force of a crash at the corner back to the frame rail above the wheel?

The sheet metal above them seems solid enough to support itself, and with the exception of the battery tray, which is attached to the engine mount and the bulkhead, it doesn't seem to bear any significant load under normal driving.

I hope this is the case, I have a solution I'm working on that doesn't involve stamped sheet metal, but I thought I'd better ask.

Thanks

[S49]

Heres ours, you can see that kink that you don't need on yours are the outriggers for the later van?

[Tango91]

I see, yeah. Everything there looks totally different, I take it this has the bolt-on wings?

If I could go back in time I'd tell myself to just repair the damn things like you have :/

[S49]

Its P reg mate and bolt on wings, think they change about 95, have seen N reg's with the later type and with the welded ones. I toyed with repairing ours but got some real cheap cuts from the local scrappy including the complete nearside chassis leg to the bulkhead for 60 quid!

[Tango91]

Evening all, haven't posted in a while. I've spent the past two weeks, inbetween work, trying to drag a co-worker's car through an MOT retest.

He put it in for an MOT like this:



...No, i have no idea what he was thinking either.

Two new sills (they were completely f*ckered), a new front wheel bearing, both ARB drop links, 4 tyres, 2 indicator bulbs and a headlight leveling motor later it scraped through.

I used to own the car until October-ish last year, and my dad owned it before me. Can you tell?



Co-workers, eh? Anyway, just an excuse to practice welding on thin sheet metal before I go to town on the VW(!)


Finally managed to steal a few hours this week to work on the T4.

Regular viewers will recall I got a bit f*cked off with the non-fitting pattern outriggers at the end of the last episode and have since consigned them (£90 worth ) to the scrap pile.
Here's my solution:

I made up rectangular plates in 2.5mm steel to bolt up behind either end of the front crossmember:



and also triangular-ish plates that fit into the section on the frame legs where the original outriggers were spot-welded onto.:



For now I have drilled into the frame and tapped it for M8 so I can get everything on and off again but once everything is sorted properly the plates can be welded on.

Inbetween these plates I'm going to use this crash-friendly section of 50x25 pressure treated roofing batten:



...just kidding. The batten is about the same size as the thin-wall box section i have and quite a bit easier to trial/error the compound angles required using a mitre saw. Once I was happy with the fit I transferred the measurements to the steel:



I tacked the bits together on the van then removed them for welding properly. Here's a slightly more-finished shot of the 2 mirror copies:



And how they look mounted up on the van:



Please excuse the shit-looking welds going on there, I couldn't get a disposable bottle of CO2 for the MIG anywhere locally so I had to go for a bottle of CO2/Argon mix.

I then discovered I don't like MIG welding with CO2/Argon, it's crazy how different changing the shielding gas can make it.

It almost seems like it strikes an arc from the wire to the surface and melts the wire into a blob and the surface into a puddle without the two coming into contact with each other unless you really move it around and push the wire in there?

I've asked work to get hold of a big cylinder of CO2 from BOC instead of pissing around with these poxy disposable things, so hopefully I won't have this trouble in the future.

I'll grind the welds back and make sure they penetrated properly, and re-do them once I've had some more practice with this gas mix. Any advice gratefully recieved!

Peace.

[spedwing]

Nice job 🤙


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[regcheeseman]

Keep welding with the cogar mix, I use 5%. It welds better and stronger. Pretty sure you are not allowed to weld with straight co anymore. Check polarity, turn the feed up and current down.

Or gripfill those battens in place, quick spray of underbody seal and jobs a goodun, you are using pressure treated so it'll be fine.

[damont4]

Agreed mix is miles better straight co2 is shite splatters everywhere although is cheaper I think just mess about with your settings and u will love the co2/argon [emoji106]

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