Shorty - my 1952 80' Series 1

Just to clear up my comments regarding 'made in India'. I should have written: 'made offshore' which covers all of Asia !

Some of the water pump bearings made 'offshore' are of dubious quality . This I know cos I've been caught out with them - they last a few months and become loose and sloppy.

Troy: a new tailgate should be fairly easy to make .. it really sets off the vehicle too, a nice flat - no dents tailgate. You remove the outer galv. channel and the dome head rivets with an old sharp wood chisel .. rather than drilling them. The middle rib is a 'top hat section' shape .. you may be able to re-use it ... you can drill out the spot welds and undo tailgate . Fold up a new main panel ( you can use steel if you wish .. nobody will know once it is painted) . Then re-asemble by whatever means you have on hand .. a good panel adhesive will suffice, or rivets even. It's not a critical load bearing structural panel in that sense, it just sits there.

Mike

Mike this sounds like I can manage it. My tailgate doesn't have a middle rib section so I shall have to manufacture this bit.
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...008/09/153.jpg
You are right tho; a nice straight tailgate will look the bit ;) I shall need some chain hooks as mine are long gone as they have been ripped out of the main panel of the tailgate.

The tub on my 80" was the usual rough tub.. dents everywhere ,:mad: specially inside where tools and stuff had been thrown in over the years. I came up with a sneaky solution..:angel: I had no hope of getting the original panels straight so. I made up some new panels from thin sheet and stuck them on top of the 'knobbly shaped' ones :eek: I also did this with the front panel , where the seat backs rest . I used Liquid nails and a few rivets here and there. .. you can grind down the rivets level after the adhesive has set . At first glance .. you see nice dead straight panels inside ... it takes a close look to work out whats gone on... no spot weld dimples.

I was going to use this technique on the tub outer/side panels too, but I ended up 'bogging' them.

BTW the Cooma s1 winner also had the sneaky 'hide the rough original tub floor ' trick done with a fake new panel over the top. But I did it first !

Mike

Its not quite ready yet but I am so impressed with it I have to show it off. ;)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...008/09/136.jpg
None of this work is mine. I have to thank Ian so much for this as his work is just great. :D Shorty is going to be looking so good :BigThumb:

a BIG thanks mate.

Hi Troy
please wait until I tell you the size of the bottle of Scotch and the type I like
before you sing my praise.
The bar went to the Gav. people today
Monday will be the day I get it back
cheers
Ian

Quote:

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please wait until I tell you the size of the bottle of Scotch and the type I like
before you sing my praise.

---

Hi there Troy - you have heard of the human fish before - the little fellow can drink.

Wayne

Thanks for the warning Wayne :o

And I was thinking that the only issue was going to be a 'full' Scotch bottle leaving my house ;)

Troy
the big fellow has been seen, one leg after another with 1/2 empty bottle of Bundy in the back pocket
when I was in training, I have left a formal at 0530hrs and kicked the troops out of their far.. sacks, then went back to the mess.
My mess bill looked like the USA prime loan a/c
cheers
Ian

:Rolling::Rolling::Rolling::Rolling::Rolling:
Well said mate ..... Well said

Got into the rust today. From this:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...2008/09/91.jpg
Now we have this. Still needing some work to get it flat as I can beut she is solid and is coming up a treat:
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...2008/09/92.jpg
I did get a bit distracted tho towards the last bit of work on the chassis. So it will have to wait until next weekend. It does need some new internal brackets made before she goes back together; then she''l be right.... ;)
https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/im...2008/09/93.jpg
I'll give the chassis a good clean out this week and spray some decent rust killing stuff inside it before the ends go on. :D