82 CAMPER&BUS
HOW TO
(^08)
Paint / protect
inner panel
Before welding anything
to the back of the panel,
take some time to de-rust
the area and apply some
primer – we used the
Zinc weld through primer
from http://www.frost.co.uk. We
planned to have our gate
blasted when we’d done
the majority of the repairs,
but you could also get it
blasted while it’s in bare-
bones format. Having
chosen to blast later, we
wire wheeled the area and
treated with rust converter,
then the aforementioned
Zinc weld through primer.
(^10)
Cut lower channel
to size
As we mentioned earlier,
Schofield’s supply the
lower channel pieces in
1200mm widths. When
ordering on the phone,
we assumed this would be
sufficient from the memory
of looking at our dro gate.
When it came down to it,
we could have used more
and had to get creative,
repairing some areas with
flat steel, whilst using the
channel section to replace
the worst parts.
With this in mind, we
decided to replace the
lower channel in sections,
so measured and cut the
channel down into two pieces before proceeding and made
sure they fitted the areas where they were going to be welded,
before proceeding to position and weld the hinges. The best
tool for cutting these channel sections down is a 1mm cutting
disc on an angle grinder, followed by a flap disc for making
fine adjustments whilst trial fitting the pieces.
You can now drill the lower channel for plug welding. We
use a 6mm drill bit and drill at one-inch intervals. Drill onto a
wooden block so you don’t distort the panel and make sure to
deburr each hole before moving on to the next step
(^11)
Mark hinge position
Before the lower inner
panel can be welded into
position, you’ll need to mark
the position of where the
hinges need to be welded to.
To do this, place the hinges
in position on the outer skin
and cover with the inner panel
repair section, clamping into
place. You can then use the
other hinge (inverted) and a
Sharpie to mark where the
hinge support fits inside the
channel. When you’re happy
with the position, remove the
lower channel and drill a series
of holes for plug welding.
12
Weld hinge into
place
You can then clamp the
whole lot back onto the
gate and plug weld the
hinge into position –
putting some lateral force
onto the hinge will push
the support plate onto the
lower channel, enabling
you to get a good couple
of tack welds into place,
before plug welding fully
into position.
(^09)
Repair hinges
We decided to repair our rusted
hinges next. After putting an appeal
out on Instagram and Facebook, Lee
at Volksmagic (0121 541 2278) found
a pair of hinges in his yard for a good price. Admittedly, they
needed a little work, but the price wasn’t too bad and we
couldn’t find any others at the time and we weren’t scared
about a bit of extra welding.
We first had to remove the body parts that came attached to
these hinges, so heated them until they turned cherry red with
a blowlamp and undid the screws/bolts. We could then use
the good hinge as a template to make the piece that welds to
the inside of the lower channel – this was virtually rusted away
on one of our hinges. We used thicker steel for this, around
1mm thick that we found in our scrap bin. Be sure to turn the
welder up for this – we opted for ¾ to full power for this to
ensure good penetration.