1972 bedford 307

[Mwhelectrical]

Heyy all. I'm Matt from Brisbane, just brought my very first bedford. Has. A fair bit of rust in the panels, looks to have been restored bodily some time in the distant past. Gonna go get some steel plate and start cutting the cancer out tomorrow hopefully. Will try post some pics up. Glad to be part of this site.

[Gordon]

Hi Matt, welcome to BUGA.

Rust ... the good old factory standard option that they all have in common. I was talking to a local old school panel beater the other day. Back in the day he worked for a shop that did all of the work for the local Bedford agent. He remembers replacing rusted out lower rear corners on van's that were less than two years old.

With that kind of pedigree its amazing that our vans are still around.

Cheers Gordon

[Mwhelectrical]

How much rust would you consider too much rust?  I just started at the rear, and it seams it is full of rust holes, the repairs that were done many moons ago appear to be just bog over the top of rust will have to make approximately 5 patches for the right hand rear of the van. Also the guttering is in very ordinary condition.

[rumax]

Firstly, welcome  Mwhelectrical- advice is what you will get a lot of here.
Rust, well that's a good question. Nothing is impossible, but where do you draw the line. Mezzmo had his grit (bead?) blasted first, so he knew what he had.
Personally, it it's in the chassis, I think it's too far gone.  Other than that and it's repairable. Look at what the pom's do with cars.
And it depends on what you do yourself- or feel confident doing. And your timeframe... Some on here are going years and still not on the road.

My old man ALWAYS said look at something not as why you should do it, but why you shouldn't.
And also remember, Ben does fiberglass bits, including, I think, a whole roof.

Nothing is impossible with a CF... It just depends on your level of sanity.     
have a think, then a dream.... and lastly a reality check
Cheers & good luck

Russell
PS there is no right answer.

[BusyKiwi]

Check out my gallery to see what my custom started as - swiss cheese

[Gordon]

Hi Matt, I'm with Rumax. Nothing is impossible if you have either the skill and time to do it yourself or a strong cheque book to pay someone else. Like Mezzmo I took my van back to bare metal and then started with a blank canvas. I managed to find myself a really good metal craftsman who was prepared to put my van in the back of his workshop and work on it when business was quiet at a very reasonable hourly rate. Took about 6 months elapsed time and actual hours worked came to just under 300 hours and that was for the rust repairs alone. Check out my gallery for some before and after pics.
Don't be disheartened. You will be amazed at what you can achieve. Just take it one bit at a time. Cheers Gordon

[taggraphx]

Hi Matt, welcome

for what its worth I would strip all the paint off first and see what you have, as Gordon and rumax have suggested, then you know exactly what your dealing with, do you have a good work place and tools for your project?, very important if you are going to do all the work your self, nothing worse than trying to work with limited light and at the mercy of the weather, if that's all good then go for it, I have been working on mine now for over a year and still haven't got it in primer yet, and that's not for the lack of trying, fix one problem and then find another, the joys of owning a Bedford, also try and decide how far you want to go before you start the project, sometimes it can be cheaper buying someone's finished or unfinished project and make minor personal changes rather than re inventing the wheel, what ever you decide I'm sure you will have great enjoyment owning a Bedford

cheers
Graham

[Mwhelectrical]

I have a few sheets of steel, grinders, just in the process of borrowing a mig welder off a mate. Decent size shed to work in, and around.I'm a electrician by trade and have played with cars as a hobby over the past few years, I haven't done a lot of panel work as yet.. Have watched a few youtube videos and read a few articles on rust repairs, but perhaps an idiots guide, if anyone knows if such a thing exists, how exact do I need to make my patches, how big/small to make them etc...

[Gordon]

Hi Matt

I spent a good bit of time watching the chap who did my bodywork. What he explained to me is that what you see on the outside of the panel is only the tip of the iceberg as the rust starts from the inside and works its way out. He would start off by cutting out the rust spot that was visible from the outside. He would then stick a finger or hand into the hole and feel around the inner side of the panel to determine how far the rust extended on the inside. He would then cut as far back as was necessary to remove as much of the rust as possible. Next step was to coat what was left of the inside of the skin with a rust inhibitor or oxide undercoat or similar before building the patch. His theory was that if you only patch what you can see on the outside, you are not solving the long term problem. Its a bit like cutting out skin cancer, you need to get it all out or it just comes back.The better the patch fit the less bog work you need to do afterwards.

Save up your old cereal boxes. They can be used to trace out the size and shape of the patch you need. Make a finger hole in the centre so you can hold it in position. Cut to a rough size. Insert in the hole and trace the outline you need. Time consuming, but it works like a charm.

Graham is right on the money. You need to decide how far you want to go. One option is to just do the bare minimum and accept that every year or two you are going to need to revisit whatever is starting to show.

All the best with your project.

Cheers
Gordon

[BusyKiwi]

You can make the best patch in the world but if not welded properly it will turn to custard.

The trick to welding is slow and steady, use 20 gauge panel steel (18 gauge for floors etc) and track, hammer, tack, hammer, cool, tack, hammer, tack hammer, cool ... it is a very slow and boring job but if done properly you'll need very little bog, done wrong you'll not only weaken the panel but will need lots of filler.

If the panel steel used is plain (no coating on it) spray the inside of it with cooper or zinc for added protection.don't use gavlanised panel steel, not only is it a mess to weld to it actually burns off with the heat.
To cool it you can use a wet rag - wiping really fast first wipe then slower and slower until it stops steaming, cooling to fast will distort the panel. You can also use compressed air to cool it, or time (wait for it to cool naturally - bit like watching paint dry), all methods have their pros and cons.

Come grinding time, skim grind it, meaning run the grinder along the weld several times (semi fast) to take the top off and slowly get slower. depending where the patch is, grinding to hard will heat the panel up just as much as welding does and can distort the panel.
when hammering, always use a dolly if possible, if not then very slight taps, even gentle taps with a dolly.

there is lots more but that's basically the basics.