Restoration advice

[Frosticles]

Sound advice Mr T

[GAZ W]

Sound advice Mr T

Take it from me Mr T

[vinny]

Speaking from the other side of those opthalmic needles and 'toys' we have...
I'm one of those chaps that digs out the crap out of folks eyes, strangely the welder at work is my best customer and he has all the right gear ,
Invest in good goggles and make sure they are on! You only get one set of eyes, and there is no transplant option at present

if you thought mine were some dodgy scott motorcross mask they are infact a uvex safety mask that is fully kite marked for face proection against course material, i like them course you can still were a pair of light weight saftey glasses underneath and they are fully sealed with a foam protector around the eye piece and it keeps all the grinding crap from hitting you in the face. thought i would clear this up as i didnt want peeps thinking that vinny was being a silly boy

[Mark M]

i would say have a go yourself. lots of satisfaction when you stand back and look at what youve done.
welding easy enough to pick up. just practice on old metal. you dont need a big power welder. my old one was a 150 turbo. that bit the dust and i am now on a 105amp, which is more than powerful enough. just make sure you get a gas mig, as gasless are useless.
as said above, always wear goggles. i was in casualty 2 weeks ago getting a small bit of metal out my eye. god did it sting when they froze it . and i had goggles on when it went in.
also, the auto-darkening welding sheilds are superb. well worth it.
be prepared to do more work than you think. if you think youve got a small hole to patch up, by the time youve dug around finding sound metal to weld to, you can at least double the original size hole. welding is very time consuming. i can understand why garages charge so much.
im nearly finished the welding to my mex. at the time i was dreading it, but looking back it hasnt been that bad a job. i had very little experiance when i started, but i would probably do another when this ones finished.
i know exactly what my car has had done, not like buying a finished one where it could be hiding anything under its paint.
good luck in whatever you decide.

[Aaron P.]

here are some pics of the o/s sill....as i said its the worst part of the van....wat do ya think? the inner wheel arch i think will need doing as well