P1030985 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

I borrowed a chassis from the guy that has been doing the work on the Dyane, recon gearbox etc.

P1030986 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

P1030987 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

it's been a chassis too long.

P1030990 by Robndaisy, on Flickr
P1030991 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

P1030993 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

Shopping list time for new panels, gonna be pricey.

What chassis?

You might need specialist tools....

Flamin' door hinge pin sheared off this afternoon, the screws have an anti-tamper head on them, I'll have to drill the heads off and replace with normal ones I guess after I repair the pin. This rusty old wreck keeps giving.

P1040007 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

drilled the heads off, this is where the hinge sits.

P1040009 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

The threaded backing plate that the hinge is screwed to goes in through the narrow slot.

P1040012 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

The left hand side and that pin looks dodgy as well.

P1040011 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

Can't even see the slot because of all the sealer they put in, a lot of it and of course after all this time the moisture got in.

P1040006 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

So this is it and I'll repair and renew the backing plate which has a tab welded to it so one can hold it in place whilst fitting the screws. The pins are all rollpins , don't know why they have split pins inside them though.
Anyway, I can't carry on rough fitting the body panels until I've fixed it as I need to make sure the doors will fit, which they don't now I've removed so much of the rotten metal. I'll get there just like I did with the AZU.

this kind of splitpins (a long version) are also used in the bonnet hinge.
Couldn't you drill out the pins?

No because they are made from spring steel, hollow with a split down the side, an interference fit in the hinge bracket. I might replace it with a solid bar and weld it at the underneath.
I tried to put an image of one on here but don't know how to

Oh that kind of pin, normally they can be tapped out with a drift...

Yeah I did after warming it up a bit.

P1040017 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

Found a suitable solid 6mm. pin, sliced the bracket and pressed the pin in and then welded it up, it will see the van and me out

P1040018 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

As you can see, the door is in pretty bad shape, I may use the one's from the Dyane as pattens when I start fitting and welding sills etc. just to help alignment. I may look for replacement doors, not bothered if they are Acadiane doors.
P1040019 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

The tab on the threaded backplate, which I remade helps you line the hinge up.
P1040020 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

Now where was I? Oh yes, fitting the doors...

P1040021 by Robndaisy, on Flickr
P1040023 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

P1040022 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

The panels are fitting well, not much to fit them to the bodyshell yet, Righthand door lines up great because ther's still a remnant of sill left, lefthand side has dropped and the sill has bailed out mostly, and will need wringing, twisting etc. to get it in the correct position, this could take a while...

P1040028 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

After the snow I had to reinforce one side of the tent, that meant that the van had to be easily moved around. Cheap casters welded on seem to work.

P1040026 by Robndaisy, on Flickr

It's getting cosy in here, nice to have a dry space.

Off on a collection next Monday, three hours from here in Wiltshire. I was told about a galv. chassis for sale. It has a van on top of it though so it's funny how things begin to escalate as the project develops. Luckily there's no engine or gearbox which will make pushing it up onto the trailer a gas . I may take some rope and pullies to try and make things easier as my mate and myself are in our seventies and starting to feel our age!