Thank you for sharing. You could in hindsight drill out the spot /plug welds to help separate the two panels. Then fill / weld the holes when new panel is in place. It stops distortion too. I'm no welder but have done similar DIY in the past .
Looking to do something similar on my own T4 and have been waiting a while to find someone brave enough to do it first 😂 great video and well done. You may have inspired me to order the panel from just kampers!
Joel's Stuff fortunately mines a low mileage van that only needs the very bottom where the rear arch meets the sliding door. I say that, I may well cut it out and find a can of worms!!!
Well done. These after market panels are always messi when it comes to the correct sitting. sometimes to big, too small or incorrect bendings. I think you made the best out of it . Thumbs up!
Nice work Joel. Currently tarting up an old special 800 myself and will be looking into metal work after I've got mine running and MOT'd. Have a subscribe :)
Hi Joel.great job there.my t4 front arches not brilliant but just patch up with fibreglass an paint and cover with fender trims for now. I bought 2nd hand welder an rods but my wife doesn’t want me to weld as I lost an eye as a kid.not welding.I wear safety glasses anyway just been under van oiling an painting.all need to decent auto dark helmet to try bit welding .steve in uk
Don't prise panels apart like that , you will distort them. Drill out spot welds, to prevent distorting the flange of the panel, there are special drills for this that just drill one side out, or if you have to drill through , then use a piece of 'non ferrous metal' such as aluminium or brass, behind when rewelding. The weld will only attach itself to the steel!
If you drill thru the spot weld with an 8mm drill bit you can the fill holes back up with weld . For first time fu##in awsome Turned out nice enoff 👍👍👍😜🏴🦄🦕😁✌️🤞
Great job man, well done! I have to do this job soon! is the best place to weld along the groove - in order that less warping happens the panel or would you do it differently if you were doing it again?
Mate, love the channel, and I've only seen a couple of videos so far. What would you do differently on the rear panel replacement now you've done one? Not put the weld right in the groove and put it somewhere else or would you still do that again?
Good question. I thought that the V groove provided an easy way for lining it up in the right place. Also I didn’t really want to cut good original metal out if I didn’t need to.
I use it both with and without gas here. Without gas it’s surprisingly easy. I just use flux core wire and a medium power setting (adjusted to suit the thickness of metal I am welding onto). Good luck!
Good informative video, it makes me more willing to attempt this job. What size welder are you using as in its power. I am considering buying a welder but not sure what to go for and haven't done much research yet .
My welder is a Wolf 140 mig welder (I think it has a 30A - 135A power range), although I’ve never used it above about 60% power. I would be more concerned about wire feed issues, as some of the cheap welders can struggle to smoothly feed a wire through the torch as you are welding (mine is pretty crap). It makes it much harder to weld and harder to learn. Make sure you read up some reviews and get one better than mine. Good luck!
I’m not the best person to advise you - this is the only welder I have used. I’d recommend MIG welding, and don’t go for a mega cheap one. It’s important to make sure the wire feed is smooth and consistent to get a good weld, and the cheap ones can suffer from poor wire feed, which makes them harder to learn on (the welder I have is actually a nightmare so don’t get mine). Good luck!
Hi mate I've just fitted my driver's side arch then noticed the inner arch is about 1 inch away from the new arch and it's fitted perfect,did you come across this
Hi. The whole arch is made up of 2 pieces - inner and outer (confusingly the “inner” sits nearer to the outside of the van, and should fill a gap about an inch or two thick between the “outer” wheel arch and the exterior panel). If all three pieces are set correctly there should be only a gap of millimetres at the most which can be filled with sealant. Without looking I couldn’t say. Good luck!
And it's so easy! Inner fenders, fluid film and steam jet! Greetings T4 ACU 330 000 Bj 1995;) unwelded! Und dabei ist es so einfach ! Innenkotflügel, Fluid Film und Dampfstrahler ! Gruß T4 ACU 330000 Bj 1995 ;) ungeschweißt !
I got them from ebay. I think repair panels are generally like this, you just need to work with what you get. They actually turned out pretty good after a bit of tweaking!
