meshking

Steels re-use admirable!  I have a couple of bits of retired railway which have a similar second life... 👍

Managed to grab a couple of hours on the car today. Unfortunately it's about 40 degrees in the garage as it has a metal roof. Should get round to some insulation some day. Anyway - what did I get up to?
@Skizzerput me onto, beside his own awesome YouTube channel, "make it kustom" created by a Canadian who shows how to fix and make panels without a complete workshop of tools. Much more up my alley. So, inspired to bash some metal, I worked out that I should be fixing this section first:

Bit of cad

Bit of reuse of offcuts from the steels used in my house extension

Leaves us here

Happy with that for a first attempt. Might try and put a bead in the middle for a bit of strength.

Managed to grab a couple of hours on the car today. Unfortunately it's about 40 degrees in the garage as it has a metal roof. Should get round to some insulation some day. Anyway - what did I get up to?
@Skizzerput me onto, beside his own awesome YouTube channel, "make it kustom" created by a Canadian who shows how to fix and make panels without a complete workshop of tools. Much more up my alley. So, inspired to bash some metal, I worked out that I should be fixing this section first:

Bit of cad

Bit of reuse of offcuts from the steels used in my house extension

Leaves us here

Happy with that for a first attempt. Might try and put a bead in the middle for a bit of strength.

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

Thread update : a new project vehicle has been purchased and this needs to get driven to my lockup. Luckily, it's nearly done!
It's not concours, but tbh it'd be triggers new broom if I got it anywhere near that standard. "Good enough" or "that'll do" were the motivational words in my head.
 

So where did I get to on this?
Is currently sitting on a new chassis, engine in and running 

This work took sometime as I managed a change in job and dealt with the loss of my father. This meant that certain things left in the garden had begun to return to nature

Here, my grapevine has decided it prefers french vans to cling to. Understandable.
Spring cans were knackered, so can was replaced.
if anyone wanted to see inside an Acadiane spring tube, here's your chance:
 
naturally, separating a van from it's chassis wasn't completely straightforward but we got there.
Dirty carb into the ultrasonic cleaner helped running. 

And it's nearly there. The plan for the last month or so has been to utilise a traveling mechanic to get it into a fit state, since my spare time doesn't contain much spannering at the moment.
 

So where did I get to on this ? It's been sitting unloved, but occasionally poked at in my garage. I did consider a BMW swap, and purchased an engine, but realistically I think that level of engineering is beyond me. When I removed the old engine, I realised the chassis was far worse and hence put in an order for a new one:

Then got the body up:

Before realising I couldn't get the body high enough to clear the tyres without it hitting the garage roof.  I therefore present the patented meshking wheels - OSB3. I guarantee everyone will be rolling these next season.


 
So here we are:

Now the simple task of stripping the chassis, rebuilding the bust spring can, and building the new one up. Whilst dealing with a new job. Easy huh ?

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

Thread update : a new project vehicle has been purchased and this needs to get driven to my lockup. Luckily, it's nearly done!
It's not concours, but tbh it'd be triggers new broom if I got it anywhere near that standard. "Good enough" or "that'll do" were the motivational words in my head.
 

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

Thread update : a new project vehicle has been purchased and this needs to get driven to my lockup. Luckily, it's nearly done!
It's not concours, but tbh it'd be triggers new broom if I got it anywhere near that standard. "Good enough" or "that'll do" were the motivational words in my head.
 

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

Not too much activity, although I've done a bit of prodding followed by a lot of sweeping up the rust that falls off!
Couple of bits of French repair found, nice bit of riveting:

And a fist sized lump of filler where the toeboard should be.
I've braced the shell now, so I can start to work methodically. Most likely will be that I need to weld exactly where the bracing is...

We made it! 430 miles and a lot of fuel, and was flawless.
 
(The exhaust did fall off the hanger leaving the venue yesterday, but we were able to get it back on 🤣)

Drums! 

Because all roller painted vans are the same colour!

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

As the foo fighters sang " Done, done and I'm on to the next one "
Drove the van to my lockup and tucked it in:

With a hole in my garage, the itch started again. Definitely not encouraged by @Skizzer @320touring @Kiltox and @RobT, one copy of 2cvgb later, a couple of phone calls and today this arrived:

Definitely needs some work - but it's honest. Chassis is solid (genuinely, not acadiane solid) but the floors less so. 
So what is it? It's the Citroen a series that I haven't owned - 1967 Citroen Ami 6 Break. My wife was ecstatic* to see it arrive today.  Doesn't look great now, but look at it - just needs a bit of love.

Bench seat at the front, single spoke wheel. Lovely. I'm a happy bunny. Friday has been taken off to start stripping the interior out and forming a plan of attack.

I painted my acadiane with rustoleum, but I sprayed it. I used rustoleum thinners rather than white spirit. It's the second vehicle I have painted - the first was my orange 2cv which was rollered with white spirit thinned rustoleum. I would prefer to use the correct thinners, it's not that much difference in cost.

I painted my acadiane with rustoleum, but I sprayed it. I used rustoleum thinners rather than white spirit. It's the second vehicle I have painted - the first was my orange 2cv which was rollered with white spirit thinned rustoleum. I would prefer to use the correct thinners, it's not that much difference in cost.