1968 Citroen HY Van/Rust Bucket

All ways liked these vans but I'm not brave enough to take one on as a project

Dave,

I've gone down the route of treating the van like a vehicle a relic should be. Modern products are made for modern metal with a low ferrous content, I'm repairing and replacing rot and then using the very old school technique of hot lead to seal and protect the metal. To top this off I have been able to get hold of a 40 year old drum of under body seal (full suits, respirators to apply this stuff), combined with paints that contain Volatile non organic compounds (yes you can still get them) and mixing the primers with galvanized which is a sacrificial zinc based paint (used on battleships and bridges). Modern products just don't offer the same protection to a old vehicle made from metal that was made using old smelting techniques in impure environments with impure melts. It means it does cost more but does mean the van will never rot. I'll post up some more pics soon.

Right back to updating on the van. This last year has been full of family, work and van times but thought as it is quiet at work I would use the time to post some pics. these are all of the respray and the welding. All of this was done outside as at the time of starting this I had no garage or workshop not even a driveway to park it on. I ended up strike a deal with the chap who did the body work and respray to rent a corner of his workshop and a parking space outside. So lots of cold wet days outside under a van lying on gravel welding.....




Painting done mostly at this point all rust treated some parts were leaded too. I then went to work looking at all the rust on the inside and underneath.

Cool van

Thank you it has been a long road full of many challenges.

There is a gutter that runs the length of the van and where it had been damaged water had pooled rotted the roof and poured down the the pillars into the vans chassis and into the interior of the van. I also noticed some bubbling in the roof bulkhead and so once I had repaired the pillars I set to work on this. Had to cut most of it out and then fabricate a curved section to fit. The roof of the cab and the roof of the van are only folded and glued together along the roof seam it would seem. So I have welded this seam now so stronger and water proof.

Once I had the clearance and the engine was out, I actually had a dry and sheltered space to work. So although I was still outside I was kind of inside..the van. Both support arms had rotted away and there was nothing left at all, the outriggers were toast on both sides and both the back and bottom of the central bulkhead were blown out. Being an amateur I didn't know quiet how to approach all this and did it in smaller sections. I wish not that I had just made up larger panels to make the work a bit easier but you live and learn. I spent a lot of time cleaning and treating the rust, Kurust seems to do the trick I then leaded some places and coated it all with a sacrificial paint called galvafroid. It is used to paint road bridges and has a high metal content so it will rust before the metal underneath does. So the insides of all the bulk heads where possible have been coated and sealed inside.



















I made these outriggers straight bottomed but realised later that the steering box actuall stits under them and they should have a recess and curve up over the space.


















Rusty metal would pour out of ever whole I cut in the chassis.







Somebody had jacked the van up on this side and collapsed the chassis in. I had to cut to whole thing out but the bit was to mangled to even work out what was there before.
So I just made it up.































Yes I know the welds don't look great but they are strong.



Galvafroided the whole thing some of my repairs where over older repairs done years ago. This is where experience comes in I should really have replaced larger sections of the the van at a time instead of over patching. Hindsight! 




















Once the bulk head was ridge again I then had to tackle another issue of my own making. I have had the bright idea to put a Rover 3.5 V8 and Renault UN1 trans-axle gearbox into the van.
So would need more space and the bulkhead would need to be moved. So I went to work with the grinder, welder and a dose of stupidity tempered with a splash of well stupidity.

Stripped the engine only to find one of the pistons was rusted into the barrel.

Such a. Iconic vehicle, I love the way the engine is designed to come of these.