Mk1 VW LT 35 Tipper Truck 'Lucky Lloyd'

Thanks Norman 👍🏻 
Yeah, the cold certainly slows progress down. I'm sure I'm not the only one when I say that I can't wait to see regular updates from your thread once again. Progress was going strong, it would be a shame not to continue with it as you've done so much. But then I totally understand that other 'stuff' gets in the way and when you've spent some time away from a project, it can be really difficult to find the enthusiasm to get going again. But once you do, it'll all be worth it 👌🏻 
Dan

😁😁.....yes...it's heavy. I thought the tent roof was going to give up at one point.....it's only thin tubing!

Genius on the shrinker.

All the test fitting makes it feel like a Victoria’s Secret photoshoot

Well done, once again, you just keep impressing, surprising and making me want to share it all.

Thing is, just about any LT of this age is likely to be similarly rotten, or repaired previously. And depending on the quality of repairs, I'd often prefer to be repairing an original structure rather than something which has already been welded. My LT repairs have been very functional in comparison with yours!

I've had a situation where I needed to do some shrinking in a weird spot too, and this is what I came up with.

Changed it into a hand held shrinker (temporary, just for that one job)

It was a bit heavy and awkward, but it worked...

Brilliant!!.....if I had the money, I'd buy doubles of some of my tools just so that I could modify them for specific tasks.

I know what you meant about the weight of the smaller shrinker/stretchers.....they are surprisingly heavy.

I couldn't of said it better myself 👍👍




Right.....might as well continue to catch up with my updates.

Now......this next part was a bit painful. It's one of those situations where if it's not done now, it'll come back and bite you on the backside at a later date. I'm talking about the main structural bar/panel that runs across the front of the truck. I could see that it was rusty and needed attention, but it sits under the front panel. There was almost nothing wrong with the front panel, but it had to come off. I didn't try and save it as front panels are available for these LTs....through the right channels! I found myself having to give in and join Facebook, as the chap selling them wouldn't deal with me unless I had my own Facebook account. I felt quite proud of myself up until this point for not doing so for all those years. Not saving the front panel was a decision I'd later regret, due to the poor quality of the new panel. 

It was removed a while before any of the cab work was done, but I thought now would be a good time to mention it as you might wonder where it had gone when reading the rest of todays update....if you know what I mean.


Some pictures of when I removed it.....not many unfortunately........


















So.......we go back to finishing what was started in a previous update.

This bit......









While cutting away parts of this area, I notice that the rot had travelled up the seam between the door shut and the wing. So I ordered a new wing for £65 and removed the original one...































Then finish that repair....... 











While I was there , I finished/went back over the welds on the step that I wasn't happy with the first time round......







Then once everything had been de-rusted...blasted....and degreased ( sorry...no picture evidence of this....but it was definitely done )...it was on with a few coats RustBusters Epoxy Mastic....





















Key up the back side of the new wing and splat some on there.....









Then once it had 24 hrs to dry, on went some topcoat.....















Then on to some trail fitting of the new front wing....











......and that's where I'm going to leave for today, as once again I am tasked with tonight's dinner!!

Thanks for looking in....

Dan.
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But hold on there just a moment......this week has seen me getting involved in something non car related.

I feel compelled to show it off here due to a certain cake munching, tea drinking fellow forum member......teaboy

Now 15/16 weeks ago, my name was added to list of peoples names that decided that 'we' ( most of my work colleague's ) should all have ago at our own version of ' The Great British Bake Off '. Each week, someone on the list would bake sweet or savoury treats for the rest to judge. All voting is kept under wraps until the end, where one of us will be declared the winner!! It's been a lot of fun and there's been some exceptional bakes. I was number 14 on the list......last week was my turn.

I went with chocolate éclairs. Choux pastry with a vanilla and white chocolate crème patisserie filling and a milk chocolate glaze to top them off.....all homemade of course.

I made 29 of them and as you can see, they started to disappear quickly......which was a good sign.






And a close up.....especially for Mr Tea







The results are due in the next few weeks


Anyway.....enough of that.....I shall now pass all cake related matters back to Mr Tea 👍


That really is all for now folks....more soon.

Dan.

Those eclairs look well fabricated.

Are these from Arek? I was wondering what they were like.

Thanks 👍🏻.....they were certainly very well deconstructed once they got work last Wednesday 😁

Yes....it was Arek that sold it to me. I've had a quick look through the Facebook group to see if anyone else has had the same or other issues with them...but I can't see anything. First off...it had a blinking great dent right in the middle and right on the swage line. I'll assume that was done in delivery. The indicator reliefs on both sides were not formed properly. Especially the thin part that's under the indicator. Also, there was a stress dent just before the indicator relief on the left hand side. That had to be shrunk out. The worst thing was that when I clamped down on one side, the other side popped up by a few inches and was way out of line. Then as you try and force the popped up side down, it would buckle in the middle and form a huge dent all the way across the front. It took a LOT of work to get it the right shape and sitting correctly. Now....I understand that a bad panel is better than no panel, but when I had the opportunity to save the original, I was a bit gutted. Especially as it took we way longer to sort the new panel than it would of done to unpick the spot welds on the original. Maybe I was just unlucky with the one I received....I think I had the Friday afternoon version! 🙄🙄😄😄