Bobtail build

looks foookin mint!

looks nothing like her

Thanks for all the support chaps, yeah the finger is a pain in the.... um... finger (???) Hoping to get the body re-attached this weekend so there will be plenty more pics

Damn fine bit o' work there .. love the tug point ..

Damn fine bit o' work there .. love the tug point ..

Click to expand...

Thanks mate, lookin forward to testing it!

Ok quick update, more patchwork today filling holes etc... body is now attached, had to make up several new panels mainly between the end of the wheel arches and the rear body... Anyway heres some more pics!!

The patchwork continues! We figured it was a lot easier to plate several times rather than try to make a single piece in the awkward shape to fit:



Rear end lines up nicely!



Small fires are a hazard of bonded panels....



A bit more lining up...

More plate:



Topside welded, we wondered why the inner panel didn't weld too well... until we realised it was aluminium! oops... The welds along the roof will be ground down before you ask



New body mounts are made from a piece of 'boiler' plate... nice and thick! We cut the original spacers off and welded them to the plate then tidied them up and cut them out. They will probably get a nice bit of triangulation too

We got distracted by making a new rear end for the big old TD5 disco too... A bit of 2x4 box section... cut, shaped, welded, spaced and finished in a couple coats of stone chip! Jobs a good'en!

Anyways... back to the bobtail...

One side finished (nearly) and painted up:



And the otherside... just a bit of finishing on the window line:



A quick check fit of the outer panels:

It's so close I can nearly smell it! quick pic of the test fitted outer panels:



Oh yea.... Next is welding the roof, finishing the boot floor gap and of course finishing the rear body mounts... ok so there's quite a bit left when you write it down! lol

Thinking about the paint next...

whats your day job bud.

Let me guess... don't quit it??! :clap2: I'm a security officer.... so no.. I'm not a welder! The workshop belongs to a friend of mine who maintains commercial plant, due to my accident with the grinder I'm unfortunately resigned to making one handed tea for the lads who are kindly finishing my project

looks really good mate!
i wish i had the knowledge to do that to mine

matty_daak said:

I'm a security officer.... so no.. I'm not a welder!

Click to expand...

Ditto!

matty_daak said:

Let me guess... don't quit it??! :clap2: I'm a security officer.... so no.. I'm not a welder! The workshop belongs to a friend of mine who maintains commercial plant, due to my accident with the grinder I'm unfortunately resigned to making one handed tea for the lads who are kindly finishing my project

Click to expand...

:rofl: just asking, seeing as you have took on this big job. how many hours do you think it will take from start to finnsh. respect for taking on the challange. what made you go **** it , get the grinder out

I dunno really... I was expecting maybe a long weekend, upto a week I guess... Another afternoon on it and the work will be done, that will total about 3 and a half days but thats doing other bits and bobs in between... day one we also replaced an engine in another 200tdi disco and converted it to an auto box instead of the manual one I like projects and having a deadline was a big help, I was working within a week off work! I've been meaning to repair some rot in the back end for a while now but I kinda got bored and wanted to change it about a bit, I'm not too worried about the bodywork anymore since she went on her roof early this year! I think eventually it will go full pickup but for the time being I just wanna see how loosing about 16-17" performs

my bigest reason i didnt bob myn was the rear pannels being alloy n not being able weld them.. well not easily.

This is great !!!Some really bold stuff .The vehicle looks like a Vitara on steroids and viagra

Really great work, pics and commentary mate, props!

Soooooo, er, let's see some pics of the finger then mate!

Mr Noisy said:

Really great work, pics and commentary mate, props!

Soooooo, er, let's see some pics of the finger then mate!

Click to expand...

Yer get your gash out!! :lol: