Ford FAT No.9 Restoration

[Phillip]

All the fun bits are finished for now and its into the more mundane task of welding everything together.

• Spare wheel holder had some deep, very deep rust craters that needed to be welded and then dressed flat;
• The very rear off-side piece of angle iron and some more angle was replaced thanks to another piece of the caravan bed.
• The holder for the ground anchors (does anyone know where you can find these) straightened, rust cut out and new piece of plate welded in.
• The body had been unbolted from the chassis and it looked like hay forks were driven through the side and it was simply tipped off - in doing this they had bent a shelf floor and a few bits of angle iron. I did not want to replace them unless I had to, so set about with some heat and a hammer. So I discovered it is not easy to straighten heavy angle iron! Time and heat, then more heat = results.
• Finally, managed to drive out the door hinges for the middle locker so now have all three ready for stripping and repainting. These are good condition and should reveal some of the original colour underneath.

I've hopefully found a mobile sand blaster so all I need now is a few fine days to get the body outside and blasted, ready for re-skinning.