HJ Panelvan roof turret or floor pan & bulkhead?

[realsteel]

hey all.

On the HJ Sandman I'm slowly doing, what would people prefer to see done It was a panelvan converted in to a ute & now I'm going to convert it back to a panelvan. I've got a windowless HJ panelvan body to do this. Do I consider changing the roof turret on to the original panelvan body or do I do a floor pan & the bulkhead? The donor panelvan has a rusted bulkhead & floor. Also it wasn't a floor shift but has had a hole cut in it for one & it was a bench seat so has no bucket seat holes or floor console mounts.
There is also some rust holes (very few on drivers side & not very big on the top of the ute side along the inside where the roof turret meets but it has not rusted the roof turret panel where spot welded to the top of the ute if that makes sense.

I'm in two minds as the original body where it was cut in the outer panel at the B pillar will have to be cut a couple of inches lower than the ute line on the outside as it really looks half arsed with a overlapped join which had half an inch of bog over it to make it look level (it's a same overlapped join on the inside). I'm leaning towards that outter panel should be butt welded along with the inner panels of the B pillar that will also be gusseted throughout (big fun job). I really need to take some pics showing where the cuts are now & where I propose to make the new cuts which I will in time.

The other option of floor & bulkhead I haven't even looked at how I would do it (would have to be as big of a fun job).

Any idea's?

It may be outside my ability to do either but I'd like to look at it & if I believe I can, having a go at it. If I don't feel comfortable with it I'll end up sending it to someone that I feel is confident & competent to do it. I know it's going to be a long project & somewhat stressful but hoping to eliminate some of the stress & hard work with lots of planning.

[playwme]

If you want to eliminate stress just buy a complete good shell. It'll be the best 3 or 4 grand you'll ever spend.

[Vombil]

If you want to eliminate stress just buy a complete good shell. It'll be the best 3 or 4 grand you'll ever spend.

not where I am... double that and you're getting closer to what you'd need to pay for a good body

[Valencia]

not where I am... double that and you're getting closer to what you'd need to pay for a good body

Aint that the truth

[playwme]

not where I am... double that and you're getting closer to what you'd need to pay for a good body

That sucks. If I double that I'd have to build another shed to keep my new Sandman rust free.

[realsteel]

Been out scratching around & looking again & I think I've pretty much answered my own question in ways. The bulkhead & floorpan while being a quicker job than the whole roof turret on a vehicle that has already been converted from a van to a ute, the amount of work in the rest of the body after the bulkhead & floor was done will be far greater than the body that has been converted once as the already once converted sandman is an inland car & has far less rust in the rest of it & is straight. The one I bought to take the roof off would need so much more done to it after the bulkhead & floor it's just not going to be worth the time.

I also think doing the bulkhead idea I'd be using another HJ to save cutting the sandman body bulkhead & floor out just incase would mean there really isn't any of the original sandman body left it will just be another body on the original chassis if I just use the other body with the roof turret still on it.

So lol roof turret it is. I'll pick apart what was done to convert the sandman panelvan into a ute to determine where to separate the roof turret on the other one exactly where I need it.

At least then I can say "well at least some of it is still the original sandman body" lol.

Nothing like taking on a small job to warm up with! If it wasn't a sandman I wouldn't.

[realsteel]

I wouldn't have wanted to wreck something that was good enough to be put back on the road even if 3 or 4 grand was a possible price for that body. It took a long time to come up with any genuine windowless panelvan bodies let alone 1 that I wouldn't feel bad about cutting the roof off.

[Vombil]

very sound thoughts mate

[realsteel]

Just couldn't do it Vombil. The more preserved the better.

Been out looking at the complete panelvan body that's the donor for the turret & looking at the bulkhead & floor option. If anything it appears like it may be less work than the roof turret. I do wonder about the legalities of cutting the body where I would if I was to replace the whole bulkhead & A pillar along with the floor skin to the seam with the seat bolt holes close to it (underneath it does have all the nuts attached to the floor for bucket seats but no holes through the floor panel itself) & re attaching the rear centre console mount or even going back further to the B pillar seam along the floor.

It would mean unstitching the whole floor panel, then unstitching the sill panel & unstitching the inner windscreen frame upright that goes up to the roof (think I could get that as 1 piece without having to cut it so would only have to cut the outter section). Cutting & re-attaching & good piece from another vehicle, gusset all joins then stitch back on sill & inner roof upright.

To do the roof turret B pillar & C pillar the complete inner B & C pillar should be un-stitched to first remove the turret without damage & also to re-attach the roof turret in the B pillar so it can all have gussets added & joined then stitch the inner B pillar back on again. On the outter B pillar area I am thinking about doing that whole panel from what would be the ute top edge down to just above or even including the fuel filler maybe, so I could have that removed to gusset & weld the inner B pillar. Because it has already been cut along there & would want to cut it fractionally lower & work with virgin steel for my joins than going on the same joins that have been made which I'd be able to get the panels to line up better & not use as much body filler as who ever did the first conversion did.

It's the strongest ways I can see to do this but it doesn't necessarily mean it is correct.

If the pic shows, (just a googled image btw) the blue line is where it is cut now & would be roughly cut again to do the roof turret & the red line shows where I'd be looking to cut it if doing the A pillar/bulkhead section on the still together panelvan body.

side view.JPG

[Wombat7051]

If you have a look at top of the forum you will see a resources and download tab. In there is a HQ van technical drawing that may help with your ideas.