New developments & repairs on GPA 4928

[bobassel]

Hello GPA / amphib friends

Two months after my accident with my GPA, my personel injuries
are solved!
Because my full insurance and the considerable damage on my GPA
the insurance company agreed that the vehicle went to Bart Holland restaurations.
Bart Holland (in my opinion the best company for this job) was willing
to take this job! :lol:
Today I payed him a visit to see how the repair goes.
I was very glad to see that they do the repairs very able and keep the
originality as original as posible! :D
They took out the complete side panel but they didn ' t touch the original welding points.
The front axle has been repaired and ajusted.
I was shure that I was without my GPA for at least a year but Bart Holland made me very happy by telling me that I have her back at the end of the month :D
On the site of Bart Holland you can see more pictures of the repairs and many other interesting cars.





Greetings Bob

[Mithril]

Very happy to read here that you plainly recover from your wounds.

Great metalwork skill for sure but what is very increbile is the kind of pictures you share. I never saw such kind of undressed (unshamed :wink: ) GPA before. Very strange but interresting.

[GPA2196]

Interesting you chose not to cut down the original panel breaks... was that just to preserve the original weld? When I had to replace part of my rail... I specifically cut there, since the weld was orginally so bad and needs to stay that way.... actually It was very hard for Dennis to reweld that seam since he had to reproduce the very crude weld and unlearn everything he does by reflex LOL....

Cheers,
Tony

[Donovan]

Bob,

This "cutaway" shows two things that I am trying to come to grips with. First, the back side of the floor support (the circles) is one area that is difficult to "blast" and paint. Because I had to do some repair in here, when we opened it up, I removed as much rust as possible and then used phosphoric acid solution to neutralize the paint and then paint with a heavy zinc based primer (used around welds). I hope it works!!!

The other area is the "bump" rail along the top edge of the GPA. I plan to replace portions of the rail but not the whole thing. I have wondered how to remove the rust and then paint inside this tubular part of the GPA. What have other people done?

Bob,

It looks like a very good job and I hope you get it back as soon as possible!!!

Donovan.

[jerome]

Bob

This is such a great picture. As a physician, I can only dream of a "scanner like" set of pictures showing a cut away GPA with a slice every 10 cm. I know it would be a crime :oops: I can see Mithril falling from his chair :evil: ; but it would be such a great restauration tool.

Cheers

Jerome

[Steve Barber]

Bob,

After spending several hours blowing and vacuuming 400 pounds of sand from inside my "bump" rail, I then used a suction wand sprayer and blew POR 15 inside the rail. BTW, I also drilled some extra access holes (y'all don't shoot me!) in hidden areas to help remove the sand and to blow the POR 15 into all the right places. I also bought some swabs that had 1.5 inch fabric balls on the ends of some twisted wire from Eastwood Restoration Products to swab the POR 15 as well as I could. These swabs are designed for similar undercoating tasks. I then rocked the tub from side to side to ensure complete coverage. I then spent several more hours cleaning up the excess POR 15 that was dripping out from inside the rail. Sound like a terrible and messy plan? Yep, you are right!

-Steve
GPA 5510

[gpa430]

Bob

Wonderful photo of a cross section of a GPA!!! But when I remember which GPA this was it is truly sad, considering it was one of the most beautiful GPAs and one of the few I sailed in, too. I don't like to see a photo like that of it. But from what I can see from the photos, and from what little experience I have, it is a truly good 100% job, and I guarantee that when it's repainted, the GPA will forget from what it has gone through.

My GPA's restoration was at a standstill for the past few weeks as I had some other work to do, but will recommence very soon.

All the best

Stephen