Moke bodyshell repair

[woodypup59]

Has anyone done major repairs on a Moke ?

We think the bulkhead, inner wings and tunnel are OK, everything else is bad.

But its not quite bad enough to warrant a new shell.

So we're tempted to cut off the back end off and lose front wings & front panel .

Then set the bulkhead etc up on a frame / jig and work from the middle outwards.

Any thoughts ?

[mk1]

Rich & I did this years ago.

m10.jpg

We managed to keep the remains in one piece, but had to replace a huge amount. We had to make our own wings as they weren't readily available back then.

I Moke is a fairly straight forward thing to repair, but it still takes a LOT of hours.

[kit of bits]

Here’s one of mine.

http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?p=229705#p229705

However look at the price of a shell from Moke panels they are excellent and really to go to paint..
D

[kit of bits]

Here’s one done with a Moke panels shell.
D

http://mk1-forum.net/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=23717

[woodypup59]

Thanks folks, some good reading & pictures there.

How important is a long reach spot welder (which we dont have) ? Would plug welding do ?

[MrNoo]

Got one here that I will be starting sometime soon. I've ordered a complete floor, toeboard and inners, back end seems ok on mine, front not too bad, had a bunch on one corner but will get the middle section all done first. Actually really looking forward to it.

[mk1]

We plug welded the entire thing when we did it. Despite having a spot welder.

How the panels fit together is a bit odd & can be difficult to work out if your example is VERY rotten. There is a triangular section that runs down the full length of both sides where the floor, inner side & pannier backs meet up, this is a horrendous water trap when the shell is welded back together.

We made a repair section for the bottom of the inner sides

m47.jpg

Then the floor fits over the lot, the triangular section is under there.

m53.jpg