Another green laner build

I recently purchased a 2001 Jimny auto as a more comfortable green laning alternative to my trials car. The trials car is remarkably effective off road even though it is 2WD and runs road tyres but the lack of doors makes it pretty uncomfortable in the winter.When I first looked at the Jimny I spotted some rust and dubious patches but the price seemed right. After getting it on the lift and attacking it with the rust finder 9000 (needle gun) things started going downhill fast. First the rear wheel arches. Left hand rust cut out ready for patching
With patch. I really need more practice welding bodywork. It's been a while since I worked on steel this thin. 0.6mm wire would probably help but the smallest I have here is 0.8. 
The right hand side had been patched but I couldn't stand seeing the family of dead caterpillars masquerading as welds. It had to go. Here it's nearly ready for teh patch.
The welds may not be pretty but at least they are solid. 
Right hand rear outrigger next. It didn't look too bad until I attacked it with the needle gun and cut out the reinforcing gusset (aka mud trap).. 
After staring at it a bit I decided the best route was to cut it all off and start again. Most of the cup could be saved but the rest was toast. After adding some steel:    
And glued back on the chassis
 

On to the middle outriggers. Both had badly rotted gussets. The chassis behind the gussets was pretty thin so I pad welded it to build up the thickness. Looking closely at the way the gussets were originally attached I'm not convinced they added a significant amount of strength. I don't think it's worth replacing them. What do you think?
 

Let's have a poke at the left rear outrigger. The gusset was toast but otherwise the outrigger was not too bad. After building up a few thin areas and adding a new gusset:

Hmm, the inside of the rear crossmember looks a bit scabby but the outside looks solid. Let's see what happens if I poke the needle gun down there. Umm, that's not good. The rust finder 9000 strikes again.
 

Let's try the other side. Yikes! That's really not good. I think if this was left I'd have had a rear shock poking through the floor and saying hi within a few months.
 

The panhard mount brace is looking a bit holey too.
 

The previous owner attempted to make a new rear panhard rod, with 'interesting' results. I have no major issues with a fabricated panhard rod but if you're going to do it, at least try to do it right.  I don't know what the bushes were off but they only had a 8mm hole and bolt  instead of the original 10mm. That doesn't inspire confidence. 
 
The rod itself seems to have been made from two pieces of U section door runner welded together in the middle! 
Not sure if I will make a new panhard or buy a second hand one. Anyone in Devon with a spare rear panhard?
 

You look to be having fun and have the job in hand......A chap called Wayne Thompson is probably the nearest Jimny breaker to you.... Or J999PRE aka James Priestley can post one too.

Thanks for the names of possible sources for a replacement panhard.

Good to see another one saved from the scrap.

Nice welding lad. What are you using.

It's a Portamig 281, about the biggest you can get on single phase. It's great for fabrication work but a bit violent on the thin stuff. The torch is also a bit clumsy for body work. I have a smaller 150A torch on order, which should make life easier.

Got a bit more work done this afternoon. The only thing I could do with the right hand side of the rear crossmember was to cut out the worst of the rot then drive in a chunk of pipe that fits inside the original pipe. It's welded both sides of the chassis. The rot in the panhard rod brace is also fixed and the stupid gap above the brace filled in. For some reason the driver's side of this truck has significantly more corrosion than the passenger's side. Normally it's the other way round.
 

The left hand side of the crossmember is just patched.  

I pointed the needle gun of doom at the upper spring mounts and to my surprise they are solid with no welding needed. The only other chassis welding was a small hole in one front outrigger. As far as I can tell the chassis welding is done. Unfortunately the previous owner sprayed the chassis with stone chip, which lives up to it's name. It chips as soon as a stone hits it. I spent a pleasant few hours needle gunning it off. When the time comes I'll be using schutz to replace it. That stuff just smears if you hit it hard.

While it's up in the air I need to look at some way of protecting for the transfer case without compromising ground clearance too much. I'm thinking a tubular frame as I don't like the way flat plates collect mud.

Les found the wire wheel on a 9-inch angle grinder works as well. Im in two minds about giving the chassis a shot of Schutz . I watch your build and see how it comes up .

I find the needle gun gets into corners better. I also used a wire wheel in some areas.
As far as schutz is concerned, that's what I used on the floor of the trials car. It doesn't have huge ground clearance so the floor regularly gets dragged over rocks. Most of the schutz is still there which is pretty impressive.

Have to say I love the needle gun as well, gave the power steering box a lick of it this evening and had painted it before fitting tomorrow evening .