The cooker

After a hard day's teaching, I made an early dash for the exit to try to capitalise on the fading light.   Climbing under cupboards and into bed boxes is no fun in the dark, even with a head torch.  After last night's work and my chat with the Auto-Sleepers chap, I was certain I could access the rest of the wheel arch and the rear quarter from behind the cooker.

The scene this evening after last night's work

The first job was to try to get access from the cupboard -  below and to the left of the cooker. The bay directly beneath the cooker with the gas stop cocks in it proved pretty simple.  The screws are all visible and after removing them the panels slip out easily.  However, the propex heater sits directly behind this panel and as I didn't want to remove it at this stage I thought I would try elsewhere.

The cupboard to the left of this, which houses the mains fuses and trip switch proved to be completely baffling.  There is a partition at the back which appears to be held in place by black magic,  so I decided to give it a miss for now and try above.  This proved easier but once again the holy grail of the wheel arch proved elusive.  There was nothing for it but to wrestle with the cooker...grease and all.                                                                
                                                                                                                                                                         

So near yet so far...the scene beneath the cooker with the
propex heater in red and the wheel arch just visible

After a few false starts, I decided that the screws that attached the cooker to the frame would be a good starting point.  I initially mistakenly removed the bolts on top of the hob thinking that the hob would come out first followed by the cooker.  No such luck though.

 After a bit more investigation, I spotted some L brackets cunningly hidden beneath a piece of wood at the front, base of the cooker.   This would need to come out (two screws hold it in place underneath).  Hey presto, once this was out and the copper gas pipe was undone,, the cooker slipped neatly out into my waiting arms - its path helpfully greased by the accumulation of years of bacon butty lard.

The key to success.  Remove this bar and the cooker is yours 

Here the bar is removed revealing the L brackets

Apart from e-coli, the cooker area is lined by what looks alarmingly like asbestos - although the nice chap at Auto-Sleepers assured me that it was something less pernicious.

These panels are easily removed to reveal the Holy Grail - the wheel arches and everything in its immediate environs.  

The cheap insulation stuffed into the panel cavities, was removed to be skipped and hopefully all of the wiring will be able to be moved back during the welding process to keep Big Bess from going up in flames.

Some people have reported that they have had wheel arches replaced without removing the insulation but I'm not sure that I would like to take the risk given that the inner arches might need a spot of welding too.

Removing the cooker lining panels

That's it for the evening.  The final pictures below show the area behind the cooker and the area behind the mains hook up, which as you can see is starting to rust.  I've also been able to check down along the sills for rust and thankfully this all looks to be in pretty good order.

I will now take the van to a body shop to have the damage repaired and then continue to remove the insides and replace the carpets and the panel fabric.  If anyone has any good recommendations for quality fabric, please get in touch

Behind the cooker...I'll add another photo with the insulation
removed when I get the chance

The rust starting to form around the mains hook up opening;