Panel Van Dent & Rust Hole Removal on Magnum Force #7

Howard makes some more progress on the roof skin repair on his 1977 Ford XC Panel van.
The drip gutter edge has been replaced to allow the roof to be spot welded back on once the new gutters are made.
Howard Astill is building an XC falcon panel van to replace the one he had new in 1977. Howard is no stranger to building street machines with more than 17 major builds for himself and Astill Design customers.
These cars have won hundreds of trophies all over Australia including Summernats Top Judged and Grand Champion. Howard helped the Perry’s win Grand Master in 2017 and BOSSXC was a superstars Super Six winner 2023 and 2024 and Summernats people’s Choice winner.
The Van will be a restomod style build with an old school 351 Cleveland, single rail 4 speed and BW disc bake rear.
The Van was a country car from Nyngan NSW and was delivered with air-conditioning, power steering and rear lift gate. Howard Bought the car at auction in Sydney, it has a genuine 52K on the clock and had been parked outside under a tarp for over 20 years.
The series will follow the restoration and modification over the van in detail as it happens.
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[@davidbell4410]

Great to see more content on the van build starting up again

[@AstillDesign]

Thanks 👍More to come next week

[@leonardgilbreath9004]

As always enjoy watching your videos and how you remove dents and metal working thumbs up 👍

[@AstillDesign]

Glad you like them!

[@MrButtonpresser]

Thanks, this is really great content.

[@AstillDesign]

Cheers mate

[@DaveGregory3298akaDJ]

I hope you guys are teaching some young bloke so your craft lives on because you guys are awesome

[@AstillDesign]

Have worked with plenty over the years, pretty much winding down now.

[@michaelbyrnes7944]

Beautiful stuff perfect panel work

[@AstillDesign]

Thank you

[@Techbitznpcs]

always good to watch how to tackle a repair with what you know and are comfortable with to get the end result.👍

[@AstillDesign]

Very true!

[@tonymontana897]

Thanks for the video Howard. Slowly but surely. 20.5K subs now too ! Woohoo !

[@AstillDesign]

You bet!

[@rexbrown388]

Thanks Howard, I love your videos and have learnt so much about body work and paint watching them. I have loved cars all my life and am nearing retirement, when I hope t restore some of the cars I have aquired including a 72 Ranchero, 3 Karmann Ghias and a 62 Beetle. All the best and please keep it up mate.

[@AstillDesign]

Nice to have you along. Good luck with the retirement

[@billmcintosh1242]

Good to see the process with the roof removal and repairs. Looking forward to the next video! Thanks Bill Mc

[@AstillDesign]

Cheers Bill, thanks for following

[@AlsETypeResto]

As always a no BS approach to body work and dent removal. 👍

[@AstillDesign]

You bet

[@ChrisSullivan-x1h]

Another great video mate, I still have to go back and check out the rest...cheers again 👍👍

[@AstillDesign]

You should! cheers H

[@dtengineering1]

It's a problem when you can't get it up Howard. LOL. Great display of how to remove those dents and the perseverance required to achieve a great outcome. Cheers.

[@AstillDesign]

That’s never been a problem 😂😂

[@BluesShed]

Cheers Howard I'm following the build closely I'm doing an XC Ute ATM Thanks for sharing your knowledge legend

[@AstillDesign]

Cheers mate, good luck with the Ute build

[@petercampbell87]

Becoming a lost art Howard. 👍

[@AstillDesign]

Yeah your right. Still lots of good shops operating in Australia

[@brunohoutwipper4225]

Really enjoyed watching the show

[@AstillDesign]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@cameronalexander359]

Tradies don't seem to be posting vids of how to fix these kinds of challenges. Thanks Howard 👍

[@AstillDesign]

Glad to help, no tradie but plenty of years behind me

[@peterbarnes5930]

Great channel Howard look forward to every episode 👍

[@AstillDesign]

Cheers Peter

[@tamaraburke5681]

Good video Howard

[@AstillDesign]

Thank you

[@michaelbyrnes7944]

I’d love to see you do a 75 TD cortina

[@AstillDesign]

Yeah that would be cool.

[@andygriffiths8647]

Thank you for sharing, good work 🙂👍

[@AstillDesign]

Cheers Andy thanks for following

[@strangecustoms8486]

Lol no tradie but you win all the shows speaks for it self. 😁🇬🇸👍

[@AstillDesign]

😀

[@ryanlove5332]

0.96mm cold rolled is the same as 20SWG steel (0.038”) which is basically what the entire Ford GT40 chassis was built from

[@AstillDesign]

Thanks for the info, my Dad always talked in gauge.

[@matthartley7333]

Thanks For sharing mate

[@AstillDesign]

No worries

[@neilperry2224]

Looking good.

[@AstillDesign]

Thanks 👍

[@davidbarnsley8486]

I turn this on to watch you fix the roof and what comes up as a screenshot on my computer is a photo of boss xc I took at motor ex last year 😂😂😂

[@AstillDesign]

thats cool

[@ja8020]

Thanks Howard really enjoying this series and as has been said I hope you are passing on your knowledge to the next generation as there is not an app for shaping metal. 😂

[@AstillDesign]

That's the plan with the channel

[@tfoot22]

After you deoxidine do you put any type of metal conditioner or something to keep it shiny silver and not rust while you work on it? Thanks.

[@AstillDesign]

Deoxidine is the conditioner, it put a coating on the metal.

[@andrewbaluk1663]

Have found that anything that turns black under phosphoric acid treatment isnt actually metal anymore, rather its now black rust which is hard as anything to grind or wire wheel out.. How do you handle areas that "go black"?

[@AstillDesign]

I’ve been using rusted solutions rust removal gel

[@michaelnoyes4817]

Don't you have a bead roller for doing stuff?

[@AstillDesign]

yeah I have a basic one.

[@darryllspalding9680]

zoom in Steve

[@AstillDesign]

I told him not too.😀

[@timwhalan6417]

👍🏻👏🍺

[@AstillDesign]

Looks like you have been catching up

[@mrozboss]

Howard I'm in fnq our car club fbcc de skinned a xc 4door roof the underframe is perfect for your panelvan project from header panel back if you interested drop me a line otherwise it's going too tip

[@AstillDesign]

Hey mate, the frame on the van is mint, we are just doing drip gutters

[@mrozboss]

Ok the one we have has an awsome frame to and parcel shelf section the roof was deskinned for another project I couldn't believe how good the inner frame was even had primer on it like the day it was made thanks for replying Il try find a good home for it cheers

[@jofat1266]

It's not how I would have done it but anyway

[@AstillDesign]

Yeah always more than one solution

[@gregpaterno1446]

Mr H don't know how you can work with gloves

[@AstillDesign]

Yeah I know, going soft. I like the tig gloves once there worn in.