Side window prepared

I had a go at the sliding door window today, despite knowing it might rain later in the day. I managed to cut the hole and prep it before I was forced to cover it with a thick plastic sheet to stop it getting wet.

I used the inner skin of the door as a guide to drill holes in the outer skin (see picture). For some reason each hole caused a burring, which although fine due to me cutting it out anyway, has suggested I should use a smaller/softer drill bit in the future. I then used all the outsides of the holes to draw a cutting template. The more holes in the corners = the more accurate I could get them to be.

I then used my trusty jigsaw to cut around the template. I had planed on doing the straight bits from inside the van but the footprint on the jigsaw was too large to enable me to do this. I tried removing the jigsaws footprint too but it was too dangerous to continue to cut this way. So after masking the edges and footprint, I cut the hole from outside the van. I had wanted to cut from the inside as I have learnt that to get the windows flush, the outer skin needed to be slightly shorter than the existing inner skin to enable you to dress it back later. Something which would be easy to do by angling the blade whilst cutting inside. The plan B was to cut the hole from outside the van and 'angle grind' the outer skin back. This went ok but did take a while to angle grind back. The abandoned plan C was to cut the hole an inch too small, then go around it again with an angled blade. I didn't opt for this option as I was worried about the metal drumming and bending with no support.

I then used a hammer (and spanner) to dress back the edges to about a parallel 4mm gap between the skins, being very careful on the corners. The gap was then filed with the Sikaflex I had left from the sunroof and clamped into place until dry. Once dry I painted it with red oxide and white Hammerite paint to seal and prevent rust. All I need now is a dryer day to get the window in and ensure it sets properly.