The Robo Family Ride, affectionately known as Molly!

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by Robo, Apr 9, 2012.

  1. It's all happened so quickly, I had settled on buying a T5 van in the next couple of years to convert into a weekend getaway camper for my family!

    A mate who's brother has a Westy had been going on about a camper which had been restored but the owner who had owned it for the last 14 years part way through the resto had been taken poorly and was struggling with his health, he was no longer able to drive and wanted to sell it.

    I was still set on having a T5 and didn't show much interest until his brother said no he was sticking with his bus known as Trevor and didn't want another, at this point I said send me the picks and details.

    These are the pics I received!

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    How could I not go and see it, so we arranged to drive up to the restorers workshop to view it, the chap was really helpful and agreed to meet us on a Sunday so we could take a look.

    They collected the camper from the previous owner late 2009 and started the resto in 2010, by the time it was completed the po had taken ill and it stood tucked away in the back of the workshop until we (The Robo's) agreed a price and a mate went up to collect it with his trailer.

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    My daughter named her Molly and the day she arrived we shot off down to see Ray who I knew back when I had my Bug and he's owned & restored numerous VW's for over 30 years. The reason for the visit was that the restorers mechanic had said she required a new carb but if anyone could tell me then it would be Ray.
     
  2. delilah

    delilah Sponsor

  3. I decided to post my resto thred today as its done nothing but rain and I know how you all like pics, so here's a few more and a bit more of Molly's story!

    The restorers agreed to give me all the pics of the work they carried out, so I sent them a blank USB stick, here's a selection of what they did.

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    I have more but I've left them at work...


    Well Ray took a look at her lump which started and ran smooth but had a bad case of clutch judder and lacked the power to get out of second gear, Ray agreed to strip & re-build the engine as he believed the carb was fine but that it needed to be re-ringed, we agreed a date and drove her home. We pulled into our street and a drive shaft came off, bugger!

    It appeared that all the drive shaft bolts were only finger tight, so I ordered new with washers and replaced the lot the following weekend.

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    She sat on the front of the house until we went on our jollies last week and Ray was having Molly to do the necessary!

    That's my daughter Katie & my son Charlie, they both love Molly, every time we go out my lad says bye bye Molly and every time we come home he says hello Molly...
     
  4. Went to pick up Molly Sunday and there was some good and bad news, compression test confirmed the worst and as the engine was an old re-con he couldn't get the rings as they were oversized ones he needed, so Ray had pulled a set from his shed which by the way is an aladins cave of aircooled bits, he re-ringed them and re-built the engine with all new seals and rubbers etc.

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    I'm now sorry I hadn't taken a before pic of the engine because it was caked in old oil and the transformation is amazing...

    Well I took her round the block and she pulls really well, Ray kept jumping out and tweaking the carb and timing until Molly was running and pulling really well, still had the clutch judder so the engine has got to come out again but were saving that for in a couple of weeks!

    We also need to sort the clutch conduit as the brackets have corroded and broken loose, probably from all the clutch judder!

    Took a few pics outside the house yesterday with her new stainless grille and clear indicators.

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    The list of jobs to do is endless and with a small budget I've battered eBay and bought plenty of bolt on bits, bought one of Rusty Lee's full width rock and roll beds as the existing interior is not really useable as the previous owner had tinkered and modified it beyond standard and wasn't suitable for our needs as a family.

    I will have to take a pic of Lee's bed as I am very happy with the quality and it went in with the new seatbelts a dream, eventually! The seatbelt instructions were rubbish...
     
  5. cool pics mate looks like a good un
     
  6. Nice jaffa n white ,join the club.good work.
     
  7. best thing about it youve got pic proof of all the work O0
    cant wait to see the rest
     
  8. Nice looking bus dude

    You will find the clutch judder is most likely because the conduit has broken away
     
  9. foe

    foe

    very nice :thumbsup:
     
  10. Yes the conduit has broken away at both ends Para, Ray was about to attack it with his welder but then proceeded to sheer the knob off his gas bottle and you will probably guess it was off so we strapped up the rear end with a jubilee clip to get me home!

    I've arranged to go back in a couple of weeks to sort the tube and fit a new clutch & replace some bushes on my porridge spoon of a gear stick lol!

    Should I still change the clutch?

    Must admit I loaded up the family and we took a drive from Leicester to Hinckley to visit my sister which is only 15 miles each way from my gaff, I was so nervous and excited at the same time as the only other time I had driven her the drive shaft came off!

    I had a stupid grin on my face all the way there and back, other than the clutch judder she ran well however I'm a little worried about the gearbox as third and fourth are noisy, fourth is especially noisy but I have nothing to compare it too as I've not owned an air-cooled VW for over 10 yrs!

    Can't wait to get out and about in her over the summer, we're definitely going to have a run out to Stanford Hall with a shopping list (not camping this year) and it would be great to meet up with some of you guys if your in attendance! Is there a club area arranged?

    Our original plan was to be ready for the bus stopover but with the extra work required to the engine I've spent the cash I had on one side for the foam for the r n r bed so were covering some old cushions scrounged from an old caravan but just enough for the seat!


    Anyway back to the work in hand, me and the misses have been unable to agree on what colour / pattern material to re-trim the interior panels until we visited a little shop in Hunstanton last week and went and bought a load of this:-

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    I'm still shocked that the the misses even pointed it out as she had previously been looking at floral and spotty designs!

    The temporary seat cushions will be covered in a plain material to match one of the two lighter colours of the camo print...


    Soooo many little jobs to do I'm not sure what to do first lol!
     
  11. Great bus :)

    looks very solid and shiney 8) ..........dont think they are ever finished though ;D

    great story, K+ for posting :)
     
  12. Well the misses dragged me to the Nottingham idea tonight to look for some fabric to cover our rear seat cushions, she bribed me with meatballs for tea so I happily went along with it!

    Well we found a colour which goes nicely with the camo print but I managed to mess up the measuring and cut more than needed, oops! Well they weigh the fabric and then hand write a ticket which doesn't work on the self scan till. A lady helped me but somehow I only got charged for one metre! Bonus, we had an ice cream on the way out to celebrate!

    Here are a few more of the resto pics I was sent from the company who did the bodywork for the previous owner!

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    It was my first day back at work today after a week in Hunstanton & my speakers had arrived, looks like I'm going to be busy this weekend! I really hope it doesn't rain as I want to get cracking on the interior!
     
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  14. Saturday turned out to be a nice day and with a lot of TLB'ers nearby in Lutterworth it got me and the Mrs motivated and we got stuck right in!

    I set to with fitting a board to the front of my Rusty Lee R&R full width bed and mounted a set of 6x9's with boxes on the back so I can still store gear under the bed without killing em!

    A pic before:

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    Mrs Robo got stuck into covering Molly's panels including my new speakers panel, we are very happy with the results:

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    Other jobs completed this weekend:-

    Re-keyed the deck latch as previously no key ( thanks to a how to on TLB )
    Sliding door seal fixed in with clear silicone ( kept falling out )
    Speedo cable re-fitted into front hub

    I have a big pile of interior panels re-trimmed & ready to re-fit thanks to Mrs Robo x

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    They turned out better than expected!

    I remembered to take before pics of the interior so we could compare, here they are!

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    Can't wait to get the newly trimmed panels fitted!
     
  15. Well unless something else falls off were just about sorted for our first family road trip to a VW show in Molly, Stanford Hall in a couple of weeks!

    We had to chuck a new clutch in at the weekend as the judder was too much for my engine mounts to cope with, I also fitted new mounts while the engine was out. It would have been rude not too!

    We have still got to get some Dinitrol wax seal stuff that my mate gave me blasted into the bottoms of my currently rust free area's then I'm insulating and fitting my newly trimmed panels which I must say Mrs Robo has done a stirling job on!

    Hopefully I shall have some more pics to add after this weekend...
     
  16. Nice one :thumbsup:

    Hoping to get to Stanford as it's not that far from us so will keep an eye out

    Mr B
     
  17. Anyone who can repaint a van with a whiteboard marker gets my vote.
     
  18. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    looks good mate, coming along well!
     
  19. Looks lovely and guessing you got it at a good price! Is nice to see pics of the proof of the resto too! It had some work done! :D

    Looks like a front hinged westie, earlier sliding door and fuel flap, so bit confused by its reg. Is it an import?
     
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