The van formerly known as "Tootle"

Only done a few bits and bobs the last couple of days. Fitted the rear hatch and sliding door seals (grey squishy ones) which fit perfectly. The sliding door doesn't fit quite as well now though, hopefully a bit of time and the seals will settle in a bit.

I also fitted the track covers, as its a converted panel I've done this before the windows to save wrestling them past the seals.


Then I filed the excess filler out of the washer jet holes.

I've also got my engine bolted to my home made Heath Robinson bench mount so I can rotate it when I give it a freshen up.

 

Got an email to say my new dormobile roof bellows will arrive tomorrow so I started cleaning up the support hoops, I should have done all this whilst the van was at the paint shop but I got lazy with no van there! I need to clean and paint the lifting arms too. The hoops were pretty bent and being aluminium were covered in white oxidisation.

Here's one of them done, I forgot to take a picture of them all done but you've seen one you've seen em all!


They aren't perfect but they are straight, clean and smooth, that's good enough for me.

My old roof bellows will be up for sale as soon as the new one is fitted, it's white and blue striped pvc with no damage whatsoever, it was only on the van for a couple of years before I bought it but sadly it has to go as it's the wrong colour.

 

Oh many a happy time I've had straightening poptop hoops - those were mangled! Nice job. I think they are steel aren't they?

 

I just assumed not because of the white powdery stuff on them and the fact they weren't rusty, probably the only part of the van that wasn't

 

My new pop top material arrived so I'm focusing on getting that fitted and the roof cap up where it belongs instead of taking up loads of room on the workshop floor

I stripped all the parts off the roof vents and and lifting struts, I would have liked to replace all this stuff with new from dormobile but it's so expensive and this is all perfectly serviceable really

I went to my mates workshop and used his shot blasting cabinet and gave everything a clean up

It all cleaned up quite well and is now ready for a lick of paint. I also fitted some clear indicators which look much better to me, they are courtesy of @paneropaul who is a member on here and very kindly sent them in the post in exchange for my old orange ones.

 

Loads better with the clear on.

 

More boring stuff really, just painted the skylight parts and re-fitted them, painted the long internal pop top handle, fitted the roof hinges and assembled the lifting arms.

Everywhere that bolts go through pop top parts I'm putting sealant in an attempt to have a leak free roof!
I also straightened and cleaned the strips that hold the pop top material to the roof, typical before and after.

When screwing the new pop top hinges on I was reminded of how much repair this area needed, it turned out pretty good in the end.
I've got all new seals for the roof and new material so hopefully the next update will be of a nice looking leak / mould free roof that doesn't stink like a dead rat anymore.

 

Looking fabulous.
They are complicated roofs but worth the effort IMO.

 

It's amazing how much time gets swallowed by cleaning up and painting all the little bits before assembly
It will be worth it in the end though
Keep up the good work

 

Your not kidding mate, I'm not gonna go all out for perfection but I can't bring myself to bolt tatty parts back on after all the work so far

 

Been a while but I'm beavering away when time allows. Dormobile roof is great but don't underestimate the time it takes to totally strip / refurb and rebuild one!

It's not particularly difficult, even fitting the new material, but everything seems to take forever.

Instead of using the original method of bolts with tiny nuts on the roof side retaining strips I used pop rivets, they look a bit more modern and are easier to install on your own. I also remade new aluminium spreader plates and all bolts are stainless steel with dome nuts on, this was a pain in itself as the bolts need to be just the right length to make sure they tighten up, trouble is the roof thickness varies from 4 to 8mm which is just enough to need to trim half the bolts down.

All the strips on the van roof side were attached with stainless steel screws.
This one of my ugly mug is a good one to show that a dormobile roof must be unrivalled for head room, I'm 6ft 4 and can only just touch the high top corner.

I also fitted the skylights and trimmed the inside of the roof in carpet (what a mission this was to do in one piece!) I almost felt like giving up when I had a 2m square piece of carpet draped over me covered in contact adhesive, it just wanted to stick to everything except where I wanted it too! I persevered though and it turned out decent considering the contours and my first time trimming, glad I managed it in one piece. Pic is a bit rubbish but you get the idea!

Just the roof windows to fit now which I will need a hand with as it looks like a pain of a job to do.

 

What a nice bus!!!

 

Yep couldn't agree more

 

So been having lots of things going on in my personal life and been very down lately, but I woke up one day and said get a grip and get on with this bus and get out camping with the kids! I grabbed myself by the balls and threw my self in the workshop for a few days and made some progress.
Windows, all done on my own but I got there in the end.

Went for a slider on the door so the kids don't cook on our two hot summer days a year.

Got some new panel van seals from seals direct, cheaper than mainstream suppliers and have various sizes which I think is important for inferior panel van conversations to seal properly I ran a bead of seal on the van side of the seal to hopefully keep the water out.

Washer tank next with electric pump conversation.

Gave dash some attention next as the stereo hole was pathetic and where the windscreen leaked it was rotten.

 

Nice to have you back bud, some good progress on the van too.

 

Dropped this lot off for powder coat that's getting done free as a return favour.

Cleaned up heat exchangers, exhaust and fuel tank then gave them a lick of paint, hopefully the empi box won't disintegrate before it make it onto the van!
Replaced all the rubber fuel parts, the originals were totally ruined as normal on these old buses
CV joints were stripped cleaned and found to all be ruined, great! More money! I bought the joints and cleaned up the shafts then put back together.

 

Took front beam off next as it's totally rotten
Old chisel, filler and underseal bump stop bar anyone?!!!
That's where I'm at now anyway, cleaning and swapping all bits off old beam and replacing as required.

 

Excellent work

I like that sliding window alot, it looks much better than the normal aluminium frames

 

Real tidy work on here