A restoration for Iris

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by JamesLey, Jul 6, 2015.

  1. Sorry and thanks, bus looks fab by the way

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  2. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    The oddness of this site is part of the appeal. Where else could my post of fitting hubcaps result in 4 pages of responses!


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  3. Hi James, Great progress as ever and congratulations on the MoT. If you are contemplating doing your own upholstery have a look at Chechaflo's brilliant tutorials on U-Tube, not only is his work excellent but the videos are very well done and whilst he uses a professional 'walking foot' sewing machine I have found that good results can be obtained with an ordinary machine as long as the non vinyl side of the material is uppermost.
     
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  4. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Cheers Martin, finally driving it around has made it all worth while! I'll check that YouTube channel out. I've been reading a book on it all but it's hard to visualise from static images. Hopefully getting a machine next month to make a start on it all.
     
  5. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    A long bank holiday weekend saw both the floor and bed go in.

    After work Thursday I was supposed to be meeting a van and man at the local timber yard to deliver a sheet of marine ply, only to find the place shut at 4 (assume they clocked off early for the bank holiday). Feeling a bit deflated I drove home and remembered Sydenhams is right next to my office, so swung in. Convinced the ply wouldn’t fit in my van (hence the man and van being my original plan), however it slid right through the rear hatch with ease:
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    Onto Friday and Saturday and we got the closed cell underlay trimmed down and fitted:
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    Plywood cut to size, sanded and sealed:
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    One large piece to cover the majority of the floor:
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    Followed by two smaller pieces towards the rear:
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    To avoid flexing around the joint I fitted a strip of ply underneath the floor and screwed all 3 pieces to it:
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    Sunday saw the rest of the cargo area carpet go in.

    Stripping the old quarter panels of carpet:
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    Fitting the new carpet:
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    And all panels and bulkhead carpeted:
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  6. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Not quite appreciating how dark it was getting we put the glue down for the floor about 7:15 and ended up putting the first batch of tiles on by iPhone and candle light (I couldn't find any of my torches, suspect I left them down the workshop!) Not ideal but looked great:
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    Finished up the tiles Monday morning when the light was better, complete with 3 coats of polish by Max:
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    And then fitted the Rusty Lee Rock ‘n Roll ¾ width bed:
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    A productive weekend!
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  7. iblaze

    iblaze Supporter

    Looks amazing mate
    What thickness of ply did you use on the floor.

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  8. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Thanks mate. Its 9mm ply over closed cell foam. That's what Madmatz recommended, I got both the tiles and foam from them.
     
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  9. iblaze

    iblaze Supporter

    Cheers mate

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  10. As usual a top job James,how was the rusty lee to fit? I have one arriving soon to fit in mine


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  11. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    A doddle as I did all the trial fitting and faffing last year before I painted, so just had to bolt it in and screw it to the floor!
    As it's a 3/4 width one the mounting plate bolts to the sloping panel in front of the fuel tank which was easiest to do with the engine and fuel tank out.
    There's a good article from one of the camper magazines on fitting them which I used.
     
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  12. Great! My engine is back in now,well hopefully wont be too hard to do,thanks


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  13. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

     
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  14. Cheers I’ll take a look at those


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  15. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    After fitting the wrong hubcaps to the van I’ve now replaced them with a nice set of stainless steel caps that fit properly:
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    I got sent an extra one by mistake (ssh!) so fitted it to the front spare:
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    I’ve been continuing with the van interior over the last month or so. Fitted the rear 3 point belt:
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    And then started learning how to do upholstery. Lots of practice on cheap vinyl, trying all the seams and techniques I’ll need for the van:
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    And as a small project, which would provide good practice for the rear bed cushions, I made the dog a cushion for his box:
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    I made a few mistakes on this first cover so made another which came out much neater:
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    Good enough for the dog at least!
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  16. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    And then onto the door cards. I made a test piece for the rear hatch to get a better feel for running lots of pleats:
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    Then moved onto the real thing.
    Cutting out the fabric (Schnauzer to hold the fabric still):
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    Marking out the pleats:
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    And following a few evenings of sewing and glueing, a complete set of door cards:
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    I fitted them today. Lovely Jubbly!
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  17. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    those door cards look superb, very nicely done!
     
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  18. Lovely job James! You're a man of many talents.
     
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  19. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Max's choice of colours. Glad I trusted her as they really suit the van.
     
  20. MorkC68

    MorkC68 Administrator

    She has good taste, if the door cards look as good as they do, the rest of the interior will be equally as nice!
     
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