You're flying through this resto, a new potential contender for Resto Daddy? You've got to keep this up for about another 5 simultaneous restos to nick Shielsy's crown!
Been promised the van will be done Monday and is ready for collection on Tuesday Morning – so let’s see!!! So I am leisurely working through the suspension bits – most of it is done now apart from the driver’s rear end – so last night took it to bits and started getting it ready for new bearings – bushes painting & reassembly – The bolts that hold the stub axle on we a pain in the ass to get off – tried the air gun first – no chance- then came the heat – took a while but it worked – This time I am keeping the bolts as they cost a fortune – rang around a few places to get some 10.9 HT fine thread bolts and nuts, but no one does them, they are all course thread for building not automotive – or if they do I have to buy a full box!! – Anyhow – I digress – did the last CV shaft - and after doing the first one I decided to fill the cv joints with grease after fitting them on the shaft as it was a messy job doing it before – so top tip – fit the joints dry (with a bit of grease on the spines) and then fill em up after you have done both ends. Oh yes – got my new CV joints out of the box and someone had opened one of the boxes and opened the packet with all the new Allen bolts and robbed em!! (at least the cir-clip was there)– I hate it when that happens – fortunately I have some good old ones.
I have to replace quite a few bolts on the camper and I found my local nut and bolt supplier did not carry the correct grade of bolt. The normal HT bolts are 8.8 grades – nice any easy cos this is standard But the black bolts on the van are 10.9 Grade with a fine thread – this is a hard one to find. Anyhow ordered some off he normal VW folk and they mounted up to quite a lot of money. I.e. – £4.50 for a bolt So – spent a 30 mins on the web and found this company who seems to sell the correct grade for 80% less. http://www.fixingshop.co.uk/index.php?cPath=1001_1366_1370&osCsid=e919c31820563592c50e88883e2ab0cd The same bolt is coming out at £1.17 -And they sell them in singles – - the P&P is £3.00 is but still a heap cheapest than the rest It’s too late for me – but this may help someone out there.
Well it’s come back from the dippers They dipped it again and there are a few more holes to sort out – but only bits But its now rust treated and its got a primer coat I can paint to Very pleased with results – what do you think? a bit of filler I tinks a bit wobbley a few more holes a few more more holes - I didn't know they stamped the chassis no. on the tin at the back and now to get on with the filling mm
Looks like it's coming together great. In no time you're be driving it down the line trying to figure out the location of your first overnighter.
Well there has not been too much going on with the camper the last few weeks – I have managed to get all the running gear done and ready to bolt on the camper and got a few ducks in a row ready for the rebuild. I took the wiring loom into the house to warm up so I could work on it and repair a few shorted wires – but I decided that I would buy a new one – it would just be my luck to put it all back together and it break down with a wiring issue in a year or two time . so I recon that is best to replace a 35 year loom – so looking on the web most of the looms are for a 2.0 L models and I stumbled across this guy who is quite enthusiastic and has made the loom in 3 sections. http://rapidfitlooms.co.uk/t2campervanwiringloom.htm I had to cut the loom once to get it out – so having it in 3 sections appealed to me, as I do want an easy life. Most of the other people who are selling them are in the region of £215 to £295 – Anyhow mine has cost £355.00 !!– but it does come with split charging, all the earth straps and extra wires for sat nav etc. – so a bit over the odds – but I think it has the advantage of coming in sections and is complete. Well back to what’s happing on the Camper As you can see, its come back from dippers and once on the roll over jig – I flipped it over and found 3 holes -when they re- dipped it in the rust killer again it has found a few extra spots – anyhow only 30 mins work and all will be good. My new helper Tom came round tonight to help get it prepped up – so we started flatting down the inside – degrease it and he applied the first coat of filler primer on – he is using my spray gun and to start off it was not doing its job – but we changed over the needle setting to 2.0mm from 1.7mm and the gun came alive (my compressor managed to keep up with the gun – just)– it took a good couple of hours to get into all the small places and I did feel a bit redundant – just mixing paint and standing there watching him paint – but great to see the transformation. Fortunately all the bits that have been seam sealed will not be on show – (oh yes – this weekend I spend 2 days seam sealing the whole camper – got quite into it – sad I know!!) The only bit I am not happy with is the welds at the bottom of the sliding door track – I think I will run a bead of seam sealer down that to make it look better. Well its on track for a March /April Finish – I think. all flatted off ready for white primer. took him 15 mins to do the cab not happy with the welding finish - so will run a bead of seam sealer down it
wow, great progress. I like the coating they put on after dipping, that should keep the rust at bay for a long time......fingers crossed. its good to see some white going on, its a moral boost with it getting a singe colour on .......now the fun begins ;D
Last night we got the underside primed – using filler primer Mipa 4 to 1 – nice and thick and easy to work with – it does dry quite quick even in a cold garage – again took a few hours to get into all the little bits. But I must say it is looking good- what a boost after rust – rust and more rust, not to mention welding - What it did do was show up some welding wire that I forgot – or could not see to grind off – white does show up all the little bits – but the good news is only 15 minutes of getting into little holes and crevices to clean off the welds – I may be going over the top, but it would be a shame not to clean them up at this stage. Now its Dec 4th cold , and I would like to know – where the hell are all the fly’s coming from ?– not seen any for months and all of a sudden – spray , and the little buggers come out to play – on my camper- bits I need to grind off From this To this
Ground off the bits of weld I missed of,f and then masked up the camper to stop the stone chip getting into the nuts and pipes. Used up 9 tins of stone chip and completed underneath of the van, engine bay, inner panels, fuel tank area, cab floor, inside the front panel, side panels, and cargo and engine floor. My reason behind doing all these areas are, extra protection but also hopefully it will help keep the drumming down in the van. I will be adding extra sound protection as well - so should be nice and quite! Took the pictures this morning and the stuff has dried very hard and has given a great finish, just need to top coat this week end. I used Mipa stone chip stuff and was easy to apply – but boy when I took my mask off you could get easily stoned in there – finished at 9.00 – so an early night. A close up of the finish
fabolous work there mate. whats the final colour/colours do you have in mind. if i missed that bit sorry.
