'79 Devon Moonraker resto.

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by brothernumberone, Jan 21, 2012.

  1. Lazy Andy

    Lazy Andy Supporter

     
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  3. Lazy Andy

    Lazy Andy Supporter

    Excellent, good work!!

    Theres a pang of nostalgia seeing the seat covers again! :0)
     
  4. I've managed to get a bit more done on my bay. I seem to have had a summer of welding up deviant T25's, so it's nice to get back to bays again ;D

    As you can see from my earlier posts, the pop top had to come off to repair some rust, so ever since then it's been sitting in my workshop, looking like an upturned boat, taking up the space of a van and generally getting in the way, so i decided to spray the roof and the poptop so I can get it back on, then do the rest of the van later.

    outside for a pressure wash.
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    The repaired corner filled and etch primed.
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    then sprayed
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    My workshop doesn't really provide the spotlessly clean, dust free environment that you need, and as soon as the poptop was sprayed, a plague of flies decended and crash landed in the paint, luckily they were hooked out and after another coat it all looks good. just needs a good flat and polish on the more visible bits and it'll go back on soon.
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    1973daisey and Lord Congi like this.
  5. Hello, thought I'd update this a bit as it's been a while. I've been flat out for the last half a year finishing the book I've written which is a bay restoration manual(availible in April if you're interested), plus catching up with work. I've managed to delete a load of pics from earlier so I'll go back and replace them slowly.
    Here's a couple of pics of progress. It's all painted now.
    Getting ready to put the boat back on the roof.
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    The long hours of prep work.
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    Epic masking.
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    Painted.
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  6. foe

    foe

    Nice work :thumbsup:
     
  7. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    Just been looking back as I have a moonraker to get the roof off - cracking job on the roof rear corner, but I'd have made the drainage slot longer and wider like the original. Any reason you made it so small?
     
  8. Lol, I forgot to put it in and had filled and i think primed it before i realised. I had to use small drills and a tiny file and it took ages to get to that size. it should be bigger though, I'll keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't get blocked up.

    watch your back(and hernia) getting that roof off zed, it weighs loads, there were 3 of us. It would be easier if the canvas was detached from the roof, but the screws that hold it to the fibreglass wouldn't budge so I taped the canvas up as best i could.
     
  9. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    I know they're heavy, I replaced the struts on this one a few years ago. It'll be a few weeks before I get onto it and I can gather up a helper for each corner at work, I know where the tall guys are. ;) I need to paint it and the tin roof, I turned this one away as not financially sensible for it's owner, who then took it elsewhere and was well and truly stitched up. By the time it's done I'll have done almost all the steelwork bar the sills and outriggers again and painted it for less than she paid for the bodgy welding in the first place. Mind you I'm being nice because I'm a twit, but she's getting married in the summer and I'm a softie. It's not going to be the best job in the world, but it'll be shiney and it won't fall apart. :)
     
    Tonka and brothernumberone like this.
  10. Got a few bits done today, I decided to put some of that cheap therma wrap down before putting the interior in. First I put some sound deadening pads on the wheel housings. Hopefully they'll make it a bit quieter. They're really brittle at this time of year, so I had to heat them with a hot air gun to allow them to be bent into shape.
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    Then I stuck some therma wrap down on top. Are you meant to glue this, or can you use tape like I have.
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    Lastly I decided to drill larger holes in the floor edges to allow me to get a proper waxoyl gun in to rustproof the insides of the sills. The drill bit grabbed suddenly and pulled through and the tip of the bit hit the inside of the outer sill/middle panel. It managed to crack the paint, so that's another job to do again. I hate making more work for myself through something I could have avoided with more care:mad:
     
  11. This is a fantastic resto, my old man had a late, green, moonraker like this in the 80's
     
    brothernumberone likes this.
  12. Got a bit more done, it's slow progress at the mo though as i'm fitting it in round other jobs.
    Devon mounted the spare at the back on this coversion and cut the loops out that the spare wheel retaining strap goes through. I'm putting an interior from an early Moonraker in instead of the late chipboard one which was long gone along with spare mount so I'm going back to a spare in the traditional place, so I repaired the loops and used a bit of pastel white aerosol to tidy it up.

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  13. The van had been stored outside without the windows in for a while before I got it, the spare wheel well was full of water and had high tide marks;)
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    I waxoyled inside the roof frame, but didn't have a probe to get right inside so I used my new favourite rustproofing product. You can shove the probe right inside cavities.
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    The original interior had a table mounted in the middle of the floor, so I had to seal up the holes. I decided not to weld them up in case I ever want to go back the original table. It's a bit of ali riveted to the floor, I'll seam seal it up from underneath next time I'm doing something under the van.
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    I finished thermawrapping the floor, then put the ply down on top.
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    Lastly I did a bit of work on the units. The ali trim round the outside has been bashed around a bit, so I masked the surface up to avoid scratches, then used 120gt, then 320gt and finally 800gt and metal polish to clean them up. You can sand all but the deepest scratches out. It's extremely time consuming, partly because you need to take the black strip out to stop it getting scratched, and this conversion has two tables, a cooker top and two sink tops to do, so it'll be a while before I get it finished. It does look better though.
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    Tonka and paradox like this.
  14. It looks far more than just "better", the aluminium is gleaming!
     
    brothernumberone likes this.
  15. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    I've just done a bus cavities with ML, it's very thin and runny isn't it? it dripped out for days...
     
  16. Yes it really is. Good for seepage though. I'm hoping it covers the bits the waxoyl doesn't reach.
     
  17. Got a bit more done on my van last week. I got the drawer unit in. Everything takes ages, I remade the bit of wood that goes under the drawer unit(and unfortunately covers the maintainence hatch) as the original was knackered. I used ply and varnished it and of course most of it is covered, but it looks neat. That took a few hours to make once I'd finished fettling it. Then I spent ages positioning the drawer unit, trying to think everything through as it goes back in to avoid having to repeatedly put stuff in and take it back out again to make modifications.
    Once in it looks good I think.
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    Then onto the floor. After asking about flooring a while ago, I decided to go for Marmoleum which is expensive but good apparently, plus they are about the only company who seem to do retro colors. I wanted a green to match the pop top canvas.
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    Lastly, I made a mount to allow a table to be connected to the side.
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    paradox and D5andy like this.
  18. Zed

    Zed Gradually getting grumpier

    Marmoleum for the win, I've had it my last 2 buses. Great colour choice. :cool:
     
    brothernumberone likes this.
  19. That is a retro colour it reminds me of my grans bathroom floor
     
    brothernumberone likes this.

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