Ok, not done this before so if it all goes wrong don't beat me up! This 'blog' is where I'm going to keep a log of what I've done to get Rita, our 1973 Devon Eurovelle to keep here ship shape. So far, I've rebuilt the engine, tidied up and re painted the underside, made a new interior and I'm currently refurbish the pop top.
Right! First images up are the underside of the van. When I got it, the PO said the underside had had some welding, but was solid. He was right when I was under there at the purchase, but everything had a nasty layer of black undercoat on it. I HATE that stuff, so it had to come off! I spend most of November 2012 on my back under the van in the garage in the cold, scraper in one hand and squirty bottle of white spirit in the other. It came off (eventually) to show a solid underside, and the original colour (orange).
The white paint is a flexible rubberised undercoat in a can. It went on really well, over a covering of rust eater (thats the purple areas). I then lacquered over the lot to keep it looking shiny! It still looks great today (2014) and means I can actually see if anything nasty is starting to happen!
More picture - Engine and gearbox was removed next (yes, even in there had been painted with black snotty tar - yack!). I came across my first bit of rot at this point too. The PO said he didnt put the rear bumper on because he preferred the bus without it. He didn't tell me that the mounting points on the chassis were made out of the thinnest metal I've ever seen, and welded on with pigeon poo....
....and then welded in. I'm no welding expert, but I dont think these will ever fall off !! and the bumper mounts fitted perfectly
......engine out, and underseal removed with more scraping and white spirit, before sanding, priming and topcoat.
OK. Engine next! My first aircooled engine, so I read the Haynes manual.... lots, then googled lots too! My mate Andy (in the picture) helped with the strip down (I think he was more excited than me ). Nothing like spreading the parts around all over the floor !! All parts cleaned and bead blasted as needed.
The engine was getting a bit of an update at the same time. Block bored out to take larger barrels (to take it to 1776cc), new pistons and barrels, new bearings and an Engle 110 cam.
