Club 80-90 Forums

Hi all! This is our lovely camper.
It’s undergone a lot of work in the last 5 years including all new panels, Removal of the hi top and full respray.



This is how it looked when I bought it about 6 weeks ago.

1st job was to remove the horrible tints from the front windows and give the interior a good scrub. I’m a valeter myself so that was easy!


Then onto the interior. The bed needed taking apart and rebuilding with the correct bolts and washers as it was making the van a rattle box!

I then fitted a board to the front of the bed and re covered the floor. Made some curtains and threw some some home comforts!

I also removed the tow bar and fitted some new plates.

Next up, I dropped it to the garage to sort an oil leak and have a general check over!
That’s when I had the phone call! “Pop up mate, you need to see this!”

My mind is still blown! The bodywork of the van is immaculate! It’s had new fuel lines, new brake callipers and a lot more.
But on close inspection, the inner sills had been fibreglassed, filled and pained to hide rot! Why on earth would anyone skip this!





I was devastated, to say the least!
So, it’s been at the welders for 10 days having them cut out and replaced.
I’m hoping to get it back next week to carry on with the post covid camping prep!

I think quite a few of us have been there at some point, my o/s sill was pretty much the same by the jacking point and looked like it had been filled rather than repaired. Got a whole new panel and a decent bodywork specialist to sort it.

Nice looking bus chap

Very familiar.
I wouldn’t place any bets on your flawless bodywork looking flawless for too long either. These buses rot from the inside out if they’ve been camped in, due to condensation. That’s what happened at the base of the fridge panel.
Learn to weld, otherwise you need deep deep pockets.

But, Aye, its a good looking van!

Thanks guys! I think the paintwork was finished about 2 years ago. She has a little rust on the bottom of the the tailgate and on the left front corner above the indicator, nothing I can’t sort myself tho.
It’s only been slept in once.


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RogerT wrote:Very familiar.
I wouldn’t place any bets on your flawless bodywork looking flawless for too long either. These buses rot from the inside out if they’ve been camped in, due to condensation. That’s what happened at the base of the fridge panel.
Learn to weld, otherwise you need deep deep pockets.

But, Aye, its a good looking van!

Can you elaborate on the fridge panel?

Yeah, we’ve all been there. Keep up the good work. Good to get another van back to a more sensible spec. I guess we should all take a magnet with us when we buy old vehicles, but I guess deep down we don’t to find anything wrong with it. Mind already made up! Good Luck, very rewarding once done.

My horror was finding 1/4” filler:

DoubleOSeven wrote:Yeah, we’ve all been there. Keep up the good work. Good to get another van back to a more sensible spec. I guess we should all take a magnet with us when we buy old vehicles, but I guess deep down we don’t to find anything wrong with it. Mind already made up! Good Luck, very rewarding once done.

My horror was finding 1/4” filler:

That’s some filler! At least it looks solid underneath!


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99% of the problems with fridge vents , window opening and roof cuts on these vans is caused by the fresh metal not being treated and painted when the hole is cut , rather than sleeping in them , which if proper insulation is used ( not rock wool fibreglass ) is minimal because no condensation .

Take a look at any auto sleeper window surround and fridge vents , not painted after cutting, rotten and blistering now .

Kitney wrote:Can you elaborate on the fridge panel?

It’s the body panel opposite the sliding door. Typically where we have our fridges. At the base of mine I could see through the floor to the crusty remains of the sill.

Finally got the van back after over 2 weeks!
Next in the list was to quieten it down as it was deafening at 55mph.

Out with old plastic engine cover that had broken clasps. And out with whatever the previous owner had tried to use!



And in with some noico sound deadening and a metal engine cover.



What a difference! We can actually hold a conversation now.

When I bought the van, it had one pc speaker jammed under the seat and one speaker jammed into the dash!
So I dug out an old head unit I had under the bed. And bought some pioneer speakers.
Fitted them in the doors and the 6x9s into the bench panel.



Also strung up some fairy lights.



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And today’s job was to replace the dash bulbs. I popped the top off to find this.


But luckily, I had accidentally bought a repair bulb. So I linked them together and Boths dials are now illuminated.



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Hey.

This all looks amazing. Love the colour too. What a sweet van you've ended up with!

I'm needing a lot of rust work done on my caravelle that I'm converting and wanting a full respray inside and out too. I was wondering if you did the work yourself or if you had it done by someone else, and if so what sort of price you paid. Also if you used someone I'm in need of finding someone who can do the work too so if you have any suggestions I'd be very grateful!

Thanks a lot.

Alex.