Meet Flintstone, our 1992 1.9 Petrol Caravelle Syncro

[Mickyfin]

Finally replaced the low oil pressure sensor today, it was quite easy, however refitting the push rod cover proved a little difficult, but got there in the end.

I did plan on draining my coolant to add my G12+ antifreeze today, but after removing my lower front grill, and partially removing my headlight grill, I came to a stop as I couldn't find the radiator hoses, even looking under the bus, nothing.

Turns out, (Thanks lloydy) the hoses are hiding under the front bash plate, so will get that off tomorrow, weather permitting, and then drain 8 litres of water ready to add the antifreeze

[Mickyfin]

Replaced my broken sliding door handle after swapping the lock barrels so I still have everything on one key. To my surprise the previous owner had retro fitted central locking to the sliding door, but it wasn't making contact correctly when the door was closed. Adjusted slightly, and now have central locking on both front doors, and sliding door.

Here's my new handle fitted. I know its green, I sprayed it thinking it was black, but hey oh! Is it supposed to look like that (Angle), or is it bent?

[Mickyfin]

Finally added my 8 litre of G12+ after draining out 8 litres of water through the radiator bleed bolt. Was quite straight forward to be honest following Simon Baxter's HOW2, which was very helpful.

I had to take off my bull bar from the front of my bus to access the radiator, as there was not enough room to get to the bolt by simply unclipping the grill.

Also, my sliding door exterior handle, it was bent, so tried to straighten it, and as suspected, my fresh paint cracked. No problem really, it now gives me an excuse to paint it the right colour

Nice view to do the above mentioned work too

[Mickyfin]

Received the replacement spare wheel wooden blocks spacers in the post today from a member of oberschlachter.fi who kindly sent them to me for free.

That will teach me to remove the original items, and then have my father-in-law use them for fire wood I thought they were retro fitted

Lesson learned



Will spray them black when I get chance!

[Mickyfin]

Today thanks to our very helpful MetalMickey forum member, I set out seeing as the sun was shining, to realign my sliding door as it had dropped about 10mm over the last 20 years.

All nice and square now, although found some light rust under the slider rail panel, but nothing serious, just needs sanding back, vatcan, and then repainting, then jobs a goodun.

Will add before and after photos as and when I get a minute as Im busy with family things at the moment.

[Mickyfin]

So here's a belated update of the sliding door adjustment.

Before..





And I've just realised I have no "After" photos Will get some asap.

Anyhow, today, I went out in the cold, and treated all my door rubber seals, and window seals to some silicon treatment. No photos though.

Here's the latest photo of Flint this morning which is our second day of frost. It will soon be -35 here.

[silverbullet]

Minus 35?!!! Let us know how the ol' DG likes starting in those conditions...I guess the bus doesn't overnight in a heated garage?

[Mickyfin]

Sadly for this year only, Flint will be put away under a cover for the winter once the snow arrives. Criminal really, but has to be done this year due to our insurance only being for six months. Next year we will use him all year round though, which Im looking forward to. Got plent of jobs to get done too, including the dreaded seams, and rust on the window edges.

[syncropaddy]

[

[syncropaddy]

Received the replacement spare wheel wooden blocks spacers in the post today from a member of oberschlachter.fi who kindly sent them to me for free.

That will teach me to remove the original items, and then have my father-in-law use them for fire wood I thought they were retro fitted

Lesson learned

Which lesson is this now ..... having a father in law in the first place or letting him use them for firewood

Why dont you measure up the wooden blocks and post the info on wiki

[Mickyfin]

I have since sourced a set, and fitted them, just need to spray them black over the winter

[Mickyfin]

Not really done much of late, changed my wheels to steelies with winter tyres.



Today however, I decided to get to the bottom of a mystery, which is detailed in the thread below..

Basically, I have this on the central position of my diff lock control panel.



Close up..




And according to a couple of members here, it was suggested that I check for what is known as, a PTO (Power Take Off), which was a rare, and limited taxable clause or something along those lines here in Finland, and what it does is allow to run a mechanical device, farm machinery from a shaft off the gearbox. Handy for the farmers here I guess.

A PTO looks like this. (Thanks for the photo xriss).



However, upon my inspection following recommendations on where to check for this PTO system, I discovered the following..

First point of call, I looks under the right side of my LHD Syncro from the rear, and this is what I was faced with. As you can see, no PTO..



Closer look...




I then set about inspecting behind the diff lock panel.

First removed the knob by holding the shaft with thin nosed pliers, then unscrewing the knob anti-clockwise..



Then removed the lower brackets..



Then the two top short self tappers, and off the cover came, and revealed this..



Which shows one bulb for the rear diff lock, and one bulb for the night illumination of the control panel.

But this is the important piece to the puzzle, which is quite revealing indeed...



Bit closer a look..



So as you can see, not a PTO at all, but if one assumes the brown wire is live, then that is going to the center of this plug of sorts, with the blue wire (earth?) going to the outer.

Now for the 64 million dollar question, what on earth could plug into this to get its power? It looks to me a socket that would possibly accept a male jack plug, the type you get on the back of electrical appliances for the speaker/video channels.

So at the end of the day, I now know I don't have a PTO, but do have an homemade power point, but for what use is beyond me. I will think of something.

[Mickyfin]

New delivery from Just kampers! It's their Deluxe T25 full cover. Looking forward to using it, but first need to get around 4 inches of solid ice off the roof of Flint.

[texasuk]

Do you know if importing a van from Finland to the UK feasible please?

[Mickyfin]

Of course it is my friend. I even offer a service in driving one across to a potential UK buyer. Obviously, fuel, ferries, and return flights are added to the purchase price.

Failing that, there are big companies that will collect, but it really depends on where in Finland. Most bargains are usually out in the sticks.