Make Autosleeper Great Again
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Make Autosleeper Great Again
First of all I'm not sure if this should be in Bodywork or Restoration .
A little bit of background: I bought my van last June, an Autosleeper Trident 1988 high top. I made the mistake of buying a freshly painted/repaired 'solid van'. There appear to be some very poor quality 'repairs' and a blow over the rest of the rust. Not going to cast any shade at the seller, I should have done further research before buying. I paid 7k for the van. It has 152k miles on the clock and according to my mechanic - Volksfarmers in Kent (amazing) the engine 'isn't awful'' - which to me sounds like fantastic praise. I had a little bit of work done last year which made her run pretty smooth but she is smoking a bit from being overwintered in a barn. I wanted to protect my lovely paint job from the elements.
I had the roof resealed and it appears that the front rivets had perished and started to rot the front roof which I wanted to explore further.
I've got the van back, stripped the fuel tank and have a replacement including all lines, etc from Brickwerks. Last week I removed the interior to tart up the units and replace the disintegrating carpet. I've found quite a lot of rust in various places and some evidence of poor repairs (choosing my words carefully here).
I've started uncovering the rust that I can see. There's quite a bit and I'm not really sure where to start as it's a little overwhelming. At the moment I'm going to start on the smaller repairs internally just to get a feel for it and perhaps bouy my confidence prior to tackling the larger repairs, at the moment everything I do feels like I'm rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. I'm going to upload various pictures, I've got my own welder (R-tech 180 MIG) and have done a little welding previous but no bodywork. I've been reading the amazing resources here and can't be more thankful that such a brilliant resource exists.
Any advice as to the best place to begin or places that require further investigation would be much appreciated. I'll upload the photographs in a separate posts (can't seem to upload more than one photo per post on Tapatalk)
Thanks.
A little bit of background: I bought my van last June, an Autosleeper Trident 1988 high top. I made the mistake of buying a freshly painted/repaired 'solid van'. There appear to be some very poor quality 'repairs' and a blow over the rest of the rust. Not going to cast any shade at the seller, I should have done further research before buying. I paid 7k for the van. It has 152k miles on the clock and according to my mechanic - Volksfarmers in Kent (amazing) the engine 'isn't awful'' - which to me sounds like fantastic praise. I had a little bit of work done last year which made her run pretty smooth but she is smoking a bit from being overwintered in a barn. I wanted to protect my lovely paint job from the elements.
I had the roof resealed and it appears that the front rivets had perished and started to rot the front roof which I wanted to explore further.
I've got the van back, stripped the fuel tank and have a replacement including all lines, etc from Brickwerks. Last week I removed the interior to tart up the units and replace the disintegrating carpet. I've found quite a lot of rust in various places and some evidence of poor repairs (choosing my words carefully here).
I've started uncovering the rust that I can see. There's quite a bit and I'm not really sure where to start as it's a little overwhelming. At the moment I'm going to start on the smaller repairs internally just to get a feel for it and perhaps bouy my confidence prior to tackling the larger repairs, at the moment everything I do feels like I'm rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic. I'm going to upload various pictures, I've got my own welder (R-tech 180 MIG) and have done a little welding previous but no bodywork. I've been reading the amazing resources here and can't be more thankful that such a brilliant resource exists.
Any advice as to the best place to begin or places that require further investigation would be much appreciated. I'll upload the photographs in a separate posts (can't seem to upload more than one photo per post on Tapatalk)
Thanks.
Last edited by Fugeh on 08 Apr 2020, 11:13, edited 2 times in total.
88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Left B post and Cill
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Rear drivers panel non sliding panel
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Mid panel previous repair
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Nightmare fuel
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Various small holes in bed
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Wonky cill drivers side
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Various holes
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Previous repair. Plus seatbelt mount repair.
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Top of breather tank. Lovey repair, OEM finish
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Out with the old.
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Battery box
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Cab floor holes
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.
Re: Make My Van Great Again
Needs replacing, have uncovered and was completely rotten. Was supposed to have had two new steps in June
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88 Autosleeper Trident 1.9
Hythe, Kent.
Hythe, Kent.