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first van

Posted: 12 Oct 2008, 07:07
by Rusty Red
Nice to see the roof on top of a van (and not as the view out of the kitchen window ). From the pics it seems to be moving on nicely, definitely more of a rescue than a restoration :)
You'll be out camping in no time if you keep up this work rate, puts me to shame feel like I should go and do something.
Naaaaa sunday morning nother cuppa tea :) :)

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 07:40
by teutonic T3
brave man, that's a bit more than i would like to tackle. well done :D

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 16:50
by quagmire
nice work mate! :lol:

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 18:54
by Hypnovan
Definitely a relief to see you doing such a good job. It makes any tiny spots of rust on my van seem almost insignificant.

Keep us posted of your progress. Looking forward to seeing the finished van.

hv

Posted: 15 Oct 2008, 22:33
by conrad
Mine really doesn't seem as bad now either. Good on you for giving it a go. I'd love to know how someone could let it get like that in the first place though :shock: . It's a real shame.

Do it right and you'll have a friend for life, or until you decide to flog it.

Posted: 16 Oct 2008, 09:52
by kooldubs
your van is a autohomes C.I ...just in case you were wundering.
did you have a couple of C.I plastic badges on the front doors and rear door??
if you did`nt and want them i still have my original ones chap.
good luck and gimme a shout if you need the badges ok

Posted: 16 Oct 2008, 20:25
by bustersmate
thanks for that kooldubs there are badges on the sides, bit faded but. wasnt going to put back on after ive painted it coz ive put a hard top on and will be building a new interior, so didnt really think i could call it a ci anymore. but really apreciate ure offer

Posted: 07 Nov 2008, 20:53
by wee bugger
HI Bustersmate,

saw this van a couple of years back, when the previous owner (the guy who gave it to the garage 10 years ago) saw my bug and told me it was still near where he left it!!. The pictures dont do justice to the state it was in...i@m sure the roof was half off!

Like the new high top...just about to start adding one to my tin top and would be interested in a few pointers...I'm just up in Duntocher

Posted: 07 Nov 2008, 23:29
by bustersmate
hi m8 the van was in a pretty sorry state and still is, but its getting there.hope to get a good few hours put in on her this weekend, not had much of a chance last month or so(missus poorly).hopefully have an update and more pics soon.welcome to come see her anytime(at my work in yoker)

Posted: 08 Nov 2008, 23:33
by bustersmate
hi folks been a while since i done an update, not really got much done ,mrs buster has been in hospital gettin her inners ripped out(shes closer to a mr buster now) and shes not ben to well so afraid the vans had to take a bad seat.anyway heres a few of the newest.been trying to tidy her up outside.
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couldnt resist gettin the old combi-colour out.

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probs need to rub it all off again but couldnt resist seeing what she,ll look like

Posted: 14 Nov 2008, 20:22
by bustersmate
hoping to tackle this tommorow, its the lower channel of the o/s centre window. was hoping to buy a section off a breaker to slot in,but afraid fu
nds are a bit short at the moment.

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as u can see its a bit of a mess. will try to get some updates on tomorrow night, cheers billy

Posted: 15 Nov 2008, 20:18
by bustersmate
right, im actually pretty pleased with todays efforts, every day spent is another bend on that learnin curve. after pi**in about for about an hour i decided the best way to go go was to do this in two parts. first bit was front, basicly just cut some metal and started hitting it with a hammer.
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then i made a curvy bit for the back.(think my welding is starting to pick up). thensome filler etc. anyway not to good at the technical talk, i,ll just show the pics .
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the pics arnt to good sorry. still needs a bit more tidying up but not to bad for a noob.
(hope ure enjoyin the story so far.( wait till the interior gets started ive got so many ideas (think i,ll need an extension) lol).
cheers billy

Posted: 19 Nov 2008, 15:07
by Fingle
Ive got to do the same window on mine. well not looking forward to opening that can of worms :(

Posted: 22 Nov 2008, 18:23
by bustersmate
this weeks update is a wee break from the bodywork. managed to pick this up during the week.
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its a nice little 1y low milage out of a 97 plate caddy.so todays task was to get , this out
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and start swapping things about.
this is the old 16d and the 19 together.
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heres the 1y with a nice new belt and the 16 sump on.
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and here she is all ready to get dropped back in.
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giong to drop her in 2morrow, had enough for one day.

ps the 1y came with a gearbox and what looks like a brand new starter, if there any use to anybody give me a shout(could maybee swap something for them).
pps like the highly technical and very profesional tippex marks :oops: :oops: .. works every time

Re: first van

Posted: 24 Jan 2009, 19:21
by bustersmate
been a wee while since we had an update on ambers progress( shes got a name now, named after my golden lab who sadly i lost just b4 christmas).

so engines in and sounding really good, no smoke,no knocks and bled up without to many probs.after engine went in it was back to the bodywork, which i would say is the biggest job on the bus so i really want to get that sorted as best i can. if anyone can remember the start of this post i am determined to do all the work myself nomatter wot it is. been a mechanic all my days so that side should be ok(never worked on one of these ladys thou).
anyway a wee reminder, this is my pride and joy when i got her end of august.
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and after a lot of elbow grease, swearing,sweat,tears and most of all ACE ADVISE FROM THE PEEPS ON HERE this is my big girly now.
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considering ive never touched a welding plant,cattaloy or painted in my puff im quite pleased with it. thats 3 coats of rurtolum on her(thanks to all for the tips on using it). going to leave that to harden for a month or so b4 puttin a nice shiny coat on top.

so today i started on the inside,decided the 1st thing to do was to get some elektrickery in her as she had none.
so out came this
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who the feck needs that much water anyway?(going to put in some sort of gravity fed system from a tank in the roof.
and started fitting a split charge set up
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thats all fitted and wired now, twin batteries giving me 200ah(bit overkill i know but i fancy running a few toys off it). tested the split and getting 14.7 v so im :ok .next up is getting a fuse box wired into her and getting some 240v in there to.

on another note ive managed to aquire these

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came off a renault teaffic van, more than enough to do the whole van with some adjustments. was toying with fitting them 1/2 and 1/2 on the first trim line(the one above the sill) and colour coding them. wot u think? all feedback apreciated.
anyway thats all for now, got me a load of wire,insulation,ply and bits and bobs to play with, so stay tuned :ok :ok :ok