Club 80-90 Forums

Thought I'd put a few pics up of where I'm at now. Firstly though better explain a few things.
I'm not into motors, infact I could probably right down on a post stamp what I DID know. Been a social care worker for over 20 years, but I am a trained up plasterer and not shy of DIY ( bodging with lots of tools)
So near the end of last April I started to look for a camper. Not had a holiday for years and we need a break. My mum lives with us and has Alzheimer's, but we have started getting weekend respite and wife, Mums carer, really needs a break.
Decided to buy a project van and spotted this on Gumtree

Looks okay doesn't it, inside is horrible but otherwise okay to this idiot

Inside

Drove it home with the idiot smiling away to himself, wife behind noticing the first problem .The exhaust end elbow was only held on by one bolt and was turning up and down with every bump. Not a biggie I thought and happily started to strip out the van say hello to mum

And the back




Started clean up and sand


Now here I find one little problem that grew and grew.....rust, bad rust. I had to take the top off to look at it properly

Where the fibreglass has been sealed to the roof it rusted out

To hide her blushes bought a cover

And went angle grinder happy


Week later it was sorted and welded and paintedpainted



Sort the roof out whilst I have easy access


Inside



And out, that's a vinyl Welsh dragon that was painted over and fun to sand


Bit better , more on the roof later


Plan to get the roof back on.... First get ladders and gangway


Place hightop on back, yes I'm under there, then get a wife that can give direction without laughing


Well after laughing, struggling and swear words roof back on top. Raised up on some timber to allow access to apply adhesive, pu18


Another use for foam rollers.... Wedged in lovely to clamp until the adhesive dried


Started on the interior

Next job is the wiring

Well done! Very brave taking the roof off . Im sure mine is the same or worse, and I'm just crossing my fingers and telling myself the hightop is keeping it dry!!

Plan sometime to strip out the top and re-line it, but that'll be after the summer hols.

Enjoy the journey, loads of great info on here. Currently serving a T25 apprenticeship via this site.

Good write up. Does give cause for concern as I have a high top, too. No signs of corrosion, but in my experience it never shows until it's serious! Good luck - keep the pictures coming.

Good project, as above well done taking the roof off, also a nice blank canvas interior. Looks like it's going well

Nice post, was there a few months ago myself!!

Great job!!

Thanks for the kind words, I'm enjoying doing it with no dip in my enthusiasm yet.
This site has been invaluable, I've read lots of previous projects and watched countless YouTube videos.
As I said above its the electrics next. Really not looking forward to that. There's two holes in the dash and a maze of wires mostly held together with masking tape
Strangely though everything seems to work.
Cheap SD card radio ordered , 12v TV bargain from the medion factory has been delivered and a leisure battery too.
Let's see how goes over the coming weeks

Great post & keep up the good work chap

Keep up the good work, very adventurous to take on such big jobs - but now's a good a time as any suppose.
Good write up, welcome to the fun

Taking windows out and replacing seals on offside today


Getting them both out took about 20min


Putting them back in took five hours



Even the lad had enough, bless him for helping though

Any progress on this? It was looking interesting....

Update desperately needed, lets hope that head in hands didn't lead you to anything drastic?

Nice one - I wish I could weld.
As it stands, once mine is mechanically sound, I am going to have to tap someone up for a 60 minute makeover, and bleed me dry..!!

Good progress though.
Just keep this updated for us all to watch