Starting to feel like autumn down here with the track to the workshop covered in orange leaves now. Still relatively warm in the unit though.
What’ve I been up to this week?!
Main cab loom repairs finished and installed loosely back in the van. I’ve temporarily cable tied the cable groupings and will neaten it all up when everything else is attached:
Rear gearbox mount back in. I kept the original rubber cotton reel mounts which were in good nick:
A few bits ready to be blasted:
And most of the above primed:
Firewall, engine bay panels, fuel tank and cold air flaps into anthracite:
Starting to clean up the steering box. There’s no leaks so I’m just fitting a new dust seal and giving it a clean up:
And in a bid to tidy up the unit a bit, a guy from work gave me a load of shelving so I’ve started putting some of it up. Just need some scrap wood to put across it now:
For those that are interested here are some further pics of all the paint work from my long weekend.
Friday
Van inner all masked up, cargo area and cab upper painted in pastel white:
Van pushed out into the yard to make room for the doors, to spray the uppers. My first attempts with basecoat/clearcoat (Lechlar bsb and macrofan respectively). I’m not sure what all the fuss is about with basecoat/clearcoat being trickier than solid 2K? Yes it requires a bit more time but it’s not really any more difficult.
Soo shiny!
Saturday
Unmasked everything from yesterday. Starting to take shape.
Masked up the cab for some blue, painted and pushed out into the yard to make room for the doors:
Out with the doors to paint the lowers in blue. Masking up the dividing line was a bit of a faff, taking multiple attempts to get a clean line but finally all painted. Grateful for the hotrod guy opposite pointing out I should unmask them before the paint fully cures to get a crisp line!:
Lookin’ like a lagoon:
Sunday
A long day spent finishing prep work on the van upper, sanding the roof, front panel and filling some last minute pinholes. Mammoth task of masking up the van, but finally got it into paint late afternoon:
Monday
Finished fine sanding the lower half of the van, followed by a load more masking up. I’m surprised at how time consuming masking is, taking a good couple of hours to mask the whole van. Painted the van lower and engine lid (intended to paint this with the rest of the doors but had nowhere to hang it). Grabbed some early evening snaps, pleased as punch with the results, and off home for a curry.
I’m having a few days off this week to recover. I ran out of time/energy to do the engine bay so that still needs painting, then I should be onto to the rebuild!
After 3 years of cutting, grinding, welding, sanding, painting and various other skills I’ve never done before the van is finally in her final coat of paint! I’ve gone far beyond what I originally planned to do but hopefully the results speak for themselves. To say I’m pleased would be an understatement. We’re a way off being on the road but this was a huge step for us.
I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard over 4 days, and pulled 2 14 hour days, a 13 and a 12 to get it done. I’ll upload some progress pictures later. And rest.
A busy weekend saw the cab doors and sliding door into high build primer. That’s everything primed now and I can start rubbing the primer down! No doubt some bits will need further work but I think that’s to be expected.
After a busy couple of weekends playing guitar at both Palmstock (annual charity shindig) and one of my oldest friend’s wedding (an absolutely great day), I’m back on the van hitting it hard. Roof all rubbed down, prepped and into primer. Just the cab doors and sliding door left to high build!
It’s times like this that the thousands of hours I’ve poured into this project really pay off. 3 coats of high build primer onto the shell last night. I’m chuffed with it. There are a few areas that still need some work (the transition into the lip on the N/S rear arch isn’t perfect) but on the whole it’s looking great.
I’ve also picked up the base coats now. I’m a way off needing them but can’t wait to get them on!
A really productive night this evening. Finishing prepping the rest of the running gear and got everything top coated in Anthracite Grey (an old beetle colour that should look awesome with the neptune blue).
