Just a few odd jobs this week.
Fitted a connection to the air filter to hook up the fuel tank breather:
Made a spare wheel carrier out of the same fabric as our poptop. Decided I don’t like the look of it on the van so took it off and chucked it in the garage. Much prefer the naked look. Oh well.
This weekend’s job. Start the curtains. I’ve already made some tie backs out of the leftover vinyl I had. Should inject some 70s colour into the van!
Lots more cutting up of old seat covers to make patterns from:
New pieces made up:
Sewing together:
And cover made:
Original frames back from the powder coaters looking brand new:
And the covers finished and fitted. No more ripped seat digging into my arse!
Continuing with the van upholstery I got the roof bed cushions all made up and installed over the weekend. The rear one is gigantic and interesting to try and man handle around the sewing machine.
B sat and watched the kids on our street for 10 minutes or so. He loves it up there.
I’ve stripped down both front seats now to start making new covers for them.
The frames overall are in pretty good condition, however the drivers back had cracked:
Quick tickle with the welder and good as new:
Rear bed cushion finished tonight. Put through quality control by Max and B and installed in the van. We’re ready for basic camping now!
Rusty Lee Rock n’ Roll bed upholstered over the last few days ready for summer passengers.
After fitting the wrong hubcaps to the van I’ve now replaced them with a nice set of stainless steel caps that fit properly:
I got sent an extra one by mistake (ssh!) so fitted it to the front spare:
I’ve been continuing with the van interior over the last month or so. Fitted the rear 3 point belt:
And then started learning how to do upholstery. Lots of practice on cheap vinyl, trying all the seams and techniques I’ll need for the van:
And as a small project, which would provide good practice for the rear bed cushions, I made the dog a cushion for his box:
I made a few mistakes on this first cover so made another which came out much neater:
Good enough for the dog at least!
And then onto the door cards. I made a test piece for the rear hatch to get a better feel for running lots of pleats:
Then moved onto the real thing.
Cutting out the fabric (Schnauzer to hold the fabric still):
Marking out the pleats:
And following a few evenings of sewing and glueing, a complete set of door cards:
I fitted them today. Lovely Jubbly!
Not quite appreciating how dark it was getting we put the glue down for the floor about 7:15 and ended up putting the first batch of tiles on by iPhone and candle light (I couldn’t find any of my torches, suspect I left them down the workshop!). Not ideal but looked great:
Finished up the tiles Monday morning when the light was better, complete with 3 coats of polish by Max:
And then fitted the Rusty Lee Rock ‘n Roll ¾ width bed:
A productive weekend!
A long bank holiday weekend saw both the floor and bed go in.
After work Thursday I was supposed to be meeting a van and man at the local timber yard to deliver a sheet of marine ply, only to find the place shut at 4 (assume they clocked off early for the bank holiday). Feeling a bit deflated I drove home and remembered Sydenhams is right next to my office, so swung in. Convinced the ply wouldn’t fit in my van (hence the man and van being my original plan), however it slid right through the rear hatch with ease:
Onto Friday and Saturday and we got the closed cell underlay trimmed down and fitted:
Plywood cut to size, sanded and sealed:
One large piece to cover the majority of the floor:
Followed by two smaller pieces towards the rear:
To avoid flexing around the joint I fitted a strip of ply underneath the floor and screwed all 3 pieces to it:
Sunday saw the rest of the cargo area carpet go in.
Stripping the old quarter panels of carpet:
Fitting the new carpet:
And all panels and bulkhead carpeted:
Since getting the van back on the road last month I’ve slowed down a huge amount with getting bits done on it. I’ve just been enjoying driving it again and having my evenings back. I definitely needed it, but at the same time it’s been a bit of a shock to the system to be honest; feeling a bit lost most evenings. I found this picture from this time last year which just shows how much I got done over 12 months, from a welded up rolling shell to road worthy:
I have however started making some progress on the interior.
Realised I’d forgotten to connect the cold air drain hose. A washing machine pipe from Wickes was the perfect fit:
Got the bed boards and foam in so we can at least sleep in the van:
Made up some membranes for the cab doors to keep the water out:
Fitted the madmatz carpet set to the cab area. I’ve left the cab carpet and kick panels for now as I’m waiting for it to rain again to see if I’ve fixed the leaky windscreen before putting them in:
And I think we’re decided on the fabrics we’ll be using on the upholstry:
Im hoping to start the upholstery next month.
