Driveshafts all built up tonight with fresh GKN Lobro CV joints and boots. What a messy job! Finally got some proper circlip pliers as I was getting nowhere fitting the circlips with a normal pair and a screwdriver.
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Luggage rack all cleaned up and carnauba waxed. Cab roof given a wipe over and luggage roof pop riveted back into place.
Making a start on cleaning up the starter motor.
Just a few hours on the van this morning so painted the outsides of the cv joints with some black epoxy mastic I had left.
Stripped down the brake calipers ready for rebuilding (I’m not splitting them as I don’t think they need that).
And started cleaning up the luggage rack.
Got a few bits bolted on over the last few days.
Added a sheet of silent coat to the engine bay roof to add a bit of sound dampening:
reinstated the original insulation and riveted the panels back in place:
The original horsehair padding on the fuel tank straps and under the tank were pretty much non-existent so I’ve replaced them with 2mm neoprene sheeting and tape. You can also just about see where I’ve drenched the area above the wheel tubs with dynax S50:
Fuel tank back in with fresh hoses connecting up all the breather pipes, a new fill neck and the fuel tank sender all wired up:
I found a pic of this area when I stripped the van down 3 years ago looking slightly worn and tired!
I opted to spray some Dynax UC in the fuel tank area to offer some protection whilst keeping it looking pretty clean (I’ll be using this on the wheel arches too):
Added some more 2mm neoprene tape around the firewall:
And all bolted in!
The chickens are back seeking out the warmth of my spotlamps again too!
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:
Today’s activities.
Instrument cluster reassembled with newly painted bezels. No-one will notice them but looks tidier than when I took it out of the van:
Re-assembled and fitted the gear shift rod with all new nylon guides, rubber boots and new rear cage rubbers:
I re-used the old rear cage and centre pin, as while the new cage was good quality, the centre pin looked like it had been made by a 5 year old compared with the original (Jim’s top tip: don’t paint the pin as it won’t fit back in; I ended up sanding it down):
Regreased and fitted the clutch pedal arm (apologies for the blurry pic):
Some further rebuild work over the last week or so.
These bits are off to the blasters this week for a clean-up, so should be back on the van soon:
Blasted, zinc primed, epoxied and top coated the engine hangers, rear bumper irons and gear shift rod:
And the same treatment for the driveshafts, clutch and brake pedal arms, gearbox mounts and shift cage, instrument panel bezels and steering box mount:
In between all this I’ve started to get the wiring back into the van. I repaired the main loom a while back and it’s been sitting in the garage for a while all labelled up ready to go back in.
I’ve run the main loom under the van. I didn’t weld in a new guide tube for this between the cross members, instead opting to run it through some convoluted tubing clipped to the chassis rails. Conveniently there were two perfectly sized holes in the rails to bolt it to:
And reconnected to the cleaned up fuse box:
I’m now sorting out the front loom, which on the whole is in good condition, but has a few dodgy repairs which I’m addressing before re-attaching.
With all of the above bits painted I can finish rebuilding the majority of the running gear over the next few weeks.
LPG tank fitted to the van tonight to get it off the workshop floor.
I ran out of time last weekend to paint the engine bay, so got it done tonight. What an awkward area to paint!
I also raptor’d both sides of the battery trays, underside of the engine bay surrounds, and this year’s must have van accessory; a colour coded LPG tank!
I’m starting to get bits ready to bolt back on, and in a bid to work smart and not hard (although a lot of times the smart way is the hard way on the van!) I’ve bought a small blast cabinet to speed up cleaning up bits before I paint and reattach to the van.
I had a little trial on some bits I had lying around, what a time saver.
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!
