I made a post about a month ago about i got my Thames ( http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/24150005.cfm ). Since then ive made a start stripping it out and assessing all the******i have to do to get it back to life.
I figured out how the 'dining table' was set up
and how the seats fold out into 'beds'
This is the first weekend we went to the garage and the magic started.
My girlfriend has taken an unusual interest in helping me to restore the van. I think its great as if i was in the garage myself it could get a bit boring but its a good laugh having her around and helping me out. Its ok right now at the stripping down stage but i think she may get bored when I'm welding and cutting **** up. I was thinking i could buy her a sewing machine and she could re-upholster the seats and curtains etc..
Yeah, check out those comfy ugly slacks I'm rocking.
I got Jana started on removing the light lenses and units etc.. she even managed to get the rear bumpers off herself. I don't mean to sound patronizing but when someone calls a ratchet the "clicky-thing" its quite a big step for her.
I even bought her a special tool kit for the job, shes since bought herself a proper tool bag and pliers set.
First door removed. It was a ***** as the hinge bolts were rusted solid, lucky for me there is a huge tool store opposite the garage (machine mart) so i managed to get an impact screwdriver.
All the seats and interior came out easy, the gas cooker was a bit of a joke really, The cage that held the gas bottle underneath the floor was about 8 inches from the ground and about an inch from the propshaft, then the gas pipe went to the cooker where someone had used a T-piece for some reason, with one pipe going to the hob and the other pipe was bent round a few times to stop gas leaking.... i don't know why the never just used a single pipe. There was a lot of cork insulation which i think had been stuck on with tar. Oh what fun i had with a scraper. Jana 'helped', but well, she got bored of it a lot quicker than i did.
Handsome eh,
Then i got stuck into the wiring loom, there was a lot of house-hold wire in one colour for switches and lights all over the place. I know I'm going to be re-doing the interior lighting differently so those got binned and i kept the standard loom. Note the intensity of my concentration.
The next weekend we started on taking the pop-up roof off. The fabric of the roof its self isn't too bad. There is a rip in it but its along the seam so once stitched up it will be ok. It was held down with aluminium strips and brackets.
WEST SIDE Y'ALL
peek-a-boo
Starting to get quite bare now, in total we found 3 dead birds in the van, 2 of which were skeletons and the other was quite fresh looking underneath the radiator intake, perhaps from the drive home on the trailer, oops.
We got the other door off and then i set about the lower panels, there pretty easy to come off as there all bolt on panels, something Ford promoted as a key selling point apparently.
The right lower panel its self was not bad, just a bit of surface rust and a few dings. Even behind the panel it was not bad. You can see the battery tray is pretty much gone but thats not really a problem at all, its just a welded up box. Although a lot of rust came flaking off as you can see.
The back of the wheel well is the worst, good thing is a lot of the panels to replace are just flat sheet with bends in it.
The other side was a bit harder to take off as it had spot welds along the side door opening but it came off none the less.
During all this a few bolts were completely seized and i had to grind them off, sending sparks flying. I finally thought id be a lot safer doing all this **** with the petrol tank out. Only problem was the bolts underneath had seized and the only access was to rip the floor out and take them off from the top.
So out the floor it went. The guy that rents the other side of the garage popped down and gave me a hand. The floor was inch thick plywood and all the coachscrews holding it down were, as you could guess, seized. We came up with a plan of him using a big lever and me drilling lots of holes around the coachscrews. You can see the petrol tank is quite small for something to go travelling with, may need to find something bigger. Once i disconnected the tank i poured the petrol away and it was pure orange, like irn-bru. Must have been laying in the tank for years.
The weekend after my brother came along instead of Jana as i wanted to get the engine/gearbox and the rest of the glass out. We even managed to get the rest of the doors off.
Glass out
Checking out how to remove the engine. We disconnected the gearbox first and tied rope around the engine to lift it straight up.
My garage buddys engine crane came in handy.
CHEEESE!!
A full 53bhp or so of pure antique metal
This is the hole that has been left from taking the motor out, The plan is to replace it with a 3 litre Cologne/Essex V6, i know it fits as ive seen the set up before in a Thames van. I'm going to go for an automatic box too as i just want it as a cruiser and i hope to keep the column change and rig it up to the autobox.
Thats as far as ive gotten with the van. I'm pretty much at the stage where i need to take the suspension, steering and rear axle off but before i do that i need to make up a way of supporting the van off the ground. I was looking at building a rotisserie but i came up with a slightly different idea. I'm going to build 2 huge dodecagons that split into 2 pieces. That way i can roll it on its side and sandblast/repair underneath then roll it back, unbolt the top half of the dodecagons and work on the roof etc..
Only thing is its going to cost about ยฃ180 in material so i need to do a few homers to make up the money for that. I also just put down a deposit to rent a new house with Jana so money is quite tight. Next update will probably be in a few more weeks.
I figured out how the 'dining table' was set up
and how the seats fold out into 'beds'
This is the first weekend we went to the garage and the magic started.
My girlfriend has taken an unusual interest in helping me to restore the van. I think its great as if i was in the garage myself it could get a bit boring but its a good laugh having her around and helping me out. Its ok right now at the stripping down stage but i think she may get bored when I'm welding and cutting **** up. I was thinking i could buy her a sewing machine and she could re-upholster the seats and curtains etc..
Yeah, check out those comfy ugly slacks I'm rocking.
I got Jana started on removing the light lenses and units etc.. she even managed to get the rear bumpers off herself. I don't mean to sound patronizing but when someone calls a ratchet the "clicky-thing" its quite a big step for her.
I even bought her a special tool kit for the job, shes since bought herself a proper tool bag and pliers set.
First door removed. It was a ***** as the hinge bolts were rusted solid, lucky for me there is a huge tool store opposite the garage (machine mart) so i managed to get an impact screwdriver.
All the seats and interior came out easy, the gas cooker was a bit of a joke really, The cage that held the gas bottle underneath the floor was about 8 inches from the ground and about an inch from the propshaft, then the gas pipe went to the cooker where someone had used a T-piece for some reason, with one pipe going to the hob and the other pipe was bent round a few times to stop gas leaking.... i don't know why the never just used a single pipe. There was a lot of cork insulation which i think had been stuck on with tar. Oh what fun i had with a scraper. Jana 'helped', but well, she got bored of it a lot quicker than i did.
Handsome eh,
Then i got stuck into the wiring loom, there was a lot of house-hold wire in one colour for switches and lights all over the place. I know I'm going to be re-doing the interior lighting differently so those got binned and i kept the standard loom. Note the intensity of my concentration.
The next weekend we started on taking the pop-up roof off. The fabric of the roof its self isn't too bad. There is a rip in it but its along the seam so once stitched up it will be ok. It was held down with aluminium strips and brackets.
WEST SIDE Y'ALL
peek-a-boo
Starting to get quite bare now, in total we found 3 dead birds in the van, 2 of which were skeletons and the other was quite fresh looking underneath the radiator intake, perhaps from the drive home on the trailer, oops.
We got the other door off and then i set about the lower panels, there pretty easy to come off as there all bolt on panels, something Ford promoted as a key selling point apparently.
The right lower panel its self was not bad, just a bit of surface rust and a few dings. Even behind the panel it was not bad. You can see the battery tray is pretty much gone but thats not really a problem at all, its just a welded up box. Although a lot of rust came flaking off as you can see.
The back of the wheel well is the worst, good thing is a lot of the panels to replace are just flat sheet with bends in it.
The other side was a bit harder to take off as it had spot welds along the side door opening but it came off none the less.
During all this a few bolts were completely seized and i had to grind them off, sending sparks flying. I finally thought id be a lot safer doing all this **** with the petrol tank out. Only problem was the bolts underneath had seized and the only access was to rip the floor out and take them off from the top.
So out the floor it went. The guy that rents the other side of the garage popped down and gave me a hand. The floor was inch thick plywood and all the coachscrews holding it down were, as you could guess, seized. We came up with a plan of him using a big lever and me drilling lots of holes around the coachscrews. You can see the petrol tank is quite small for something to go travelling with, may need to find something bigger. Once i disconnected the tank i poured the petrol away and it was pure orange, like irn-bru. Must have been laying in the tank for years.
The weekend after my brother came along instead of Jana as i wanted to get the engine/gearbox and the rest of the glass out. We even managed to get the rest of the doors off.
Glass out
Checking out how to remove the engine. We disconnected the gearbox first and tied rope around the engine to lift it straight up.
My garage buddys engine crane came in handy.
CHEEESE!!
A full 53bhp or so of pure antique metal
This is the hole that has been left from taking the motor out, The plan is to replace it with a 3 litre Cologne/Essex V6, i know it fits as ive seen the set up before in a Thames van. I'm going to go for an automatic box too as i just want it as a cruiser and i hope to keep the column change and rig it up to the autobox.
Thats as far as ive gotten with the van. I'm pretty much at the stage where i need to take the suspension, steering and rear axle off but before i do that i need to make up a way of supporting the van off the ground. I was looking at building a rotisserie but i came up with a slightly different idea. I'm going to build 2 huge dodecagons that split into 2 pieces. That way i can roll it on its side and sandblast/repair underneath then roll it back, unbolt the top half of the dodecagons and work on the roof etc..
Only thing is its going to cost about ยฃ180 in material so i need to do a few homers to make up the money for that. I also just put down a deposit to rent a new house with Jana so money is quite tight. Next update will probably be in a few more weeks.
A little re-cap,
I started by cutting the rusty section out and making a cardboard template.
I then had a think about how to make it. As you can see it has a slight curve in it the whole length and theres also a curved lip. I thought the best way would be to make the bottom section out of 3 folds then cut the upper 3 section seperatly and weld it all together. Like this.
As I was welding I think I may have done it too quick as it did start to distort slightly. I managed to tap it near enough back into shape. The only thing is the part that holds the gutter in place is still a bit warped. I don't know if I'm trying to make it too perfect or if it is actually crap. The part that will be seen once its all back together is ok and so no one would know how it looks. This is how it looks just now.
I wasnt too happy with it but after showing my dad and a few other sheet metal workers they say its quite good. I tweaked it a little from when i took these photos and i feel happier about it aswell. I do self doubt myself a lot which can be a bad thing at times. It sort of hit me when one of my friends who does this stuff for a living said that people spend years and years with the proper tools to achieve a perfect flawless repair part. I dont have that much time. I havent fitted it yet as i need to fix up the A post first, its rusting quite badly all the way down from the inside but the way the panels are joined im having to take my time and think about the best way to go around fixing it.
To be honest. The first part of the van i done i wasnt happy with so i never posted it but seeing as i think i'll re-do it i'll show it here. I really started on the metalwork one night when i was bored and went to the garage instead of home. It was a little bit around the windscreen that had rusted quite badly.
I cut it out and made up a patch, it has a slight slight curve to the panel which i managed to get.
Then i tacked it in and welded it up. When i dressed it all off i realised i never really lined it up very well on the left. You can see its about 1/2 - 1 mm lower, thats why i never wanted to show it at first but hey, we all make mistakes and its all part of learning.
Anyways, back to the better stuff.
I went and bought some really good rust convertor,
and after filling a couple of holes and cleaning up the top channels i brushed it on. It turns the metal black like this.
I then went and bought an underseal probe and ghetto attached it to my weed killer pressurised spray bottle.
I diluted it with water ( you can dilute upto 50%) It meant i could then spray it inside the channels that i couldnt access so i can help stop whatever rust is in there and it would run down the seams and help stop the rust there too.
The next thing i started on was one of the brackets that the roof bolts down to the body, i forgot to take a photo of it on the van but here it is once i had cut it out.
I made up a cardboard template, cut it out and formed it then tacked it into place.
I then welded it all around. I decided to really take my time with this one. I need to have more patience with the welding so i done a few 10mm bursts then worked on something else whilst it cooled. Done a few more, let it cool, bit more let it cool etc... It seemed to have done the trick, once i ground the******away i was quite happy with how this section turned out.
I just need to drill a couple of holes and fix some nuts on it now.
I also started on the driver side upper channel. I was amazed to see that although the drivers side is a lot worse along the full length of the van than the passangers side , the channel was not so bad as the passangers?!?! The part that the gutter attaches to was quite rotten but the rest of it was ok. That was actually pretty good because i never really wanted to go through the hassle of making another complete panel. So i cut it out.
I then went over the inside with a wire brush and painted on the rust converter stuff inside. I cut a 19mm strip out of metal and tacked it to the bottom curved section first then to the top. This section really did try my patiance as its about 450mm long so having to start and stop all the time was annopying but it paid off (practise makes perfect).
I also feel quite happy about this repair, i still need to continue it forward and back but i need to fix those other sections first.
Thats all i got done for today. The good thing is, from the 16th of may i took a weeks holiday to get more done on the bodywork so expect a bigger update in the next fortnight.
I started by cutting the rusty section out and making a cardboard template.
I then had a think about how to make it. As you can see it has a slight curve in it the whole length and theres also a curved lip. I thought the best way would be to make the bottom section out of 3 folds then cut the upper 3 section seperatly and weld it all together. Like this.
As I was welding I think I may have done it too quick as it did start to distort slightly. I managed to tap it near enough back into shape. The only thing is the part that holds the gutter in place is still a bit warped. I don't know if I'm trying to make it too perfect or if it is actually crap. The part that will be seen once its all back together is ok and so no one would know how it looks. This is how it looks just now.
I wasnt too happy with it but after showing my dad and a few other sheet metal workers they say its quite good. I tweaked it a little from when i took these photos and i feel happier about it aswell. I do self doubt myself a lot which can be a bad thing at times. It sort of hit me when one of my friends who does this stuff for a living said that people spend years and years with the proper tools to achieve a perfect flawless repair part. I dont have that much time. I havent fitted it yet as i need to fix up the A post first, its rusting quite badly all the way down from the inside but the way the panels are joined im having to take my time and think about the best way to go around fixing it.
To be honest. The first part of the van i done i wasnt happy with so i never posted it but seeing as i think i'll re-do it i'll show it here. I really started on the metalwork one night when i was bored and went to the garage instead of home. It was a little bit around the windscreen that had rusted quite badly.
I cut it out and made up a patch, it has a slight slight curve to the panel which i managed to get.
Then i tacked it in and welded it up. When i dressed it all off i realised i never really lined it up very well on the left. You can see its about 1/2 - 1 mm lower, thats why i never wanted to show it at first but hey, we all make mistakes and its all part of learning.
Anyways, back to the better stuff.
I went and bought some really good rust convertor,
and after filling a couple of holes and cleaning up the top channels i brushed it on. It turns the metal black like this.
I then went and bought an underseal probe and ghetto attached it to my weed killer pressurised spray bottle.
I diluted it with water ( you can dilute upto 50%) It meant i could then spray it inside the channels that i couldnt access so i can help stop whatever rust is in there and it would run down the seams and help stop the rust there too.
The next thing i started on was one of the brackets that the roof bolts down to the body, i forgot to take a photo of it on the van but here it is once i had cut it out.
I made up a cardboard template, cut it out and formed it then tacked it into place.
I then welded it all around. I decided to really take my time with this one. I need to have more patience with the welding so i done a few 10mm bursts then worked on something else whilst it cooled. Done a few more, let it cool, bit more let it cool etc... It seemed to have done the trick, once i ground the******away i was quite happy with how this section turned out.
I just need to drill a couple of holes and fix some nuts on it now.
I also started on the driver side upper channel. I was amazed to see that although the drivers side is a lot worse along the full length of the van than the passangers side , the channel was not so bad as the passangers?!?! The part that the gutter attaches to was quite rotten but the rest of it was ok. That was actually pretty good because i never really wanted to go through the hassle of making another complete panel. So i cut it out.
I then went over the inside with a wire brush and painted on the rust converter stuff inside. I cut a 19mm strip out of metal and tacked it to the bottom curved section first then to the top. This section really did try my patiance as its about 450mm long so having to start and stop all the time was annopying but it paid off (practise makes perfect).
I also feel quite happy about this repair, i still need to continue it forward and back but i need to fix those other sections first.
Thats all i got done for today. The good thing is, from the 16th of may i took a weeks holiday to get more done on the bodywork so expect a bigger update in the next fortnight.
cheers for the replys everyone, it really helps to keep the enthusiasim going and make me feel better, really appreciate it.
Well, i made my own folder. I looked around the internet at mass-produced ones and ones other people have made and ive based it on a mixture of both.
Its made from 50 x 50 x 5 angle, 50 x 10 flat bar, 2 x heavy duty door hinges and other bits and bobs. Its a metre long over all and will fold a sheet 600mm wide.
Here you can see i used a M12 bolt to clamp it down and i made a stop so the 'sharpness' of the bend can be consistant. The hinges are heavy duty rated to 120kg, I flipped them upside down so that the centre of the hinges is exactly at the corner of the angles.
Theres a triangulated brace on the angle that folds up. I used a bolt for the centre so i can adjust how much tension is on at the centre.
It will fold upto 125 degrees which is plenty.
My battery ran out so i cant show you a good picture of it actually folding something but you can kind-a make out a fold in the first photo.
I still need to weld a couple of handles on but i can do that later, the brace works as a handle just now.
I'll attempt the upper body repair section this Saturday so i'll see how it goes
Well, i made my own folder. I looked around the internet at mass-produced ones and ones other people have made and ive based it on a mixture of both.
Its made from 50 x 50 x 5 angle, 50 x 10 flat bar, 2 x heavy duty door hinges and other bits and bobs. Its a metre long over all and will fold a sheet 600mm wide.
Here you can see i used a M12 bolt to clamp it down and i made a stop so the 'sharpness' of the bend can be consistant. The hinges are heavy duty rated to 120kg, I flipped them upside down so that the centre of the hinges is exactly at the corner of the angles.
Theres a triangulated brace on the angle that folds up. I used a bolt for the centre so i can adjust how much tension is on at the centre.
It will fold upto 125 degrees which is plenty.
My battery ran out so i cant show you a good picture of it actually folding something but you can kind-a make out a fold in the first photo.
I still need to weld a couple of handles on but i can do that later, the brace works as a handle just now.
I'll attempt the upper body repair section this Saturday so i'll see how it goes
Last weekend i got back to the garage. I wanted to start straight away but because i left the place in a dump i thought id be best to clean up and start fresh. The toilet was disgusting, When the pipes burst the plumber warned us not to keep the water tap on as because the place isnt in use often then there was a chance it could burst again (im not so sure how reliable that information is). I think a few people must have went to the toilet and left it unflushed, the water was minging and there was actually mushrooms growing along the walls. That all got bleached and swept up. The workshop was also a bit of a mess. when i left the last time i never expected to be gone for so long so there was old milk bottles and cups with mould inside, bleurgh! I never got one bit done to the van except stare at it and work out where to start on the bodywork.
On another note, This Saturday was my little nephews three year old birthday so i wanted to make him something special. I stayed behind work a few days last week and took a day and a half off to make this digger for him. He loves watching them and looking at pictures of them.
I started with the dimensions. I dont have any kids of my own so working out the sizes was a bit of a hit and miss. I thought bigger rather than smaller would be better, he could always 'grow into it'. I made a couple of crappy sketches to get a rough idea of the sizes.
Then when i was happy i made a real scale drawing of the side
and front/side
I work at a salvage yard, mainly restoring old georgian/victorian casts. They always get extended and I use 3mm plate for that so i had plenty of scrap off-cuts. It may seem heavy duty but it was free. I started by cutting the panels for the cab out with the grinder and tacking them together. Then i used 25x50 box for the chassis rails. I like asthetics so i rounded the ends of with some 50mm pipe cut in half and welded on.
I never really took any detailed photos of the build ( which i should have) For the treads i but out 3 inch strips of 3mm plate. I used a bit of 90mm pipe to bend round for the ends and cut out a plate for the centre. The base was cut out and the ends formed around the 90mm pipe again. I took some more 25x50 box and cut out a long triangle in the centre and welded it back together to create a smooth 50mm to 25 mm taper.
I got an old leather jacket from my dad and wrapped it along with some foam over a bit of plywood to create a seat.
I never got a photo of the underside but i made a basic chassis underneath, pretty much a rectangle with an extra brace in the centre using 25x50. Two wheels at the back are fixed and two at the front can roate so it has some steering. I realised at this point that the track was quite narrow so i had to think of some stabilizing for it I later welded on some plates to the side with 40mm castors so it still had ground clearance but wont tip over. I also tacked on the main boom.
Again i forgot to take more pictures. At this point i had completed everything and took it home to paint. I chose 'traffic yellow' for the cab and arms and a gloss black for the track and base. For a bit of detail i bought some fablon (black vinyl) and printed out his name 'Ruaridh' (pronounced roo-a-ray) and used that as a template to cut around. I also photoshoped the JCB logo to his initials RRB and cut out some windows. Oh, my house isnt always this messy, i had no time to clean up as i had about an hour before his birthday party to finish everything.
Starting to build it all up now. I started getting excited seeing it nearly finished.
And that was it finished. I was really happy with how it turned out.
The paint was still a bit soft so i wrapped it up in an old bed sheet so it wouldnt stick. Seeing his wee face when he opened it made it all worthwhile. I was a bit apprehensive as to if he could actually use the levers as its quite a bit of weight. He managed it ok but it will be better in a few years, right now he can get the bucket out a bit but any further and it drops. He should have a bit more strength soon enough to get the full reach.
And heres yours truly getting a well earned shot.
Im really happy with it, i know i could have went and bought one but its not the same is it. This is a bit more personal and it should last 10 times longer than a plastic one.
Today (24/4/11) i went to the garage and started on the metal work (Atlast!!!!) The paint that is remaining on the body seems to be in areas that im goping to be cutting out or working around so what paint is left i will deal with as i restore.
I thought the best place to begin would be with an easy bit. The passanger side of the van is'nt as rusty as the drivers so i started there. Just above the passanger door the channel is quite rusty at the front.
So i cut it out.
A lot of the front of it had rusted out completley. I Started to make a template to replace the area and think really hard about how the bits that are gone would look. Wow, i never realised just how long it took to think about, mark and cut a basic template out. It was made a little harder as the bit that had gone was curved and raises up slightly. Looking at it from the top it also curves slightly from where the door would line up. I must have spent atleast 3 hours figuring everything out and making a cardboard template. I realised you also have to think about how everything is placed together, like what over-laps what and where spotwelds will go.
I then placed it upto the body using masking tape to hold it in place and made a few slight changes but thankfully it all pretty much lined up.
Now i need to get a sheet metal folder. Ive looked at ones on the internet and i dont have a spare ยฃ200 for a decent one and the likes of machinemart and screwfix they all look a bit flimsy and poor quality. So , i might just have to make one. Thats probably what il post next time.
On another note, This Saturday was my little nephews three year old birthday so i wanted to make him something special. I stayed behind work a few days last week and took a day and a half off to make this digger for him. He loves watching them and looking at pictures of them.
I started with the dimensions. I dont have any kids of my own so working out the sizes was a bit of a hit and miss. I thought bigger rather than smaller would be better, he could always 'grow into it'. I made a couple of crappy sketches to get a rough idea of the sizes.
Then when i was happy i made a real scale drawing of the side
and front/side
I work at a salvage yard, mainly restoring old georgian/victorian casts. They always get extended and I use 3mm plate for that so i had plenty of scrap off-cuts. It may seem heavy duty but it was free. I started by cutting the panels for the cab out with the grinder and tacking them together. Then i used 25x50 box for the chassis rails. I like asthetics so i rounded the ends of with some 50mm pipe cut in half and welded on.
I never really took any detailed photos of the build ( which i should have) For the treads i but out 3 inch strips of 3mm plate. I used a bit of 90mm pipe to bend round for the ends and cut out a plate for the centre. The base was cut out and the ends formed around the 90mm pipe again. I took some more 25x50 box and cut out a long triangle in the centre and welded it back together to create a smooth 50mm to 25 mm taper.
I got an old leather jacket from my dad and wrapped it along with some foam over a bit of plywood to create a seat.
I never got a photo of the underside but i made a basic chassis underneath, pretty much a rectangle with an extra brace in the centre using 25x50. Two wheels at the back are fixed and two at the front can roate so it has some steering. I realised at this point that the track was quite narrow so i had to think of some stabilizing for it I later welded on some plates to the side with 40mm castors so it still had ground clearance but wont tip over. I also tacked on the main boom.
Again i forgot to take more pictures. At this point i had completed everything and took it home to paint. I chose 'traffic yellow' for the cab and arms and a gloss black for the track and base. For a bit of detail i bought some fablon (black vinyl) and printed out his name 'Ruaridh' (pronounced roo-a-ray) and used that as a template to cut around. I also photoshoped the JCB logo to his initials RRB and cut out some windows. Oh, my house isnt always this messy, i had no time to clean up as i had about an hour before his birthday party to finish everything.
Starting to build it all up now. I started getting excited seeing it nearly finished.
And that was it finished. I was really happy with how it turned out.
The paint was still a bit soft so i wrapped it up in an old bed sheet so it wouldnt stick. Seeing his wee face when he opened it made it all worthwhile. I was a bit apprehensive as to if he could actually use the levers as its quite a bit of weight. He managed it ok but it will be better in a few years, right now he can get the bucket out a bit but any further and it drops. He should have a bit more strength soon enough to get the full reach.
And heres yours truly getting a well earned shot.
Im really happy with it, i know i could have went and bought one but its not the same is it. This is a bit more personal and it should last 10 times longer than a plastic one.
Today (24/4/11) i went to the garage and started on the metal work (Atlast!!!!) The paint that is remaining on the body seems to be in areas that im goping to be cutting out or working around so what paint is left i will deal with as i restore.
I thought the best place to begin would be with an easy bit. The passanger side of the van is'nt as rusty as the drivers so i started there. Just above the passanger door the channel is quite rusty at the front.
So i cut it out.
A lot of the front of it had rusted out completley. I Started to make a template to replace the area and think really hard about how the bits that are gone would look. Wow, i never realised just how long it took to think about, mark and cut a basic template out. It was made a little harder as the bit that had gone was curved and raises up slightly. Looking at it from the top it also curves slightly from where the door would line up. I must have spent atleast 3 hours figuring everything out and making a cardboard template. I realised you also have to think about how everything is placed together, like what over-laps what and where spotwelds will go.
I then placed it upto the body using masking tape to hold it in place and made a few slight changes but thankfully it all pretty much lined up.
Now i need to get a sheet metal folder. Ive looked at ones on the internet and i dont have a spare ยฃ200 for a decent one and the likes of machinemart and screwfix they all look a bit flimsy and poor quality. So , i might just have to make one. Thats probably what il post next time.
If anyone is wondering about the progress then, well, nothing has happened unfortunately. I had to work 3 weekends in a row for my job then i took 3 days holiday and a weekend to make a set of railings for my girlfriends boss.
Driving back from work last weekend, the Consul decided that it didn't like its engine working and conked out in rush hour traffic. I managed to coast it to the side of the road and popped the bonnet. At first i didn't know what it was so i checked the vitals first, fuel and spark. Stupidly i also done it in that order, to check for petrol i disconnected the fuel pipe and pressed the starter solenoid which sprayed fuel all over the engine and still hot exhaust, oops. So the fuel was ok but now i realized that i need to check the spark... with petrol everywhere. I was about to pull a plug out and be brave and find a spot that wasn't covered in petrol to test it when i thought id check if the distributor was functioning. I took the cap off and pressed the solenoid again and the rotor arm wasn't turning. I thought that maybe the bracket had came loose and it popped out. I tried to slacking the bracket off a bit more but the distributor wouldn't come out. The body of it rotates but its totally jammed inside the engine somehow. The only other way to access it is to take the sump off and the oil pump off and see if can identify why its stuck in there. Another thing that will take a day of my weekend up.
I was also getting fed up with sitting in my car at traffic jams doing the daily commute and decided that seeing as the weather is picking up and theres more daylight, now would be the best time to get my motorbike project back on the road. I've had my Honda VFR400 for about 6 years now and 3 of those years its been off the road. I had a crash on it and i wanted to rebuild it to a better spec so i bought a set of Yamaha R1 forks and calipers and came up with a way to put them on the bike. I also used an Aprilla RS250 rear shock to tighten up the rear.
These are all really old photos. I never had much money then so i had to stop for a while. Then i bought the Consul and it took up most of my time. Last weekend i decided to start the engine (first time in over a year) and it gave me a boost to get it finished. I had to re-cap myself as to how far i had gotten and was really surprised by how far i got before i stopped. I repaired all the fairings except the front, i just needed to bleed the brakes properly (i spent days and days on them before, always spongy) buy mirrors, indicators, S/S brake lines and then put it all back together again. I got most of that done over one weekend and all i have to do now is repair the front fairing and make sure everything is ok. I'm hoping to get it finished this Saturday and leave me with Sunday (girlfriend permitting) to get back to the van. I feel really guilty that i haven't done anything to it for 5 weeks already. In a way its been good to have a break because it had been on my mind every day since i bought it about 8 months ago. So i can get back to it with a clear mind and enthusiasm.
Driving back from work last weekend, the Consul decided that it didn't like its engine working and conked out in rush hour traffic. I managed to coast it to the side of the road and popped the bonnet. At first i didn't know what it was so i checked the vitals first, fuel and spark. Stupidly i also done it in that order, to check for petrol i disconnected the fuel pipe and pressed the starter solenoid which sprayed fuel all over the engine and still hot exhaust, oops. So the fuel was ok but now i realized that i need to check the spark... with petrol everywhere. I was about to pull a plug out and be brave and find a spot that wasn't covered in petrol to test it when i thought id check if the distributor was functioning. I took the cap off and pressed the solenoid again and the rotor arm wasn't turning. I thought that maybe the bracket had came loose and it popped out. I tried to slacking the bracket off a bit more but the distributor wouldn't come out. The body of it rotates but its totally jammed inside the engine somehow. The only other way to access it is to take the sump off and the oil pump off and see if can identify why its stuck in there. Another thing that will take a day of my weekend up.
I was also getting fed up with sitting in my car at traffic jams doing the daily commute and decided that seeing as the weather is picking up and theres more daylight, now would be the best time to get my motorbike project back on the road. I've had my Honda VFR400 for about 6 years now and 3 of those years its been off the road. I had a crash on it and i wanted to rebuild it to a better spec so i bought a set of Yamaha R1 forks and calipers and came up with a way to put them on the bike. I also used an Aprilla RS250 rear shock to tighten up the rear.
These are all really old photos. I never had much money then so i had to stop for a while. Then i bought the Consul and it took up most of my time. Last weekend i decided to start the engine (first time in over a year) and it gave me a boost to get it finished. I had to re-cap myself as to how far i had gotten and was really surprised by how far i got before i stopped. I repaired all the fairings except the front, i just needed to bleed the brakes properly (i spent days and days on them before, always spongy) buy mirrors, indicators, S/S brake lines and then put it all back together again. I got most of that done over one weekend and all i have to do now is repair the front fairing and make sure everything is ok. I'm hoping to get it finished this Saturday and leave me with Sunday (girlfriend permitting) to get back to the van. I feel really guilty that i haven't done anything to it for 5 weeks already. In a way its been good to have a break because it had been on my mind every day since i bought it about 8 months ago. So i can get back to it with a clear mind and enthusiasm.
