hotsparks
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Re: I'm Sleeping on the Ceiling Tonight
I'm still a little creeped out on finding that snake inside. I find myself turning on the light and checking the floor first before I get up. I didn't find any big holes and the best thing I could see was maybe it got in from under the shower and crawled along the water pipes. I stuffed some places with aluminum foil for a temporary quick fix. I'm going to use some spray foam and some sheet metal in a few places. I am still going to crawl under outside and look some more. A snake is the last thing I would of thought would be inside on the floor next to my bed. I hope that I never see that again. It could of just as easily been a rattle snake and I could of been bit. :E349Views0likes0CommentsI'm Sleeping on the Ceiling Tonight
I need some more velcro because I'm sleeping on the ceiling tonight. I just found a 3ft. long bull snake inside my motor home on the floor next to my bed. Talk about having a heart attack. I'm sort of used to seeing snakes outside once in a while but inside next to my bed, that's a different story. I live in Eastern WA. and we have rattle snakes and bull snakes. Every Summer I find about 5 to 10 rattle snakes and I usually kill them with a hoe or something. The bull snakes I usually just leave them be. They keep the mice population down. The bull snakes are non-venomous and they just scare you to death. They can still bite you if you mess with them. This one I found was hissing and snapping at me for dear life but I'm sorry, this is MY house not the snake house. Those things are hard to catch and hard to kill. They look just like a rattle snake but are a little shiny and smoother and have a smaller head and no rattle. The rattle snakes have a bigger head and are a dull color but both snakes sort of have the same markings and look almost the same. I don't understand how it got in but I guess I have to go through everything now to find that small hole someplace. I'm on a mission now. I was wondering what that was crawling on me last night. (no not really).:E5.4KViews0likes16CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
Hey Kev, were all still reading your updates. :C I was just wondering how the hinges were on your doors. Are they very worn out and loose or are they snug and tight? Don't try to fit the door gaps with loose hinges. With the doors open see if you can wiggle the doors up or down. If the hinges are loose you can take the pins out and maybe drill the holes bigger and make up some larger pins to fit the larger holes. Then you can get some grease in there and make them swing nice and smooth. I was thinking about this as I was reading because it reminded me of the time I made that mistake. I rebuilt an old 1968 MGB-GT and never fixed the door hinges. After I had the car all painted nice the doors later started to rub on the paint. After I fixed the hinges the door gaps were all different and I sort of had to do my body work over and repaint around the doors. After all that the doors worked good but the paint was sort of messed up and never looked as good as it used to. This all falls into the part about "just fix it right the first time". I'm just wondering how is the budget holding out for this project? Or are you even keeping track? Have you kept track of how many hours you have worked on it so far? I know it is a lot. Keep it going. If you don't finish it will be all wasted time but I know you will finish. I can tell you will. Good luck on your wedding, I hope you get to be old, fat, and happy someday. OK 2 out of 3, you can skip the part about getting fat. :B412Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
Hey Kev, It's good to see that you are still going full speed ahead. Looking at all your photos makes me feel like I am back at work almost. I know how it is when you work on some small piece of metal and sometimes you need to bang it with the hammer and cut it and bang it again and the cut it again and again. I know how it can take you a few hours to make just that little part and then after you weld it in and clean it up, it looks like you didn't do anything. From what I've seen so far I think it will turn out great. I know it has been a lot of work and you still have a lot of work still to do. But I think this is all the hard part. Some of the rest will get finished quick. I bet sometimes you wonder to yourself if it will ever get finished. I have to ask...Did you realize it would be this rusted and this much work when you pulled the van out from the field? When I first read the start of you project, I thought you were nuts to take on this restoration. I had an idea of how bad it would be rusted. I've done almost the same thing on a few different cars and trucks. Then I saw the photos and seen your abilities and I knew you could do it. Hey, it's only metal, right? Just bang it, pound it, slam it, bend it, heat it, punch it, drill it, work it, and then put a bandage on your cut finger sometimes. Speaking of banging and pounding. Where is your shop that you are using? I hope that you are not making the neighbors mad with your noise. I know that grinder can be very loud and that banging and pounding can get very old after a few months. How long have you been working on this now? I would have to go back and look. And I'm going to remind you again. WEAR YOUR EAR PLUGS...ALWAYS. Trust me, I'm 56 and have been doing the same kind of work as you for many years. If you want to hear your grand kids laugh, WEAR YOUR EAR PLUGS...and your glasses and face shield. I've had grinding specks in my eyes over a dozen times. And I once even had a wire from the wire wheel stuck in my eye. And that was while I was wearing glasses. It still happens. How are you going to get the van to the auto show? Are you going to drag it onto a trailer? It's going to collect a large crowd with lots of questions. And I even have a question. How rare are these vans where you live? Could you even find another one for spare parts? I've never seen one here where I live in America. If I have seen one I've never noticed it. I've seen a lot of restorations. Some good, some bad, some the owner never even got his hands dirty except when the pen leaked while he was writing the check to pay for it. I always give more credit to the guy who does his own work and does not have an endless supply of money. Another thing I was thinking about... Have you ever thought about writing a book about this build? Or maybe even an E-book or a DVD? You could provide a little more detail and more photos. maybe tell some of the lessons that you have learned the hard way. I'm sure that when you get it finished you "might" have some extra time to get the book started. But you might have to write it while you are camping someplace in your van. It just might get you some extra cash to pay for the build. I'm sure a lot of people would be interested in the book. Just look at how many hits you have on this thread. Too bad you didn't have something ready for the auto show. It could be just a cheap booklet with photos just like this thread. You could sell them cheap sort of like asking for donations for the project. You can have them made up at the printer/copy stores.....I don't know, just something to think about. :C482Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
Hey Kevin where are you? :B I was just checking for an update. I guess you are busy doing something which is better than being busy doing nothing. We are all still here following your project. I was noticing you are starting to throw some primer paint on it. I think I remember you are using an "epoxy primer" is that correct? That's the best stuff there is. I know it is not cheap but it is the best. I have used hundreds of big cans of that stuff at work for painting large boats and small ships. You know you can put that paint on pretty thick and it will still dry as long as you have the two parts mixed. You can layer it on by two ways. 1- put the second coat on before the first coat has dried completely. You can paint the second coat when the first coat is just sort of not sticky to the touch. Maybe 2 hours dry time. Depends on how hot the weather is. Hot weather will make it dry faster. This way it bonds to the first coat without sanding. 2-The second way is to let the first coat dry completely for a day or longer. This will require you to scuff the first coat before painting the second coat. You can maybe use one of those green scuff pads or use some dry sand paper. If you let the first coat of paint dry completely without sanding, the second coat will not stick good to the first coat. That paint will dry hard as rock if you let it. Don't paint the second coat without sanding if the first coat is already dried. There is a small window of time with that paint that you can either work it one way or you have to let it dry so you can work it a different way. After you use it for a while you will understand what I mean. I know, maybe you already understand what I mean, but maybe someone else can learn from this. This paint is sometimes hard to find and is not usually sold to the public in those big box stores. Look for it at boating supply stores, and industrial paint suppliers. It must also be covered with some other type of paint because it does not hold up to UV light I think. It will get chalky after a while. I bet the weather is getting warmer where you are, so that means your boss want's you to work more hours right? Keep up the good work, I give you credit. I'm sure you are going to finish this soon. But take you time and do it right the first time. Once you close this thing up you probably will not go back deep inside to change much. When you are done you will have a one of a kind R/V. I don't know how common those things are where you live but I've never even seen one over here. :B353Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
My paragraphs are getting mixed up and I'm too lazy to fix it. I'm getting tired.:S Hey can you attach a foot pedal to that welder? (to control the heat while welding) I looked at your post again. I must of read it wrong. How much did you pay for that welder? I see that it's DC only, is that right. Still, that's a nice machine.368Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
WOW, OK now that does it...I'm jealous! :B Even I don't have a tig set up at my house. I have to use the one at work. But then I don't pay for the shielding gas, rods, or tungsten, or nozzles or any of that. Quiet, don't tell my boss I'm spending his money. Ha-ha. No really, it's kind of a free benefit. The boss does not really care. I have never heard of that brand of welder here in the U.S. it looks like a cool unit. I'm going to have to go do the conversion on dollars to pounds to understand what you payed for it. I'm going to say it one more time...I'm jealous. I know what you mean by it's slower but it's also faster. Ya, hard to understand if you have never tried to tig weld. Hey how are your eyeballs? When I weld now days I need to wear some reading glasses to see the puddle clearly. I'm getting older now, darn. I like to wear the glasses instead of the magnifier lens in my helmet. The magnifier lens makes a double image from the reflection when I weld. A "joggler" well OK. I work with heavy plate and pipes mostly, I haven't done too much sheet metal at work. I don't know, maybe that's what it's called here also, I don't know. I just looked at the conversion of pounds to dollars. 800 pounds is about $1250 dollars. That's about right. I know that's not cheap. But you will get years of use out of it. It will pay for itself in a couple of jobs I hope. I bet one day you will not have time to go work for someone else because you have too many side jobs to do yourself. Time to be your own boss. :C Keep it up, it's looking good. That last weld looks perfect. I see that you do have one of those things that crimps the edge of the sheet metal. I've never seen one like that. Cool. What did you call it? I've never heard it called that before. You must be from some other country than me. Ha-ha. Hey does that welder have the high frequency to weld aluminum? AC/DC367Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
Hey Kevin, me again... I was wondering are you using a flux core wire or bare wire in you welder? Try and use a bare wire with a Co2 shield gas and the welds will come out nice and clean with less cleaning and grinding. You will be able to see your weld better and there will be a lot less smoke. The cost of flux core wire is not cheap, the bare wire is cheaper but you will need the bottle of gas and a regulator/gauge.367Views0likes0CommentsRe: The 1959 Ford Thames campervan restoration begins.
Hey Kevin, good to see you are still going at it full speed. We really like how you are keeping the updates going. Even if some of us do not reply, I know there are a lot of us watching your every move. :C I've noticed that a lot of the sheet metal parts that you make, you use a "butt weld" to install them. Why don't you make some of them with a "lap weld' instead? It sure would be a lot easier to weld and you would not get so many small holes to fill and grind. It's OK to make the pieces just a little lower than the height needed because you are going to fill them with body filler anyway. And if you have a piece that is too high you are going to be pounding the spot down. It's a lot easier to fill it up just a little than to push it down a little because it was made a little too high. Just a thought for you to think about. Do you have any of those tools like a vise grip that makes the sheet metal lip? You just squeeze the edge of the metal and it will have a nice lip on it for an easy weld. It's only sheet metal and I don't think it needs to be a butt weld like some thick plate. I also noticed that you don't have the handle and guard on your grinder. I'm a welder also and I understand why you took them off. I just want to ask... have you ground your finger yet from holding the grinder? :B I'm laughing because I've done that many times before I learned. I'm not trying to be the safety police. At least put the side handle on so it won't kick back and grind your face just when you don't expect it to. I've seen it happen many times at work. Try riding a bicycle with no handle bars, it's kind of hard to steer. Same for the grinder. If you get it in a bind and it kicks back at you it's very hard to hold onto without a handle. I'm sure you know what I mean. I also noticed that some of your welds look kind of lumpy. Are you trying to weld uphill on that thin sheet metal? Try and do a small weave back and forth and go downhill. It might work for you sometimes. Yes, I know a "TIG" would be nice but the setup is not cheap. Actually it's not that bad, you would need a bottle of argon that you could rent and a gauge. And of course the right type of welding machine. And a foot pedal would be nice to control the heat. And,and,and, a big bag of money would be nice also. And we know you are not a millionaire. You are doing fine, keep it up and don't get burned out. If you get tired of always working on it, take a break and do something like clean your shop up or just go do something else for a day or so. It looks like you have most of the hard parts almost finished. The rest will go fast. If you didn't live on the other side of the world from me, I would come over and help you. I know a GOOD helper is hard to find. I have some friends that want to help me sometimes but all they want to do is sit and drink beer. I get more done when they are not around.367Views0likes0Comments
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