1970 DORMOBILE - COMPLETE RESTO - IT PASSED :)

[pinheaduk]

trying to find as many early bay pics and articles out of the mags i can as

 

[pinheaduk]

ok today feeling a bit under the weather so thought i would dig out the sewing machine again and have a go at the bunks.

looking good sofar, went for a cotton canvas which is really good stuff and a nice colour too

both done and a lot better than the old one as you can see

i also got some material yesterday for the curtains and thought i would try and make some, with lining . the material is a thick cotton and has three colour stripes, cream, red and brown which i thought would be great with the bus

pinned down the sides

the lining in the back

rear hatch done, phew!!! only another 4 sets for the rear and 3 curtains for the front left hehe

 

[pinheaduk]

ok late thursday and today been putting some more stuff back together and doing the seals for the engine bay and damn there tiring, the rear one took agaes to get on the sides were ok but took forever to get the rear valance rubber on, uses washing up liquid bit of grease, vaseline hehe but eventually its on and i aint taking it off

i also rebuilt the engine for the 2nd time as after the first time i did a compression test and on number 2 and 4 the results was a very low 85psi and 90psi, luckily i got a 2nd hand set from the cornwall swapmeet for £20 and i gave em a clean up and there only a few weeks old i would say less that 500 miles, so put them on the engine and got a between 120-125 psi on all 4 which is good enough for me and put a new set of pushrod tubes as the spring loaded ones i had on there kept leaking so back to stock

in situ

also took the rear brakes apart and put new retaining clips and springs in there and set the handbrake, think ill get new shoes as one of them is quite low but will do for the time being.
fed the pipes for the washer jets and wired in a electric washer pump which came with the van.

put the front seats in to see what they looked like with the paint and i like it

 

[gninnam]

Seats look well wicked with the colour of the van - excellent choice dude 8)

 

[dubdubz]

what carb linkage is that ? looking good

 

[pinheaduk]

i think its a scat bell crank linkage that came with the carbs

 

[aogrady]

i want to do something different on all the door cards so im tempted to rip up a few old vw magazines and stuff and make a collage of various pictures, reviews, tech help etc and then cover it with clear adhesive vinyl to protect them and make them easy to clean

what ya think?

Sounds good. Saw something similar in a 'surf' bay window van in one of the mags, just using surfing memorabilia. Don't forget to add some Early Bay articles in there too.

Did something like that in mine a while back.

Cheers!

Alistair

 

[pinheaduk]

wooooo hooooooo, after a week or so of no van action i managed to get a day in the garage and got quite a bit done

i have been doing the inner panels with flashing and insulation to keep the panel vibration at a minimum and keep it cosy. the door cards are going on bare due to my covering them with something funky later on this weekend

not the most inspiring pics ever

all the panels have been covered in the lead flashing tape before the insulation goes on

started on the rear hatch
lead flashing

insulation

coverd

sliding door and ns panel

o/s

 

[pinheaduk]

the rear two shelf panels were made with hardboard and fitted very nicely

i also put a bit of the tape in the cab doors

the rear shelf has been done between the lines as a piece of plywood will be fitted before the rear bed base goes on, not sure whether to cover it or not yet

also got the dash top and the windscreen in, just need a dash pad handle thingy and its sorted and the lights look cool when switched on

over the weekend im door fitting but might get some time to get the rear cargo floor sorted and make a start on the redesign of the main unit, hopefully if i can remove the front of it

 

[pinheaduk]

today was interior strippng day the main unit is having the front and tops removed etc so they can be replaced with new mdf/ply

tops off

the rear hardboard has been removed as it was rotten

the front is off, didnt realise only a few screws and lots of staples held it on

i have put the front back into position to see what i am going to change about it as not 100% sure im going to keep the original cooker, but the doors will be flush and not stand out with the trim as they did originally, so i will have some great condition doors going in the sale bit soon

ok i found the flooring at the dreaded trago mills the other day and couldnt resist it and it has a booze theme its lino covered in bottle corks

 

[dubdubz]

STOP

reverse - seriously

remove the insulation - the fibreglass stuff holds moisture and will rot from the inside

you need celotex or kingspan - or foil bubble wrap, in fact polystyrene is better than the fibre stuff

CARRY ON

only trying to help

 

[pinheaduk]

cheers for that dude, heard the same from my dad also, has now been removed

 

[dubdubz]

hope u don't mind came across strong

glad it's out it would undo all ur hard work

 

[71dormy]

i love this van the colour looks mint with those stripes.iam defo going to have a good look when this is done!are you going to vanfest?glad you are keeping interior i love them! nice one mate

 

[T2-Nate]

Very solid result mate, good on u to remove the insulation, its a moisture trap!
Quite impressed and keep the pics a-comin'.

 

[pinheaduk]

i love this van the colour looks mint with those stripes.iam defo going to have a good look when this is done!are you going to vanfest?glad you are keeping interior i love them! nice one mate

cheers dude,

going to have to give the bottom half of the van another quick blast with the spray gun in areas as its got a few scratches where ive been moving around, haven't had chance to sort yet so thought would do when everythings done

 

[pinheaduk]

ok didnt do much sunday decided it was such a nice day that i should go to a fre carboots , got a few bits but got a new router to use on the interior, never used one before so will be a learning curve.

did get the rear window in though

today i thought id sort out the main parts of the interior and made a fewtemplates for the rear floor area to level it up

then i got to play with the router, i clamped the old dormobile front onto the new wood and cut around it, quite fun to use but dont half make a mess

I then used the old front and made a few changes to the new front to make it different from the norm and this is what ive come up with, to make better use of the top shelf and a few other bits, all ive got to do is cut it out

then remade the seat base as it wasnt in the best condition

in situ to test the fit

 

[Tiki-Al]

looking nice...love the paintjob and seats

 

[gninnam]

Does look like it is going to be sweet! 8)

What covering are you going to use over the mdf?

 

[pinheaduk]

Does look like it is going to be sweet! 8)

What covering are you going to use over the mdf?

was going to use the sticky vinyl fablon stuff with the original pattern or a different wood colour