1972 Crossover Dormobile - Full Restoration Work In Progress

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well its not quite as ready as i had thought/hoped.

i drove it out of the barn under the power of the porsche engine and had a massive grin on my face. however, it didnt last long! the engine cut out while doing a three point turn and couldnt get it started again. was worried that i had somehow blown the ignition unit. however it turned out i just blew a fuse.

originally i had a problem starting the engine cos i was using one of the connections on the coil as my ignition live, but turns out the coil, isnt a coil! therefore i had rewired my reverse light and fuel pump relay to the vw fuse box (fuse12 - far right). i had increased this fuse to 16A and it was this one that blew!! turns out that it wasnt that suprising why. the fuel pump has 25A fuse, the reverse is 7.5A fuse and the brake light fuse....all going through the ignition live fuse in the fuse box :s

therefore, i decided - not before a discussion with loxy - that the way forward was to use the ignition live vw fuse to simply trigger a relay in the engine bay. I used a permanent live from the battery to the relay and when it sees a ignition live on the relay it latches the relay providing me with a completely seperate ignition live source. from this relay i am operating my reverse lights, fuel pump and my aux oil cooler fan.

here is a little video of the bus before reversing, fuel pumping and braking caused the above issue:

http://s1074.photobucket.com/albums/w411/Nathan_Wooldridge/?action=view&current=VIDEO0039.mp4" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

i do have some warming up issues with keeping the engine running, but will try and sort these out in the week.
 
IMAG0284.jpg


BOOM!!! MOT'd
 
Excellent! :D :D
And looks awesome sat out on a proper road 8)
You must be well happy! :D

You going to run an engine bay fusebox for the additional circuit?
From memory, 911 has one back there for all that stuff.
 
thanks guys. ye geeze, the porsche had its own engine relatied fuse box in the engine bay. what i have done it similar. i have a used the VW ignition live to act as the latch in a relay that is simply connected to the battery - providing me with an independent ignition(15) live to run fuel pump, oil cooler fan, reverse lights.

while i wait for the a new porsche air boot from Germany, I thought i would crack on with some of the leisure faciltiies. ever since findoing out that a gas bottle and battery should not be installed in the same cupboard i i have been struggling to find a spot for my propex, leisure battery, gas bottle, and ZIG+RCD unit. The biggest difficulty was that i didnt want any of it on display. I wanted it to look as if i didnt have any of the usual functionality - a bit like Faux's (Jon's) zig install. after much deliberation i thought i had found a solution so i started to cut hole :?

anyway. i thought i had found the spot for my ZIG. accessible without having to remove the dormobile table from its stowed position and not visible
IMG-20120326-00064.jpg


this was just big enough for my RCD and ZIG...so with a bit of fabrication a bracket appeared:
IMG-20120410-00070.jpg


IMG-20120410-00067.jpg


the propex was a little trickier due to ofset location of the combustion air IN and OUT pipes. i wanted to fit it tight to the wheel arch, but this meant that the pipes would go straigh through the top hat under the floor. therefore a couple of brackets were made to lift the heater off the floor like so:
IMG-20120410-00075.jpg


after a couple of nervous holes in the floor:
IMG-20120411-00078.jpg


i have plumbed the heater into one of the two rear kick panel inlets. i am going to bung up the other along with the Y pipe enabling me to have propex heating up front and blowing rearward in the walkthrough

i could have orientated the propex 90degrees but that would have left me with ALOT of wasted space in the cupboard and i was hoping to get my leisure battery in the same cupboard. and hey presto:
IMG-20120417-00086.jpg


as you can see if the propex was the same orientation as the battery they both wont fit and i wouldnt have anywhere to fit a battery.

so, as for the hookup. i've bought a caravan wall mounted hookup and tucked it up under the bus. this has been mounted straight onto the main chassis rail under the sliding door. i have also bought a quick release BBQ fitting. this means that i will be able to cook outside without having to remove the gas bottle everytime. i got the idea from someone on thelatebay site, but cant remember who so no acknowledgements sorry :)
IMG-20120417-00083.jpg

IMG-20120417-00085.jpg


at the moment all of this is just fitted and not connected. i have started routing wires like the fridge, the interior lights and propex, but nothing connected though
 
ok, a few more things crossed off the list. the gas man came last night to fit the pipework for my propex, cooker and BBW point. did a real neat job.
img2012050300096.jpg


the cooker is working...which is always a good thing :)
img2012050300098.jpg


also, loxy did a fab job of rebuilding all my locks onto one key so now i can lock my bus up for the first time in 4 1/2 yrs :) just in time for it to be sent to upholsters and garage for a tune over the next 2 wks.

the bus is booked into bromsgrove for a fleeting visit to have the bed upholstered. then its booked into an independent porsche garage in cardiff just around the corner from where i live to have the engine serviced and tuned. i did want to do this myself, but with a holiday on the 15june in the bus in the near future, i want the bus to be sorted so a should have a month to get a few miles under the belt and hopefully flatten out any problems.

NaFe
 
so, after a fleeting visit to Bromsgrove Autotrim I now have a fully upholstered interior with my NEW bed!!!!!

IMG_1855.jpg

IMG_1852.jpg

IMG_1856.jpg

IMG_1861.jpg


cant say enough good things about BAT to be honest. the best service I have had in the 4 1/2 yrs i've been working on this. AMAZING company! Thank you Ange and Pete

NaFe
 
its going to RS Porsche in Penarth on monday morning for a service and tune. i'm hoping that they will be able to sort out the little issue i have with the mixture setup. then i should have a month of driving before trip to France to hopefully iron out any issues.

NaFe

p.s. you are welcome to pop down to Adventurers Quay, Cardiff Bay this weekend if you want to look at it in the flesh :)
 
Haveacamper said:
its going to RS Porsche in Penarth on monday morning for a service and tune. i'm hoping that they will be able to sort out the little issue i have with the mixture setup. then i should have a month of driving before trip to France to hopefully iron out any issues.

NaFe

p.s. you are welcome to pop down to Adventurers Quay, Cardiff Bay this weekend if you want to look at it in the flesh :)
Hi Ilive down the Bay are you going to the show in Pencoed on Sunday?
 
Haveacamper said:
then i should have a month of driving before trip to France to hopefully iron out any issues.

If your French trip takes you down this way your welcome to drop by :)
 
well funny you should say that.... our plan is currently to make it down to carcassone, mirepoix and limoux.

originally we were going to just head south from calais but then we were thinking of going through the middle. however, i then realised that there was only about 100miles difference between goign through the middle and going across to la rochelle then heading south down the E5 past saint emillion then across the E72.

where abouts are you in the south west??
 

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