68_early_bay
Well-known member
giraffeinbath said:- 16 days to go.....
You haven't got time to be making sandcastles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Looking good though
37 days to go....
- Thread starter giraffeinbath
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You haven't got time to be making sandcastles :lol: :lol: :lol:
Looking good though
- Joined
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- Location
- Leeds
- Year of Your Van(s)
- 1971
- Van Type
- Panel
Don't you mean "fillercastles"? :lol:68_early_bay said:
Looking good so far fella, keep up the momentum :!:
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 15 days to go.....
If I have enough filler left I'll make a filler castle and take it with me, that should be pretty funny when somebody tries to kick it down on the beach :lol:
Bro's been over tonight to lend a hand again, we started off pitching straight into it but over an early coffee break decided we needed a change of tactic.
Basically there is no way in the world we are going to be ready to get paint on the van on Saturday, so rather than just setting ourselves up for a fall it makes sense to reshuffle our plans to fit in with the time we have. We'll aim to get paint on the weekend after this one coming which gives us another week to get the body prepared to a better finish rather than rush it to an impossible deadline. This also means we won't have time to put the van through a 'tester' MOT so we'll need to make sure it goes through first time just a couple of days before we go away.... :shock:
So we'll spend our time getting the van mobile and sorted to pass an MOT this week, with gearbox and engine in, as well as all (or as much as possible) of the welding that needs to be done in potential MOT failure areas as well as the bit of welding that we need to do to continue the body prep. This also gives me another weekend to be able to get the grinders out and make some noise which will speed things up again. Nathan, the chap who gave us a hand with the shaping will be back from holiday next week as well so if we can tempt him back that would make a big difference and free us up to get on with other things.
It's been getting to the point that the barn was becoming such a mess that we were starting not to see the wood for the trees (the metal for the filler...? ; the ferrous for the oxide...?) so this evening has been more a time for clearing up, taking another look around the van and list (love lists) what we need to get done and when, so again there are no pic's of massive progressive steps forward, but sometimes just clearing the decks and getting a plan together is the way forward to allow us to continue with a clearer state of mind.
..oh yes.........., and one of these turned up today, good times :mrgreen:
If I have enough filler left I'll make a filler castle and take it with me, that should be pretty funny when somebody tries to kick it down on the beach :lol:
Bro's been over tonight to lend a hand again, we started off pitching straight into it but over an early coffee break decided we needed a change of tactic.
Basically there is no way in the world we are going to be ready to get paint on the van on Saturday, so rather than just setting ourselves up for a fall it makes sense to reshuffle our plans to fit in with the time we have. We'll aim to get paint on the weekend after this one coming which gives us another week to get the body prepared to a better finish rather than rush it to an impossible deadline. This also means we won't have time to put the van through a 'tester' MOT so we'll need to make sure it goes through first time just a couple of days before we go away.... :shock:
So we'll spend our time getting the van mobile and sorted to pass an MOT this week, with gearbox and engine in, as well as all (or as much as possible) of the welding that needs to be done in potential MOT failure areas as well as the bit of welding that we need to do to continue the body prep. This also gives me another weekend to be able to get the grinders out and make some noise which will speed things up again. Nathan, the chap who gave us a hand with the shaping will be back from holiday next week as well so if we can tempt him back that would make a big difference and free us up to get on with other things.
It's been getting to the point that the barn was becoming such a mess that we were starting not to see the wood for the trees (the metal for the filler...? ; the ferrous for the oxide...?) so this evening has been more a time for clearing up, taking another look around the van and list (love lists) what we need to get done and when, so again there are no pic's of massive progressive steps forward, but sometimes just clearing the decks and getting a plan together is the way forward to allow us to continue with a clearer state of mind.
..oh yes.........., and one of these turned up today, good times :mrgreen:
68_early_bay
Well-known member
giraffeinbath said:- 15 days to go.....
..oh yes.........., and one of these turned up today, good times :mrgreen:
You can't beat a vs exhaust
68_early_bay
Well-known member
8 days to go.......
Any progress???????
Any progress???????
Adam Foster
Well-known member
I hope you do better than me, this is pretty much what happened to me, only mine has taken me over 2 years so far!
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
68_early_bay said:
Sorry I've been a bit slack in my update duties.....traveling now so time for a quick update on the phone.
It's all still going on, the days have consisted entirely of work, van, sleep and pretty much nothing inbetween.
So it's a friends wedding today, more prep tomorrow and back home in the evening when I'll get some more pics up of progress do far.
I'm driving a friends old Merc as the wedding car in about an hours time which will be fun. I wish I had found my suit trousers earlier to check the still fitted, I am in so much f"£@ing pain right now...
I'll get some pics up tomorrow, the clocks still ticking, wish me luck :mrgreen:
68_early_bay
Well-known member
giraffeinbath said:
Well has it happened????????????
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
68_early_bay said:
Well we're off tomorrow so now we know, but first a quick low down of the missing last days....
- 10 days to go.....
Gearbox seals done to stop the leaks, all the cv joints were shot so replaced all around which was just one of the expensive boring things that we've needed to put this back together. I'm glad we got the exhaust early on so amongst all the non descript stuff there's something more interesting and pimpy waiting to go on.
Got the tank, gearbox and engine in and I was able to feel a little smug that I had tried to remove the air filter pedestal in one piece as it made it quite easy to bolt back on again although I didn't think I would be doing it so son when I managed to get it out when fitting the twin carbs was still the plan.
It was good to see the parts coming together, that engine has been sitting on the bench in pieces for over a year....
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 8 days to go.....
A lot of time over these days was spent doing small repair work, with Nathan on hand again doing filling, shaping and generally making things that were far from smooth, smooth.
Generally speaking apart from the major damage area's that we encountered on the rear quarter panel and front clip as a result of accident damage, the condition of the doors etc really weren't that bad for an almost 50 year old UK van. The sliding door wasn't in bad shape, a few holes in the bottom hat needed pluging but not to bad really...
Again many hands made light work, if you look carefully at this photo you can just about glimpse the sun shining out of Nathan's butt...
A lot of time over these days was spent doing small repair work, with Nathan on hand again doing filling, shaping and generally making things that were far from smooth, smooth.
Generally speaking apart from the major damage area's that we encountered on the rear quarter panel and front clip as a result of accident damage, the condition of the doors etc really weren't that bad for an almost 50 year old UK van. The sliding door wasn't in bad shape, a few holes in the bottom hat needed pluging but not to bad really...
Again many hands made light work, if you look carefully at this photo you can just about glimpse the sun shining out of Nathan's butt...
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 6 days to go.....
We needed to get the van back together so it was drivable and actually so it started to resemble something more like a van for the benefit of the MOT inspector. Everything is back to front at this point as because we weren't ready to paint we were going to have to get the MOT done first. The idea being to get the MOT done on Monday and have the van in primer by that same evening.
Luckily the weather is in our favour and its nice and hot and dry so not to many worries having the van sitting about outside with all that naked metal and fresh filler just waiting to make the most of any available moisture.
It was good to see everything coming together, seats back in and the interior panels in place, feels like we're getting there despite there still being so much to do...
We needed to get the van back together so it was drivable and actually so it started to resemble something more like a van for the benefit of the MOT inspector. Everything is back to front at this point as because we weren't ready to paint we were going to have to get the MOT done first. The idea being to get the MOT done on Monday and have the van in primer by that same evening.
Luckily the weather is in our favour and its nice and hot and dry so not to many worries having the van sitting about outside with all that naked metal and fresh filler just waiting to make the most of any available moisture.
It was good to see everything coming together, seats back in and the interior panels in place, feels like we're getting there despite there still being so much to do...
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
5 days to go.....
Back from work, a few final bits sorted rapidly and then it's time to get the van on the back of the transporter to take it over to my brothers work place to get the primer and paint laid on. This turned out to be a bit hairy, I was advised to get the van on the transporter rear end first so the weight was at the cab end but with virtually zero traction on the rear tyres the camper almost slipped off the edge as the rear wheels decided sideways was better than straight ways and the back end almost dismounted the runners. After a bit of fannying around trying to get the winch to work, we just drove it up which would have been a lot easier in the first place!
It was dark by the time were got there...
They do some amazing work at this place, there's always something cool on the go.....
Back from work, a few final bits sorted rapidly and then it's time to get the van on the back of the transporter to take it over to my brothers work place to get the primer and paint laid on. This turned out to be a bit hairy, I was advised to get the van on the transporter rear end first so the weight was at the cab end but with virtually zero traction on the rear tyres the camper almost slipped off the edge as the rear wheels decided sideways was better than straight ways and the back end almost dismounted the runners. After a bit of fannying around trying to get the winch to work, we just drove it up which would have been a lot easier in the first place!
It was dark by the time were got there...
They do some amazing work at this place, there's always something cool on the go.....
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 4 days to go.....
This was the day of my friends wedding, also the day of my quick update post in the extraordinarily tight trousers :shock:
I drove the bride and her father to the wedding in another friends old Merc. This had just passed it's MOT the day before after a long spell off the road so I'm not the only one to leave it to the last minute! When I asked if there was any particular route they would like to take, the owner of said Merc just suggested as short a route as possible to minimise the time available for the old boy (Hermann the German, check out the registration plate) to drop a ball...
It was a great day, although I couldn't help feeling bad that while we were busting (mighty fine) moves on the dance floor Martin and Nathan were busting their nuts still working on the van to get it ready for paint after a full days work on a Saturday night...
This was the day of my friends wedding, also the day of my quick update post in the extraordinarily tight trousers :shock:
I drove the bride and her father to the wedding in another friends old Merc. This had just passed it's MOT the day before after a long spell off the road so I'm not the only one to leave it to the last minute! When I asked if there was any particular route they would like to take, the owner of said Merc just suggested as short a route as possible to minimise the time available for the old boy (Hermann the German, check out the registration plate) to drop a ball...
It was a great day, although I couldn't help feeling bad that while we were busting (mighty fine) moves on the dance floor Martin and Nathan were busting their nuts still working on the van to get it ready for paint after a full days work on a Saturday night...
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 3 days to go.....
So despite a Herculean effort on Martin and Nathan's part the night before the van is almost, but still not quite ready for paint.
At the moment were still thinking we'll be able to sort that out, so with a slightly fuzzy head today is all about getting the van ready for an MOT tomorrow. The brakes had been checked briefly prior to the van being loaded on the trailer and this highlighted that one of the front drum cylinders was shot and leaking so this had to be replaced and the front brakes given a shake down to get everything working. There's something weird going on with the clutch and we're still suffering some electrical gremlins.
Much of the day was spent chasing earths and trying to get the lights to work correctly, very late in the day we come to the realisation that the van won't be ready for an MOT tomorrow and with the amount of work that we need to schedule into the next couple of days, this is going to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back.
So that's it. We've done our best, the input and assistance provided by those around me has been beyond the call of duty but at the end we've just run out of time. Given perhaps another 4 days on top of the time we have left we may have done it.
Paradoxically this realisation came as a massive disappointment but also a huge relief. Sure the whole point was to get the van ready and in the right colour to head off to Polzeath this week and it's a real bummer that's not going to this time, I feel bad for those who have provided so much help with this as well that we didn't quite make it, but it's also a massive mental release to realise that we weren't going to make it now rather than rag ourselves for the next couple of days in denial and feel worse when were that much closer....but equally just as far away.
The fact is that the quality of the work that has gone into this is so much greater than I was setting out to accomplish originally by myself so it would be a shame to rush it to completion now and spoil what has been done so far.
It's time to take it on the chin and just chill out prior to going away and think about plan b....
So despite a Herculean effort on Martin and Nathan's part the night before the van is almost, but still not quite ready for paint.
At the moment were still thinking we'll be able to sort that out, so with a slightly fuzzy head today is all about getting the van ready for an MOT tomorrow. The brakes had been checked briefly prior to the van being loaded on the trailer and this highlighted that one of the front drum cylinders was shot and leaking so this had to be replaced and the front brakes given a shake down to get everything working. There's something weird going on with the clutch and we're still suffering some electrical gremlins.
Much of the day was spent chasing earths and trying to get the lights to work correctly, very late in the day we come to the realisation that the van won't be ready for an MOT tomorrow and with the amount of work that we need to schedule into the next couple of days, this is going to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camels back.
So that's it. We've done our best, the input and assistance provided by those around me has been beyond the call of duty but at the end we've just run out of time. Given perhaps another 4 days on top of the time we have left we may have done it.
Paradoxically this realisation came as a massive disappointment but also a huge relief. Sure the whole point was to get the van ready and in the right colour to head off to Polzeath this week and it's a real bummer that's not going to this time, I feel bad for those who have provided so much help with this as well that we didn't quite make it, but it's also a massive mental release to realise that we weren't going to make it now rather than rag ourselves for the next couple of days in denial and feel worse when were that much closer....but equally just as far away.
The fact is that the quality of the work that has gone into this is so much greater than I was setting out to accomplish originally by myself so it would be a shame to rush it to completion now and spoil what has been done so far.
It's time to take it on the chin and just chill out prior to going away and think about plan b....
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
- 2 days to go.....
So plan B.
Time to convert the shop's work van into a camper...so enter the '68 [or maybe a little later] Devon [Bradford on Avon] VW [Mercedes] T2 [Rusty Vito] conversion.
It looks like at least 2 hours well spent and has made Rachel quite happy as it used up a lot of the spare timber that's been clogging up the hallway for the last 100 years.
It'll do for this trip, it won't be the same not going in the camper but although the '68 may not be with us in the metal, it'll be with us in spirit.
So plan B.
Time to convert the shop's work van into a camper...so enter the '68 [or maybe a little later] Devon [Bradford on Avon] VW [Mercedes] T2 [Rusty Vito] conversion.
It looks like at least 2 hours well spent and has made Rachel quite happy as it used up a lot of the spare timber that's been clogging up the hallway for the last 100 years.
It'll do for this trip, it won't be the same not going in the camper but although the '68 may not be with us in the metal, it'll be with us in spirit.
creationblue
Well-known member
Commendable effort nontheless, make sure you crack on with it when you get back off your hols, will be a shame for it to be sat unfinished all summer!
Have a good one
Just
Have a good one
Just
68_early_bay
Well-known member
Nice effort was hoping you'd do it, even with the clock against you hope you have a great holiday, at least all the hard works done, you can take your time and concentrate on the finish now
was hoping you'd do it, even with the clock against you hope you have a great holiday, at least all the hard works done, you can take your time and concentrate on the finish now 
dubscum
Well-known member
good effort, enjoy your break
giraffeinbath
Well-known member
Thanks all, credit really goes to my bro' who chipped in a huge amount of effort for nothing more than a couple of pot noodles and provided most of the bad language promised at the beginning of this thread......
I hope I don't look that rough when I'm as old as him :mrgreen:
I hope I don't look that rough when I'm as old as him :mrgreen:
