71 Dormobile Spruce Up........

[71Dormobile]

So just changed fan belt, oil, gearbox oil in preparation for the big trip. Ruby has been out of the garage for a week now in the rain as well, shock to the system. Few finishing touches to the roof rack then gonna try fitting it, hopefully will still fit in the garage after, gulp!

 

[71Dormobile]

So roof rack on, made it over to Caen. Currently stranded having had a fan belt pulley fail, no spare so awaiting confirmation from recovery as whether we have a final destination trip or wait and get fixed ere. Currently recovered to a hotel so at least were all Safe and sound. Was ordering spares last week and was gonna buy a pulley but they only had a cheap repro ones, what I'd give for that now!

Reading on ere about pulleys etc a common failure item hoping I've not any other major damage!

 

[71Dormobile]

So parts arrived 9am Tuesday, sorted taxi over to garage, fitted new pulley with a little help which was very welcome. Back to Falaise filled up with fuel and then cruised down to Le Mans, Tours, Poiters, Angolume, Perigaeux and eventually on to Tursac. Ruby never missed a beat all the way down and the three kids and wife were all angels. Sat nav was a pain in the arse mind, some mean detours, turned the toll route off and it was taking on single track. Fortunately the wife's map reading skills came on leaps and bounds, until it got dark and we relied on the sat nav again....

The day trip 363 miles + as the sat nav was being an arse!! Don't believe google estimate on the journey duration BTW

 

[Haveacamper]

glad you got everything sorted....do i spy that you bought 2 pulleys?

your are not too far away from Trikky2 down near Touzac...about 90mins south of you.

hope you have a lovely time now that you are all sorted.

NaFe

 

[71Dormobile]

:idea:

glad you got everything sorted....do i spy that you bought 2 pulleys?

your are not too far away from Trikky2 down near Touzac...about 90mins south of you.

hope you have a lovely time now that you are all sorted.

NaFe

Cheers for the kind words nafe, hope Aus panning out well for ye.

Yeah, two pulleys is better than none! Also bought woodruff key nut, washers, more belts etc. was worried about the quality of repro pulleys from what I had been reading / hearing but Mecatechnic have had no issues with these. Bizarrely I planned to get a pulley before leaving but no stock of genuine put me off! Also felt safe in the knowledge I had an original pulley, how wrong could I have been!

This part of France is beaut, we came up from Santander last year and enjoyed our time. The drive over was long but from Caen this year seemed much longer. I have good kids to put up with me / the long drive, they have time to recover and enjoy now :0)

I'll check out where Trikky is, we're pretty much setting up camp ere now and staying mouching and site seeing. Gonna give ourselves 24hrs to get back up to Caen at the end of the holiday for the early ferry.

 

[71Dormobile]

Following the initial breakdown just outside Caen.....



worked out that we travelled 380 miles down to Tursac in one trip!! Van ran flawlessly for the rest of the holiday, we had a slight change of plans rather than upping sticks after a few days in the Dordogne and moving to the coast we decided to fully explore the area and then travel back up after just over two weeks to Caen. We had a fab time dining outdoors, chucking back some nice wine (+ stocking up), highlights for me were canoeing on the Vezere, la Roque St Christophe and visits to Lascaux II.

Here are a few pics of the tour, up and down <> Tursac, Periguex, Angouleme, Poiters, Tours, Le Mans, Alencon, Falaise, Caen.































Oh and after refurbing and refitting the roof rack was very pleased to find that Ruby still fits in the garage and I don't have too take the roof rack back off!!



Now getting ready for Vanfest and planning next years trip, having covered around 1600 miles over the 2013 hol I may opt for a bit less driving next year....

 

[71Dormobile]

Had a great trip up to Busfest over the weekend, the bus scene is huge!! We bought an annexe for the khyam awning, a bit more space for us all and wet canvass to dry after the trips no doubt!!

Ruby's all tucked up in the dry now, gonna put a list together of bits and bobs to do over the next few months which will include getting the interior door cards all finished and fitted, fixing the horn, making a few more shelves for the cupboards. I'd also like to look at rear seat belt options as the current lap belts in the back for the three nippers makes me a little uneasy!!

 

[71Dormobile]

Opened the garage and started working on the van over the weekend, refitting my tweaked seat covers. Awaiting final few door cards over the next few days. Starting to make plans for the hols later on in the year, would love to go off to Spain again or maybe northern France, although not fancying a massive drive this year.

After fitting sliding door cards I still need to reconnect and fix my horn which blasts when steering is on full lock.....

 

[VeeDubMan]

Hi - love the van and what you've done to the interior.

I'm following the same path with my '71 dormie too. Where did you get the new bunk material from and were the frames difficult to pull apart to get the new ones on?

Cheers

Steve

 

[71Dormobile]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the kind comments, just the weather to be using the van right now!!
The bunks are easy enough to split pop riveted, keep the plastic parts and don't drill these, just the head of the rivet, they can be used again.

I'll dig out the names detail where I got the bunks done, dormobile also do them @ £100 a pair

 

[71Dormobile]

So flew through the MOT, minor repair required re soldering the flasher (main beam ) connection, bar for that sailed it.

First time out of th garage for a drive this year on Saturday 24th May and is p*ssed it down, loved the drive out. Next job on the list is to fix the new heater control levers, fiddly old job that looks to be, gonna have a look on ere now to find out how.

Then off to Abergavenny Steam Fair / Classic Car Show tomorrow, may see if we can drive in and get a space.

 

[71Dormobile]

Well we made it to the show, nice day out and the bus had plenty of compliments which is always nice. Sure I have a few pics somewhere.... So currently toying with our summer hols having gone abroad for the past 2 no years do we risk it and stay in the UK. Seems to be we've just had two weeks of decent weather so could be risky.

Now to fit my new sliding door cards at long last they arrived, so to the fit...

 

[gninnam]

Glad the trip went well - get those pics up

 

[71Dormobile]

Just got round to fitting the door cards, ordered the 6mm bungs and clips from Heritage, bungs rocked up and fit lovely, clips on the other hand are by no means the ones that fit a 6mm hole ffs. Anyone had similar experience on the front doors I drilled the holes slightly larger, didn't want to have to do this on the slider!!



New and old, same style and works if you drill the holes larger....

 

[71Dormobile]

So drilling out holes again seemed the only way so cracked on carefully drilling and then sealing with waxoil as a precaution, not that ruby gets out much in the wet. Quite pleased with the results, took the opp to fit the NOS chrome handle for the slider as well which I've had a while, looks great but now having to use two keys so gonna get the original re chromed and fitted at some stage, despite being NOS stamped number etc the orig feels heavier.





Waited a long long time for this.... Da dahhhh

Sure it'll be a little quieter in the van now with this fitted. Now to pack for the hols.

 

[Bigbear]

Did you put any insulation behind the door card mate?

 

[71Dormobile]

Did you put any insulation behind the door card mate?

Shucks that's the one thing I forgot, covered all other panels but forgot this one. Tbh I'll take off and run a strip of double sided Velcro along the centre of the panel do nay as well put some in when I do that job should help with noise and insulation....

 

[71Dormobile]

Spent a lovely week down in Pembrokeshire. Tried the new awning annexe out and our Cadac. Ducked out before the rain came in, hoping to grab a few more days before the kids go back to school in September. Ruby ran like a dream yet again...

 

[gninnam]

8) :mrgreen:

 

[71Dormobile]

Yup was a nice trip but shame to have to cut short by the blasted weather. Saving the pennies for the ferry and gonna go off to France / Spain again next summer.

Now got the time to fit those new heater levers