my 1971 danburyfalia pop top project

[andewilson]

progress on the van has been a bit slow of late. mostly due to the fact that i have been waiting on a few bit arriving.

found a company on ebay who supplied me with some cut your own brake cabling to use as an accelerator

and ive been waiting on a company in swadlincote to make me some bespoke boost an coolant hoses

i went round there today and got the accelerator working

then moved onto my rads to try and get them piped up only to then realise that id forgot to buy a 180 degree bend to join the two rads :evil:

off to centre parcs tomorrow so no progress on it for the week. but have a few thing coming in the post for it that should be waiting at work for me at work on friday when i get back

 

[andewilson]

after working on the camper all day. i went home and fitted my westfalia towbar to my t4 so i can take the bikes to centre parcs and had a quick fiddle with my rides. my lad has badgered away at me for ages to get the skyways in my hoard onto his bike. so i finally caved in today. bit of old/new school action

 

[andewilson]

got a few hours on the bus today. took a few pics of the prgress

bit of fannying with some rims. think i need some thinner adapters

almost finished my pipework

used the finger sander to get some clearence

then tried out my only scoop from stanford hall. servo

the rod seems to be a bit on the piss. i havent got my pedals in at the mo so cant really tell if it is correct.

 

[andewilson]

carryed on with the van though i had to go for another eyeball scrape at the eye casualty on monday arvo as i had two bits of metal in it. five visits now to eye casualty is beginning to take the piss . anyway heres the van

new fan switch off ebay

then got a bit side tracked and tackled something that ive needed to do for the last three years

need to buy exhaust bits now to connect the mondo i bought an age ago so i can get it running soon.

 

[cunning plan]

Great work bud..

You not wearing goggles? :|

 

[gninnam]

Truly bodacious dude 8)

Like cunning asks, do you need better goggles

 

[andewilson]

ive gone from not wearing any safety wear for the first 30 years of my life to wearing glasses to full face shields to full wrap around ski google type safety glasses. it does my head in. its like i have magnetic eyeballs or my head is so big it has its own gravitational force pulling thing towards it. i even had googles on when i was sweeping up the workshop last night.

currently fighting the temptation to charge the steering of my bus to a power steering rack as i have heard great things about them but part of me is just fed up of it all that i want to just get it running so i can hit it with the trinkets

 

[Guest]

brilliant work andy. 8)

 

[andewilson]

slow progress due to messing with the t4 and a bit of camping in it. went to plackpool to see the charlatans a couple of weeks ago in it as a maidon camping trip which makes me want to get the old bus on the road even more. sadly went to the east coast in it last weekend which was a bit windy :shock: and aint getting the bus finished.
spent tonight on it till 10pm to try and get it back on the floor to get the engine started.

spent a good while cleaning and fitting the pedals just to check

then closed off the front panel

resevoir

then a little wheel whoring. basically i have discovered that mercs have steel 17 inch spares. the plan is to get four of them. run the fronts as they come et34 4 x 17 with 165 35 17 tyres. then have the rears banded on the outer band to 5.5 x 17 running 175 55 17 tyres running domed vw classic caps or 356 caps in a 17 inch take on a standard steel

these rims dont come up very often so only got two at the mo but give me time

then i spent a good while sleeving the aaz down pipe to get it to slot into the 2.5 inch stainless pipework i have bought to link to the back box

 

[gninnam]

Glad to see some work (and your usual excellent work) on the van 8)

Interesting choice of wheels

 

[andewilson]

didnt get the engine started over the weekend but did get the bus back on the deck so i can get the exhaust fitted

sadly there was some oil in the engine which seeped through the turbos seals when it was on its side . which meens i now have this to attend to

then drove to the other side of nots to machine mart to get a couple of air fittings to join a the pipe off my engine that used to go behind the dash to the bottom of the expansion tank

should get the exhaust fitted and hung this week

 

[cyberdyne systems]

This is so outstanding i really can't wait to see the van in the flesh

 

[Graham L]

This is so outstanding i really can't wait to see the van in the flesh

Thats assuming Andy ever finishes it :lol: :lol: :lol:

Only joking mate, great work as usual :mrgreen:

 

[andewilson]

had alatone on te bs tonight here are a few pics of the progress

turbo now cleaned out and spun around to meet the charge cooler that should be fitted next week

off to see doves this weekend atthetford forest camping in the 4 so no more progress till next week

 

[Doris]

top quality workmanship Andi.you really are a wheel whore!!

 

[dubscum]

i've said it before and i'll say it again wheel whore :lol: love it mate, looks well on the d90's 8)

 

[andewilson]

cheers. i quite like the white ones, i bought them as a pair randomly on ebay as they came with the 165 40 tyres on thinking at the time they were silver but when they turned up they were white. i am tempted to do a full set in white with a red or lime green rim when the bus is on the road.

done a bit more on the van on monday.

exhaust now done and on. if it works fine on start up it will be heat painted, have the outlet spun then wrapped up in graphite heat wrap tape.

started piping up the charge cooler so i can order the alloy pipes to link the silicones up. then i just need to give the engine a decent service and get it started.

 

[Barkafer]

A truly awesome build dude. Keep it up son!

 

[gninnam]

He is a genius 8)

 

[andewilson]

cheers guys.

spent the weekend at camperjam camping in my t4 i just want my proper bus finished so i can join in a bit more. no one wants a t4 camping with them, as i do appretiate that they are a little spiritless.

did a bit more on the bus last week

air filter finished off though i am told that this method may be a little noisey

then pull out a sliding door mech that i bought at vanfest, only to find that it is the wrong one :evil:
its not even anything like the one off my bus

so used the ropey one that i have to try and get the door working. the bottom track needs a bit of a tweek as i replced it during the welding stage and you know how tempremental sliding doors can be if they dont want to play ball

should get round there tonight to finish the pipes on the charge cooler. then this weekend i hope to get the engine running. :shock:

progress at last.