Re: 71 Ex-Danbury, the home straight.

[creationblue]

Looking sweet mate 8)

 

[antoine]

UPDATE ALERT!!!!

not that iv been away a while or anything :msn4:

well, i swapped over my carbs and suddenly all 4 cylinders fire... nope, no idea. so i tweaked the timing and nothing fired so i put it back where it was and didn't touch the engine again.

but i decided i needed to do something that made me feel good about the van again so i made this happen.

any guesses?
























thats right i decided to put the drop spindles on. Neil is taking all the glory in the photo but he didn't actually turn up until id nearly finished.

from this

via this

to this

i can safely say that cutting through rusted solid ball joints with a hacksaw is not my idea of fun.


had to get done a bit quick towards the end so the tracking is miles out but i can sort that tomorrow before i make a start on the back




and then its back to the engine.
priorities the right way round a always :lol:

 

[antoine]

soooooo, ah sod it, pictures can talk for me.

then i got Neil to take it up the road and back (after me of course) so i could see how much the suspension moved and check everything was right.


it would appear my gears are a little different to his van. at least i know where second is. lol.


and then we took spud for a walk. :lol: :roll:

need to start the interior soon. or ill not get any chance to use it this year.

 

[Ryanmck1984]

Just read this thread from start to finish. Nice work! Look forward to the finished article

 

[antoine]

ah, it begins. got the tracking sorted today and some smaller tyres, so now i get the joys of having to guess my speed more than usual, having to slow down for speed bumps to make sure i don't bottom out the beam or hit the tyre in the tub. and coming out of the petrol station i managed to scrape and fold my number plate down flat. good times :lol:





oh and the bloody tyre people never manage to put hubcaps on right so iv lost one. :roll:

 

[antoine]

went up to the YCVWOC meet last night, everything seems to be sorted out now, except the carbs, still not giving me any power, once i stamp on the pedal sometimes i get a bit of a nosedive and usually it will bounce about a bit then at 50/55mph in 4th the engine just doesn't have any more, its clearly trying but failing.




so a selection of new jets are in the post. hopefully i can have a bit of a play after work if they turn up saturday.

 

[antoine]

Well I'm back, ish.
MOT passed today. Garage in for planning permission, business plan sorted out.
I can finally start to remember this van exists. Good times.

Sent from my A200 using Tapatalk 2

 

[antoine]

nearly 2 years... bloody hell I've been out of the loop. i can safely say the past couple of years has been highly productive, just not with regards to the van.
my garage is built, my workshop set up, my business starting out and the van pretty much the same as it was on my last post, its even back outside since a tumble dryer seems to have taken up residence right in the middle of its comfy indoor space.

edit. I just realised I haven't even updated any photos since i moved house. so here's the garage mid progress (yes that is the beginnings of a pit)

and the van inside before i started to fill the space.



then i started on my workshop


on the up side i am now building these.

 

[RePhil]

Welcome back. Where does time go?
Garage looking good. Do be careful with a pit - ventilation etc.

Look forward to next episode.

Phil.

 

[antoine]

well I've had a busy weekend trying to tidy the garage up, I made enough space to get the van inside, and then made a start trying to get some of my oily bits out of the shed and organised.


I also decided that i needed to get my floor in and fit the rock n roll bed thats been taking up space for many many months.




I need to get round to re-jetting the carbs and putting my coil-overs on the front...

and changing the fuel lines, and rewiring the horn, and... :roll:

 

[antoine]

well, i decided that since the sun was out i would open the garage door and get some work done.
So i got my side jailbars fitted and then thought i'd have a play around with the horn and see how the pit was doing.


the leak isn't fixed...


so i went back to my weekend job

 

[antoine]

once again ignoring all mechanical issues i have been using my Monday off productively.
Ive been sorting out some interior lighting.





and it changes colour for those porno bus moments.


now to do the other side and order some opal perspex to cover it all up.

 

[antoine]

And in the dark

Looks bright enough.

 

[antoine]

and with the perspex diffuser in place. Think ill try and find some trim for the metal edge tidy it up.




I also went to look at a '64 beetle today, because lets face it, one project just isn't enough. :roll:

 

[antoine]

bank holidays are a pain, not only did i have to work all weekend but i cant sort out insurance and tax for my new 'project' until tuesday.

but until i can pick it up heres a sneak preview

 

[aogrady]

Great work! Nice to see you back to the fold! ;-)

Lighting looks good, nice use of the diffuser too, and how did I miss that headliner, looks amazing!

Cheers

Alistair

 

[aogrady]

And the Bug looks very nice too...

Alistair

 

[antoine]

cheers. I wish that was a headliner. Its the inside of the ragtop. I'm yet to sort out headliner, but i've only for the cab and a couple of feet at the back to do so it shouldn't be too long before i get onto that... well, if i can get my front garden sorted in time for parking a beetle on it. I think the neghbours are already annoyed that i'm the only person on the street with a drive wide enough for 2 cars and enough space to park another couple left over.

 

[antoine]

a bit slow on the updates, but I've put some trim under the lighting inside so it looks all funky now, I've wired it into the rest of the interior lights so it actually works, and I've taken to putting it on the colour changing flashing setting when i go for a smoke on an evening, so i have a disco garage... :roll:

went for MOT last week and the brakes exploded on test, but they're fixed now and its passed. and I've ordered my door cards and seat cushions from those lovely folks at Delilah's.


were getting there.

 

[antoine]

got some tinkering done today, a friend came over to try and get my engine running better, and re-jet the carbs.
we moved the main up to a 180 from 175 and it was a huge improvement, so I've ordered a couple more to check a few tweaks, and later this week were going to drop the engine and get some wiring and pipes tidied up.