The white Westy we call Steve

[Bundy]

Nice to see the Outer Hebrides in sun! We went last year with Justin (Creationblue) and the weather was shocking! The wind and rain really ruin a picturesque place, not to mention the lack of warmth...and the mozzies as soon as the wind does drop!!
Cheers
Al

 

[Welly]

Looks like a great place mate with fantastic scenery, van looks lovely, how you finding swapping over to LHD?, your old beast is going well , just done around 800 miles in her travelling around wales and the lakes without any issues.

Ey up! Moving to LHD was surprisingly easy, it's just the getting used to driving along next to the curb that feels a little odd. Good to hear the old bus is going well - we did put a lot of time and money into getting it running / driving reliably and safely as there had been a lot of dodgy tinkering in it's past life. Sounds like it is paying off! Have you done much to it since?

We are loving it, done a few bits, had the gutters all sorted and painted then had a new headliner fitted ( not easy to find someone that wanted to do it). had a fold away bed fitted into the devon roof then just the odd thing here and there such as new front seats, empi shifter ( can now get all gears ) put a new floor down and fitted another stereo. Next on the list is new R & R bed foams/covers and door cards. creating some good family memories in it.

 

[Moseley]

So, as it is the Xmas break and we're generally just lazing about eating, drinking and looking after the new puppy (more on that later...), I figured I should probably get this thread back up-to-date and finish throwing up a selection of photos from our summer exploits.

So, ending our trip in the Hebrides, we stopped off in Stornoway for a night and to avoid the same BBQ disappointment as in Carlisle, I lit a stealthy one behind our wind break and set about grilling some meat.

We set off for the ferry at stupid o'clock and I'm sure that all our campsite neighbours loved the sound of a Vintage Speed exhaust at 5am... To try and avoid pissing people off too much, I drove to the ferry terminal with my head out of the window in the absence of any blowers to demist the window. Upon getting on the ferry, these proved invaluable, and amazingly, are made by my namesake.

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[Moseley]

So on our way back down to Worcester, we stopped off at a great site in Dumfries and Galloway with some local relatives which was very open plan - rope swing, football pitch, boating lake etc etc. Would have been nice to stay for more than just the one night, so maybe worth dropping in again in future.

Stopped off at some big waterfall on our way down for a quick leg stretch:

And then suffered the pain of Scottish midges as the sun went down.

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[Moseley]

Next stop for the summer was a jaunt down South for Goodwood Festival of Speed. I've been a few times now, but not the Mrs, so we headed away for a couple of nights at a local campsite that I've forgotten the name of. Great facilities, just not enough showers to cope with the morning rush. Set in the middle of a forest, the plots were very secluded and a little different to the norm.

Cheeky fish and chips with a Stella and bottle of gin. The food was cracking, but we're not sure whether it was just the hunger talking...

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[Moseley]

The Festival itself was wet. Which was a shame because a lot of the cars that would normally be hurtling up the hill climb were taking it easy. A selection of photos I took between downpours:

I'm in love with this BMW 2002 modern comcept.

Had to sneak a VW in there...

The motocross was pretty epic to watch, and we got a good spot for some photos.

And proof of the wetness...

The carpark was carnage, I've never seen so many cars stuck in mud in one place. People walking back to their own cars were trying to help out, only for them to get stuck again a few metres later. There were a handful of tractors just driving to and fro pulling people out. As we were getting in the van, a Vectra in front of us pulled away, got about 3m and then promptly dug itself into a hole. It was incredibly satisfying jumping into a 48 year old van, and leaving with complete ease, the joys of rear engine, rear wheel drive vehicles!


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[Moseley]

Next up was Camperjam. We always have a good time due to the size of the show meaning lots to see and do. Travelled up with our friends in their recent T25 purchase.

And got stuck in with early bay line-up on saturday, followed by cooking in a camper.

Grabbing a midday beverage.

Teaching a 9 year old how to smoke like a boss.

The early morning water run nearly gave me a heart attack.

I got distracted from chef duties by lending out van-related tools, and then promptly cremated our sweetcorn. POV not from my hands, I do have normal sized feet.

Made up for it by lighting a big fire and toasting some uber marshmallows.

And that was that, didn't really take many photos.


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[Moseley]

Next stop, dubs at the castle. It seems all our chosen shows are packed very close together so it had been a busy few weeks!

All set up:

And many from the display in the castle.

Had a great time for our first go at camping over at this show, nearly got our van locked in the castle on saturday night after failing to retrieve it at the correct time! That would have been a pleasant kip in an awning with no floor or beds...



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[Fernando Palmela]

Thanks for pics................

 

[CornishSilver]

Your bus reminds me a little of mine 8) Love the decals, have you tried ringing the phone number? Dubs @ the castle looks cool, the wife love's a castle so going to try and get to the 2017 show. Cheers

 

[mike202]

Nice pics thanks for sharing. It does get very windy up on in Scotland occasionally. I remember about four years ago we camped next to the loch at Ullapool with our awning on a lovely August day. Couple of days later it was so windy I had to put every guy rope up with two pegs to stop it blowing away! :lol:

 

[Bajalegend]

Love the stance, what suspension and wheels are you running?

 

[Moseley]

Your bus reminds me a little of mine 8) Love the decals, have you tried ringing the phone number? Dubs @ the castle looks cool, the wife love's a castle so going to try and get to the 2017 show. Cheers

I believe the company is still trading - at least they advertise in Hayburner, but using a different phone number. They're based in Scotland and I believe they imported this van as I managed to find a few pics on their facebook page.

Nice pics thanks for sharing. It does get very windy up on in Scotland occasionally. I remember about four years ago we camped next to the loch at Ullapool with our awning on a lovely August day. Couple of days later it was so windy I had to put every guy rope up with two pegs to stop it blowing away! :lol:

Too windy over on the Hebrides for my liking - whilst I'm not built for hot hot weather, I like to be able to wear shorts and T shirt in the summer! I think it had to be a first getting sunburnt whilst wearing jeans, a jumper and a rain coat! :lol:

Love the stance, what suspension and wheels are you running?

It's a stance that I'd highly recommend no-one copies! :lol: Standard 14" steels on standard beam and spindles with adjusters up front, and adjustable spring plates out back. The front end is bouncing around like a pogo stick on maxed-out ball joints, but cannot be raised due to where the adjusters have been welded in, and the rear is sitting nicely on the cut-down bump stops. :lol: On my list of things to do to get cut the bump stops down a little more and sling on a narrowed beam. At least with the ride being so solid now, there's no risk of hitting tyres off arches!

 

[Bajalegend]

Lol, thanks

 

[K@rlos]

That bus is from my old estate. You got that from a guy on Magdalen drive in Woodbridge didn’t you, i lived with my parents in the nex Cull-de-sac.

 

[Moseley]

That bus is from my old estate. You got that from a guy on Magdalen drive in Woodbridge didn’t you, i lived with my parents in the nex Cull-de-sac.

Yep we did indeed [emoji2] The chap selling it was a bit of a petrol head, he had a turbo 911 in one garage and a Ferrari track car stored elsewhere. He'd bought the camper to go away with the kids on holidays, chucked in a bigger engine to make it an easier cruising experience, and then realised that the kids were no longer interested in family camping hols! He ended up just using it to commute to work in the summer, so no real surprise that it ended up for sale a couple of years ago.

Will never forget driving it back to Worcester in January with no heaters... Certainly an experience!


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[graysummers]

Good vibes from this thread. My daughter lives in Worcester. I visit a fair few times over a year. May spot your dub out and about. Funny enough, we drove from Worcester, where we bought the bus, with no heaters back to Wales. Spot on about the experience. Freezing.

 

[K@rlos]

That bus is from my old estate. You got that from a guy on Magdalen drive in Woodbridge didn’t you, i lived with my parents in the nex Cull-de-sac.

Yep we did indeed [emoji2] The chap selling it was a bit of a petrol head, he had a turbo 911 in one garage and a Ferrari track car stored elsewhere. He'd bought the camper to go away with the kids on holidays, chucked in a bigger engine to make it an easier cruising experience, and then realised that the kids were no longer interested in family camping hols! He ended up just using it to commute to work in the summer, so no real surprise that it ended up for sale a couple of years ago.

Will never forget driving it back to Worcester in January with no heaters... Certainly an experience!


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Yup he got it because he liked mine was always asking me about them. Yes there was always a variety of whips outside his house. Went to see my mum during the week and there was a big yank tank outside. Old Buick I think

 

[Moseley]

I believe the headunit in the van is original to it, or at least it is very period! It isn’t wired in, but I have the manual amongst the paperwork we got with it. With that in mind, the previous owner had kindly not hacked a hole in the dash for a modern HU, but instead installed one in the glove box. For me, this wasn’t the ideal solution as I couldn’t get to it whilst driving by myself. So, a plan was hatched to build a suitable alternative.

Ever since I first got into working on and modifying cars, I’ve had an interest in sound system builds, so figured I could come up with something similar. Much trial and error then ensued using Google Sketchup as my weapon of choice. The plan was to build a buddy box style unit that would house a head unit, subwoofer and a pair of component speakers and crossovers; whilst still retaining some useful storage space.

I don’t have any photos from early on in the build, but this is how it started coming together:

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[Moseley]

Forgot to mention that also needed to have an amp to power it all as speakers always sound much better with a bit of power behind them.

As you can probably see from how it is coming together, the plan is to try and keep the overall look of the box as stealthy as possible, and trimmed in Westy laminate so it blends in with the rest of the furniture. With that in mind, the sub is mounted underneath and the speakers behind the slats you can see that took a fair amount of time to route out, and with a very steady hand! Needless to say, these took a few goes to get the look right.

Speaker wires and crossovers all crimped, soldered and heat-shrinked:

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