Winnie - Our 1970 Bay

[matty74]

@Ben72Bay Yes, I jumped on the LateBay group buy, in fact I think it was my first post on there.

The individual cost on the group buy ended up as £23.67 plus £3.29 postage. Which I thought was a great deal.

You even get the lower spline adapter, but I just used the coupler.

I’m sure there would be plenty on here for a potential group buy

 

[matty74]

Nice sunny day here so me and Frankie decided to take Winnie for a spin down the beach.

Repaired the lower front valance and bumper after my slight altercation with a high kerb coming back from Welshpool in March. Not quite got the lower under curve right on the bumper centre section, but it will do for now, I’ll keep my eye out for a decent centre piece or whip it off again in winter and shape it a bit better … think I’m over thinking it though just drive the blooming van.







First proper run with new front bush, and it’s brilliant, gear selection so very precise now

 

[mike202]

Van is looking very clean

 

[matty74]

Had to do an unexpected trip up north so the pets had to come too.

Frankie rode shotgun



Dini the cockatiel was in the rear gunner position singing all the way



Weather was torrential on the way up, but Winnie got us there safely.

Really pleased with the recent changes done (Lares 209 coupler and Derlin front bush).
I also tweaked the 123 curve a bit more to be “mechanically all in” later in the rev range, van didn’t go above 100deg C on the 90 mile jaunt up and same return journey and there’s some good climbs in and out of Wales. No oil light flicker after the long runs too



Pitch was huge but ideal for getting the car on there too as we used that to go visit Gill’s mum in hospital.

 

[matty74]

Decided I needed something else to worry about and had my eye on the Aircooled Acessories Oil pressure gauge to make a matching set with the Oil Temp and Tacho.

That’s the trouble when you run a multicore from front to back and only use a couple of cores , the spare ones are nagging to be used.

The gauges aren’t cheap, but I think they do match the original grey dials very well, plus the Oil Pressure gauge and sender came in at £95 delivered when using code WELCOME10 on their website, which I thought was good value.

I went for the single sender unit supplied with the gauge (0-70 PSI) as I wanted to keep a separate pressure switch so bought the T piece from Demon Tweeks with the correct thread for the case. Also shored things up with a couple few dowty washers after reading the some horror stories of folk cracking cases through over tightening.

Fired up all good, lamp on temp gauge wasn’t working (I’d changed it to led) so had to whip out the gauge to sort it, in doing so scratched the frickin pod it’s only painted so I’ll redo it at some point.

I fitted an 18ohm inline resistor on the temp gauge as it’s been reading over by 18deg so it’ll be interesting to see how it now compares to the Bluetooth 123 temp sensor.

All good on start up, sort of pressure to be expected on a cold’ish start





Look at all those spare cores coiled up, just itching to be used


Not a lot of room because of the tinware, so mounted it this way.

 

[gas1man]

Black permanent marker does wonders for the dash.

J & P

 

[matty74]

Black permanent marker does wonders for the dash.

J & P

I touched it up today with a fine brush and it looks a lot better now ..: from about 10yds

 

[matty74]

Been unable to get out and about in the van for a bit due to one thing and another so decided to get a few jobs done with parts that have been sat on the shelf for a while.



Fuel pump seals, spacer had split halfway down but managed to get the bottom bit out with a M10 tap, luckily had a new spacer



Replaced push rod tubes with some Fast Fab ones. Fuel rod spacer damage meant I was doing an oil change anyway.

Q. Have I got the rubber beak set up right on the oil breather? It’s just below the little hole. Should the moisture dribble out once the rubber is full? (That last sentence sounds so wrong )



As I was going to be checking valve clearance, took opportunity to ditch the bolt on covers (PITA) and go back to stock ones, which are nice and tight

Q. Does it matter which way up these bail wires go, there’s a slight curve at the middle section.



Time to order a new fan belt as I’m down to 2 shims on the inside after today’s adjustment.

Replaced a couple of fuel lines that didn’t get done with the Webers last year.

Hoping to get out and about real soon

 

[70-CA-Panel]

Looking great! Very productive and you can go take it out for a drive again

 

[Velgreeno]

Hey @matty74 just been looking at the resto and all the work and shes looking amazing . .

 

[mike202]

looking good

I never needed a clip on the 'beak'

 

[matty74]

looking good

I never needed a clip on the 'beak'

Scared of losing it

 

[matty74]

We had a short trip down to Rhos-on-Sea the other week, and heard a clicking noise from the rear o/s wheel on the way back, sounded like something in the tyre. Couldn’t see anything at the time, fast forward to today pulling van out of garage … another flaming puncture . That’s 4 since moving to Wales in 2021, luckily only the first in Winnie.

Whipped off the wheel and noticed that the drum and wheel were both wet, brake fluid … another cylinder failure, only replaced both rears a couple of years ago.







Cylinder replaced, shoes and drum cleaned up, reassembled, bled, just need to sort the puncture out tomorrow so I can re-torque the hub nut.

It must be quite comical watching me balancing on the breaker bar inside the garage to crack the nut

 

[matty74]

It was a huge fence staple, all sorted now and back on the road

 

[matty74]

Finally managed to get a few decent days away in the van. Took the grandson back home on Tuesday and was on our way to City Dulas Meadow Anglesey for 3 nights away.



Frankie checking out the pitch.



Great brew view this morning, so peaceful and fabulous dark skies last night.



Had a picnic on the harbour after Frankie tired himself out on Cemaes beach.

Winnie in the distance, a rose between many thorns. I was confident she wouldn’t roll into the sea wall now that the right rear cylinder isn’t profusely leaking brake fluid

 

[matty74]

Great few days away, can thoroughly recommend the Dulas Meadow Campsite, it’s a Dog Friendly Adult Only site on the east coast of Anglesey, just a bit up from Benllech.

Lots of lovely beaches to explore



This little fella loved it



As did we



Winnie was flawless there and back
Couldn’t believe the price of fuel too £1.28 per litre

 

[ozziedog]

Great few days away, can thoroughly recommend the Dulas Meadow Campsite, it’s a Dog Friendly Adult Only site on the east coast of Anglesey, just a bit up from Benllech.

Lots of lovely beaches to explore

View attachment 9455

This little fella loved it

View attachment 9456

As did we

View attachment 9457

Winnie was flawless there and back
Couldn’t believe the price of fuel too £1.28 per litre

Looks real nice, and it looks like you did a much better job of organising your weather than we did at Busfest. Not really sure but I got a funny itchy feeling between my toes so I might just be getting some webbed feet. It wasn’t too bad in all honesty but not as nice as yours looks. As far as the price of fuel goes, I’m still paying 65p a litre in my head and I fill till it clicks and I don’t look at how much. Wherever I am, I prefer to fill up somewhere where there’s a difference in dialect or accents and just mumble thank you when they repeat how much it was as hopefully I can’t understand what they’re saying anyway.

Ozziedog,,,,,,,,,Techenders for me next then start the winter list

 

[matty74]

Cheers Ozziedog

Yes we got lucky, Sunday was a completely different story, but we were heading home anyway and was back on the mainland before it lashed it down.

Like you, I just fill up and go, usually 30ltrs when I hit the 1/4 full, for a very nice return on these super frugal Webers. I was expecting it to be dearer on Anglesey rather than it being 12p cheaper

We’re back at Welsh class for our 2nd year on Thursday I'm still not confident with the basics it’s in there somewhere