1976 Viscount Royal R65595

[Deleted]

Well finally, after doing our introductory post back in September 2011, we have taken delivery of my brothers old Viscount now that he and his partner have moved up into their new luxury palace on wheels Sunliner!. (they are very generous!)

He was told this is a 1978 Viscount, although the chassis number of R665595 would dispute this, and the Date Of Manufacture engraved plate says 1978, as does the rego label. I'm a bit confused about this.

Anyway, needs a bit of work done, paint is worn away in a few places, chalky mostly, not many window winders work, chassis underneath needs de-rusting/painting, might need a new hatch as the winder doesn't work properley, have to lift it up etc. Theres a small ceiling leak which I'll be attending to. The previous owners have layered the silicone on up there so I'll be stripping all that back to seal it again, but it should be fun, (famous last words?)

But for a 30+ year old van, its pretty good. I'll be coming back heaps to get some tips/guidance from all you knowledgeable crew,









Regards
Ray

[millard1399]

G'day raywise,

I can't recall any other Viscount owners talking about a "manufacturer's plate" on their van, so I'd be interested in seeing a close-up photo of what the plate looks like. The only plate I've noticed on these old vans is the small plate fixed close to the gas bottle, and which has the inspection date for the gas system stamped on it.

I'd also be interested in seeing a close-up photo of the Viscount decal/sticker above the front and rear windows (even if it's only a shadow of the original sticker).

Is the first number 6 definitely a 6 and not a poorly welded 8??

From what we understand of the Viscount system, the first 6 means 1976.

cheers,
Al.

[millard1399]

The other thing I meant to mention was that if your van was indeed a 1978 model, it should have an RVMAA badge rivetted to the cladding beside the door about half way up. The RVMAA scheme commenced in February 1977, and all the leading manufacturers signed up for it, so vans with the badge would have been built after Feb 1977. (See this thread in our Museum section: RVMAA Badge )

If your van doesn't have the badge (or holes where the badge once was) then it points to it being built before 1977.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

Heres some closeups Al. Definatley a welded 6. There is a separate gas certification plate above the bottle, but I cannot see any RVMAA badge anywhere.









i367.photobucket.com/albums/oo115/raywise_2008
/Viscount%20Royal%20Caravan/DSCF9984.jpg[/IMG]





Its got me beat!.

[millard1399]

G'day raywise,

Nah, that specification plate has been fitted some time after the van was built. That's the sort of plate you get if a van needs a blue slip, or hasn't been registered for a long time and there's no record of any previous rego.

The manufacturer wouldn't screw that plate in like that anyway, and certainly not over the top of the last number in the welded number.

Looks like somebody has got the van registered again after a long period of no rego, and then guessed the year of manufacture.

Looks like you are back to having a 1976 Viscount.

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

All good Al, .

I was thinking that someone has taken a guess at something along the way, as the welded number is definatley original, and thats the one that has to be believed. Makes it even older now, !.

[millard1399]

Did you notice they scratched an extra 6 in the VIN on that plate? One too many numbers!

It's also pretty interesting that the ATM is 700kgs more than the Tare. That's a lot of loading allowance in the van!

cheers,
Al.

[Rattles]

Follow the link This has a later Chassis number and the internal trim is very similar.
ditzygypsy.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=photos&thread=1162&page=1#11131

The VIN plate is not original and as Millard1399 indicated my feelings is that the plate was fitted at the time of new registration.

Yes looks like a 1976 Model

Rattles

[Deleted]

Yep, that green and white '76 Royal looks a million bucks, very nice. I have plans to do something similar to our new Royal, but the inside needs a few things done first. First one is to rebuild the fold down bunk which was removed by a previous owner.
Can't wait for the weekend to get started properley.

[Deleted]

Mmmm, had a fun couple of weeks with the new van so far. Getting some of the chalky layer of paint off with a worn nylon scourer and then rubbing on some car polish seems to work nicely. Although, after removing the pole carrier from the front I could see there was some damage. The pole carrier where it was placed had been pushing the front panel back and over time there has been a hole worn through the aluminium. (You can see this in the very first pic of this thread at the top of the page) Also the spare wheel carrier is mounted a little too far back, the tyre has rubbed through the paint on the front as well.

Won't be too hard to move the tyre carrier and gas cylinder holder forward a few inches so the pole carrier can be mounted properley with clearance to the van. Still deciding whether to do a good patch job on the holes and leave it or cover the front with the good ol' 1.6mm alum checkerplate.

Have ordered a few new parts, window winders, LED globes, new power inlets etc, bit by bit. This so far is actually a fun project, love it!

Regards
Ray

[Deleted]

Been slower progress than I would like with our Viscount, but its getting there!. My problem is I start a few different jobs at once, replace a few window winders, then think mmm, that drawbar needs sanding etc etc, but still haven't finished all the windows!

Anyway, I love how easy it is to get these windows out, replace the winders and hit the frames with the aluminium acid, then polish them up a bit. I know it will lead to constant polishing, but I don't mind, . We've bought a new gas cylinder holder, and moved the spare carrier plus the cylinder holder forward a few inches, at least now the pole carrier won't be pushed up into the front of the van, .

Bought a twisted wire wheel for the grinder, some paint stripper, and one of those fibre type discs and a combination of these got all of the old paint/rust off the drawbar, so far only a primer and 1 topcoat on before the rain came. Still yet to start on the chassis. Looking at some of the water damaged ply in the back of the van led us to cutting out some of the bad sections, also the rubbishy chipboard "shelf" under the rear window. With the damaged ply cut out its easy to see where the water had been running in the past, pretty sure that has been stopped when my brother had the van. Aren't we lucky aluminium doesn't "rust"!

I also have a new tin of Solaguard low sheen sitting in the shed, I'll do a test on the front window shade to see how it comes out before I tackle the well worn front/back of the van. (will leave the roof till last, yet to decide whether to remove all the silicone and reseal or just paint over it all) The sides aren't tooooo bad, but I may even give them a coat down the track. Anyway, heres a few piccies, this is great fun

Regards
Ray

[millard1399]

G'day raywise,

Just catching up with this thread...it seemed to have disappeared off the radar too quickly for me.

The van is coming along nicely . The modification you've done by installing a door to replace the original fridge vent is a great idea! That sure takes the hassle out of having to undo the vent when you want to get to the back of the fridge. ;D

I had to buy a couple of those new window winder boxes for the latest van I bought. Couldn't work out how the get the winder handles out of the old boxes. Ended up shoving a screwdriver down the hole and shredding the back of the winders. Then I had to spend a bit of time in the shed making them "usable" again, before I could fit them to the new boxes. Whoever the idiot designer was, obviously didn't think too much about ease of reusing.

Like what you've done so far. Looking better every day!

cheers,
Al.

[Deleted]

I love that door to the fridge as well Al, think my brother did that mod before he gave the van to us. We didn't reuse the old winder handles with the new winder boxes, just bought new ones, (around $5.00 each). Hopefully the rain has stopped for the weekend here now in Brissie, want to try out the spray gun and paint the front window shade as a test.

One big thing we still have to do is make a fold down bed for daughter #2, nearly forgot about that, ooops. , will have to do some searching for some matching ply for the walls as well, bring on the weekend!

Ray

[Deleted]

Not a huge amount done today, main job was to clean/prep the front window shade and get it painted. Drilled out a few of the sloppy old rivets, cleaned the frame up, scrubbed the aluminum shade, and then riveted it back together, nice and stiff like new again. Fired up the 20 year old spray gun loaded with slightly thinned down Solaguard Satin, 2 coats on each side plus I decided to paint the frame as well, came out really nice I think. This was a bit of a test run for when I paint the front/back, should work out ok.

Regards Ray







Ummm, yes, the front definatley needs painting now.

[Deleted]

great work Ray, glad to see you are having so much fun doing up your van. It is a great feeling when you see it looking nice again.

regards Jean

[Deleted]

Thanks Jean, I've been closely looking at your build up to see how Alex has been tackling certain spots that need repair etc. The good thing is these older vans really aren't that complicated when you start taking them apart, makes the job that much less daunting when your a first timer like me,

Regards
Ray.

[viscountofmydomain]

Jun 26, 2012 22:47:26 GMT 10 raywise said:

Anyway, I love how easy it is to get these windows out, replace the winders and hit the frames with the aluminium acid, then polish them up a bit.

Hi Ray, I'm interested in the aluminium acid that you used, I have a '66 Viscount which is bare aluminium and I'm thinking of trying to rub it back and keep it original, all be that it will end up a little shinier than original. What was the product that you used? what are your thoughts on its effectiveness? and how oxidised where your window frames before you started?
Cheers
Stuart

[Deleted]

Hello Stuart, I've been using a couple of Chemtech products,

Blitz Alumiunium Cleaner www.chemtech.net.au/cr_op_blitz.html
and Alushine www.chemtech.net.au/cr_op_alushine.html

The Blitz works really well with protective gloves and a nylon scourer to clean corrosion off the aluminium, though for some bits I did use a small scrapper after the acid had softened the corrosion up a bit. After that was washed off I then used the Alushine to polish it up, although you probably wouldn't want to polish the whole van with it.

One thing I did find yesterday while doing a couple of small slightly corroded aluminium parts was Septone Rust Converter with a nylon scourer worked just as well, really took the corrosion off easily.

With some of the window frames, most just had discoloration, but some did have actual deposits that needed some scrapping.

Hope this helps,

[viscountofmydomain]

Thanks Ray

Will definitely check out both products.

Stuart

[Deleted]

Sorry, forgot to mention both available at Supercheap, around $14.00 per litre bottle.

[Deleted]

Hi Raywise, looks like you have things well in hand. I found some of your experiences/tips very helpful as we need to do a few small things to our 1976 Viscount. I think I will have a go at taking the windows out and cleaning them up, your result was fantastic ! It would appear from the photos that yours is very similar to ours (see "1976 Viscount Royal R66040"). The interior in particular is identical apart from the laminate (orange vs green). We are thinking of putting an oven in where yours is (we currently have a microwave there). I like the spare wheel carrier you have made, first class ! Cheers and happy travels ! Mick G.

[Deleted]

Thanks Mick. Guess what, yours is the van I show everyone when they come over to visit. I say one day ours will hopefully look as good as that lime green beauty!

We did a few things this weekend, went shopping at Bunnies for 3mm ply for the wall patching, and 12mm ply + aluminum square tube to make the missing front bunk. Measuring and fitting the wall ply is a hair tearer, especially around the curved rear section where the rot was, still not finished. Still have a few more windows to pull out and clean, also replacing the rubber weatherstrip on each one, as the originals have all turned to hard "plastic".

We were tossing up whether to remove the tyre carrier and just stick the spare under the bed, but decided to keep it. Unfortunately I can't take the credit for the spare carrier, you can get both weld on and bolt on spare carriers from Caravans Plus etc.

Hoo Roo
Ray

[Deleted]

Hi Ray,

Looks like you're doing a great job!! I would love to do the same to ours - but we have neither the space, the time nor the money at the mo! More's the pity..

You asked me to post you some photos of our bunk support leg. Our van is not kept at our home, and I haven't got any photos to hand; but I will take some for you, the next time we check on her..

Kind regards,

Jade

[Deleted]

Thats ok Jade, not to worry. I've actually started on a design for the bunk using aluminum tube with plywood that someone on the Vintage Van forum did, and used square tube aluminum for the leg, should work out ok.

Have to really get stuck into things now, we just booked a week away at Wooyung, (Near Byron Bay) for October, still lots to do.........

Regards
Ray

[Deleted]

Ok, so we got a few things done this weekend. Managed to nearly build the missing fold down bunk, but this time it is permanently fixed. I used the Connect-It aluminum square tube with a 12mm ply cover, worked out really well. Still need to add a small ladder to the frame which will also help with stability overt the longer unsupported section. Still some tidy up wooden trim to go along the exposed aluminum tube section.

Tell you what though, its a pain trying to get the measuring of the plywood for the curved rear section of the van accurate. Cut/trial fit, trim some more/trial fit, trim some more trial fit, , nearly done though. But, its very therapeutic,

Hoo Roo
Ray