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Post by millard1399 on May 27, 2012 18:06:52 GMT 10
G'day kiwijim, Nup, my name has been changed to "Billy Bludger" with this van (although you wouldn't think so with the amount of work I've done on it since we got it two weeks ago... ) The damage will stay there. Maybe (...and it's a BIG maybe) I'll do something about repairing it in a few years, or maybe I'll just leave it how it is. The cladding doesn't need replacing, it just needs taking off and panelbeating the damage back out. There was worse on the Millard which I managed to get looking pretty "good". Promised myself this van wouldn't get any major resto work, especially like the Millard did. I'm fixing what can be easily fixed, and then we're going to use it and abuse it. cheers, Al.
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Post by kiwijim on May 28, 2012 15:06:48 GMT 10
Howdy Al,
You have said exactly what I had in mind, Shove the vent back on the side and don't worry about it, it looks O.K. and it's a heck of a lot cheaper that replacing or repairing the skin.
I reckon, for a bloke who wasn't going to do any repairs to this van, you've done enough, now get out there and enjoy it.
We'll see ya on the road some-where, some-time soon.
Cheers kiwijim ;D
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Post by bobt on May 28, 2012 21:18:33 GMT 10
Hey Millard 1399
One to keep in mind. A caravan club member, on a recent outing with his 16' single axle pop top caravan 'broke' 5 of the six studs on one hub. Had a little bit of stopping effect on his momentum.
How are ya nuts? ;D
bobt
sort of makes ya wonder just what spares you should be carrying on your travels?
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Post by kiwijim on May 29, 2012 5:17:50 GMT 10
Gotta agree with Bobt there, A Stud with No Nuts won't go very far anywhere, ;D ;D ;D Better check them Al. ;D
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Post by millard1399 on May 29, 2012 18:28:22 GMT 10
G'day fellas,
Both hubs/drums were machined today, on both the brake pad face, and the electric magnet face. New bearings were then fitted, along with a marine seal. Studs were inspected and nothing negative found.
Wheels and suspension will all be reassembled tomorrow. New shock absorbers are going in. New tyres were fitted on the rims yesterday.
It's all "new this - new that", so hopefully I don't experience any disasters on the road.
cheers, Al.
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Post by bobt on May 29, 2012 19:24:09 GMT 10
Wot can I say.. Kiwijim was spot on about you. So where too first? hmm hang on car... have you found something to tow it with.. probably not too busy getting it ready. they are a bit addictive. bobt
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 1, 2012 13:20:40 GMT 10
Well, it's Day 17 since this van was delivered, and we've had our fair share of surprises during the "tidy-up"... The shock absorbers were "shockers" . One side had a "bit" of wear ... Not sure how many more kilometres were left in that piston rod, but it sure wasn't going to be me that found out. This is the corresponding cap for the top of the shocky... New ones have now been fitted... ...and the old one from the other side, which is not too bad for wear, will be kept for an "emergency spare". Elsewhere on the van, a number of hours have been spent removing old steel screws from around the exterior of the van. Heaps of them!! (Gees I hate having to deal with other people's shoddy workmanship). This is the pile so far, with more to come... Every one of these screws is being replaced with a stainless steel screw. I've also pumped a smidgen of sealant into every screw hole to provide a good seal... And as if those issues aren't enough...Work is progressing on fitting the led tail lights to the van. Four days have been spent so far, by my brother and I, trying to get them to work. We even put new wiring in from the plug to the lights to see if that would resolve the problem. As indicated by Olfarts earlier in this thread, some cars have problems with led lights being on a trailer/caravan, and it seems my Mazda is one of them. Looks like a trip to the auto electrician to try and sort it out. Gotta love these old caravans. They sure provide a lot of excitement! cheers, Al.
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Post by bobt on Jun 1, 2012 20:54:08 GMT 10
No rest for the wicked...... ;D OR is it.. the retired need something to keep em outa mischief.... ;D That sure is working. Guess your not bored.. ;D I wonder how far away that caravan park they stayed in for holidays was?? That is a significant collection of reject screws your gathering, hope your using an electic trype screw driver. Don't think my wrists would hold up on a real screw driver undoing so many.. In this day and age not too many caravans have shockers in em, based on the wear it would appear that they actually worked on your van. keep at it. Just when did you say you were heading off on that big trip?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2012 7:30:59 GMT 10
All those screws Al .... there can't be too many left that haven't been replaced!! How are the rivets? ? ;D ;D ;D
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Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2012 12:49:13 GMT 10
Congrats on your new purchase Al. You would have been bored it you couldn't find anything to fix, that's why you are scratching around looking for stuff No more winding up the Millard ... sweet!!! Subbie
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Post by atouchofglass on Jun 2, 2012 14:35:48 GMT 10
cheers, Al. That chassis looks like it could do with a good paint Al Atog
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 2, 2012 19:22:50 GMT 10
Heh, heh, heh, atog ;D ;D ...I wasn't gonna get caught with THAT caper again, so I sold all my paintbrushes the day after we bought the van! Cruisindoug...no rivets in this one. Well, at least not many, anyway. But screws?!! Yeah... bobt...no driver drill used. All hand screwing. Only because I can better tell how tight the screw is, especially when there's a smidge of sealant under the screw head that I don't want to squeeze out. One frustration I come across in these old vans is when a "weekend warrior" has done repairs and used a driver drill to put the screws in. No setting the drill on a low torque setting. No sirree! It's full on power! Then it's up to we Classic Caravan restorers to deal with screw heads that have been stripped out ... Got a bit more done today before the rain settled in. A few more screws replaced. Started working on the bottom edge moulding cover. No sealant put in at the factory, so the staple heads along the bottom of the cladding are looking a bit sad. So we'll fix that up, shall we?... In the meantime, my brother, an old boilermaker, decided he could recondition the screw shafts in the four wind-down legs on the van. The winder handle was a sloppy fit on the screw shaft due to wear and tear. So it was out with the heavy duty hammer, and bend the rear lug of the frame to allow the screw shaft to come out... Unscrew the shaft all the way out of the jack... Add weld metal to the winder end, and then grind down to suit the winder handle... Put 'em back in the jack, and bend the rear lug back into the original position. Result?...four screw shafts now as good as new! Bewdy!! cheers, Al.
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Post by bobt on Jun 4, 2012 21:20:10 GMT 10
well now aint it handy having a family member that is good with the welder. and prepared to come lend a hand... ( is he available to lend out??) Most impressed your able to renovate them, certainly saves a bit of dosh.. And by the way that is a nice bit of pertina you have happening under the van... don't take any notice of that fella with his feet up on the balcony over looking the great barrier.. bobt
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Post by kiwijim on Jun 5, 2012 4:15:08 GMT 10
Hey Bobt, I bet the next posting by that N.S.W. Gent, who can't rest, will show a nice clean repainted chassis. ;D ;D ;D kiwijim ;D
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 5, 2012 8:52:34 GMT 10
G'day kiwijim, Nup, "been there - done that" once. Won't ever do that again. It's the same as refurbishing Millard louvre windows...You only do that sort of thing ONCE in your life, before you come to the conclusion that there's gotta be a better way of spending time. cheers, Al.
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Post by bobt on Jun 5, 2012 22:16:02 GMT 10
;D ;D good luck to ya
I painted the chassis on my windsor every 3rd year. I tell ya it was a rub down with the wire brush and slip slop slap.. nothing pretty about it.. in fact done that on pretty much every van I owned..
kept the rust away.. ;D
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Post by kiwijim on Jun 7, 2012 6:59:44 GMT 10
That's the idea Al, Get the van mobile, then get it on the Highway,
There's a flamin big country out there, and it takes for-ever to see it.
We're heading for Victoria next month but, if it gets too cold, we might turn around and head North West up to the Alice then out to the Rock, the nights won't be much warmer but, the days should be very pleasant to travel in.
May-be see you guys on the road some-where ?
cheers kiwijim. ;D
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 7, 2012 18:15:52 GMT 10
G'day kiwijim, Say what?! I thought you wanted to see some SNOW when you came over? As far as I know, the word snow and the word cold apparently go together. Can't have one without the other, from what I hear. cheers, Al.
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Post by kiwijim on Jun 8, 2012 0:33:01 GMT 10
"Yep" Ya could be right there Al, Snow and cold, do go together, but not to the point of freezing our Butts off. We do intend to see the Snow but, At a safe distance, where it can be seen on the Rangers, Say, something like 20km away, The trouble with living out West is that we have only seen a frost on the ground here , about twice in 30 years. One is inclined to forget how cold it can get in other States. but we sure know how hot it can get here. kiwijim ;D
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 8, 2012 18:24:06 GMT 10
Well, we've had crappy weather here this week, so it was a good time to work inside the van fixing things up... One of the ceiling light fittings had been changed to a fluoro fitting, but the plastic cover had melted at some stage... I was reluctant to keep using it without knowing why it had melted, so I took it out and now have a hole in the ceiling... CaravansPlus have the original 240v/12v fitting that goes in the hole, but I'm working up to convincing myself that the $53 is worth spending. A few pushbuttons in the door locks needed replacing, due to being broken or being the wrong replacement. You can't get the original gold colour anymore, so we went with white... All the catches on the doors got a smear of grease to stop them "sticking". A few window locks needed replacing. Two window winder boxes were replaced as well, due to the gears inside being stripped. This required the winder arm brackets on the outside of those windows to be removed as well. I figured I might as well make sure they were sealed properly when I refitted them. I put a smidge of sealant wherever I thought water could get in... There were a few framework repairs required on the seats. Nothing a bit of timber, some glue and some screws couldn't fix... When I looked in under that seat frame, I discovered the dreaded "staples plague" had infected the van. Get a load of these staples which haven't even gone through the plywood properly ... And that was only a small section of them too!! My brother and I finally got the led tail light problem sorted out. I made up a dummy light board to allow us to test out all the ideas found on the internet... Because the problem was happening on both my car and his car, we figured it had to be something to do with an electrical signal being sent back from the tail lights to the towcar, so he ended up soldering a 3 amp diode onto the brown wire and the red wire in the plug... That solved the problem, so the van has been changed from these original tail lights... ...to these led lights... I also bought some led clearance lights off ebay, and they will be fitted once we sort out how to get the earth lead anchored properly on each light... We're almost at the end of the "To Do" list. Now that the sun is back out I can finish changing the screws around the outside to stainless screws, and put the new twin regulator for the gas bottle in position. cheers, Al.
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Post by kiwijim on Jun 9, 2012 19:44:07 GMT 10
Looking better by the day Al,
Should be a new van any day now,
Any ideas about fitting a Diesel fired heater while you're at it ?
Keep up the good work ,
I can see the Millard sulking from here. ;D ;D ;D
kiwijim ;D
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Post by millard1399 on Jun 9, 2012 22:06:14 GMT 10
G'day kiwijim, Gawd, don't tell me I have to learn all about diesel heaters now! You'd better fill me in on what they do, and why I would need one. Doesn't seem to be too many different brands on ebay, but there are different kW ratings within the one model. Up around $600 to $700 from what I've seen. Educate me! ;D ;D cheers, Al.
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Post by bobt on Jun 9, 2012 22:41:13 GMT 10
shhh please. I dont want swmbo to find out about these. She will want one. $700 is way less then what I have been quoted.. try $1800 plus fitting. The latest in heating for those that want to free camp.. Oh yeah then there is the self aligning satelite for the telly and the 12 volt dish washer. Hey Al it is somewhat amazing at how well the furniture stands up to regular use when you look at the size of the timber it is built out of. I have had the odd occasion where I have had to repair a bit here or there. Never seen that sort of stable infection. Must be something special about your van. Bobt
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Post by kiwijim on Jun 10, 2012 1:10:12 GMT 10
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Post by kylarama on Jun 10, 2012 8:11:20 GMT 10
How did I miss this thread? Our leader has turned and gone to the dark side... I'll sharpen the pitch forks, someone light the torches and everyone else get ready to form an angry mob! In all seriousness, nice van and as always excellent workmanship and attention to detail. but give it time, this little 'tidy up' will get out of control. Picture this. Al spots water leak. Window is removed to reseal. Internal cladding is removed to check for further damage. External cladding is removed to replace frame. Interior is stripped to get to entire frame. Body is lifted off chassis just to check. You get the picture...
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