Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2015 11:57:05 GMT 10
In 1978 I brought my Viscount Ambassador van in Townsville & was told that the previous owner had brought it in 76 in Mt Isa & lived onsite for 18 months. It has a "Parkside Caravans P/L, Grace & Atherton St. Mt. Isa" sticker still on it. I lived in it for two years & since then it has been a weekender, until 2004. I left it at a mates on top of a mountain until this year & was in very good nick. Unfortunately when neglected they go downhill very fast.
I've brought it down to Beaudesert to restore. It's an 18'6 Tandem, 6 berth. The Chassis number is 581E. New tyres, adjusted the brake & changed the tail light plug that's all. I used an old set of fishing taillights as the originals didn't work anymore. It towed like a dream & made very little difference on the fuel consumption. I towed it with my Tata Ute.
I found out that the numbering system changed after the 71 Caravan Show in Sydney. Thank to Franklin1 at Vintage Caravans. Apparently the first number is the build year the rest are the builds progressive.
I have noticed that some have the Air Conditioner built into the front. I wonder if this was a factory fit or added later? The Air Conditioner Karked it years ago. It was replaced with Stefan. Attachments:
|
|
|
|
Post by pisces51 on Jun 26, 2015 23:30:25 GMT 10
G'day Jayb1, and welcome to this forum!  I'm 'pisces51' on this forum and 'Franklin1' on the Vintage forum. You've got your wires crossed a little bit... As I said on the Vintage forum, Viscount changed the chassis numbering system in about 1971 and put the letter at the end of the numbers, and started the numbers back at 1. So as the Ambassador chassis were being built, they just got the next number in line, eg. 1E, 2E, 3E, etc. This numbering system was used in 1971 and 1972, so by the end of 1972 they were probably up to a number around 5000E or something like that. Then the chassis numbering system was changed AGAIN in 1973 and that's when the first number is the year number. Your van is very likely to be a 1971 model, because your number of 581E is pretty early after the start of the change. cheers, Al. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 10:10:22 GMT 10
Wow! Thanks for that. I must say I am impressed by these two sites. The amount of information available is absolutely astounding.
As you can see I have stripped the Van down to it's basic parts. Getting the old rock hardened Silastic off the cladding is a big problem. Any ideas on the Air Conditioner. Were they an add on or manufactured that way? The weight of the Air Conditioner had snapped the 40 x 25 top rail, so I've replaced that. I might do a bit of strengthening while I've got it down this far, Gussets & a few extra stays to hang an awning off, etc. I was lucky with the frame as only one short piece at the rear had to be fabricated & replaced. I'll replace the lights with LED strips. I've altered the front & rear profile a little to male it more modern & aerodynamic. I'll probably cop some flack from the purists out there for that.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 27, 2015 11:32:37 GMT 10
Hi Jayb1
I use to install air conditioners many years ago with a mate on weekends, from what I remember I never had anyone tell us that there caravan came with an A/C and the reason A/C's are installed at the front of a caravan, is to use the draw bar as extra support. We pulled out heaps of them that need repair and once fixed would re-install, 90% were in caravan parks as permanent residents.
So reading where your van came from I would bet the person who lived in it at Mt Isa put the A/C in
|
|
|
|
Post by Mustang on Jun 28, 2015 9:32:21 GMT 10
Re Air Con: personally I wouldn't have one if you are restoring to a classic style.
The old ones are usually noisy & inefficent.
You may consider a modern air con in place of the rear hatch?
|
|
|
|
Post by atefooterz on Jun 28, 2015 17:42:01 GMT 10
Regardless of what style i would imagine that any hard breaking while touring, * would see those heavy old bricks spat out and bouncing off the tug.
*Not much lateral support around there, for a heavy air con instal, most support i have seen set up like this is for compression downwards, effective in a static enviroment.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 28, 2015 19:31:06 GMT 10
I've got a 3 kW Mobile Air Conditioner which I'll incorporate into the Van somewhere. I have to decide on an interior layout first. Probably two singles beds at the back & a double at the front over the table. Electric Bar Fridge, Microwave & one of those two burner Grills. 24" Flat Screen & an Aldi DVD. I don't think I'll worry about top storage. Any way I see how it all progresses. I'm putting the floor back on the Chassis tomorrow. There is a little water damage around a couple of the edges on the flooring but not bad enough to worry about. A little bog should fix it.
|
|
|
|
Post by bogwot on Jul 13, 2015 12:51:26 GMT 10
I've got a 3 kW Mobile Air Conditioner which I'll incorporate into the Van somewhere. I have to decide on an interior layout first. Probably two singles beds at the back & a double at the front over the table. Electric Bar Fridge, Microwave & one of those two burner Grills. 24" Flat Screen & an Aldi DVD. I don't think I'll worry about top storage. Any way I see how it all progresses. I'm putting the floor back on the Chassis tomorrow. There is a little water damage around a couple of the edges on the flooring but not bad enough to worry about. A little bog should fix it. I put a mobile A/C in our Milard and it doesn't work all that well. I think the main problem is it draws the air from within the van. I put 2 exhaust holes in to expell the hot air. 1 at both ends of the van for sleeping and for eating. But it just sucked warm air for the outside as it creates a vacuum within. But it ws better than nothing. |
|
|
|
Post by doublechevron on Jul 13, 2015 13:27:06 GMT 10
I've got a 3 kW Mobile Air Conditioner which I'll incorporate into the Van somewhere. I have to decide on an interior layout first. Probably two singles beds at the back & a double at the front over the table. Electric Bar Fridge, Microwave & one of those two burner Grills. 24" Flat Screen & an Aldi DVD. I don't think I'll worry about top storage. Any way I see how it all progresses. I'm putting the floor back on the Chassis tomorrow. There is a little water damage around a couple of the edges on the flooring but not bad enough to worry about. A little bog should fix it. I put a mobile A/C in our Milard and it doesn't work all that well. I think the main problem is it draws the air from within the van. I put 2 exhaust holes in to expell the hot air. 1 at both ends of the van for sleeping and for eating. But it just sucked warm air for the outside as it creates a vacuum within. But it ws better than nothing. I tried a portable air conditioner at the beach last year. It did blow a nice breeze of cold air. However it was noisy and generated more heat that coolness. The amount of heat they generate into the area being cooled seems to far outweigh any "cooling" they generate. They are a hell of a water pump though. You need to sit them up high and put a big bucket under there drain. Basically, there bloody useless IMO  I've got a mate who lives up in QLD that tried on in a small bedroom. He found it made lots of noise, created lots of water... he left it running there all afternoon and recorded no temperature drop in the room. The following day he did the same thing without the A/C running and found the room stayed slightly cooler...... seeya, shane L. |
|
|
|
Post by atefooterz on Jul 13, 2015 13:38:47 GMT 10
I highly recommend using a $15-25 fan from Coles Woolies, if you have 240V. In humid hot zones the dryer warm air that comes in from vents helps dry out inhabitants and feels cooler. IMO using those evaporator style things is a recipie for creating a mould farm. Highly recommended is going somewhere less humid, like South Aussie or WA in the really bad months!  |
|
|
|
Post by doublechevron on Jul 13, 2015 14:00:07 GMT 10
I highly recommend using a $15-25 fan from Coles Woolies, if you have 240V. In humid hot zones the dryer warm air that comes in from vents helps dry out inhabitants and feels cooler. IMO using those evaporator style things is a recipie for creating a mould farm. Highly recommended is going somewhere less humid, like South Aussie or WA in the really bad months! There not evaporative coolers. There proper reverse cycle air conditioners. There may be some good ones out there. But the one I tried was useless. I'm probably going to fit a domestic split system to my caravan and mount the consdensor unit on the drawbar (if I bother with A/C that is ). seeya, Shane L. |
|
|
|
Post by atefooterz on Jul 13, 2015 14:18:04 GMT 10
Proper "heat exchangers" most likely fail in the caravan as unlike the air space in a house room the heat does not have enough height and separation to the intake. When you have exterior air intake then anything greater than 10-20% mix requires a lot more energy to stay cool. Car aircon with fresh air V recirculated air setting is a good example. Note how big the water puddle is under cars with air con, so external drain a must. otherwise it soon becomes a badly designed evaporator air con in function. |
|
|
|
Post by doublechevron on Jul 13, 2015 15:28:26 GMT 10
Proper "heat exchangers" most likely fail in the caravan as unlike the air space in a house room the heat does not have enough height and separation to the intake. When you have exterior air intake then anything greater than 10-20% mix requires a lot more energy to stay cool. Car aircon with fresh air V recirculated air setting is a good example. Note how big the water puddle is under cars with air con, so external drain a must. otherwise it soon becomes a badly designed evaporator air con in function. I'd fit something like this ... www.ebay.com.au/itm/New-Ayre-Air-Conditioner-Split-System-Reverse-Cycle-Still-in-Box-/161756212565?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_15&hash=item25a96bed55Anything that's an inverter that has < 10amp startup requirements would be perfect. That way you could run it from a 2kw generator if required. The trick would be installing it without damaging anything inside the caravan. most roof units seem to be very heavy and inefficient. I hate the idea of all the weight being up high... not to mention the expensive and extra height requirements too. The split systems are pretty simple to install yourself too. seeya, Shane L. |
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2015 15:57:05 GMT 10
Hmmm.... Split system mounted on the Drawbar sounds like the best idea.
I'm up to the wall cladding at the moment. I done the ceiling. I'm using bracing ply from building sites. It sands up great, a coat of sealer/under coat & a couple of white ceiling paint left over from building sites. I'll have to find some decent wall paint though. I might have to do some mixing of what I find to get the right colours. :-)
|
|
I'm 'pisces51' on this forum and 'Franklin1' on the Vintage forum. 
I've got a mate who lives up in QLD that tried on in a small bedroom. He found it made lots of noise, created lots of water... he left it running there all afternoon and recorded no temperature drop in the room. The following day he did the same thing without the A/C running and found the room stayed slightly cooler......