Nice van man! Looking forward to a pick with the DJ set up on the rack. Is your paint matte? It sure looks like it. If so what do you use to keep it fresh? Cheers,
Great thread. Enjoyed the tour of the old garage. Another vote for keeping the paint as is - perfect. Also, the original hatch looks like it will scrub up nice, why not put it back on? I've got an old ambulance and also like all the old references to its previous life. PS Keep the paint!
Yea, the paint is matte. The previous owner sprayed it. It's not much fun to be honest. I clean it using only a soft brush and water. Any grease never goes away. I had a small oil leak a few years ago and there's still some spots on the tailgate.
The original hatch will EVENTUALLY go back on. It's currently hanging on the garage wall. I love all the little features that make my van unique. I'll document them all here some day.
I know that pain! Mine is matte RAF blue and it's hard to make it looks good. I was hoping you had a secret to share as it looks quite shiny on the pictures.
Time for a front brake rebuild.............. One of my calipers was sticking and I noticed when braking hard that a disk was slightly warped. Instead of just replacing that side I decided to fit 2 brand new disks and rebuild the calipers using new seal kits. I stripped the calipers and tried to remove the 4 pistons. Luckily I have some mates just up the road who work on VW's so I used their compressor to free the 3 remaining pistons that I couldn't get out. I sanded back the calipers and repainted them in black after a good coating of primer. All fitted and with the brakes bled I'm ready for summer 16
From Wikipedia............... Mount Leinster (Irish: Stua Laighean) is a 796-metre (2,605-ft) high mountain in the Republic of Ireland. It straddles the border between Counties Carlow and Wexford, in the province of Leinster. It is the fifth highest mountain after Lugnaquilla 925m, Mullaghcleevaun 849m, Tonelagee 817m, and Cloghernagh 800m in Leinster and the highest of theBlackstairs Mountains. A RTÉ transmitting station tops the peak with a mast height of 122 m. It's very possible that my van has climbed this mountain many times in it's working life. The pic is at the carpark at 400 metres and we walked the rest.
Thanks @paradox ........... Im put on the spot now. Yesterday I travelled 160 miles there and back to help a mate sort his gears out in his T25. After alot of messing around we finally sorted it. The van performed flawlessly! Today I removed the front grill which rust had started coming through on, brought it back to bare metal and repainted it. I need to re-do the rear bumper soon. The front is still holding up well so Im guessing I put an extra coat on it last time. New brakes are bedding in well now so I cant wait.
A few small updates.............. I finally tracked down more of the poster paper that I pasted along the fibreglass interior under the windows and stuck it up. It only went about half way along before. Its mad how much the original (especially the yellow) has faded over the few years. Then just before the Jumpstart VW show I decided to paint the bumpers and front grill in black. I ordered some red pinstriping but it didn't arrive on time. It arrived since then so today I removed the bumpers and applied the pinstriping. I recently traded an exhaust I had for bumper brackets which were in better condition than mine. These got a coat of black too. The pinstripes on the black bumpers now match my wheels.
I haven't fitted them back on the van yet as the bumper brackets weren't dry fully. I ordered a roll of 3mm pinstripe from eBay. Took about 2 weeks to arrive.
I went to the Limerick VW and classic car show last Sunday. It's one of the biggest in Ireland. I completely forgot to take pics but found this one of my van online after it.
The bearings in the serpentine tensioner have now gone AGAIN. I had enough and wanted something reliable so I ordered some standard pulleys and a new belt . I also got some fuel hose as I plan to pull the engine again over the next few weeks and go through the lot. This was I had on it. The little silver pulley in the middle was where the bearings kept going. Below is the new setup which I have just fitted. I could hear the bearings before so now the engine sounds silky smooth!! I've also had the first welding done to it since I bought it. The accelerator pedal hinge had rusted solid under where my heal is and the metal under it had rusted too. I dropped the van over to a buddy 2 weeks ago and he put in a tidy patch for me. There was rust under one of the seat runners too and he also addressed this.
Those pulleys are rebound for bearing failure unfortunately. Unless your revving the engine well beyond the standard rpm range I can't see much point in using them. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This is the last picture I'll ever take of my matt green ex RTE van. I took it yesterday evening just before the sun disappeared. We're getting married next September and I want to have the van on the day. Needless to say there's LOADS of work ahead and I've never done anything like this before. The plan is that I'll do most of the work myself and my buddy Eamon will come over to weld where necessary. I'll then grind back, apply filler and primer panel by panel. I'll be hoping to have all panels in primer by June/July when it should be warmer and apply topcoat then. This will NOT be a show finish. I just want a reasonably cheap respray while getting rid of rust areas. Mechanically and structurally the van in 100% so underneath won't be touched. The previous owner sprayed it matt green and it would never have been my choice. Despite this, I learned to live with it and it eventually grew on me. It broke my heart every time it rained as the paint acted like a sponge and any grease/oil could never just be wiped away. I'm still undecided on a final colour but it definitely won't be green and definitely won't have a matt finish. LETS GO!!!!! Just a few bits done today with both interior and headliner pulled out. This van has 4 ariels in total from it's TV days and each on the roof will require attention. The interior will go into storage and won't be touched.