Not really that bizzare if you know mother, she falls for the idea and rarely considers the practicality!
Welcome. The heater system IS worth restoring if you do it properly. The hard work of painting is in the prep as you already know so, £300 is more like a decent price to top coat it. Have had two vans done locally for £220 apiece when I did the prep. Thirdly,good job and welcome. Agree with original restoration too.
Really, what about fitting it out with an aftermarket system that actually works? Obviously this is going away from the aim to keep things original, but let's face it, the original system is fundementally flawed from an efficiency perspective...? The chap got back to me and doesn't want to touch it; he does custom paint jobs for things like hotrods etc so I imagine he has better things on his mind. Shame as it would save me lots of time. I might make a few phone calls. Thanks
The original system works extremely well if you restore it properly, original heat exchangers ( not aftermarket copies) keep the system free of air leaks and insulate it properly. It's very toasty. Follow this guide http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/freemefromthishell/vw/T2 Heating.htm
Nice job. What sort of animals has your mum got on the small holding? Just wondered after seeing her van purchase!
Just pigs and chickens. Talking of which, does anyone want to buy weaner pigs? Gloucester old spots, she has around 10 that could do with going.
Engine related advice sought: I have to drive the van around 200 metres from its shed to the area I work and usually it's fine however today it's backfiring very frequently and belting out a bit of black some... My guess is it's running way to rich and possibly the timing is off. Any advice greatly welcomed Cheers
I was working away last week so had a bit of a break from the camper but yesterday I managed to get a lick of paint on. I used the spray booth of a local chap who does specialist paint jobs, so much nicer painting in a fully kitted out workshop! I had 2 runs in the top coat which annoyed me a bit but hopefully, I'll be able to get them out with some 2000 grit once it's dry. The pretty wacky spray booth The plan is to let the green dry over the week and then do the top half white next Saturday. Probably going to give the engine a good service this week too because when I drove it to the paint shop, it sounded like a machine gun!
A little advice please. Giving the camper a service today to try to address the backfiring problem. I gave the carb a good clean and it was very dirty whilst I have it removed, I wonder whether it would be a good idea to disable the automatic choke as I've heard mixed reviews about it? Going to replace all filters, oil etc and check timing and replace the spark plugs. Anyone advice anything extra? Cheers
I'd leave the choke. It'd be worth checking your fuel lines and tank breather connections while you're in the engine bay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Re the engine, have you changed the rotor arm and distributor cap, new spark plugs and maybe new ignition leads and clean up the electrics connections. You mentioned about a possible profit when you sell. Be careful with your resto costs as you cannot rely on getting your costs back. I am an optimist, but keep an eye on bay sales prices as they seem to be quite low at the moment. enjoy your project and spend as little as possible on it, seeing as your objective is selling rather than keeping.
I have got new points coming in the post, the cap and rotor arm are good - ive cleaned up the contacts in the cap though. New spark plugs and I've cleaned up all electrics. In terms of selling it, if I include my time I have spent, then the idea of profit is out the window but in terms of spend, I should recoup my costs as I have managed to keep things to a minimum so far. But I agree, the price of bays at the moment doesn't look healthy! So there is part of me that is worrying that it'll be hard to sell for the price range I want... Okay, I'll leave the choke. Fuel lines and breathers all seem fine - would it be sensible to put an inline fuel filter in just before the fuel pump? I have one laying around so I am tempted to put it in. Any thoughts? Should have been around a year ago but it has not been driven since.
Also, Photobucket seems to have stopped my photos coming up. Does anyone know a way around this? thanks in advance
Usual place for the inline fuel filter is just before the lines enter the engine bay. Best to keep the filter out of the engine bay. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Okay I'll put the one I have next to the tank outlet. Also, its probably been asked a lot, but why is there not a cooling fan on the vw 1600 engine?