So just popped Loris up on the 'Introduce yourself' thread, now I thought I would finally get round to posting my epic restoration blog! Basically I thought I would start stripping my van down back in 2015 ready for restoration. At that point I was living in Norfolk and had made some contacts for the metal work and spraying but I was also interested in getting involved so that I could learn about my van and also feed an interest in mechanics and engineering! So commenced the strip!
Was it from a warmer climate? I'm asking because it don't look that bad to be honest and its got the OG paint.
Not to my knowledge, got it from sunny Bristol!!! Not the OG paint dude, was a lovely shade of orange in a previous life. Looks good but the rusty pics are to come
Got the van down to the one man band body shop and he gave me a hand to get the engine out. I was gonna have a go at livening the engine up, which would give me a chance to learn and teach myself!
Just been a right numpty and started putting the same info on my other feed Post Greetings from Loris .....its been that long!!! So will screw my head back on the right way and carry on here
Going back a few years....After I had the engine out and got it back to where I worked I started stripping and cleaning. I replaced the oil cooler & pump, fuel pump, push rods, rocker covers, gaskets etc. I had a look at the pistons and cleaned them up, adjusted the tappets and got all the tin wear powder coated. I also replaced the dynamo for a 75amp JK alternator kit.
Fast forward to 2018 (From 2016) and this is what my finished engine looks like, although its been n storage since the end of 2016!!! I've got a euromax carb to go back on (Alhough I would like to get some weber twins at some point) and a 123 dizzy.
So whilst I was restoring the engine my guy in Norfolk started stripping the worst of the panels on Loris, which turned out to be quite a bit... New jacking points, full front panel, front and rear arches full rear corners, battery trays, some chassis cross members just to start!
So the vans back with me in Hampshire and the resto is underway again after 3 years of on and off work! Unfortunately some of the work carried out in Norfolk had to be rectified. We think the sliding door was not offered up before replacing the runner as we found that the lower sliding door runner was too narrow for the roller
Meanwhile I got started stripping the roof. Got myself some synstrip, pretty nasty stuff but did a good job on the roof! Took a few coats, a bit of mechanical stripping and some epoxy primer..... wella! Found out the rear guttering and some of the roof was pretty bad so took the plunge a got a new roof section from schofields. Bit pricey but looks like a really good panel, will leave it off for the while because will probably be getting some shot blasting done.
While I was at it I got cracking on the inner roof and quickly found out that using paint stripper here is much more hazardous so opted for more of a da approach! Got it back to bare metal and a bit of primer tomorrow.
So I'm well aware I am pretty Marmitee at keeping up with my restoration feed so I will try to catch up with where I am now! Since the last pics I decided to get the main frame part of the van blasted and help DA the panels so that the final part of welding can be done before a lick of epoxy primer could be applied by the body shop.
