Max came down on Sunday to start prepping the engine bay for a spot of paint. Lots of sanding to do! I have a few areas on the fuel tank shelf that need repairing, the worst being the O/S strap and strengthener that sit underneath it. Chopped out: This is what was left of the strengthening plate after I’d cut the rust out: The rest of the metal on the plate was pretty thin so I decided to make a new one instead of repairing. I don’t have a bead roller so I rigged up a little jig on the vice instead: to add some pressings to a sheet of metal: I then folded over the edges and after some careful bending, welding and spot of etch primer ended up with a pretty decent copy of the original panel: A quick trial fit too: I also repaired the fuel tank strap and fitted a new bolt as the old one had rusted shut:
A few minor repairs left on the rear end before I can get it into primer. Welded in my new fuel tank strengthener and the repaired strap: Removed a patch repair on the Rear wheel tub and welded in some neater repairs: While I was prepping the fuel tank shelf for paint I noticed some rot creeping out on the chassis behind the suspension mounts so had to cut out a big chunk of the mount to repair it: And while I had the welder out I made a new bump stop for the trailing arm using the old torsion bar cover plate:
My rusty Lee ¾ width bed arrived this month, as I was keen to get the mounting holes drilled before I paint the engine bay. It took me a little while to work out how it all went together, but it seems really nicely designed and pretty straightforward. Once I’d assembled it I got it into the van on top of the Madmatz closed cell insulation, a piece of 9mm ply and the floor tiles I’ll be using to make sure it sat at the correct height: And then drilled and fitted the mounting bolts: While the bed was in I made up a large strengthening plate for the lap belt and 3 point belt I’ll be fitting: And a quick test to make sure it fits: These are the floor tiles I’ll be fitting much later on:
The results of spending all weekend sanding out the engine bay and fuel tank shelf: Then getting some epoxy mastic onto it tonight! So worth it
Nice to see you back matey! So nice to have the majority of the welding done and onto something different. Aiming for autumn back on the road I hope but time will tell. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Managed to wangle the heating ‘Y piece’ into position last night. I need to take it out to get some paint on it. I thought a short video showing how I got it to fit would be useful as I know the topic seems to crop up from time to time.
I’m surprised someone still hasent made a flexible silicone one with steel inserts to fit in the ends. Mine was so rotten it wasent salvageable. I spent hours and lots of swear words trying to fit one of the two piece fibreglass repro ones to no avail.
I’ve finished up the heating ducting this week. Y piece welded in: Repaired the piece that sits under the walkthrough, and welded back in: Fabricated a tube to pass through the cross member as the original was beyond repair. I’d thrown the old one out so had nothing to go from, I kept it simple and just made two tubes of the right diameter to match the cardboard tube and metal pipe: Hopefully we might get some form of heat into the cab now! I also made up some brackets for our new LPG tank which will run our heater and cooker. I’ll be doing a separate post on how I installed this.
Think mine are still insulated..hopefully, will try to get a photo up. All the same great work @JamesLey ..
I'll be re-wrapping it etc. I couldn't justify buying one of the metal pipes as they seemed quite expensive, and hopefully this'll do the job
Should do can't see that it will get too hot by then unless you go for an Eber or similar in the ducting. Anyway great job and really enjoying your thread.
If the paravan ever makes it back on the road Then I will put some time and effort into a diy solution Then make a guide for others to make it themselves and share it on here
I think I still have ours in the garage so should be ok. It’s pretty grotty though. Can I buy new material from somewhere and make a new one? I vaguely remember it using poppers to attach? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk