So, the time has come... What time? RESTORATION TIME I've had Jean since 2017 and so far I've just been doing the odd bit here and there to keep her plodding along. But the time in my life has aligned with the VW solar system and presented itself as a time to start restoring her. Am already part way through an engine rebuild, which I have safely stored and put away for now, as I want to finally get started on the bodywork, and make use of my mum's garage before she sells her house! I really value all the other restoration threads (and copious amounts of information and support on here in general) as It's really helped me learn how to keep Jean thriving, so thought I'd contribute to the pool. This will be my first time tackling anything like this and I'm in it till the end. I enjoy the mindful nature of mechanics as It's a welcome break from the emotional chaos of my family life, and my musical work. Jean is a 1979 Devon Moonraker Bay with a fair few bodged repairs, rusty gutter and many more crusty bits haha. I'm not looking to create a perfect, showroom van. I'm restoring it to start a charity that will lend the van out to single parents and people on low incomes who can't afford holidays (which is only going to grow with the cost of living!). I hope to make it wheelchair accessible, so it's open to helping as many people as possible. I've begun by taking off the pop-top (which weighed a flippin tonne) and started taking the interior out so far... I should say, the engine and gearbox are already out from earlier in the summer I'm booked on for a welding course in Feb so my plan is to get it all prepped for cutting and welding before then! LETS GOOOO
When you have your charity registered let me know and we can sort you out a banner link to it or to the resto thread to raise awareness he awareness if you’d like.
Sadly not very long. She's probably going to sell it late summer next year. I'm not expecting to have it all done by then by any stretch, I'm just hoping to make a start. No idea where I'll take Jean next tho as I have no garage space where I live and definitely can't afford workshop rental prices at the mo. I don't know if many people have had any success working in a sturdy temporary shelter on these... my one thought is fireproofing as sparks are gonna be flying! My current thoughts for finding a space are: 1. Asking local farmers who often have unused barn/semi functioning buildings 2. Workshop share with someone to reduce the cost 3. Fundraising to cover the workshop rent as the van is to be used for a charity (would need to be a fairly big chunk tho!) Nothing is feeling too ideal in that camp at the mo, so totally welcome all suggestions as I'm sure I'm not the first person to be in this situation!
Ahh bless you @hailfrank ! That's such a kind offer and I will definitely take you up on that when the time comes. Really appreciate it
Been at the dash today. Required some filing of some spare circlip pliers to unscrew the funny nut that holds the lights/high and low beam pull switch on. Lots of labelling of all cables and many many pictures. Won't bore you with them all here aha. The photo app on my phone proving very handy to make scribbles and notes onto the photos and save them to my memory card to backup on my computer. Started the day here... And ended the day here... dash is off, wipers off, washer gubbins out and most of the cockpit wiring loom labelled and fuse box removed.
Blunder of the day was managing to get the dash all unscrewed and away from the front panel before I realised the central air duct was still attached. Had to balance the whole think on my knees whilst getting the fiddly vent covers off! Plodding on and enjoying the tasks.
Aye aye! All original Devon interior too. Want to try to salvage the lino if possible as I love the pattern!
You appear to be dismantling everything for no obvious reason (yet). I would caution against this approach.
Heya Zed. My current thinking is that I'm booked onto a welding course I managed to get onto in February. So before I can contemplate welding, I wanna get everything as prepped as I can for welding all parts of the van during the time I have before then. Need full access to the front because the inner valance and parts of the front panel are crusty and got extra flakey chunks around the front window aperture. Totally welcome any thoughts as I know you've done this stuff a fair few times!
