Hi I recently purchased a 1978 Devon pop top van and am collecting it Sunday. I’m looking for some advice on the best cleaning products to use both on the exterior and interior. Would also be good if anyone could recommend how to fit a leisure battery or should I use a solar panel and how do I fit new seat belts to the rock n roll bed? thanks
Hi, from Notth Yorkshire. Any Autoglym products will do the cleaning inside and outside. I assume fuel lines are in good condition? things like this would normally get priority attention. Has the bus been checked over safetywise by someone that knows their stuff??
As for the leisure battery. Fit one and solar if you feel you'll need it. Depends on how long you are off grid camping - if you are only ever going to be on 240v hook up then don't worry too much about solar. A 12v leisure battery will do for charging phones and and water pumps (if electric) for a few days.
As above check the fuel hoses first. Make sure they are ethanol proof barrier hose. Someone will be along in a bit to tell you about the carb setup As for cleaning Autoglm products or i have found Meguier’s polish very good for the exterior.
Will only be a short amount of time at the moment off grid. We have a hook up fitted already. It currently just has the sink and hob but no fridge. Will the main battery be ok to use for phones and the water at the moment if we aren’t hooked up?
You can usually see some manufacturers details printed on the hose. There are plenty of R9 hoses on the market but not all necessarily ethanol proof. Gates, Codan & Cohline are some of the ethanol proof ones.
This is some of the information on the van. New pistons, barrels,cam shaft, crank and bearings. New clutch. Underside blasted and coated. 2.0l type 4 petrol engine, GE engine code, 4 speed manual gearbox, 5 rib type.
If you go into Late Bay and General Discussion you see Avoiding Fire and also What VW Bay Owners Should Know threads. Best to read these I wouldn’t assume anything, best to check it yourself
Welcome to the forum. I have a similar aged camper. If this is your first old camper, just ask lots of questions and amongst the banter, some useful advice will magically appear @MorkC68 you might want to check your gender assumption of the poster!
Welcome to the forum. Nice looking bus. Seat belts should be easy as there will be standard anchor points already there under the seat and below the rear side windows.
Don't expect to run a fridge off 12v for too long, they need a lot of electric and you would need approx 300w of solar to run s compressor type fridge. As for charging phones, should be okay.
welcome cleaning - don't need anything special, just regular stuff from halfords will be fine. mine gets a bucket of water and a squirt of washing up liquid about once a year - its not pampered leisure battery - there are lots of companies selling a kit - not hard to fit yourself, kit will come with instructions but if you struggle there will be folks on here happy to help/ advise. Its just a voltage sensitive relay and a couple of wires. solar - i've never found the need for this personally. i rarely get a hookup when camping and find that just general driving around when i'm on my hols is enough to keep the starter battery and leisure charged. the leisure runs the radio, interior lights and gets used for charging phones etc and has never run down. if you had a fridge you might struggle but i dont have one - just an elec cool box. tbh if the main battery is new/ good it will be fine for charging phones etc worst case even if you did run it down its just a case of getting some friendly campsite neighbours to give you a push start. seat belts - you probably have the captive nuts under the bed already so its just a case of finding an appropriate belt and bolting it in. look at the Securon Seat Belts and Harnesses web site - they have lots of choice on there, or just do a search on the forum to find someone else who's already done it. On mine i fitted the brackets that @davidoft sells so the shoulder belt is raised up - bit safer than just the lap belts that vw would have fitted back in the day. uber rare, rear 3 point inertia seatbelt bracket | Page 25 | The Late Bay
welcome, i just use whatever i have in the kitchen cabinets for cleaning, i do supply the seatbelt brackets too
Hi and welcome A couple of how to’s to read on the 12v leisure and 230v systems https://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/leisure-electrics-12v.5390/ https://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/leisure-electrics-230v.5526/
