generallee
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Aug 29, 2011 18:23:56 GMT
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Thought I would start a thread for our camper, I hope it will fit in OK here. It's a 1991 208D, with an Autotrail camper conversion. It has a 2.3 diesel with a turbo conversion (which makes progress slow, rather than painfully slow). In 2009 Ms Generallee took voluntary redundancy, I quit my job and we took off around Europe in our van "Moose" (named so when we bought him, and it just kinda stuck). Looked pretty smart when we set off  We got about a bit, from the top of Norway to the bottom of Sicily to Istanbul and everywhere in between.  After a year and 22,000 miles we returned home. The van had coped well, but the rear floor was a bit 'spongey'. We couldn't sell him after all we had been through together, and (as many on here will identify with) I would rather repair something than throw it away. So we took the kitchen out thinking (as, again, many on here will identify with) we will patch it up, won't take long. Up comes the lino  and a small hole is discovered.  A bit more poking about, and full extent of the rot is clear. So we pulled the floor out at the back.   (organised) chaos  with the floor out, we discovered the rot continued up the walls. These things are built pretty crudely, just cheap wood stapled together and plywood. Chasing the rot up the walls, we eventually got to good wood and replaced the rotten stuff with new.   So that is where we are up to. Once the walls are sorted, we can start putting the new floor in... in theory. Going is pretty slow, and we (Ms generallee and I) have to learn as we go along, but we are getting there. Oh, the cab is pretty rotten, too. But I am ignoring that for the time being.  |
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Aug 29, 2011 18:36:37 GMT
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That's an impressively big small hole. Looking forward to seeing this one progressing.
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Aug 29, 2011 19:17:12 GMT
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Brilliant! Keep the pics coming
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1974 Skoda S100 tarmac car
1998 BMW 750 daily
1994 Mitsubishi Evo2
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iant
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Aug 29, 2011 19:52:38 GMT
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Good luck with this! Looking forward to the updates!
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rob
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Posts: 160
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Aug 30, 2011 21:13:57 GMT
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Good to see another Merc camper on here. I've got a converted 407d van that I managed to return from quite a sorry state to reasonable, unfortunately the engine died and it's in storage starting to return to a sorry state again. I'd like to find out a bit more about the turbo conversion, have you got any pics?
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lovely looking van mate!! good luck with the work, keep us updated on the progress, i love campers!!
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'90 Audi B3 Coupe 2.3 Auto [gone]
'92 Audi S4 Avant 2.2 AAN Turbo Auto [gone]
'93 Audi 80 Avant 1.9TDi [gone]
'96 Audi A4 Avant 2.6 Quattro [gone]
'97 VW T4 1.9td LWB [gone]
'03 Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi [gone]
'05 VW T5 Shuttle LWB 1.9TDi
'15 VW Caddy Maxi Kombi 1.6TDi
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generallee
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Sept 1, 2011 15:24:04 GMT
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Good to see another Merc camper on here. I've got a converted 407d van that I managed to return from quite a sorry state to reasonable, unfortunately the engine died and it's in storage starting to return to a sorry state again. I'd like to find out a bit more about the turbo conversion, have you got any pics? There seemed to be a few campers on here recently so I thought I would join in! The turbo was fitted by a firm in Lancaster called TB Turbo (presumably when new or nearly new). Apparently they did quite a lot of campers of this era. I will try and get some photos this weekend, but it is quite hard to see as it's all buried under the cab floor. From what I can see it has a custom/modified down pipe with a teeny Garret on the end, with an oil feed taken from the oil pressure warning light switch! Then loads of pipework, tiny intercooler, loads more pipework and into the standard intake manifold, it's pretty simple. I don't know what/if internal/head gasket mods were carried out. TB Turbo went under and my google searches have drawn blanks. The exhaust flexi pipe split on our travels, and the turbo whistle past my bean tin and jubilee clip 'repair' sounded wicked! |
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l10mcu
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Posts: 62
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Sept 13, 2011 20:53:28 GMT
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I have seen a similar conversion on a 123 240d years ago, i am sure the internals, gaskets etc are bog standard.
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generallee
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Oct 18, 2011 12:13:39 GMT
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Right, a little up date... Built up a new step from the rotten stump of the old one  Cut and laid out some new floor pieces. All the new wood has been treated with Cuprinol, and the bottom sheet of plywood is exterior quality and has a coat of epoxy resin on the underside.  Then we used acro props and some timber through the roof rack to jack the body up enough to slide the new parts between the chassis and the walls.  It was then glued and screwed into place. Quite pleased with the way it turned out.    The underside will eventually be painted, but for the time being the old girl is solid and weatherproof.  Still plenty to do, but we are getting there slowly. |
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generallee
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Wow, nearly 4 years on and the poor old camper still sits. We managed to get the bumper back on and the floor more or less finished and then abandoned it. I got a new job which took up most of my time, we bought a wreck of a house which takes up the rest of it. Ms Generallee is now Mrs Generallee- Hooray! At Christmas time we looked in on the van. It looked a bit sorry for itself.  |
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generallee
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generallee
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Apr 17, 2015 10:01:12 GMT
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Good news is the inside seems dry and not very musty. The cab is a bit minging, the carpet is mouldy and the hula girl is looking a bit down-at-heel.  I was going to pull the carpet out when Mrs Generallee (who was actually grafting on ply-lining the inside of the van not just poncing about with a bucket and sponge) had an accident with a Stanley knife. Blood, feinting and a quick patch up later it she is fine, but we didn't get much more done. I did find this old engine hoist in the back of one of the sheds. A squirt of WD40 got it free and working, one day I'll get round to stripping/checking and painting it. It's a lovely old thing.  So is this.... My grandfather's old barge. Been parked up since around the same time as the van. It needs a polish and a few bits for MOT. I'll probably do it up and sell it. Leather, electric everything, full Volvo history etc,   The roof isn't rusty, just a bit stained from there the (now fixed) garage roof leaked a bit.  So, lots to do. We have a deadline for a friend's wedding in Devon, camper pitch booked and everything. |
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trimtechniques
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Porsche 928 4.7 ltrs of German grunt. Mazda MX-5 MK1 Dakar. VW T4 camper
Posts: 158
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Apr 17, 2015 15:25:05 GMT
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Love your camper. Please keep us posted. I loved how you jacked up the body with acro props. It will be nice to see you get it back on the road.
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Dan P
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Apr 17, 2015 17:11:55 GMT
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looking forward to seeing your progress with this |
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Apr 17, 2015 17:44:16 GMT
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Great progress with your van I know just want it feels like to find a load of rotten wood in your coachbuilt mines solid to now but all still exposed n loads to do good luck
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generallee
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Great progress with your van I know just want it feels like to find a load of rotten wood in your coachbuilt mines solid to now but all still exposed n loads to do good luck AAArrrgghhh!!! ...more on that later.... Double AAArrrggghhh... just wrote out a massive post with pictures and stuff and it just vanished! Anyway, it went something like this. Freed the brakes off. That's not a massive hammer, it's just close to the camera.  Boshed a couple of new batteries on (one for the engine/van, another for the camper), and it fired up. 4 years it's been standing! No fuss, smoke or drama. I made a video but I don't know how to get it off my phone. Plus it's pretty dull. Edit- I managed to get it onto (my wife's) youtube! Skip the first minute, it's just me faffing about. Probably the most dull first start/cold start ever. Had 4 new Hankooks fitted in rare 215r14 C flavour, but didn't photograph them. You can probably imagine what they look like. |
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generallee
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^^^^ I'm not sure why that picture is massive, I keep trying to turn them down on photobucket. Bloody computers. Anyway, we found an old-school bodyshop man who is going to cut the rot out and fix/replace the panels for us in the near future. For the time being we used Kurust and hammerite, plus a bit of fibreglass. Can't wait to have it done properly.  Also fitted new rubbers to the track rod and drag link ends after stuffing them full of grease the best I could. Fitted and wired the rear lights, which took ages. We managed to loose some wires for the top marker lamps into the bathroom wall... Luckily Mrs Generallee is a wizard at extracting wires out of a hole with a coat hanger. Then I couldn't get power to the fog lamp. After ages hunting, I discovered you pull the switch once for front fogs (not fitted), twice for rears. Bumhats |
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generallee
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Next, We took loads of the interior out in order to take the lino up as we had some new stuff to put down. MOAR ROT!!!! We cut it all out, thankfully there isn't too much. It was round where the pipes and wires come into the living space, which is right next to the wheel arch. Top design.   And this is where we left it, this is the view looking from the bottom of the wardrobe, through the gas bottle locker.   |
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generallee
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3 years, 3 months later. Not so much of a bump as a whacking great thump. Shortly after all that^^^^ we had a mad dash to the finish line and scraped a pass at the MOT station 2 days before we were planning to leave for a wedding in Devon the next day. I'll try and keep it in the right order, it has been a while... Floor fixed and a new floor made up in the gas locker. I can't remember how we did it, but it's there now, so we must have done!   New lino laid down. Carpet is nicer and warmer, but gets filthy really quickly.   We fitted the kitchen and gas fire back in. The fridge needs to come out again as it's not working on gas (an easy fix I think). Mrs Generallee fiberglassed the rot on the scuttle to keep the rain out. We have a new scuttle panel to be fitted when the body gets done. Probably around the spring of 2035.  |
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generallee
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 Taxed and tested, did a load of snag-list jobs and trundled down to Devon for the wedding. Made it without any trouble at all. It rained real hard on the evening before the wedding, and it was heaven not to be in a tent. Fantastic wedding transport! While we were thrashing to get the van finished, this V8 powered monster was being put back on the road for the big day.   |
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