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Well I put the van in to a well reputed garage who mostly do HGV/PCV work in the hope that we would see good professional service. Despite the folks on the desk being really polite and professional I'm not particularly impressed. First up was the question mark over the "missing" rear reflectors. The tester at the time wasn't interested in entering into discussion. So I stuck a couple of additional ones on at near enough driver eye level. The tester totally failed to notice these...and went and stuck an additional two on the back of the van down next to the tail lights. It looks like the thing has been attacked by a 90 year old who's raided the caravan aisle in Halfords.   Not impressed. Especially as they're not even fitted straight. I eventually managed to convince someone to come and look at it...gent I spoke to immediately agreed that the reflectors which both I and their guy had fitted were utterly unnecessary. Doesn't help the fact that I now have an additional pair of squint reflectors (which further impinge on the already not great side viewing angle of the indicators) which appear to be held on with the adhesive they glue the wings on to modern passenger airliners with. They ain't moving. That hacked me off. Especially as they did it without asking me first. It looks like the thing has been attacked by a 90 year old who's raided the caravan aisle in Halfords. Likewise the "work done" lists headlight beam adjustment. I did that myself the day before it went back in. When they phoned me to inform me the brakes needed work, they also listed the propshaft CV boot as still needing changed. Despite me having done that the day before. Just makes me want me to ask "Can you just confirm for me that you have actually looked at the vehicle?" There was also no further call once they had tracked down parts to confirm that I was okay with them going ahead and spending nearly £250 on parts before going ahead. I only figured that it was ready to collect when the invoice arrived in my inbox. All £550 of it. Picking the van up, in addition to the obvious complaint about the hideous reflectors, two wheel trims weren't properly attached and the bodywork has a not insignificant number of greasy hand prints on it. Not a deal breaker...and I'd not blink at it from a little local garage I'd paid £100 to do a job...but this is a big concern who have just charged £300 odd of labour...sorry but I'd expect them to have spent five minutes wiping things down before calling it done. Oh...speaking of details I'd expect them to get right (especially given their PCV/HGV background) would be this.  This isn't overfilled. This is overflowing. I am not impressed. I had also asked for the old components be returned (not least because I was curious to see if the brake drums were recoverable as they don't grow on trees these days), that never happened. Not impressed. Anyhow, we need to now try to get things ready for a weekend away between this evening and tomorrow afternoon. The bombshell being dropped that we won't have mains power on site arrived at about 1730 today too...yay. Definitely pushes getting the gas system back together up the list as we'll need the fridge to be running on gas then. Nothing was in place when we started out this evening aside from the water... getting there now.  Obviously the pipes need to be clipped in place and such, but we're getting there. There's a blanking plug on the manifold outlet for the hob as it isn't currently fitted. Everything has been leak tested and is good so far. Unfortunately the fridge doesn't seem to want to work on gas (no life from the control unit), so that's something else for the to do list tomorrow. Also high on the list is smacking the front bracket for the middle exhaust section with a hammer so it stops buzzing... we've got a two hour drive ahead of us...and that buzzing would drive me absolutely mad on a run that long! I'll be writing a letter to the garage and see what they offer by way of an apology...a shrug, a verbal "I can only apologise" and crediting me for £2 worth of unnecessary reflectors (which I now need to figure out how the heck to remove) against a £550 invoice just isn't going to cut it guys. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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We had originally planned to be heading out today even though the event doesn't really start off until tomorrow afternoon. However we did a bit of math and figured that by the time we had done everything we needed to here we would be arriving there after dark. There's no guarantee of lighting at the camp ground as we're essentially just parked up in a field next door to a camp ground, so we decided to just head out tomorrow early on. All it means is that the charity have made an extra £20 or something from us so no big issue. Did leave me time to get a few more things done though. First issue was the non-functional fridge on gas. I hadn't ever tested this before (nor connected a gas supply to it to allow me to). The fridge is an Electrolux RM 212, which means that the gas side of things is the only complex thing about it as it has automatic electronic ignition. So instead of the normal clicky ignitor button you have a switch.  In theory, when this is on it will automatically sit there ticking away whenever there is no flame detected (with a little red light in the switch blinking so you can see it's trying). However mine wasn't doing anything when the switch was turned on. What is annoying here is that there is no manual ignitor nor any access to the burner which would allow me to light it the old fashioned way. Equally annoying is that most of the wiring diagrams for this fridge I've found are for the older version which lacks the electronic ignitor... After a not insignificant amount of swearing and headscratching I worked out that we had a multiple offender on our hands. The wiring to the ignitor was totally wrong *and* the switch contacts were dirty. The best decision I made at this point was to just rip all the wiring out and redo it from scratch. Which took five minutes. That done we had it cheerfully going "tickticktickticktick..." when turned on. Adding gas to the equation...  Much better. I gave the flame failure detection system a good workout to make sure it behaved and it did. Knowing the gas system worked I made a point of actually securing the flue and sealing the joint to the body...much aluminium tape was involved to cover the good inch or so gap I made between it and the surrounding woodwork. The flue doesn't actually get massively hot, but I'd rather keep good distance between plywood and hot stuff.  Of course with gas onboard a new bit of equipment needed to be installed.  I like these CO alarms as they give a useful indication of any low background level which wouldn't actually trigger any alarms. I let the fridge running for a couple of hours while I was doing other work...  So everything I needed was finally working. Oh...and I stopped the exhaust rattling by smacking the front most bracket with a hammer. Just needed to get all the junk out of the van and clean stuff up. All the non-van related stuff chucked out the luggage locker...  Empty and prep the toilet for use. It had been left with a cleaning solution in...seems to have done a good job, no smell whatsoever and looked pretty clean in there. The treatment agents for these toilets seem a lot better than when I first used one twenty years or so back it has to be said.  Stick the fridge on mains mode so it can cool down overnight before we load it up for the trip in the morning.  Gave the cabin and cockpit a clean up - the bit I always enjoy.     Cockpit scrubs up well.  So that's it... tomorrow we will be off as of 11 or so hopefully.  Hopefully an uneventful trip ahead. Hopefully! |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Ritchie
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 771 
Club RR Member Number: 12
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Looks great, good luck!
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Lovely stuff, looks great and well done. Really looks homely.
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We have made it here in one piece.  Can categorically say having now had 150 miles to test the theory that the new exhaust has vastly improved the ability to make progress on the motorway. Even if it does leave us with a soundtrack which isn't dissimilar to a WWI era aircraft at times... Mercifully it's actually not that loud once you're up to speed or that could have become wearing rapidly. At 60 though it's totally drowned out by the rest of the mechanical racket and wind noise. Given we're at a camping event I'm not hugely surprised that I don't have the oldest vehicle here. What did surprise me though is that it's not a VW that is (no classic ones here at all actually).  When did you last see one of those?!? On the same topic...bonus classic Toyota spotted when we stopped for lunch too.  To say it will be a quiet weekend will be overstating the fact given we're sharing the camp site with something like 200 huskies...there is much howling going on outside! |
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Last Edit: May 3, 2019 19:12:43 GMT by Zelandeth: Fixed botched image link
Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Have a snap of two from earlier today when we've had (sporadic) actual sunshine.   This however is a devious trick...yes it's sunny but that image does nothing to convey the bitterly cold 40mph wind, and it keeps dumping short but heavy rain showers on us. So a not insignificant amount of hiding inside is going on.  |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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We decided to head back home today as the event just wasn't really panning out how we had hoped. Nothing dire, but they just really hadn't done a good job of making it possible for folks who didn't already know someone there actually get involved. It wasn't *bad* just could have been better - likewise the general information provision was just lacking. We only found the skip for general rubbish after twenty minutes of blindly wandering the site and the fresh water tap by asking a fellow camper. Never did find where to dump the contents of the grey water tank so that was just left in there to be dealt with at home. Also totally forgot to dump the contents of the fresh water tank purely because I'm stupid, so that was an additional 40kgs of ballast dragged home unnecessarily! I fuelled up just a couple of miles into the return trip, showing a 26.9mpg figure for the outward leg. Not bad for a van this size, especially as I've not been actively doing anything to try to improve economy while driving. Arrived home 117 miles later with this much left.  Reckon that's probably sticking around the expected MPG. Will probably fill up tomorrow so I can track performance over the trip. Glad to report that the van has not missed a beat the whole time.  Given all of our stuff was still in there and we've been enjoying making use of it we've decided to throw the dog back at the rest of the household, have rearranged cars, levelled the van off so the fridge works, and will complete our weekend's camping - in our own driveway. Think we can consider this a successful field test overall. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Apparently teaching the dog the command "through" to walk through a tunnel was a bad idea. He has now realised that he can squeeze under stuff which he previously saw as impenetrable barriers. Hence this greeting me when I got home from taking him out for a run round our local dog park earlier.  Apparently I'm going to need to add some additional bars... The question of "which sticks better?" between duct tape and self adhesive aluminium foil tape has been answered. The original patch I stuck on the air intake resonator on the van was duct tape, it was blown off in a matter of minutes. The ally foil tape repair is still there and still quiet 240 miles later. It's hard to believe how much quieter fixing this 1/2" or so diameter hole makes life in the cab!  It will do for now, at least until I find a replacement air box. Speaking of tidying stuff up...anyone got one of these light switches (or even just the knob) floating around? While this one works fine it looks like somebody has used the knob as a chew toy and it really bugs me.  So far the dealer and eBay have turned up blank. The latter though doesn't mean much given that pretty much the entire search result list is "promoted" content which appear to have absolutely nothing to do with my search string... |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Maybe you could 3D print one? Use the original as a pattern.
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Maybe you could 3D print one? Use the original as a pattern. Not a bad shout if it comes to that. Though I'm hoping that it won't. There are surely hundreds of these sitting in boxes somewhere, I just need to find one. The issue we had at the dealer wasn't that it was shown as unavailable - we just couldn't find any trace of the switch assembly anywhere in the parts system. It appears to have been missed when things were computerised. Hopefully once I have an actual part number for the thing it will be simple enough to locate one, especially as I should then be able to cross reference what else uses it. There's no part number stamped anywhere on the control knob so I doubt it was ever available separately to the switch. It's a minor detail and is pretty low on the real world priority list...just annoying that it's something that really draws your eye in the cab - especially given the location. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Camper looks brilliant. You have got it looking smart. I have a keinzle clock somewhere. You want to get one on the dash
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Had a pretty full day today so didn't have much time for cars. One thing which I'm rather paranoid about both in the home and cars is fire. There were a couple of things around the fridge which were bothering me. Simple really in that it chucks out a LOT of heat, especially from the area right by the burner when on gas and around the rectifier/water separator. The proximity of that to a plywood wall covering polystyrene insulation bothered me. When I first got it the wiring was melted into the water separator too. In addition to fire hazards the fact that the water lines to the kitchen run within a couple of inches of the burner and that makes me uncomfortable. Some of that is unavoidable to some extent, but I could do something to improve matters a bit with a bit of insulation and rerouting of wiring. I want to do this now as before too long the compartment it lives in will be getting closed in, so there will no longer be a whopping great hole in the wall of the living area. Need to fit a vent in the floor so we can get some decent airflow through the heat exchanger too. First up was some foil attached to the wall that's nearest to the hottest areas.  Not pretty but it doesn't have to be... it'll be behind the fridge. Also wrapped the wiring which has to run up behind it and tethered them to keep them from actually sitting on the water separator.  Will get the gas hooked back up, do a leak and CO escape check then get the thing boxed back in as it should be. Once that's done I can button up the gas locker...once that's done I can do the cupboards. Just need to do stuff in a very specific order for the sake of access. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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Is that what you are looking for? |
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May 15, 2019 23:30:45 GMT
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Is that what you are looking for? Close but I don't think so. The one on the van is fully circular rather than having the handle longer than the backing. -- -- -- Wound up digging around in the locker under the sofa in the van so took the opportunity to install the battery gauge which has been rattling around for months.   The reason I really wanted this installed was because the one in the main control panel appears to have issues. This photo was taken about twenty seconds after the one above.  Hopefully at some point I'll be able to get that sorted. It's a ways down the priority list though. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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May 17, 2019 20:04:49 GMT
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Given we had a clear weekend we decided it was a good excuse to take the van away for the weekend.   Only an hour from home, but still nice to get away for a bit. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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brachunky
Scotland
Posts: 1,339
Club RR Member Number: 72
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May 17, 2019 20:44:53 GMT
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Enjoyed reading your thread squire! It's only when you get to enjoy the fruits of using it, do you really feel satisfied with all the graft.
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May 19, 2019 23:10:16 GMT
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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May 20, 2019 20:01:44 GMT
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Now safely home. Glad to report the van didn't miss a beat. The relative ease with which 70mph can be obtained for overtaking on the motorway now still surprises me a bit. Did make one upgrade when I got home. The little 10" TFT TV (fitted I'm guessing around 2000-2005) was essentially useless. The image quality was basically on par with the little screens you get on airliners about 15 years ago, except with even worse contrast. Input was limited to analogue RF, DVD, composite video or an SD card supporting only a handful of mostly obsolete file formats. It was however attached to a standard VESA mount, which meant I could easily swap it out for something else. Just like this.  Being somewhat larger than the old one, this protrudes a bit beyond the wardrobe when positioned for viewing in bed...   ...It is still able to fold out the way though.  While definitely a luxury item, it is nice to be able to stick a movie on in the background in the evening, so having something able to handle modern video interfaces is a bonus. Even if the TV being used was literally found abandoned at the side of the road with as far as I've been able to tell, absolutely nothing wrong with it aside from being a cheap and nasty piece of tat...more than sufficient for occasional use like this though. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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What a great looking camper mate. I really like it.
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May 25, 2019 21:58:53 GMT
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Running around like a headless chicken all day today so nothing much to report...only thing I did was finally get around to mutilating a set of floor mats for the cab of the van. Suffice to say none of the generic ones ever fit because the footwells of the van are way different in shape to those in a car. Nearside one is relatively simple, just needs a little chunk removed for the space taken up by the engine cover.  Offside one requires rather more hackery. Two reasons. Firstly is that the engine cover is not actually central in the cab - it's a good couple of inches nearer to the offside of the van. Secondly is that this van has a floor mounted throttle pedal with a huge heel rest, so you need to cut a slot out for it to sit in.  The cab will be getting new carpet at some point (yes, in something more sensible than the factory beige shag pile), so I really wanted some mats in there before that happened so as to keep things clean. Oh, and I had been repeatedly knocking this set of mats over in the garage for months and I wanted them out the way. Hopefully will get some actual garage time tomorrow so will have something more worthwhile to report on. |
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Current fleet: 73 AC Model-70. 75 Rover 3500. 84 Trabant 601S. 85 Sinclair C5. 06 Peugeot Partner 1.6HDi.
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