Here goes with another build thread. Some of this was going to go into General thread, but for various reasons, rather than musing about likely vans I ended up buying one
It started with a realisation that my life was about to get more expensive, with Ella hopefully going to Uni, we’d need to help her out. It seemed that the easiest way to free up some cash would be to sell my work van, it’s now 3 1/2 years old and I have another 18 months of finance on it... because it’s a VW T6 4motion it’s worth quite a bit of money if it’s tidy and low mileage, and it pretty much is, needs a bit of fettling, but know someone who will help me out with that
So the plan is to pay off the finance on a credit card, sell the VW, pay off the credit card and buy a smaller van to replace it. Something that will do the miles (around 15-20k a year) and project the right image to customers (nothing flashy, but not a scruffy cheap van either)
The problem is that I can’t buy a replacement until I’ve got the money for this one, originally I was going to borrow Ella’s corsa, but as that’s got a black box fitted that’s probably not a great idea. So we agreed that I’d buy a cheap temporary van to run around in during the transitition, with the added benefit that I wouldn’t need to rush out and buy something so I could go to work the next day.... I had a Doblo, the turbo went and it consumed its oil and seized on a dual carriageway one morning, the next day I bought this....
It was the only van I looked at for £500, it had MOT, I kicked the tyres and paid the man. It was affectionately known as ‘the peppermint hippo’ and was my transport for 3 loooong months... to be fair, nothing broke during that time, the heater worked brilliantly (but you couldn’t turn it off), but that was mainly because most of it didn’t work already!!
With time on my side, I began to browse the usual places and I could take my pick of £5-600 vans. Mostly around 10-12 years old with a couple of hundred thousand miles on, with some rust and a few dents too. Though worthy, there is nothing that particularly inspired me... Luckily pistonpopper educated me! Actually my £500 is nearer £5000 when you add in the 40 fags I don’t smoke every day Which means potentially I could get something retro (this forum does things to you ) Classic would still be out of my price range (and having spent £18k on a mini van would I actually put any tools in it?), and realistically not great if I needed to use it for a while, but retro is more my era, and more the right sort of money... and should keep up with traffic! Problem is, what?... I think vans generally have a harder life, and that’s why there seem to be fewer 20+ year old vans around.
Here are some that I considered
Would love one of these, particularly the Fun with rear seats
And had a few Incas, and a Caddy too, so would happily have another
I was really tempted by this MK2, and if it was a Astramax I would have gone to view it straight away, always wanted an Astramax (sorry, I’m weird)
I even considered one of these, for the money I could buy any of them (could even get quite a selection of high mileage Astra H) but though the earliest Gs were made in 1998 they don’t seem retro, just old
A lot of the time the adverts put you off, either with bad photos which may be hiding that dodgy bit or barely any information about the vehicle at all.
One of the exceptions was this lovely Nissan Sunny van, just what I wanted, but was more than I could justify at 3k
Mercdan68 had a moment where he and Young George considered selling the escort van, but I’m not sure a GREEN! van would be quite right every day but luckily they’ve decided to carry on, so not a decision I need to make
my mate Andy had sign-wrote my doblo,
So if I found the right van, I could get it sign-written which on the Doblo was good for local advertising.
Also means we have something to run around to shows and the like in when we take the Fug off the road to paint and build properly.
So with a plan in hand, nothing could possibly go wrong... surely?
Last Edit: Mar 4, 2024 22:16:50 GMT by johnthesparky
So you may be wondering what I actually bought, you may also have got bored and stopped reading, but I’ll carry on anyway
I was happily browsing the internetz looking for a suitable vehicle, contacted a few sellers and either struggled to get any info or the additional info was at odds with the stuff that had been posted. I mean if your van has a big dent on the drivers side, don’t forget to take a photo of that side and hope that the buyer turns up and doesn’t see it!
And then the VW started making a funny noise!! The dual mass flywheel has died! So for most of the week I have been van-less, luckily I was working locally for a couple of days and borrowed Ellas Corsa on Thursday. Friday was working away, I needed to go and fit a socket on an armoured, my customer had agreed that his customer would do it, they then insisted he did it.... so I ended up using public transport to get to the job, and then got a lift home with the installation engineer..... whilst waiting to go, sat around for a couple of hours... I broadened my search area and found this...
a 1997 Vauxhall Astravan, so a fairly late mk3. But as they were sold 91-98 it’s definitely a nineties vehicle. It looked honest and well presented in the photos, it’s not mint by any means but that wasn’t hidden. There was lots of info and photos. So I contacted the seller and he got back to me pretty quickly... so I managed to get workmate to take me to have a look.
Spoke to the seller and got some of the history;
It was bought as 1 of 12 white vans, by Fasttrack ltd, and they were resprayed on the outside whilst new. Then Lex took over the lease I think, but it was still run by Fasttrack. Bit of searching whilst bored lead me to believe its probably the same colour as this on a class 37
(Lets be honest, anyone who types ‘1996 train liveries’ into Google on a Valentines night whilst his wife is on a night shift and kids are having sleepovers elsewhere, is not above appreciating a Class 37 )
This one went to a manager and ran until 2002, I have some paperwork showing it was sold to the 3rd owner (and was told it was his van from new) at 63000miles in 2002. I also have a mileage book for a chunk of that time. So believe he bought it from his company, became an electrician and used it for 17 years, whether or not that’s correct, the previous owner was a sparkie and used it for 17 years, firstly in Derby and then moved to Scotland, but the job in Scotland was working on very high end properties and he felt it portrayed the wrong image, so sold it. He was very fastidious with his maintenance and really looked after it, it was even garaged! So whether correct or not, that’s 4 owners!
It’s a 1.7td, but not the good Isuzu one, it’s the rubbish Vauxhall one So 67 rampant horses
It’s also is an ‘Epic 2’ spec level.... it was the 90s, calling your most basic of vans Epic would have done wonders for sales! But being so basic it has none of the creature comforts of the VW, but does have doors, roof and windows... so really it sits exactly between the VW and the Fug and by none of the creature comforts, I mean NONE of them;
T6. Electric windows Air-con Abs Esc 4wd Satnav CarPlay Cruise control Hill hold assist Heated windscreen Stop/start Auto lights Auto wipers Parking sensors
Epic. It doesn’t have a dual mass flywheel
It does actually have central locking which is quite handy! It’s just really amazing how soft I’ve become with all the little driving aids that you take for granted.
The paints a bit tired, it has had a replacement tailgate (the glass smashed and PO couldn’t find a replacement, so fitted an estate tailgate) and the paint is a bit off and crazed on tailgate and is dull/faded everywhere else. It has a bit of rust on the front of the near side sill that will need sorting for next MOT. The wheel arches will need something too, fronts are just bubbling I think, but the backs feel like they’ve been repaired. Overall it’s pretty good though.
I checked the MOT history online on the way home and it didn’t scare me. it looked to me like it went in every year and when it failed they fixed it, but it hasn’t had anything excessive, some worn out bits.. shocks and brake parts and a couple of bits of welding recorded.
It even comes with a towbar, so we can use it to pull the Fug next time it decides to spew oil from the flywheel and roofbars so it’s ready for work
Seems fairly rare now, Howmanyleft seems to think there are less than a 100 LS vans taxed and on SORN, 75 Merits, and 65 Epics of which 6 are on the road (now 7). So shouldn’t be an everyday sight, and I think it looks retro enough The question is, will my customers? Or will it cause problems like the peppermint hippo did?!
Anyway, after seeing it I talked the price down a fair bit, the photos made it look a bit better than it is. We discussed collection and I left a deposit and agreed to buy it, the collection was a slight problem..... The public transport I took to work on Friday was this
A easyJet flight from Luton to Edinburgh!!!! Seemed mad, but a £50 flight was cheaper than driving my van there and back (and that’s assuming the van wasn’t broken, so really it was an easy decision )
But I really didn’t want to go back to Edinburgh to collect it, luckily seller is retired and said he’d go visit some friends and agreed to meet me at services on the M1 today and get his friends to collect him from there, phew I just paid him the tank of fuel
I got a lift to M1 services at Watford Gap, paid the rest of the money and pretty much drove off, it was raining and blowing a gale anyway, and not the nicest place to sit around
Phoned insurance company this morning and taxed it, so it was all legal...
The steering caught me out a bit at first, no power steering and more turns lock to lock, But have done a few miles in it today and I like it, it’s so basic it makes me smile.... whether that’ll still be the case when it warms up and I’ve spent all day crawling around in a loft well have to see
Plans for it are fairly tame in the short term, Put some tools in it and drive it for work!!! Keep driving it whilst the VW gets fixed, keep driving it whilst the VW gets sold, then have a play.
I’ve ordered some new tyres, they are all different, old and I scared myself by aquaplaning!! I’m going to tint the back window tomorrow. Fix the rusty bit on the sill Get it over to Frankie and Dave to get it up on their ramps so we can have a look and give it some dinitrol protection, then at some point look at the wheel arches Will give it a good service and use it.
So fingers crossed it’s reliable at least for a while
I did see a set of TSW Pheonix for sale locally
Longer term, I think I shall end up getting a generic smallish van and keep this for playing with and local stuff
Last Edit: Feb 16, 2020 15:50:27 GMT by johnthesparky
It came with a cardboard box with a load of spares in it too, and a folder full of receipts and history. Have 2 owners packs as well, one for P204 which was in the glovebox and the other for P233... Out of interest I checked and P233 was the same, but long gone
Last Edit: Feb 15, 2020 16:45:45 GMT by johnthesparky
i love those little c15's that you pictured. My bil had a couple, very economical, was nicknamed the onion van ( cos it was french)...Astra still looks good though.!
Transit was rotten when I got it, it had a slow puncture and when I changed the wheel i managed to fit my whole hand through and push on the floor mat, I suspect the full MOT it came with was slightly dodgey
And had a friend with a Citroen Visa and always thought it was funky
I wondered if rot played a part in the trannys departure...they do like to rot. Difficult finding a tidy van at that price. I like these more mechanically simple vans.
Usual rot places are rear arches and sill bottom corners, around the fuel filler area so get up behind the arch with a hose pipe to get the muck out
Seat belt locks used to fail, so much so you can buy a kit to repair just the lock rather than replace the whole pretentioner assembly(I do have some kits if you ever need them)
Front suspension leg/knuckle which rot out and has been the demise of many of these, its not always easy to find replacements as there were different versions across the range, genuine part only nothing aftermarket available
Mostly been sorting the VW today, and fighting the weather
Stripped the roofrack, tacking and tool vault out of it and started loading some bits in for tomorrow. Then parked it at my folks.
Needed to do something with the rear window, so bought a window tint from Halfords yesterday... I didn’t have high hopes of being able to do it, and didn’t surprise myself at all between fighting storm Denis, the rain and the tailgate itself... I have managed to obscure the glass, but I will be getting someone to do it properly soon
Had better results with RR sticker though
And then washed the van and had a poke about
Paint might look better with a cut and polish. But not the weather at the minute Will pull the wheels off and have a better look, a clean and rust eater etc next weekend hopefully
Said hello on mk3oc, as said over there it's rare to see a van in this clean condition, they got abused to death. Rot points on a mk3, inside the front and rear arches, fuel filler (this rusts from the inside out so if its rusty on the outside its progressive on the inside, mines just started showing on the outside..), and the bulkhead below the brake servo, which is a right pain in the rear to repair. Otherwise, mk3s are reliable, nice drive and why I've had mine 10 years. Mod wise, on a van of you so wish standard hatch rear springs will lower a van/estate around 60mm, just need a pair of springs for the front, and 256mm brakes from a 16v, cavalier or calibra really sharpen up the brakes. Top mounts are important, if they look ripped get them changed, but other than that any clunks will be lower arm related. Rare to see a P plate with a non airbag wheel as well, as they were fitted as standard through 94. I had an estate a few years back, that I bought off my grandad, played with and then sold as the clutch was starting to go and I had about 56p spare a week to spend on fixing cars
Had the van a week now, Sorted a few bits, the worst bit appearance wise is the bumpers, someone has painted them black, but without any prep, so the black paint was flaking off and they looked pretty ropey, I stopped at a garage on the way home one day and jet washed them. Took a load of flakey bits off (and completely soaked me) they look a bit better (I just looked wetter ) and hopefully the paint will carry on lifting and I’ll do it again. You can see where the bumpers have been knocked and gone milky and there are some gouges, but after wiping them over with some oil they look much better.
The horn wasn’t working, did some fault finding and the horn itself had stopped working. The wiring was all good. The reversing lights weren’t working either, and that was proven to be the switch in the gearbox. Popped up the farm one evening and robbed them off of the parts Corsa (that still hasn’t been collected, will have to phone and remind the scrappy)
I got hold of a replacement headlight as the nearside one had a bullethole chip and some water getting into it. Also got a drivers side mirror (as the one on there has had a knock and looks like it may fail soon) it had red overspray all over it, which was done in June 2002!
But the mirror is rubbish, and keeps wobbling about, so I ended up swapping the internals from the old mirror into the replacement casing
I know when the doors were sprayed because I found a log of all the work carried out since it was bought in 2002 in the front of one of the Haynes manuals
Also swapped the gearknob, it was broken on the edge and kept catching my fingers
But it was really nicely worn on the top, which was a shame as I like the wear on this van, most old vans I’ve driven are just abused by 10 different owners who run them for a year or two until something breaks and move it on, gradually the van is run into the ground, certainly that transit was like that, but this is just wear
I was looking for a bulkhead for behind the seats, the security grills are now only available for Astra G and newer. But I found a new old stock dog guard for an Astra F, it was expensive for what it is, but cheaper than the full steel bulkheads that I may need to modify (and I can still see out of the rear window) It did come in a Vauxhall box though, which was quite cool for a 20+ year old part
Also had 4 matching new tyres fitted, to replace the; 2006 Aurora K700 2004 Ceat Spider 2013 Zeta Ztr50 2010 Mohawk M716 and the spare was a Dunlop from 1995! It now has Blackline Cilerros! Which are Chinese all seasons, but it does seem to drive a lot nicer with new tyres. And whilst it was on the ramp I had a good look underneath, the rust does seem to be pretty much what I had already seen. They checked the tracking whilst changing the tyres and it’s 0.5mm out.... was told they are a pain to try and adjust as the track rods are at the top of the arm, so we left it
Most importantly they were cheap, so I won’t feel bad when wheels get changed
And ordered some brake and service parts from ECP because there was yet another discount on (for Valentine’s Day!)
Which I did because historically I’ve always maintained my vans when Lucy goes to work, and as she worked nights for 17 years (and now does days or nights) that means the shops are shut, so I bought new brake pads and shoes so if they need swapping when I get in there I have the bits... that was before I found the list, so didn’t know the rear shoes are 4500 miles old.
Forgot to get first fill up shot or the second, mostly because it was raining and blowing a gale, tonight it was dark so forgot again... but first tank I got 51mpg and last one was 44, so pretty pleased with the economy too
Anyway, couple of photos from this week
Last Edit: Feb 20, 2020 18:19:03 GMT by johnthesparky
Week 2, some things done this week, and today the rain stopped for a little while! Some progress made through the week....
the VW is has a shiny new DMF and clutch, not that anyone will ever see them
One thing which really needed sorting was to fit a hands free kit, it’s only a matter of time until I answer the phone whilst driving, so the easiest option was to replace the stereo with a Bluetooth one. Spent a while trying to work out which one is better than the next one, decided DAB would be good, got fed up trying to choose one and bought a Kenwood
Being DAB, I can listen to suitably retro radio stations, has Bluetooth so I can answer the phone, but more importantly listen to audiobooks and get nav directions
It needed a DAB aerial, luckily there is an old 2 way radio aerial in the roof anyway
but I don’t think a shark fin would be particularly fitting, so I swapped that for an upright DAB aerial that was as close as I could find to the old one
Turns out that since single din stereos are now far more gaudy than they used to be, I could have the display flashing every colour of the rainbow.... but instead settled for matching the screen colour to the orange of the clock display above
Not particularly car related, but I ordered some storage boxes, sorted my stock out and organised the back of the van a bit, last week I just had piles of stuff as I loaded stock for the next day, and anything left over stayed in a box or bag... by the end of the week I was sorting through cardboard boxes to find anything, though not quite right this is a good start. I sold the roof rack off of the VW too and bought a trolley/toolbox too
Not as organised as I was in the VW but smaller van, and will get better organised over time
[/img]https://i.imgur.com/VOcCZsB.jpg[/img]
Started cleaning up the paintwork when I got the opportunity, between jobs and rain showers, have borrowed a machine polished and today in the sunshine made a start with Tom, it’s still not great, but now looks pretty good until you get close
Then when Lucy went out this afternoon, jacked the van up and started having a look at the rusty bits, most bits are actually where the stone chip has started to lift and moisture is getting underneath. So they’ll get sorted when it’s treated, as they’ll high pressure jet wash it, then when it’s dry squirt dinitrol everywhere.. so I cleaned them up and coated in hydrate 80.
The worst bit was the front of the nearside sill, there is a over patch that needs looking at, and a hole into the sill cavity. Which will need cutting out and a proper patch making. I think the inside of the sill is ok, this is all a result of just over patching a hole, so rather than sorting all the moisture and grot has been trapped in. But the bottom of the wing has trapped muck and rotted out too, so I need to source another wing (the off side has started to rot here too, so I shall look for a pair) so for now I cut the ragged wing bottom off, hydrate 80ed it all and tech screwed the bottom of the wing to the sill (I’m sorry, it’s a bodge but it is temporary)
And if you think I wasted the hydrate. 80 painting it on unprepared bodywork, you’d be right
and then tidied up and went for a drive to forget about the rust
Took a few photos, because it’s shiny and cool (I think it is, and accept that what a nearly 50yo bloke thinks is cool may not be completely on-point.... but meh!!!)
Also have ordered a mk5 Astra window grille, as I can see steps sliding back and smashing the glass, it will need modifying, but fingers crossed it’s easier to modify this than get something made. Will mean I have to sort the window tint out sooner though though whilst looking for wings, I may see if I can source a tailgate too and paint that ready too
Also it snowed, very briefly, but it did snow.... so I took the opportunity to get a photo just before it all melted
Also sourced a replacement centre dash, because the one fitted has had something screwed to it, and a radio was butchered in or out
But not fitted that yet as waiting for some new lamps
Last Edit: Mar 1, 2020 19:02:37 GMT by johnthesparky
Nice work John looks very clean now I’ve managed to save the bumper on our hatchback gentle heat with a heat gun and a small skim of plastic filler it’s straight now I’m going to attempt a plastic repaint on it watch this space! Love the van looks great to me
Fraud owners club member 2003 W211 Mercedes E class 1989 Sierra sapphire 1998 ex bt fiesta van
That looks tip top- with regards to your radio, there is a grey wire with a red trace, from the plug on the clock to the plug on the radio, snip that and the date/time will stay on with the radio on.
Didn’t have much to say this week, luckily the van delivered yesterday So here is an update...
Firstly, the mk5 astravan window grille arrived, unsurprisingly it didn’t fit, but with a bit of angle-iron it was pressed into service, I shall template some sheet to fill in the gaps round the edges and weld them at some point.
Also, I sourced some replacement front wings... I did try to find some in the right colour, but Ford red Vauxhall panels seem thin on the ground So bought these because he would post them, as can’t seem to find anyone locally with mk3 parts.
They are a bit crusty, but gave them a brush over with some hydrate80 and will prep them and get them sprayed before fitting
Also replaced the dash panel, and fixed the lighting for the heater
Had a weighbridge job at a metal recycling centre this week, that was a bit scary!!
As it was the oldest vehicle in the yard!
Then yesterday morning I left early to go walking
Was driving through Aylesbury, about 7 miles from where I was going and the steering felt weird, so I pulled over and the nearside front wheel was moving about
So I drove down the round and into a housing estate and got a mate to pick me up.
Was maybe unfortunate to lose 2 bolts, but really how lucky!!
Anyway, managed to score a couple of m8 nuts and bolts, so after walking 30miles I got a lift back to the van and then lay under it making it drivable, it needed m10 bolts and I assume they are actually some shouldered fixing rather than an actual bolt. But as m8s were all I could get on a Saturday morning in the middle of nowhere (I did check a couple of factors whilst out, but ended up ordering a pair of lower arms from ECP near my job tomorrow) so I drove home pretty gingerly, and this morning I have popped up the farm and swapped them for m10 tensile shoulder bolts (they are a bit long, so I had to use quite a few washers)
but I have only got to drive less than 15 miles tomorrow, and the job is at a workshop with a lift, so hopefully I can sort them easily on site
Last Edit: Mar 8, 2020 13:09:36 GMT by johnthesparky
Which means potentially I could get something retro (this forum does things to you 
but luckily they’ve decided to carry on, so not a decision I need to make
Which means potentially I could get something retro (this forum does things to you 
but luckily they’ve decided to carry on, so not a decision I need to make
The dual mass flywheel has died! So for most of the week I have been van-less, luckily I was working locally for a couple of days and borrowed Ellas Corsa on Thursday.
and by none of the creature comforts, I mean NONE of them;
