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Jul 11, 2020 19:46:47 GMT
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I did speak to Alpha Springs in Sheffield, but because the springs are tapered they weren’t happy to produce anything. So I think this is about as low as I can go static and know that it’s legitimate as a commercial I only went 5 miles up the road, but it felt nice and wasn’t nodding at the back, will just have to see if I have any access issues  [cough]airbags[/cough] |
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Jul 11, 2020 20:00:38 GMT
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Standard hatch springs lower a van/estate 60mm, ill try and find a picture of my estate with them fitted   60mm on the front as well, they were eibach springs and stiff as hell, horrible ride on anything other than a glass road |
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Jul 11, 2020 20:27:24 GMT
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That looks really good as it centres the rim in the arch properly and it has a nice rake towards the back any more would be to much.
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Jul 11, 2020 20:36:04 GMT
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Standard hatch springs lower a van/estate 60mm, ill try and find a picture of my estate with them fitted 60mm on the front as well, they were eibach springs and stiff as hell, horrible ride on anything other than a glass road Eibach do a pro kit which is -35 And sportline kit which is -60, but the -60 wasn’t load rated for a van which is why I didn’t want to risk it, I guess an estate runs round empty most of the time (ours does, mainly only used for the dog and welly boots) but the van has stuff in it most of the time, even if I take tools out they’d be a few rolls of cable |
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Jul 11, 2020 20:38:06 GMT
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That looks really good as it centres the rim in the arch properly and it has a nice rake towards the back any more would be to much. Thanks, it’s loaded so I reckon it looks good, will all go to cock when I take my gear out though  I’ll end up carrying paving slabs to the Weekender |
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Jul 11, 2020 20:45:09 GMT
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Or beer, at least to arrive looking good. Rake on the way out unless you buy a lot of stuff there 😄
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Jul 11, 2020 20:49:51 GMT
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Or beer, at least to arrive looking good. Rake on the way out unless you buy a lot of stuff there 😄 That’s a much better idea |
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Jul 11, 2020 21:02:15 GMT
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Pics weren't there when I posted, that looks fricking awesome, best van I've seen, sits great |
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vulgalour
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 7,286
Club RR Member Number: 146
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That Grumpy bloke did a right good job on that paint. Wheel choice and ride height looks spot on too.
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samta22
Club Retro Rides Member
Stuck in once more...
Posts: 1,276 
Club RR Member Number: 32
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Perfect road for testing (my preferred route into Silverstone), rise and falls would soon let you know if you had any bottoming out issues (ooh er missus ). Sorry to hear of your neighbour's son too |
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'37 Austin 7 '56 Austin A35 '58 Austin A35 '65 Triumph Herald 12/50 '69 MGB GT '74 MGB GT V8'73 TA22 Toyota Celica restoration'95 Mercedes SL320 '04 MGTF 135 'Cool Blue' (Mrs' Baby) '05 Land Rover Discovery 3 V8 '67 Abarth 595 (Mrs' runabout) '18 Disco V |
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Jul 13, 2020 10:29:24 GMT
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It’s a good bit of road, the bit from there onwards to Dadford is nice, smooth and flowing too |
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Jul 14, 2020 12:11:56 GMT
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Van's looking great John.
According to my near neighbour, the van in his garden is an R reg Mk F Astravan - I think that's the same as yours? I've asked him for a price for the tailgate grille - will pass it on when I hear anything.
Cheers,
Steve
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Jul 14, 2020 17:04:47 GMT
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Van's looking great John. According to my near neighbour, the van in his garden is an R reg Mk F Astravan - I think that's the same as yours? I've asked him for a price for the tailgate grille - will pass it on when I hear anything. Cheers, Steve Yes, that’s the same as mine |
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Jul 17, 2020 19:08:25 GMT
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Not done much more than drive the van, I’ve put some fuel in, checked the oil, erm that’s about it. Couple of bits planned for the weekend. But today.... Lucy ordered some engineered wood flooring, which turned up this morning  Not that important, except it turned up a couple of hours before a pallet for me, which meant she was in a good mood when a courier dropped this  A spare x17dtl Not the best engine, but was not to be turned down, and the guy palleted it up for a cheap courier, which should have been kerbside delivery. Luckily, as I wasn’t home he delivered to the bottom of the drive I was going to clean the inlet manifold and can now do that without any downtime, and should yield quite a lot of spares... notably the injector pump  Which (though difficult to see, but it’s Friday night and I’m not going to uncrate it tonight) has a couple of bits that my pump seems to be missing (the damper most obviously) So I shall, at some point strip the pump and injectors off and get them tidied up and swapped maybe... The rest I shall store for a while, the engine turns so isn’t seized, so shall probably open it up and have a look inside with Tom at some point |
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Jul 18, 2020 17:41:58 GMT
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When I swapped the springs last weekend I noticed one of the lower mounts had rusted out  So I scored an offcut of 2mm plate this week in readiness of making a new one. Our workshop facilities are a bit rubbish, so I have some plans that should sort some of that out, I’m going to get some storage and move my company stock out of the sheds and then have a tidy up blah blah etc, but we’ve been looking for a cheap bench on and off for ages, last week one popped up on marketplace just as I stopped for a brew, it was local... I had a look and it was at a place a mate works, so he dropped it off on his way home So today Tom was at the bench doing some tig welding whilst I bumbled about making a new lower spring mount. , which is a lot easier with a bench and bench mounted vice, and even the vice mounted folder thing is easier to use standing up I cut the location nipple off and was going to get Tom to tig weld it on, but it was a bit dirty so I used mig and then he went over it smoothing the welds with the arc (so still controlling the arc and using the pedal but not adding much rod)  Cleaned up the top spring mounts and the other lower one (which is ok), and treated them then migged the plate on and painted them all before bolting it back together The clouds were looking a bit angry so it seems I didn’t get any photos, and it’s now too low to actually get in there to take any  But you can’t see it anyway, since there is a rubber bit that sits on it anyway |
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Jul 26, 2020 10:05:03 GMT
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Another small update, not done much to the van except putting fuel in it and occasionally checking the fluids. Now the bodywork is sorted, and I’ve mostly been through the suspension (I’m on the lookout for a GSi rear beam complete, so I can convert the rear brakes to disc... once I’ve found one of them I’ll source some bigger front brakes too) I’ve been looking at the engine. When I had the Doblo signwritten years ago, the van killed itself a bit later. The engine went pop and being too new and ecu controlled turned into a bit of a nightmare... so it got sold broken. One of the problems for me is when stuff goes wrong, I either fix it, which costs materials and a bit, but also my lost time. or pay someone to fix it, which is generally cheaper because I don’t lose my wages and they have a lift and all the tools on hand. So, whilst quiet I’ve been working my way through it, and though the engine seems fine, if it fails it could be a huge expense to sort quickly, or I’ll end up getting a cheap van to run around whilst I get round to fixing this ‘cheap van to run around in whilst I sell the VW’ So when another x17dtl turned up it was perfect for me. I can go through it with Tom (I’ve never taken a Diesel engine apart so is interesting in its own right (if you’re a bit sad like me anyway )) we can give it a going over, check it’s good and build it as a replacement, that we should be able to swap in a couple of days.... so if the one in the van goes pop, I just need to get by until the weekend and can fix it myself without losing money taking days off! It doesn’t need to be a full rebuild, ultimately I’d like to put a better engine in, but that won’t happen whilst it’s used everyday... 45mpg is too appealing The van smokes a bit when you start it, but they all do that! I get a fair bit of black smoke the first time I give it beans (but it’s quite funny rolling coal at Audi drivers ) but it’s normally ok from then on. And it blows a bit of oil, which I’ve tracked down to only happening when it’s revved hard (that’s fairly easy to sort, just don’t rev it hard.... it doesn’t go any quicker by then anyway ) but I think that may be breathing through the rocker cover breather and leaking onto the manifolds So with the spares engine, this week we removed the injector pump, injectors, inlet manifold and egr and associated bits. I had heard horror stories about removing injectors and glow plugs from old engines. But the glow plugs popped straight out with no problems (they don’t look that old though, which is hopefully a good sign that the rest of the engine is ok) and all but one of the injectors came out pretty easily, the one tricky one just needed a bit of working forward and back to clean the threads a bit Have some photos....          So next job is to get some TFR (I’ve heard it’s great for cleaning engine parts  ) and clean it all up a bit, the inlet I can clean myself to get rid of the funk and then swap onto my engine, see if I can fully blink the egr at the same time) and then find out what to do with the injector pump and injectors (probably get them checked over by someone after reading Vulgalours tribulations) And an artistic photo from work this week  |
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Jul 28, 2020 14:14:46 GMT
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Nice update John, an excellent project to do with your son that’s for sure!
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Daily 2014 VW Passat & 1995 Vauxhall Cavalier CDX
Summer months 1986 Vauxhall Cavalier L
Project 1984 Vauxhall Cavalier GL
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Jul 28, 2020 16:56:54 GMT
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Nice update John, an excellent project to do with your son that’s for sure! This is just another side project, the main project with the boy is here. forum.retro-rides.org/thread/189020/toms-uva-fugitive-4But to save you reading 66 pages of nonsense We started with a 1300cc beetle engine 4 and a bit years ago  And, though it’s stalled this year due to covid, is currently a 2007cc engined sandrail. But it’s stored on a farm and didn’t seem right to be working on it until lockdown loosened  But hopefully we can work on this engine in the relative warmth of a garage over the winter, and a bit different to a boxer |
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I do remember reading that one! cheers John top man!
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Daily 2014 VW Passat & 1995 Vauxhall Cavalier CDX
Summer months 1986 Vauxhall Cavalier L
Project 1984 Vauxhall Cavalier GL
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This week, in spite of the pandemic we travelled to Norfolk and spent a week in a cottage, Norfolk was picked because we hoped it would be quieter than going west, a plan that worked well until Friday, when it got really hot and it got a bit busy   It was noticed that we even ended up on a beach with blooming cars!  Anyway, whilst we were away I dropped the van off with Frankie and Dave at Pro-Tect Services ( pro-tectservices.co.uk/ ) Both run interesting vehicles (Frankie has the Ford Ranger stepside truck, Dave has a dc2 integra amongst other stuff) so I know they will understand and will look after the van.... and they did. Found a rusty bit, that would be a future problem. So sorted that. Cleaned it all, sorted any future problems and treated it all, here are some photos                  Which I think looks blooming brilliant There was a second plan for the back end of the week, that Andy would use a bit of workshop space and do the signwriting whilst I was away too, but unfortunately that went wrong... Andy got poorly (and then got tested and was negative for the dreaded covid) the vinyls man wouldn’t return his calls, and when he did was in the airport on the way to Spain... so he’s out of the picture for another couple of weeks then... So it seems it was destined to not get signwritten this week, but will in the future   |
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) and clean it all up a bit, the inlet I can clean myself to get rid of the funk and then swap onto my engine, see if I can fully blink the egr at the same time) and then find out what to do with the injector pump and injectors (probably get them checked over by someone after reading Vulgalours tribulations)