Autosleeper interior removal

Hazie Fantasie

Hazie Fantasie

0
Now that Daisy is back on the road with her shiny new Alpine engine and overdrive gearbox (yep - she goes well in Commer terms ), we're now looking at sorting out a few of the shabbier parts of the interior. We're looking at putting a new checkerboard floor down, but the chipboard base is breaking up in places and needs to be replaced with ideally new plywood, but to do this we need to get the original Autosleeper interior out. My concern is that since it's never been out, it could be a bit of a nightmare and I'm worried about whether I'll be able to get it back in again without any damage or refitting issues. Has anyone had any experience of doing this and any advice they could pass on. Any tips (or encouragement!) would be gratefully received.

Cheers
Steve
 
I took Harvey's out, the cabinets are held in with screws into the floor and along underneath the back of the worktops. The upper screws came out OK but I had to resort to wedging the seat base frames up with a chisel so I could get a hacksaw under to cut through the rusted in screws. It will all come out it's just a matter of finding all the fixings;)
Be prepared though when you lift the old flooring, you will more than likely find the metal floor above some of the outer chassis sections has rusted through:(
 
Words of wisdom from Mr. P as usual.

That's pretty much my experience, but admittedly not an Autosleeper. You'll need to work out where to store all the interior bits too. They take up a lot of space, and can get depressing if you're falling over them all the time. Best to keep the fixings in those little plastic bags with zip tops that the drug dealers use, and pin them to each individual unit so you know which size screws go where, even if you're replacing them with new.

It takes time to work out in what order the stuff was put in, and to try to take it out in reverse order. Plus in my case a load of wiring had been fixed with cable clips which prevented the units from moving until the last clip had been pulled. Then when you're putting it back in, it's easy to get it slightly wrong and end up with nasty gaps where there were none before, so maybe do a drawing with a few dimensions as you go.

The worktops were the worst. They were fixed first, (screws into hardwood) then laminated over, making it impossible to remove without wrecking the tops.

And yes, the steel deck, and the top closers for the outriggers might well need welding. See my "Jennings Restoration" thread for the gory details.

Well worth doing though. Best of luck.
 
Luckily you don't need to take the worktops off to get at the holding screws, they hold the units together so they keep their shape and don't flop about. The wardrobe and sink unit should come out in one piece once the filler section by the back doors has been remove to give a bit of space for manoeuvering Take the cooker out to save a bit of weight when you do the other side - which probably should come out first:confused:
 
Thanks chaps! Knew Panky would probably have some words of wisdom here! All sounds eminently do-able, provided I take plenty of pics before I dismantle and, as you say, bag up the fittings as I take things out. I know where all the wiring and gas pipes run, so that should help. I have already pulled up some of the cruddy floor and found evidence of the dreaded 'Commer weevil' in the floors , so prepared for some welding to be done before everything goes back in. The joys of 70's rust-proofing goes with the territory!
 
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