THE ICEMAN restoration

Fantastic, and your own on-board refinery as well[8D]

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Two's company
 
Turn the dial upside down then, you are on t'other side of the world after all:)

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Two's company
 
Great to get the engine finally sorted :)
Fell as if it has been holding up the works as couldnt do much more in the cab until it could be driven without wanting to turn itself into ash.
Raced down to the shed this evening to fit up the bench seat i got from the scrap wanderer a while ago. After a bit of faffing about i have it just about in. Only issue is it really restricts access to the engine as the cover can only be lifted about half way. Grrr.
Once that is done i just need a lap belt for the centre so the baby seat can go in and then its possible to use :)
At the mo its just a big empty wooden box inside but with a matress on the floor and a couple of camp chairs who cares?
There is a place a few houres away called Waiheke Island (stick it in the googelator) which will be the first longer trip. Most likley in Feb sometime.

Well...alright then, maybe just a little...
 
Looking good! The grille is a lovely bit metal work. I had exactly the same probs when I converted to electric fan. Once it switched on it never turned off and she'd eventually overheat. Back to the original fan and she's OK. Not sure how others have managed to make this work. I've still got the electric fan and it only comes on after I've parked up (if it starts up in the move then I know that things are way too hot under the lid!)
 
It's strange, Harveys works as it should except on fast motorway runs or up hills when it cuts in and out occasionaly, but I'm putting that down to the rad being moved forward 4". The fan I fitted is off an Escort turbo-diesel and is about as big as you can fit in the width of the radiator, it seems very efficient as the temp drops quickly once it cuts in. The other difference if the lekky pump I fitted, the flow is much better than the standard one and it doesn't reduce when at idle.

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Two's company
 
I've just been looking back at the pics of your beautiful new grille and can't help wonder if it was adding to you overheating problems. Without the mechanical fan you are relying on ram-air flow through the grille to push a cooling flow through the rad and you could be restricting it, I know Gladys was running hot back from Moffat and that was caused by the bumper mounted rally plaque covering about an inch of the bottom of the grille, once it was taken off all was well again - and that was with a standard mechanical fan. One way to improve the air flow is to turn the air deflector behind the grille upside down, that way it draws air from the cut out in the vallance as well as through the grille - or make a new 'deep chin' scoop, I did and it made a big difference.
Here's my version, and nickclubmans story is on the next page,

http://66.129.69.181/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5483&whichpage=4

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Two's company
 
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I'd forgotten you did this Panky ...good neat job[8D] sounds daft but even just a rub down and repaint with gloss helps:)

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''COMMER'EnSayThat''
 
It seems i have the thermal issue under control. Put the thermostat in and all is well. I was a little concerned about the reduction in grill area but then the earlier model had the same setup. The heater hoses also go through the duct so i have moved them to one side to help airflow. Remember there is no bumper on the front so the scoop should work well. Clever idea to turn the scoop upside down. It would be a bit more difficult with my modified front valance etc. I did however add a deflector at the bottom of the rad to deflect air up through the rad from underneath. With all that is now seems a bit over cooled!! I think the new rad is way more efficient at getting rid of the heat. You just cant win! Anyway it will do for now. I just want to get the buba seat sorted and get on the road!


Well...alright then, maybe just a little...
 
Food for thought if you decide to have another bash at the lekky pump:I

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Two's company
 
Indeed Panky. I think the final solution will end up a combination of the two. I like the idea of electric water pump, had a look back at the BOTG and it seems easy enough to do.:) Think i will just leave it alone for the summer and get on with the important stuff like camping!:D Once the winter comes i can pull it all to bits and muck about with the cooling / heating setup again.
All in all i think the majority of the problem was caused by the fan not covering enough of the rad core and the lack of shroud. Lesson learned.[B)]

For sale. Electric fan, only slightly abused. [B)][:0];)

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Over two months since the last update on Iceman![:0]
After driving the van for a few days the gear change bacame difficult and eventually impossible. Some investigation revealed that the thrust bearing had disintegrated and destroyed the pressure plate as well.[:(!]
Well now there is a brand new clutch in there and the gear change is brilliant! Slots in and out of gear like a ferrari (well not really...) but its a whole lot better. So now its on to the next thing... A stiking solinoid on the OD causing issues.
Thats the third time the 'box has been out so hope its the last for a long while[B)]


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Got the overdrive going eventually. It was really wierd, it would do nothing for perhaps 5km then suddenly start working perfectly. I took the cover off the adjustment and had a fiddle but made no difference. In the end i pulled out the solinoid and tested it on the bench, working fine. Put it back in and same problem, getting grumpy by now...
Went to pull it out again and when i was disconnecting the wire to the solinoid it just fell in half. On closer inspection it revealed the copper core of the feed wire to the solinoid was totally oxidised and no matter how much i cut it back it was still just crumbley oxide. No wonder it wouldnt work! Replaced the wire as far into the solinoid housing as possible and replaced it on the van. Works a treat now, anyway there is a point to this little tale of woe, Could this be the problem with Tiggers OD? Perhaps this is the cause of several unexplained solinoid failures? Its worth stripping back the insulation on the few inches of the wire nearest the solinoid for a look see. Even though the wire was rotten it looked perfect on the outside and also showed continuity on my meter.
Been using Iceman alot for trips to the beach and even just around town, its great and gets the looks! I plan to get another dollop of work done in a few weeks all going to plan. Next up is getting the interior sorted.

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congrats on sorting your overdrive issue[8D] ...thanks for thinking of Tigger but I have replaced the solonoid with a brand new one to no avail......really pleased you are enjoying being out and about in your van[8D]

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''COMMER'EnSayThat''
 
Great to here you are out and about[8D]
I used to do a spot of model aircraft flying a few years ago and there was an affliction that affected the radio gear battery called negative lead corrosion. Excactly the same symptoms you described, the wire just turned to dust inside the insulation with disasterous consequences for the model[xx(]

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Two's company
 
Well the weather has been rubbish for a month or more and then ended up getting a virus that has knocked us all out for the last couple of weeks so not a vast amount done on the van.:(
Good news is gave the virus the boot and weather is almost good this week so got out there and did a little bit. Started off with getting the cab trim under way as well as the dash. Decided to do a vague copy of the Autosleeper style dash as there was none in there to begin with. There used to be a lousey bit of mush board in the centre section with the ash tray in the middle but it was really mankey so out it went. This one is a solid length of Rimu which is a native of NZ and a lovely wood. (My house is built from it):)
For the door cards i was going to get some sent over but the dreadful exchasnge rate and cost of freight put a stop to that[V]
3mm plywood with a thin layer of foam. Amazingly i found an exact match for the original brown vynal in a local surplus store so i grabbed it and some spare as well. I will get the bench seat re done in it as well. Making the panel under the dash that covers all the wires and pipes was a real challange but lots of cardboard templates later it turned out well.
Made a start in the back as well with getting the floor covering down. Found a period black and white cheque pattern lino which i think looks the part. Next on the list is to start framing up the cupboards and seats etc.
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Well...alright then, maybe just a little...
 
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