wish me luck :)

Z

zimm

0
van is now insured thanks to the nice man at adrian flux .. £154 fully comp (including a discount cos i said i was on this forum .. ) and booked in for an MOT tomorrow ..

i havent done any work on it, but the fail sheet will suffice as a "to do" list and the legal drive to and from the MOT center means i can collect the service items and a welder ..

hoping it'll fail on exhaust (half of its missing), some welding and maybe a light or two .. if it fails on the brakes i'll be a little miffed..
 
Best of Luck, looking forward to seeing you on the road - if you get sorted by September 7th can recommend Pembrokeshire Road Run (see shows thread)

May your to-do list be short and your bolts easily undone[^]

Bessie - four star commerdation
 
cheers :)

7th should be doable ..

absolute final deadline is the 19th as im racing F400 at oulton park on the 20th and want to use her as a race transporter .. far classier than a hire van :)

after soaking the plugs in paraffin and cleaning them up, and a bit of a fiddle with the timing (dizzy's loose, always has been, tighten it up and the collar pops off, so it can stay that way) she runs !

made a bracket to hold whats left of the exhaust up off the floor, and she's going ok ! even pulls up in a straigh(ish) line.. if its raining tomorrow (like there's any chance it wont be !) they may not even notice the brake fluid pissing out of the rear drums !
 
well..

where to start ..

MOT testers first comment was "oh f*** no!"

by the time i'd left (2 hours later) we were having a laugh about it, thank god I got a knowledgable tester who likes older vehicles and was prepared to show me through everything step by step, what was ok, what needed doing, what he'd pretend he hadnt heard.. etc etc .. he's got money on me not making it back for the retest, but i like a challenge..

think the highlight was when it refused to start and had to be rolled onto , and then off the rollers for the brake test ..

finally coaxed her into life by twatting the starter solenoid while holding the button, and praying she'd catch before the battery died.

to cut a long story short .. mechanically she's ok .. ish .. the brakes require attention, front brake imbalance is 65% ! rears are perfectly balanced .. neither of them do anything at all very much..

the driveshaft oil seals are shot so the drums are full of oil, and one of the rear wheel cylinders is weeping from just about everywhere it can think of.

i need to re-wire the side lights correctly..

the half missing exhaust got an advisory ! its secure and not too loud even though everything from the front box back is missing .. lol

there's a little play in the kingpins and steering, but only advisories on that ..

passed the emmisions.. once we got it to idle..

but ..

Rust ..

quite a bit of it ..

Its not terminal, but there's a number of bits need attention.. like the OS rear corner and outrigger which have turned to dust .. and a few plates round where the wheel arches meet the floor .. .. oh plus door bottoms, and a few odd's n sods ..

and seatbelts ... they've managed to seize up ?!

and windscreen washers ..

do-able !

managed to scavenge an old exhaust that looks like it can be made to fit while getting my race tyres fitted at my favourite tyre place on the way home too :)

off to scour ebay for a cheap MIG setup, cheapest one i could find in town was £350 !
 
machine mart do a mig for £200 got a good rating in a review I read

and as for the o/s outrigger - every van I have been up close and personal with has a pile of dust there!
 
Hi Zimm as you know Tim is a welder if you can hang fire he may have some advise on purchase,he should be here this time tomorrow,good luck :D[}:)]:D

"SYBHIL" & N0.1
 
thanks guys !

any advice on welders would be great ! its over 10 years since i played with them at college, have done mig, tig, gas and arc, but know very little about what kit i'd need, or what is any good/to be avoided .. and it was a minor part of the course ..

leaning towards a clarke gas/gasless (MIG 151EN) at the moment, and i'll need a decent mask .. last time i welded (roof guttering on the commer, about 3 years ago) i ended up in hospital with arc-eye and couldnt see for 3 days .. not fun.

woolfy, was planning on giving you a ring :)

probably after front floor pans, outrigger and rear corner panels if poss ?

will want lower door skins, front valence and a few other bits in the future, but ill filler them for now due to the time available (unless i get carried away with the grindy/weldy thing)

i'll be in rugby (acu CT course) on monday so could pop round if thats convenient ?
 
Ah those college days[^].......welding was so much easier back then :)(on a workbench indoors with brand new metal and well serviced equipment:D)

Funnily enough you'll be the third commer owner in the area that will be honing their welding skills over the next couple of weeks - I'm going to have a go at doing repairs on Bessie with Glyns' weary welder and friends (Klix owners) are just in the process of buying a welder to develop their skills on their fleet of old landrovers.

We'll have to have a welding party of our own, with Glyn on hand to point us all in the right direction (armed with large fire extinguisher:I:D)

Will see if I can get Glyns advice later on welder buying for you - he might have some good local knowledge which could help.

Good luck with it all - hope the rest of the repairs prove easy to sort out:)

Bessie - four star commerdation
 
try to buy the most powerfull set you can afford as the bigger ones have higher o.c.v which will give more heat input.
dont buy a cheap nasty thing as they are a waste of time and all you will get is lack of penetration (OO-ER MISSUS:I)
bigger sets have a more stable arc and better controlability.
murex,migatronic,esab,kempi are all good names.
best of luck :)

"you were only supposed to blow the bloody SLIDING doors off no.3"
 
quote:
Originally posted by studiocommer

Ah those college days[^].......welding was so much easier back then :)(on a workbench indoors with brand new metal and well serviced equipment:D)




sounds like you went to a better equipped college than I did ! lol

everything except the driveshaft oil seals i know i can manage, and that cant be that hard ? right ?, oh and kingpins ..

rear propshaft UJ is shot too, and im completely missing a leaf spring bush ..

ye gods, the more i look the more i find.

i'd like to buy a portamig .. they're almost workshop porn :) but at those prices i might as well pay someone to do the work.
 
I think my old MigMate 2000 has just about had it, the mice have made a meal of the insulation on the flexy pipe so I've gaffer taped it for now (the little buggers even chomped away on the handle of me best Phillips screwy [:(!] vermin I hate you no matter how cute you look) I've had it for 10 years so I guess an upgrade is due - once I start work on Harvey that is:I

'Harvey the RV'
 
yeah panky... come on get cracking!

I'm sure a good weekend of forum members helping out will get harvey shipshape again!

www.littleyellowcar.co.uk
 
YES MR PANKY can't wait to see you fall into the brambles from the rear doors...of Harvey
definately about time :D[}:)]:D

"SYBHIL" & N0.1
 
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