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CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

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CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Tue May 09, 2017 9:15 pm

OK, so I said I'd start a Progress Report on the van, and so here it is ...

For several years, more and more of my mates going to Glastonbury were doing it by campervan. I wanted to get one of my own, but the cost was an issue. Campervans are not cheap! Then one day on my way to work in August 2015, I T-boned someone else's car after I went when the light was green, and he went when his light - at 90 degrees to mine - also went green, so he said. A likely tale, you may think? But when the council finally replaced the light several months later, it had mysteriously turned through 90 degrees and was now a REPEATER for the direction I was travelling in.

Was it always supposed to be that way? I never found out. I was due to be a witness in the court case for the guy who jumped the "red" light, but I was countermanded and not called. So I don't know what happened to him, maybe it was incorrectly installed and he got off on the grounds that sure enough, he saw a green light. Rather tellingly, the guy from the council who turned up to make the lights safe and turn them back on said that pole was getting knocked over "all the time". It hasn't been knocked over since. Hmm ... I don't like to participate in the "blame culture" but perhaps I should find out if I am due some compensation from the council.

My beloved (well, I liked it more than most of the other cars I'd ever had, apart from the Honda Civic Coupé I'd had which was like sh*t off a shovel) X reg automatic Mercedes-Benz E200 Elegance was toast. It was a total write off.

20150813_094932.jpg


So, I had a Vauxhall Corsa on the insurance as a courtesy car until the claim was settled and they paid out a mere £1200 - minus £250 excess! for it :x . Coupled with savings in the bank, this gave me about £3000 to spend. And I didn't want the hassle of a bank loan. So, off I went shopping at the lower end of the market, until I found my van ...

The van was bought off AutoTrader back in August 2015. It was bought off some guy who sells Transits on a farm in the middle of nowhere in the Lake District. So, a long drive down there to see the van and I bought it for about £2500 in Bank of England twenties (I cleared out the bank vault of English £20 notes at my nearest branch :D ... it's all Scottish funny money up here usually, remember?). And thus I acquired the van ... Lily, as I sometimes jokingly call her, "because she's like Lily Savage - a big Tranny".

First I had to drive this huge thing back to Scotland. I'd never driven a van this size before in my life! But, I reasoned ... it's not much longer than the Merc was, it shouldn't be a problem, you've been driving for 14 years so just get on with it you big wuss. It did take a while though. The engine, I think, had not had a decent thrashing in a long time, having been owned by a succession of sedate owners (I am the 13th Registered Keeper ;)). Over the next few weeks, the van began to run better as I thrashed it hard. But the steering was SO heavy! OK so there's no power steering but still ... is it supposed to be this bad? (Turned out the answer was 'no', and the steering rack eventually bust itself and had to be replaced).

Here's a couple of pictures of her, several months after purchase:

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So it had rust problems. It's a Transit. It got welded, MOTed. I went to a few festivals in it, and even went for a weekend down to York (nice Camping and Caravanning Club site).

And then, after going to Solfest, the windscreen cracked. And thus began the tale of The Money Pit ... to be continued :D
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Tue May 09, 2017 9:39 pm

The windscreen cracked, and I contacted the windscreen insurance company. First off, I find that as well as my excess, the windscreen replacement cost has a cap. An upper limit. I end up having to shell out over £120 to get the windscreen done. The guy turns up to do the windscreen, takes off the rubber seal, and finds ...

THE DREADED ROT!!! :(

20160905_093325_2.jpg


Enquiries were made. No one would touch it. Wider enquiries were made. Went to one firm several miles away, who sent me to another. He looked at it and he didn't want to touch it either 'but I know someone who might fix that for you' ...

I drove it there, and he said he'd fix it! Two corners of the roof would have to be chopped out, and GRPed back in. It would need painting. And, he would not know how bad the rot was until the screen was out. Got the screen out, to reveal the rot was thankfully only mostly at the corners. But, it was still going to be expensive. £400 expensive ...

He did a good job though, and the van was soon back on the road! Well, it took about a week and a half ... but it was done, and a new screen fitted.

More minor upgrades happened. A rotten battery tray was replaced. The clocks were replaced for Mondeo clocks. MOT time was coming around, so I took it back to him to get some 'minor welding' done. Or so I thought ...

He started off with the door. It was rusted through at the bottom, and so he sorted that. Then he started checking out the other parts of the van ...

Oh dear.

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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Tue May 09, 2017 9:49 pm

So ... after much rust removal ...

WP_20170331_17_03_26_Pro.jpg


... what was left was all polished up and 1.5 mm plate welded on top (don't have a picture of that to hand), new steps built, new sills welded in, repairs here there and everywhere ... and then he suggested we should have a look at the rear end, take out the campervan bits and see what the floor is like there. I spent a Saturday there taking out the bits, while he welded away at the front... and then this is what we found.

Oh. Bugger.

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The body was no longer effectively attached to the chassis. Those of you who have read my posts may remember, I complained about poor handling and instability in high winds? Well, I think now we see why ...
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Tue May 09, 2017 10:05 pm

A replacement floor was fabricated up. Including a wheel arch, constructed from scratch:

20170422_113652.jpg


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Here's the finished result:

WP_20170424_13_45_59_Pro.jpg


It's since been painted over with Wurth Cavity Protection Spray, and a new ply floor laid on top.

So, I'm effectively back at a blank canvas. Or I will be once I get the thing back, because next thing we're going to do (I will be doing some of the prep) is painting it! In the meantime, I've started building bits for the van. I've made five of the six sides of a gas locker from 12mm ply that came off a shipping crate (all screwed together so I can unscrew it, Sikaflex all joints to seal it, and screw it back together ...). All sides of that thing were cut by hand. My god, it took about six hours of hard labour to get to that point, as I had to take great care to get all the edges straight :(

20170507_205757.jpg


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Once the box is complete, I'll be cutting a hole in the front and making up a door ... once I get more wood, because I've run out! I went to B&Q, saw how much THEY charge for ply, and said forget it (especially as I knew how cheap you could get the marine ply that made up the floor from a proper timber merchant...). So either I'll get some more free ply from work, or I'll buy some ... but not from B&Q!
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sat May 13, 2017 5:47 am

Finally ...!

MOT history of this vehicle

Test date: 12 May 2017
Expiry date: 21 May 2018
Test Result: Pass
Odometer reading: 127,890 miles

Advisory notice item(s):
oil leak
under van corroded
Nearside Front coil spring corroded (2.4.C.1b)


I have no idea what the 'oil leak' is. I've never noticed a constant leak, but it does spurt a bit of oil when it starts up sometimes.

Picked up some ply from Homebase for about half of what B&Q wanted. Still haven't finished the box, been too busy with work ...
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sat May 13, 2017 3:15 pm

Had hoped to be prepping it to paint it today, but the guy wasn't well (bad back...) so instead, I fixed a minor problem that had been bugging me for some time.

The heater was always stuck on full heat. Now I had solved this in the past by finding the lever and manually flipping it down, but last time it happened I couldn't find the lever and so it's been stuck like that since December. This wasn't a real big problem until it started to get warmer again in the last few months, of course!

So, I disassembled the dash and studied the mechanism. Watched for what moved when you twiddled the dial and therefore re-found the lever that controls the flap. The failure was now apparent.

What was happening was, the cable was attached to the arm by a cable tie, and there's a round, wound-up end that goes over a post on the actuator arm ... but nothing securing it to the post! The post is D-shaped and when you turned the heater on full, the wound-up end would slip out and all that then happened when you tried to operate (i.e. get it back down from full on position) it was pushing the slack cable around and moving nothing, because the wound-up end had fallen off.

HeaterFlapActuatorArm.jpg


But how to fix this?

I am guessing there was supposed to be some kind of cap, or other securing arrangement, over the top of the post when the van was new. This was no longer present. Tried to cable tie it without success - nothing to tie to at the back. Finally a solution was arrived at:

- Wood staple from a packing crate, straightened out.
- Blowtorch
- Few inches of scrap copper wire.

The staple (about 3 inches long when straightened out - a serious staple!) was heated cherry red with the blowtorch. It was then pushed through the actuator arm to melt a hole through it. Wire through hole, cable on, secure round end of cable to actuator arm with wire, twist wire with pliers to tighten it and cut off most of the excess, leaving some for ease of tightening/removal in the future:

20170513_121153_2.jpg


Job's a good'un :)

If anyone knows what the 'correct' method of affixing the cable is, I would not mind being enlightened ;)
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby ned » Sat May 13, 2017 3:27 pm

Looks like you have been busy, have you applied under body protection. N
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sat May 13, 2017 6:56 pm

nedforceone wrote:Looks like you have been busy, have you applied under body protection. N

If his back is up to it, he's doing Gravadax (?) tomorrow to at least the chassis bits he welded for the MOT. Maybe the entire body. Unclear ... but certainly at least the bits he welded.
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sat May 13, 2017 7:01 pm

The gas locker is almost complete. Wow, jigsaws are great :D

Cut a hole with rounded corners to get the cylinder in and out.
Hole not big enough :( OK, barely big enough but wasn't an easy in and out.

Cut it to the maximum height possible. At which point I discover the other handy feature of a jigsaw - You can use it, gently, as a sideways plane (don't force it, natch, or the blade will snap). Nice :)

Bottle now in and out easily.

Door cut, also with rounded corners.

Hinges don't fit :( I need shorter screws than any I have ... it's only 12mm ply. I took a scrap bit and checked; the shortest screws I have are still too long.

Had I not run into that problem I probably would have finished that!
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sun May 14, 2017 7:56 pm

Today I took apart the gas locker and with some Evo-Stik Sticks Like Sh*t (yes, it really is called that), which advertises itself as a flexible waterproof sealant (and so I figured it would be up to the job), I sealed up the gas locker best as I could ...

20170514_173857_2.jpg


The problem is, now I have to wait a few days for it to dry, and then sand the lot, before I can move on to the next step (varnishing) :( Gloss yacht varnish is waiting to be applied ... but I have to be patient. Meh :(

There has been a design change too. Instead of having a door, I am going to make it a rear-facing hatch, with a latch on the top. This is because of the geometry of the back of the Mk5; if I made it a hinged door it would need to stick out further and take up even more space. I can gain an inch or maybe two by making it a detachable hatch ...

And of course the reason for putting the latch at the top is: I can reuse the wood I cut out to help fashion a support at the bottom, and then I just have the catch at the top. Putting it on the side would be trickier and I might forget it's not hinged and it would fall out when I opened it. Putting it at the top is a good visual clue that it's a hatch, not a door :)

No other progress to report. Don't know whether the underside got done or not... Probably not, as he said he'd phone me and never did.
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Tue May 16, 2017 11:22 pm

After a lot of sanding, scraping off glue with a chisel and fingernails, more sanding, more scraping ... I finally applied the first coat of varnish...

Not looking too bad for being made out of scrap wood ;)

Should end up looking pretty good after a few coats ...

20170516_213507_2.jpg
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby ceurieusneus » Wed May 17, 2017 6:05 am

Loads of work! :shock:
Can you show pictures, how interior is improving with everything you put in again? :)
To late for me, in my ambulance conversion I should have started earlier an put pictures on the forum with everything I added... :oops:
Starting with the removal of the 4 stretcher. :wink:
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Thu May 18, 2017 9:14 pm

ceurieusneus wrote:Loads of work! :shock:
Can you show pictures, how interior is improving with everything you put in again? :)
To late for me, in my ambulance conversion I should have started earlier an put pictures on the forum with everything I added... :oops:
Starting with the removal of the 4 stretcher. :wink:

Eh well ... err ... I haven't put anything back in it yet ;)

That probably will start on Saturday ...

The WannaCry ransomware has been keeping me busy at work, so it wasn't until tonight that I got the second coat of varnish done. No picture, because it looks terrible. More runs than a cricket team :(

It is however, despite the runs, beginning to take on a lovely glossy finish. Ahh, yacht varnish! The good stuff :D
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Sat May 20, 2017 9:26 pm

OK so the gas locker is not complete, but it's varnished. It looks quite nice unless you zoom in and see all the runs in the varnish ...

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Have also used some of the leftover ply to create a new thing-that-the-lights-and-the-sun-visors-go-on-to (Front roof?)

20170520_201319_2.jpg


I just need to get the bloody thing back so that I can start working on it ... :(
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Re: CamperVanBeethoven's Mk5

Postby CamperVanBeethoven » Thu May 25, 2017 10:06 pm

So! I now have the van back ...

First task is ... trying to clean some of the scabby rust stains off the floor mat. Bear in mind, this is the bottom of the floor mat, not the top.

20170525_211134.jpg


I made up a paste with baking soda and applied it. But I have already decided, this may be too much like hard work...

20170525_213008.jpg


So the plan now is to give that a re-soak and scrub down tomorrow, then rinse it off and let it dry for a bit ...

Followed by spraying the lot with plastic paint :P
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