'Bodge Blue' Mk4 Camper

[Kedishen]

'Bodge Blue' Mk4 Camper

This is my new Mk4 Camper. I've yet to come up with a good nickname, but 'Bodge Blue' seems fitting, so until something better pops to mind, that will do.

The van has had 3 owners before me, and has spent the last 3 years sorn'ed on a drive in a very lonely state.

It has come into my possession as my dad no longer wants to look after it so I have taken it on to love and cherish and I am indeed very lucky to have it.





Layout

It was professionally converted in 1996 by Tourmaster. It is very similar to the layout of an Autosleeper Duetto. When I have emptied it of toys and other bric a brac, i'll put on some interior photos.




The Plan

Van has 230,000 miles on the clock, and it due to an MOT coming up on the 2nd October. My immediate goal is to get the van through an MOT without too many problems. Then, I will (slowly) get on with rust repairs, and investigating a few mechanical issues. Whilst this is happening, the van will be in use, taking me to and from work since my insurance allows for commuting

Eventually, I will return to Europe with a motorbike on the back and spend another year or two bumming about.

In the mean time, my aim is to sort out the rust to the best of my ability and make sure the van is comfortably equipped with solar panels and other odds and ends required for living in a camper.

However, lets get this straight at the start. I have no mig welder and am hesitant to get one, so bodging with filler and pop rivetted metal from computer cases will be the best you'll find here. Question is, how much needs repairing AND how tidy will the bodging be?

Specs

Build Date: 06.12.1993
Vehicle Line: Transit 1992-1994
Cab Style: Regular Cargo Van
Series: 150L
Engine: Diesel 2.5T (100PS)
Transmission: 5-Speed Manual Transmission - MT75
Axle Ratio: 4.63
Emission: Stage V Emissions
Territory: (+)"GB"
Paint: College Blue 92
Interior Fabric: Lommel
Fuel Pump: Lucas Epic w/blue spot injectors.

Note: Ford say its a 150L, but the DVLA and the VIN plate say its a 100L. Either way, it has 15inch wheels.

The Mechanical Issues

There are a couple of non-life threatening problems I am aware of:

[*]Shuddering in reverse gear
[*]Hunting when cold
[*]Cambelt and water pump not been done since 2003 - at least!

My initial thoughts about the shuddering in reverse is worn gearbox mounts, so I will ask the MOT guy to inspect these. If its not that, then I read somewhere about engine oil leaking through the rear seal and so on. Cross fingers for the easiest of all possible solutions!

Hunting when cold - dunno. Will have to do some reading.

Cambelt and water pump - will get this done before I start doing any proper milage. Might as well have the radiator out and flush everything out whilst I am at this... unless in doing so I cause more problems!

The Rust

[*]Rear axle flaking
[*]Prop shaft flaking
[*]All arches full of filler!
[*]Front inner arch rotted through
[*]Both Battery trays rusted through

These are my initial findings. TBH I will be looking at MOT failure stuff first and tidy that up abit.

Wish me luck!

[Kedishen]

So, after pumping up the flat tire, the battery has been put back on the van and guess what - it started first time after 3 years of not moving.

Shine on you crazy early 2.5TDi !

I couldn't resist fiddling with the rust on the battery trays... and a rusty battery tray turned into this !



At this point I wish I hadn't fiddled around with it now :/ Oh well.

After cleaning it up and giving it a coating of the engine lacquer my brother left round my house it look looked abit better.



I wasn't kidding about the computer cases and pop rivets



And abit of filler on top. This will be painted blue once I find where my dad hid the paint.



EVen if it isn't welded, it is stronger than the mushy rusted mess that was there before. I haven't finished underneath the arch yet as some other rust holes appeared whilst i was prepping for the Schultz spraying, so a couple more plates were pop rivetted into cleaned and primed metal in non structural areas (i think!). Eh hem, a few handfuls of dirt and some roofing tar and who will know the difference

[Kedishen]

Engine Bay Pictures

[Kedishen]

Hunting while cold

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=135667

[dieselhead123]

Got the makings of a good van there mate.

PS. I want your inlet manifold!

TIM

[BigMonty]

Looks to me like it has wheel arches

[MinorMatt]

I've got one of those manifolds (I think) Tim

[Kedishen]

Got the makings of a good van there mate.

PS. I want your inlet manifold!

TIM

Sorry mate I need it

[Kedishen]

Waxoil

So after todays work, i looked like i been down a coalmine.

Took me a while to do it since I'm very slow, but the underside of van is all waxoiled on the body work, chassis members and other metal looking bits. Structural areas are all sound looking and there is no real problems under there based on m y limited knowledge. MOT guy will tell me more I am sure.

There was a few patches of surface rust here and there on the floor pan and patches of corrosion on most of the chassis members, so a wire brush to that before painting everything. Even though it will burn off, the exhaust has a coating, along with metal brake lines, unions, original welds and so on.. Looks like van has never had welding and from the looks of it, doesn't need any. No piccies as we all know what wax oil looks like.

The Rust

There are a few more areas of rust to be looking at now:



I will take this back to metal and pop rivet either a folded piece of metal or two sheets together and form the basic shape to hold the grill on. There is good metal behind the bumper and hopefully I won't need to remove the front bumper to do this otherwise I might secure the grill on good enough till the mot is sorted.



I am not quite sure what to do with this. This is clearly a structural area and if I start fiddling, no amount of computer case will sort this out. Fingers crossed for the mot, but in the mean time, I can at least find out why it has started to rust and clean anything that contributes.



This is the sill along the offside. It has rotted all the way along, mainly because of the drainage channels being gummed up with wax oil. I will get some thin strong wire and clean out the drainage channels. Theres not much more I can do to it as it just crumbles away when you poke it. Gladly the rot doesn't really show when looking at the van, but any suggestions on how to attack this are appreciated.




Its not a good picture, but the whiter stuff is actually large flakes of rusted metal. I am in two minds about this. I could just cover it in wax oil, but I doubt it would slow anything down. My other option is to pick it away, clean it up and rust treat the axle, followed by a tin of bbq paint or something similar. I did this before with other vehicles and it only ever caused me more problems. Should I just leave it alone? Suggestions?





Well, what can I say? The footwells are almost as clean as they came out the factory. Theres a abit of rust starting to catch hold at the front of both forward footwells but nothing an electric drill and a tin of paint won't tidy up. Hardly worth bothering with the side footwell.



The rear nearside door and ugh, its a hole. I can only imagine what amount of expanding foam is sat behind this holding water. Investigations will be held.

Haven't got a picture of this, but my dad tells me he bodged up a section above the spare wheel at the back. Looking at it, all the expanded foam in there is blocking the drainage channels ( ) so things will have to be unblocked. Hopefully the rot isn't too extensive. Piccies when I get to this.

Not finished front arch yet, waiting till I done repairs elsewhere before pressurising the spray gun

[Kedishen]

Interior

As promised some pictures of the interior. Sorry for the clutter and bad picture taking.

Both front seats swivel for extras seating as well as forming part of the bed, and there is a shower and (unfixed) toilet area that I couldn't be arsed to clamber to.

[Kedishen]

Not much got done today. Getting rid of rusty bits.

A mate turned up at 3 to go see a van 30miles away. Seeing another van made me realise how clean my van is

Fix It Again Tomorrow Ducato Maxi-mum amount of rust. MOT had to be dodgy on it, didn't even have any rear coil springs, just empty slots for them to go, mushy rust you could put your fist through and spring hangers held on with spot welds.

Very lucky am I to have such a clean van.

[Kedishen]

Buying some bits

Orders have come in from high up the forum chain of command to get a move on and service the engine.

A full service is in order, so time to open up the ebay and try not to look too cheap

[*]Fuel Filter -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200964340190

Some sort of Delphi brand. Looks nice.

[*]Oil Filter -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270850361878

TransitpartsUK, tell me if I'm being too cheap!

[*]Air filter is already new

[*]Engine oil will be from Wilkinson.

A choice of:

5litres 15W40 for £12 grade A3 B3 CG4 <--- I like price, but do i want to go for better protection?

5litres 10W40 for 14.50 grade A3 B3 SL <--- Better protection. I used this in my other van.

[*]Timing Belt & tensioner -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/230844164079

I hear Gates is a good make and even at a few quid more, I feel its worth it.

[*]Water pump -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251301897015

TransitparksUK, am I being too cheap here?

[*]Antifreeze -http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151129389095

Red for me. Only a £1 more expensive than blue and it claims to last twice as long + its concentrated Only need one bottle.

Did I miss anything?


Oh, and I should also do a valve clearance check/adjust. Might need the haynes manual for that. Maybe even a gasket.

[davey0555]

Hi there!!,

Been looking at your van, Like Tim said, it has the makings of a very good van!!, I have been doing very similar work to you most of this year to my 1990 Leisuredrive van, I'm lucky though as I can weld!!, I'm very nearly done now and will be going for MOT in the next few weeks!!, I would scrape, wire brush and apply metal paint to the rear axle if it was me to be honest, I did and it looks great now!!

Dave

[Kedishen]

Hi there!!,

Been looking at your van, Like Tim said, it has the makings of a very good van!!, I have been doing very similar work to you most of this year to my 1990 Leisuredrive van, I'm lucky though as I can weld!!, I'm very nearly done now and will be going for MOT in the next few weeks!!, I would scrape, wire brush and apply metal paint to the rear axle if it was me to be honest, I did and it looks great now!!

Dave

Aye I'll have a think about that rear axle. I'd like very much to paint all the suspension and running gear in black. BBQ paint or some blackjack roofing tar would make a nice mess


I have access to 2 rod? welders but neither did anything but blow holes in otherwise good bodywork - I'd like very much to do a good job on this van.. I could get one, but once I have one and know how to use it, where does the welding end?

[Kedishen]

Ok so not a huge amount done today again. No piccies today, but now that my hands are clean I will get some first thing tomorrow.

Finished off under the arches with a layer of anti-rust paint all round, waxoil on top, AND THEN a BIG barrel of blackjack roofing tar. Triple layered, given plenty of time to dry between coats of course.

It now looks real nice under there - I am satisfied with the outcome, can't tell anything unusual has been happening under there. Been tapping the finished product with a tack hammer and I can't tell the difference between metal and my rivet patches. There is a slight obvious give away that the divet under battery tray isn't there any more, but nobody will notice anyway. Wish I had the right colour paint to finish off the engine bay. Its a gaping orangey red splatter in there and very noticeable.

The rear arches will receive the same treatment after a few minor blemishes have been sorted.

Drivers side battery tray it in as well.

Sadly I couldn't get the original bolts out without risking the arch developing holes so I ground the bolts down flush to the arch with grinder, painted with anti-rust paint and engine lacquer, then used a couple of self tapping screws dripping with waxoil into a close position. I was hoping I could have ground off the welded nuts underneath and used another nut and bolt but alas, all it did was make alot of heat and sparks and not alot else. May think about having another go another day - after the mot.

Also when I had the wheels off, noticed the front nearside wheel was harder to turn than other side. Removed caliper to find the pistons stuck and not moving, so a block of wood and a vice grip thingy pushed them back flush, pressed brakes and repeat soon got it freed up. Its still not as good as otherside, but steering doesn't pull under braking. A forum search will probably set me on the right path.

Will have to have rear drums off as well as I'm not happy with the handbrake and rear brakes don't seem to be doing a lot. Quick clean tomorrow and a blow out with air line with see things right.