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Great thread. Have added to favourites!
I'm just glad my shonky wood working skills have not made it into this thread.
Timing belt was ok to do, there was good instructions with the belt/tensioner kit. The one thing I didnt have was a tension gauge, but I'm happy enough doing without it.
strangely i have a tension meter for timing belts.....
did your kit come with a tension pully and a toothed pulley ? mines only came with the tension pulley - but was the one noted for my engine number - and the one with the tension pulley and the tooth pulley was for another engine number.....
might have to reevaluate my 188 quid insurance as well ... docs came through today and having a read of them its a specialist policy - thats cool. How ever its basically a classic car policy but for motorhomes. I need one of my vehicles to be insured regularly (IE using and accruing NCB) will need to phone the lads up and speak to them as his is not what i was sold - i was asked if i had another car .... i said yes and i do .... but its a classic on a modified classics policy - which also accrues no NCB
Bollocks.
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check rustymacs lovely wood work there with the speaker boxs. I repurposed his old shed 12v stereo system (now upgraded to garage with power) for the van ... so its got 4 inch and 6 inch rounds stuck under the seats where you cant see em ----or retrieve em without pulling the double out..... and 2 regular speakers in the dash hooked up to some sony bluetooth ipod stereo thing with remote.... i just need to work out the wiring to have selective switched live - Ie ignition off it uses leisure battery or defaults to igniton live when ignitions on .... i was just going to wire it to the leisure battery but i dont want to have to turn the stereo off every time i get out the car. I think it can be done i just havent had time to work it out yet.
yep mine came with replacement toothed pulley, i think it was a gates one.
My stereo is off leisure battery only, i usually manage to turn it off, or turn the volume down at least.
You could have the switched and permament live both from the leisure battery, but have a relay in the switched live which is operated by the ignition. And then have a overide switch in parallel with the relay so you can power the stereo up whilst ignition is off.
That's exactly how I will be wiring my radio, relay on the switched live, with an override switch to turn it on when parked up.
I also read about a technique where the relay latches on with key on, and only releases when a door is opened.
This van has daytime running lights and no accessory position on the ignition which is really annoying, you have to have the front sidelights on and all the dash lights on ready to start, just to listen to the radio!
Turns out the insurance couldn't give a hoot. So long as I can prove I have access to drive multiple vehicles and that the ivecos not my only car life is good. I have to send them the docs to prove it. Equally they will stick my ncb on the camper and it will accrue but they cannot apply the ncb to the price as it wasn't earned on a vehicle of this size and they have already taken into account my driving experience of smaller vehicles in the price.
Armed with that good news I popped out side and dealt with the nasty gouge in my wood work.
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Got on it with the filler and stain pens and got something good enough for the girls I go with. It used to really draw your eye now you have to look for it.
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So I came in for a cuppa
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Also spooky is what I want a double pole change over relay and a single pole change over one-off switch
That once I trigger the over ride that should stay latched bias to the leisure battery until I turn off the override switch and engage the engine but there's no risk of connecting the front battery to the rear if I forgot to turn of the over ride if I do it through the relay right ?
So you will take a permanent live off the leisure battery, and then behind the dash, break out a separate positive feed into the relay. The permanent and switched (relay out) then connect to the radio.
The existing vehicle switched live will head into the relay, and the permanent vehicle live will head into the over-ride switch. The output from the switch will re-join the switched live at the relay. Negative at the relay can also come off the existing radio loom.
The only risk I can see is if the relay breaks down and a large current tries to flow through it to equalise the vehicle and leisure batteries...I would just fuse everything as low as possible, presumably you could go for the smallest 1amp blade fuse for the vehicle feeds at the relay?
The only unknown is what else might get turned on when you feed 12v onto the switched live...might get some other items turn on. Hopefully nothing big like the air blower!
Edit: I just got a radio loom 'extender' off ebay, both male and female power and speaker plugs for less than £3. So I can just chop the lot in half and plug them in, leaving me with all the wires ready to solder up. Don't need to start pulling pins out of the existing plugs 🙂
In my camper I had two changeover relays, one for each the permanent and switched lives to the radio. Normally radio was powered via the van battery / ignition. Then an override switch in the back triggered the changeover relays so that both permanent and switched lives switched over to the leisure battery. The override switch being in the back meant I could switch the radio on/off from the bed. Remote control on the radio was also handy but didn't work from the bed as line of sight through the bulkhead window was required.
The leisure battery live behind the dash came from the split charge relay that I handily located in the engine bay next to the van battery right by a big cable grommet to behind the dash. The radio change over relays went under the dash behind the removable glove box compartment.
My head hurts.
Did I mention I hate electric wizArdry.
I think i need to buy rustymac some beer and sit down on a night and work it out. He speaks fluent electric. I'm scratching round in the dirt.
@spooky_b329 & mark90 Any of you lads have a wiring diagram for this?
I'm of the KISS philosophy and that as the stereo can be switched on or off by both the button on it and off by removal of the face plate or the button on the remote that this is over complicating things.
To save the start battery the easy option is to just wire it to the leisure battery.
Yep, my old one was wired to the leisure and I didn't bother with a relay as the head unit had an auto off after 1 hour.
I'm gonna get a rare ride on the bike in a minute but I'll try and remember to draw up a wiring diagram for it this evening.
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VB = Van battery
LB = Leisure battery
IS = Ignition switch
RS = Rear radio switch, ie the switch to switch the radio over to leisure battery power
87a is the normally closed relay connection (to terminal 30)
87 is the switched relay connection (to terminal 30)
Split charge relay not show, just the radio switching relays.
I *think* it's right trying not to be distracted by arguing kids.
It could be described as over complicating things, but I'm quite comfortable with wiring so was happy to do it for my convenience. Only needed to run one small switching wire from the rear to the relays in the dash, everything else was picked up in the dash or engine bay.
So with Marks, I'd be slightly concerned that during switching, you could either connect both batteries momentarily, or, you could lose all your radio settings/presets during switch over.
This is what I plan with mine...radio always fed from the leisure, but senses the ignition position for auto on/off, and over-ride to allow use with key out of the ignition.
[img] http://www.diymotorhome.co.uk/community/media/wiring-diagram-for-radio.423/full?d=1489006639 [/img]
The vehicle and leisure batteries are connected via the split charge/battery to battery charger during driving, so I don't see a benefit to having the radio operate from the vehicle battery.
Edit: The switched feed on the leisure side can run 'backwards' to a reversing camera, this is needed as if you leave the camera wired to the vehicle loom, it could result in the two batteries connecting through it (or the radio), if you connect it directly to your leisure battery, it will always be powered and sip precious amps.
In practice I never had any issues with mine. It was all properly fused too, not shown. I like your solution, simpler. Though I wanted to be able to run without the leisure batteries if necessary, not sure why as it never happened to be the case.
I did actually drive my old van a few times with no leisure batteries as I removed them during a refit. The leisure battery leads were disconnected (and taped up) and the feeds to the main fusebox were still connected, so as long as the split charge was connected, the radio worked 🙂 Wasn't planned but very convenient :d
cheers folks , i think ive got my head round spookys diagram and it really doesnt involve much more work than firing a lead up for the leisure battery.
I need to fire one up from the vehicle battery also triggered by the switched live which will also live under the glove box and will power my 4 cab usb outlets and ill fire the reversing camera over onto that as well most likely and that will leave only the radio on this circuit.
So you're going to run an additional vehicle feed for the USBs, and you'll need to use a second relay, operated from the radio switched live, to make these ignition controlled.
I would keep the reversing cam on the leisure side, otherwise you have the camera connected to the vehicle feed for power, and a potential path to the leisure feed due to the video cable running back to the head unit. (sorry, this is irrelevant if you have a standalone camera screen which I think you do...my camera feeds into a double din head unit.)
I was going to run a beefed up feed from the leisure and then split it out into separate feeds to radio, dashcam and 12v sockets. Dashcam will run all the time unless I unplug it, as the solar will easily keep up with it. I have one in the work van and it only gets turned off when I'm on holiday.
Interesting! When my broken ankle gets better I can get to work on mine.
88k miles, medium wheel base sprinter, with some rust spots, inside is nearly done.
https://goo.gl/photos/AaAQenGeevVjfvhM6
Mine has a Airtronic D2 diesel heater that needs some attention!
Yeah I know I need a second relay I understood how to wire that up but I was barking up entirely the wrong tree for the stereo.
Your drawing has helped immensely
I do have a separate headunit and switch for the reversing cam. I didn't want it off the reverse switch.
Woo and indeed hoo
Dash light disco is fixed.
Sorted the door switch as above and rewired all the pad depth sensors .
Lights all off.
Also gave it full filters and fluids service. Quite an easy job thanks to its self priming electric primary fuel pump 🙂
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New low level lights in run off a switch direct from leisure battery to allow you to light up to get in to the power management system without falling over all the stuff that's fallen out the cupboards 🙂
The seats are an acquired taste. Personally i hate them and will probably throw a nice tasteful tartan travel rug over them when i find one.
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All the roofs back up the lights wired back in and everything's working as it should.even the power aerial - and i dinnae even have a telly, the mattress is back in. Started getting it stocked up with plates and cups etc. First trip next weekend over to laggan area 🙂
There's a lady stowaway/hostage in your van. You ganna make use of her? 🙂
That's Mrs tr. Despite having had it for 3 weeks that's the first time she's actually been able to climb up to the bed.
The ladder it came with wasn't fit for **** all.
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Found some appropriate bedding in asda today.
So we got to use it this weekend.
Stayed at loch garten on Friday night then down to laggan on Saturday
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Stayed at morlich at the car end away from what i thought was a vw t5 convention goin on.
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It must be a logarithmic gauge- although it did suck up 130quid of BP ultimate before i went (don't normally run that just thought I'd do the first tank on it to give the injectors a clean.)
What surprised me most is dispute its size it's much less stressful to drive than the 25ft coach-built i hired once. It's narrow enough to fit down b roads without panicin every time you see a car. The only time you really have to worry is in reverse or turning tight junctions- need to swing the front out a bit.
I'm sold
I'm sold too. Mrs_oab wants a camper, and im keen to go normal van not coach built. Having driven lwb high roof transits for years, my experience is like yours - much easier than coach built.
Nice. That's what having a camper van is all about.
one slight hickup at the weekend was we ran out of juice and that was even being miserly ... only had the fridge on 12v when the vehicle was running/driving and being minimal with all else. Anything more than one light on caused it to have a fit.
the 75ah leisure battery wasnt exactly at full capacity - 60% according to my smart charger and that was post battery recovery charge session.....
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thats the old battery up front with the new one behind getting a pre fitting balance charge to stop them equalising when connected. together
so i splashed out on a pair of 115ah batteries and hooked them up in parallel as after looking at hooking the fridge up to gas moutning the vents is going to be a mare due to the door rail - then the door shielding the vents when open. So solar and big batteries it is.
Solar install in may but for now a pair of big batteries JUST fits in where the old ones were 😀
and no longer do i have a black out when ever the taps turned on and the pump kicks in or the fridge is on or the heater comes on(it was -1 on friday night)
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i think i actually turned them 90 degrees since that photo as the terminal clamps went on better,
bit of a tight squeeze i did actually do some CAD yesterday before ordering to make sure they would fit. Still need to screw down the securing brackets. Whole area under those seats is vented to atmos under the van which doubles as a drain as thats also the watertank incase of a leak.
The van also came with 5 keys to operate it .... great - except that it was 1 key for pretty much each barrel on the van. so although i got the central locking and that pretty much null and voided the issue It annoyed me and i still had to carry at least 2 keys and 3 if i wanted to fill up with fuel......
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so i got on ebay and bought a set of 6 lock cylinders and an ignition barrel which came with 2 "dumb" key blanks . I also bought 3 iveco central locking fob blanks and had the dumb key pattern copied over.
I moved the electronic gubbins over to the good keys and swapped all the cylinders over - 1 in each door - one in the fuel cap and one in the glove box. plus changed the ignition barrel and we are back operating off one key for everything so i now have 2 fully functioning keys as per factory and 3 dumb no electronics keys which will be good for if we go swimming/kayaking/mtbing in the pishing rain.....
minor detail for most but something im pretty hot on now after getting locked out of a vehicle i only had one key for (but not enough to pay dealer prices to sort it .....) total cost of rekeying the whole car was 80 quid.
some little dash touches i retrieved from my little white van when it sold last week - also stole the floor mats from it too since the guy knocked me down another 150 quid from what i thought was an already fair price ..... how ever caught me in a rush as i go back to work next week so needed/wanted it off the drive and it sitting for another month and half would have meant it lost more than 150 quid in value even in expiring mot.
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hooking the fridge up to gas mounting the vents
2/3 way absorption fridges do use a lot of power on 12V. Compressor fridges are much much more frugal with power. Though they are also much more spendy to buy.
I could run for 3 days with a battery bank the same size as yours with no need to recharge. Lights, radio, water pump the only other draws.
More reading and maths says stuff the 12v .
Run the 12v through an inverter an use the 240 it'll draw a fraction of the amps even accounting for inverter inefficiency i should still be quids in over running 12v biggest benefit being the 240 has a cycling thermometer inline. The 12v just goes on and off.
Running it off gas isn't out of this realm i just need to recess the vents into the body work which is more fab work to do neatly than i have time for right now.
Came to a similar conclusion with fridges... the modern 240V A+ (and A++) fridges are way more efficient than the expensive 12v ones, so run an inverter and you're away.
On top of that, if you're running from solar, you get the power when you most need it.
Regarding Solar, if you're thinking of semi flexible panels, it's worth checking as I found that 80w ones actually work out cheaper per watt than 100w ones and being smaller, are easier to find spaces around rooflights etc to mount.
That said, I've just checked ebay to try and give you a link and the panels I managed to get for £65 a pop are now closer to £85 a pop, so maybe I got lucky.
We were up at the Gisburn PMBA Enduro at the weekend, arrived Friday and left Sunday evening. The solar panel was a god send. The rain was torrential all the time but the panel kept the battery well topped up. The diesel heater and fan was running all the time. Fridge was running on gas.
I was planning to fit 1*100 watt panel between my sky lights and that leaves room for a second if so needed 80 watts makes it abut tught.
How ever I'm not changing the fridge as that means major interior mods to the units as almost all compressor fridges are quite a bit bigger. Will bear it in mind next time i build 🙂
Next step currently will be to get the water pump and timing belt changed and when I'm doing the solar in a couple month i will also be changing the split charge system as it's no where near man enough which probably caused my issues with the fridge when the engines running.....Was still draining leisure battery with the engine running.
The front to back cables are only 2.5mm^2 which will be causing a serious voltage drop. Should be 16mm^2 + especially more now with the big batteries which could draw alot of current after being parked up for a bit.
If you've got the cash go for one of these instead of split charge, much better and actually a proper multistage charger
I run one of these plus have 2x100w solar and 2x110ah batteries. Pretty much never run out of power. I do have a 12v compressor fridge though. in summer the panels pretty much keep up with the fridge use on their own.
Yeah more chance of me changing the fridge than one of them happening.
But the ring rscdc30 battery to battery charger might as it can also used in place of the solar controller.
I think spooky has one of those in his daily.
I guess modern vans need that set up anyway or the canbus/smart alternator goes crazy
Maybe silly question, but do you find you really need to run a fridge? Occasionally in midsummer it might get a bit warm but not often. It's not like anyone takes one bike-packing.
I'd assume if you were away for multiple days in a van then a fridge allows more options for food. Bikepacking (or touring as it really is) limits what you can carry so a fridge isn't practical...with a van that has space and carrying capacity it makes more sense and allows far more days away before resupplying is required.
It's nice when your in France not to have to buy milk and butter daily. It's also nice to have a cool post ride beer instead of having to run down the shop buy em and drink em in one hit because once they go warm they won't cool down again.
And like dick says. If I've got the space and the fridge came with the van I'm gonna use it.
Never had one before mind. And when bike packing my diets different. This things more a home from home.
Think of it as a disagreement with holiday homes taking homes away from the locals and empty houses don't spend money meaning community's suffer. At least here i spread my custom around lots of areas(areas i may not have visited if i had to pay for accommodation before anyone points out the obvious non spend) and put money into the area via shops/cafes/pubs/restaurants/campsites/attractions while I'm there
Well glad i followed spookys advice and got ontop of all the brakes sharpish
Stripped them down last Thursday and cleaned all sliders before applying ceramic lube liberally (fyi don't use copper slip on sliders kids- when it heats up it dries out and goes sticky can cause more issues) and cleaned/lubed/wound back all pistons to ensure they were free and working.
All 4 brembos units working at 100%
Then driving home from a long weekend i was about 2 mins from my house just coming out the village and was met by this nugget on a blind corner (no doubt driving god's on here can see through walls though)
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Raging. He didn't even seem to have drifted-ive seen folk cut the corner occasionally but this guy was fully tracking the corner on my side ffs.i was stopped by the second screenshot....He didn't stop he swearved i thought that was van dead as he didn't seem to even be trying to stop.
Are you passing the footage on to the plod? It's the only way nobs like that will learn.
Phone 101 but due to my own lights reflecting off the nuggits plates i don have a plate.
They said they would put it in the system and bare it in mind if there were other similar complaints against similar cars in the area.
Well as far as i see the vans never had a belt pump thermostat or fan belt change since new. All stamped up 2005.
So it now has shiny new belt, tensioners , rollers , waterpump , thermostat and fan belt.
Felt like i was taking bits off the van for ever just to find the timing chest !
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At its most disassembled !
Is there a Big End in that photo??? No idea what it is, but it is a cool name for something in an engine.
Is there a Big End in that photo?
Bloody hope not.
Video footage is impressive, little disappointed there was no audio, I might have learned some new words...
Raging. He didn't even seem to have drifted-ive seen folk cut the corner occasionally but this guy was fully tracking the corner on my side ffs.
Guess he thought the roadworks were still in place (assuming that's the bridge like). I find it's usually worse on the opposite direction. That looked chuffing scary!
Yeah, you really need to take that line in a 30 zone...
Squirrel...where is the video footage...have I missed a link?
Spooky i sent it to save on Facebook
No big ends dickbarton.
It's just the clean end of the block . No ancillaries or waterpump or belts etc - nor intercooler , rad , front clip or bonnet.......
ah ha .
Found the rusty bits.
The offside bumper support bracket when lightly tapped with my rubber mallet appeared to be mostly made of rust and fresh air..... photos later.
yay . Break out the plasma cutter and welder - brackets now rebuilt and solid again. if it shall rust again i well make some new ones out of box binky style.
because of this and some repairs to the rad brackets + waiting on paint to dry still not restarrted the van after timing belt 🙁
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It's not a trail rat project unless i get to wield a welder in a haphazard manor.
Loving the plasma cutter(just a cheeky) . Makes life so much nicer than trying to hack rot out with the grinder. Just run the plasma up the edge of a ruler- really nice straight edge to run a burr over and perfect to weld to.
All because someone didnt bother to replace the arch liner....
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Post plasma - 3d cad patch design weld and kurusted. Was actually a complex multi piece patch due to the contours and limited shaping facilities at mine. - having checked out the prices of replacements on line I'll be making some box section units to replace these if they ever need doing again.
Also wire wheeled and kurusted the chassis legs - not because they were bad but because old flakey paints worse than a rusty surface as it traps water and dirt against it causing localised heavy corrosion.
So it got wire wheeled , kurusted then undersealed.
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I also did the edges of the battery tray and the cab mount sections - although these got wire wheeled - kurusted - primered and are ready for some fresh red when i get back
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One of the new neighbours who wasn't here for landy gate seemed to be having a minor coronary at this stage and was down asking me about what i was up to......
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When yer crank pulleys stuck and you have not got a ribbed pulley pullers - ooh err matron.
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Check the nick of that aux belt.
Finally got my wiring sorted out as per discussion on previous page. It got little more involved...
1) When I pressed the over-ride switch (far right) to turn on the radio without the key in, the power feeding back down the switched positive resulted in the dash becoming live and the fuel pump priming 😯 So had to add a diode which is essentially a 'one way valve' for electricity.
2) Realised I would lose the auto-dimming screen when the lights are on, (quite useful with a large screen as it also switches to a dark theme) this didn't need another relay, just a positive feed to another switch (2nd from right, not yet labelled) which then supplies 12v to the illumination wire.
3) Had to add a second relay to keep the 12v 'reverse gear' signal separate from the leisure system (radio flips to a rear camera in reverse)
There are a few other bits in there, a 3rd relay for a rear flood lamp, permanent supply for a dashcam, and supply for a wireless camera transceiver that takes a video feed from our horse trailer.
[img] http://www.diymotorhome.co.uk/community/media/dash-wiring.431/full?d=1492807114 [/img]
Smart.
I work for iveco if you ever need info
Trailrat could we have less pics of rusty bits of van and more of your mrs please?
How much are people paying for leisure batteries?
How much are people paying for leisure batteries?
Depends where they are bought from - Ann Summers sells them at a premium (but they tend to arrive with an interesting holder' for them to live in).
Well the tone lowered quickly in here ......
Anyway vans been parked up for 3 weeks I'm at work. To be continued when i get back.
I figured another solution to my radio issue spooky....I have an FM/dab stereo that lived in the garage that runs off 5v 2.1a so i just made a usb cable for that and it runs off a usb port i fitted in the back. Seemed a simpler solution.
I will be following suit with the rear flood lights when i get home....Found out when i arrived home late on a Sunday night the reversing cam is useless in the dark.
well in preparations for me getting home ive bitten the(rather expensive)bullet of sorting out its hotrod like stance and lack of a suitable spare rear wheel for the (it has odd axles)
So i could have cheaped out and just bought a single 6 bolt wheel and thrown it in the back to give me 2 spare wheels
How ever the different sized wheels bothers me ,it just looks shit as well as all the weight being forward so its crashy as **** at pot holes despite the cab mounts looking good and most of all it really needs new front tires shortly as they are nearing end of life.
SO 3 wheels with good tires were procured off ebay along with 2 steering knuckles with disks and hubs to allow me to run 16" wheels all round. I may need new calipers also but ill cross that bridge when i get there as they are easy to get At the very least ill have a spare wheel to chuck in the back , I cant say ive not been nervous about the last few trips with only 2 cans of tire weld to sort out a rear puncture should it occur....
So far im resisting the urge to fit 20" bling bling alloys and a bonnet bra.....
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these arrived this morning , went for rigid panels as my roof isnt flat and i dont want to bond them direct to roof.
2 x 100watt - to be wired in series , the controller hasnt arrived yet , went with a MPPT unit which will step down from 24v to 12v
not got the mounts yet either just went with regular Z mounts which ill rivinut through the roof to secure - i have an HD rivinut tool so im bloody well gonna use it for something - it hasnt been used since the land rover build.
i also took a road trip yesterday to dunfermilne and collected this
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its a rather old fiamma F45 , ive half cleaned it and half left it dirty for now i was just seeing what it looked like under the scum that had built up. The guy i bought it off was breaking his old camper after the engine dropped a valve so picked this up for 80 quid and a mint condition seitz window for 150 which ill mount in the drivers side opposite the sliding door window.
For the fiamma ill need to get creative as its a f45 its meant to be mounted on the side - and although fiamma make roof mount brackets for it they are A very expensive and B desigend to fit on a flat roof .... i dont have a flat roof 🙁 [img][URL= http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y162/barbie_zetec/Mobile%20Uploads/IMG-20170511-WA0002.jpe g" target="_blank">
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those are the brackets that came with - again rivinuts are going to be order of the day and im thinking i could knock up a couple of angled washers like those in an avid CPS mount to get the plate vertical against the side of the van - then tie that back to another couple of riv nuts using the upper bolts + a bracket coming off at 45 degrees with a 90 degree twist in so it would bolt flat to roof.
I also have the fridge vents needed to put the fridge onto gas - the lower ones not an issue , the upper one with the exhaust for the exhaust to exit in the vent the vent will have to span over a panel joint - im not overly keen to do this but i cant see any other option - if i lift it above the panel join ill be across the door runner - if i lift it above the door runner im in an area where i have no depth behind the panel to run the exhaust. - answers on a postcard please.
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The 80called. They want their awning back. Tomorrow's job - find some 2.5mm ally sheet to make the braces for the brackets
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The middles my reversing camera and left and right are my reversing floodlights. They are 18watt led units off eBay .got a 50 odd watt version of the same on the lndy it's been there for ages and still works as well as being insanely bright for its size.
Very interesting. Thanks for the updates.
Today we mostly installed solar panels
2 * 100 watt wired in series with an mppt controller
Keeps the fridge happy !
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Had to get creative and bend the glandbox to fit roof profile
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Was very grey today and still we produced power looking forward to seeing it in sunny times
Once that was buttoned up I moved onto the awning .
This awning was bought from a vehicle which has flat sides so was just bolted on side.
I can't do this
Neither can I use any of the predetermined brackets from fiammas range as my roofs not flat. I can use their multi fit but at 32 quid each and i need 3 it got pricy fast.
I came up with this.
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Going to add some spine gussets on the bends as under load I can see the bends wanting to straighten out.. will do that after I get all the bends final though . Take it all off and tidy up corners on the grinder prime it and paint it
Love the wavy gland box 🙂
Do the panel brackets need bolting from inside? I probably should be fitting solar but I've got a finished ceiling..
Well I planned to riv nut them but brackets came with self drilling screws with sealing washers.
I applied brackets to a bed of sikaflex 512 and screwed through that.
Was good enough for my skylights so I'm sure it'll be grand for the solar panels. Wasn't wanting to stick them down direct im a believer in airflow and cooling effecting effiency and also they are finite they don't last for ever and I don't fancy trying to remove a panel without removing the paint....I know technically they should last life of vehicle but bathtub model applies....even more so with stuff from China.
Run cables now if you can ....that was my biggest bug bear. Ended up using a length of copper brake pipe as my cable fishing kit wasn't rigid enough to get through the holes/gromets in the side bars o the van.
Cool cheers. Ill bosh a cable in asap.
Ooh I've been modded
Nae hanging about
My 80 quid fiamma is now mounted . The shock absorber system needed an adjustment and the front panel could do with a wee tweek but at a 720 quid saving I'll live with it.
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Was a bloody tough lift getting that up there on my own. 4m long and 30kg it was more than a little unwieldy but it's up there now.
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Fiamma wanted the guts of 100 quid for brackets to fit the awning to my van so I nipped down to Bnq and bought some 2mm galv perforated strap and did some CAD templating before bending some up in metal.
Used 5 riv nuts on each of the three brackets. I'm sure the awning will be in bits on the floor before the brackets shift.
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That's it about half out all working well 🙂
Great stuff!
Well it's been an eventful week.
After 1200 miles since myfull service through diligence of checking the oil regularly I noticed the oil level was climbing
Investigations started.
Things that can cause oil level to rise are piston rings being banjoed-/cylinder bores being banjoed- , injector being banjoed- ,oil cooler being banjoed- or the fuel pump diaphragm.
So starting with what I know.
There was a strong diesel smell on start up
So I opted to check the injectors with my leak off test kit. On doing that it revealed injector 3 had excessive leak off.
So I stripped down the injectors 1 at a time and stuck the nozzles and ball valves into the ultrasonic cleaner.
Then I rebuilt them .
Injector 3 still off the scale. Stripped it back down and found out that under the microscope the ball seat was fine by the ball had erroded badly.
In with a new injector at a cost of 140 quid plus vat and the van starts nicely plus doesn't smell of diesel on start up + the leak off test is a uniform 25ml after 3mins of idle which is within Bosch specification.
Will need to drop the oil and replace it as running a crankshaft in a diesel oil I mix is a terrible idea . the monitor the level going forward before looking at other potential issues.
Just found this thread. Loving your work and your level of tenacity / ingenuity! 🙂
Ha cheers vdubber.
It's more a commitment to the fact I really want a camper to explore the country and I really like learning about mechanical things.
As a teen I had a great boss who taught me that being a mechanic is not about being able to fix xyz . It's about identifying what it's supposed to do, why it's not doing that , what needs to do to make it do that.
It's an education thats stood me better than my degree even I believe.
Too true, be more Bob.
whos bob ?
Pirsig. Thought you would have got that one straight away.
Ah killer had you said robert I'd have got it.
Love that book. Infact it's going in my bag for a re-re-re read on tomorrow night's flight. Need inspiration and confidence to apply for new jobs/new careers.....got good hands and brain but shit paperwork and shit at selling my self .
and we have a fresh ticket for another year 😀 it failed initially on handbrake being siezed - which i knew but i wanted to see if it had any big surprises before i spent 300 quid on new calipers.
It didnt - so 2 new genuine calipers for the rear , 2 refurbed calipers , 4 new disks , 8 new pads , 2 used steering knuckles and 3 used wheels. We have new calipers all round , 4 matching size wheels all with 6bolt hubs so i now only need to carry a single spare wheel.
Sailed through its retest and jeeze does it not drive better - no longer crashes into bumps due to the angle and all the weight being on the front end.
my tame mechanic said get under it with a wirebrush and some paint and thats got a good number of years left in it yet before it may need welding but id do well to look at new springs to improve the ride as current ones are quite saggy so thatll be after our october trip ill get it cleaned up and painted - probably with bed liner(upol raptor) for the body and the plastics on the body work and use their Wheel arch refinement on the arches, under the plastic and the chassis. and then next year sometime ill look at new springs as looking at about 400 quid for them.
Its had a good few trips out after we got back from canada and its running well , engines back on full gas and its returning better MPG with the new/cleaned injectors. I do how ever need to put an extension on the tail piece of the exhaust - due to the gas drop vents i when i drive with the window open the exhaust vents into the area under the van and the vacuum in the van draws the fumes into the van through the drop vents - so ill extend the exhaust to outside the body line of the van - hard to believe the so called professional builder let this happen in the first place ! - but i guess paying attention to all the little details costs money.
Ive cut in the vents for the fridge so it now runs on gas and has exhaust and cooling vents in all the right places - another thing that im dissapointed a professional never sorted
at the request of mrs Tr ive bought a hozelock spray shower as she was a bit worried we would start to smell on long trips - apparently sponge baths are not allowable in this day and age as personal hygiene. I also picked up a cheap(reduced) table and chairs from halfords for under the awning
We are off on the road again for the october holidays when i get home for its first extended trip weather permitting to where ever the sun is 😀
Excellent. More pics please.
(Find a better host btw)
Ye ah haven't got any photos atm and still need to find a decent hosts. Any thoughts on a host
I've started using postimage.org
Looks pretty good so far, and is as easy to use as photobucket was
it failed initially on handbrake being siezed
I don't want to say I told you so, but..... page 1 😉
my tame mechanic said get under it with a wirebrush and some paint
That seems familiar too.
Despite all the troubles I do miss my Iveco, well the travels and adventures it took us on 🙂