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Anon
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oh dear Phil..glad you didn't post pics up without the bandage....the excitement must have been to blame for the moment of stupidity..Hope your hand gets better soon
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 Sun 15 Aug 2010 @ 00:54
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Anon
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Ouch! Hope it heals well Phil - you are always giving us all safety hits so here is one from me - BE CAREFUL 
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Sun 15 Aug 2010 @ 11:00
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Anon
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Luckily it's only skin damage & it's on the mend already. A moment's inattention & so stupid with being ultra careful previously with handling hydrochloric acid. What a Wally!
Excellent result with respect to cleaning out the radiator core though: well pleased with that.
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Sun 15 Aug 2010 @ 19:50
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Anon
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Phil.....after all that blood, (emphasis on blood !!)sweat and tears you have sorted it, well done old son !!
margaret
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Tue 17 Aug 2010 @ 18:20
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Anon
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Days 29-34
Fitting an all-singing all-dancing alarm system took 2 days of finding places to fit the various boxes well away from being tampered with and wire the whole thing to build in redundancy (duplication of critical components for back-up & 'fail-to-safety') to exceed Thatcham category 1 for car alarms. No pictures for this because they'd give away what's been fitted & where the important bits live.
Having the wheels balanced has eradicated the back end vibration & also front end shimmy at higher speeds: 3 tyres needed 450g both sides of the rim & one that actually came balanced has 600g on one rim. Remould 185x14s ... but there's loads of tread on them so they'll do while I get round to fitting a set of 195x14s.
Passenger side mirror fell off again, after a trip down the M62 when the wind off Saddleworth Moor knocked the mirror down enough to break what was left of the plastic socket for the ball on the end of the mirror arm. It bodged on long enough to get home but next day both the original Vitaloni mirrors came off to be replaced by LandRover ones.
I'd managed to get new LandRover mirror arms & heads & found that the mounting threads for the arms are smaller diameter than 1/4" UNF like LandRover arms that I've used before. Um. I had wanted to fit 1/4" studs to the arms because I've found that the arms are easier to fit using nuts & lock washers inside the door. I did, but using 1/4"UNC-UNF studs I had handy & cutting just enough thread with a first taper 1/4" UNC tap for the studs to bite then roll a new thread as they were screwed into the arm -
Threads in the die-cast alloy arms turned out good & a spot of Loctite blue threadlocker was used on each stud to prevent them from turning if ever the nuts inside the doors go rusty enough to seize.
The mirrors fitted (gaskets not yet trimmed) -
Protrusion away from the body is almost the same as the original Vitaloni mirrors & the passenger side mirror has landed in a better position for being obscured less by the door front edge than the original mirror.
The parcel shelf had a squeak that was driving me nuts & in absence of having any rubber stops that were big enough a piece of fuel hose split along its length was cable tied on where the spring clip latches in the back of the shelf -
Radio wiring is what the van came with; I doubt there'll be a radio fitted in the parcel shelf though because I don't want anything in the way of lifting the shelf to remove the cab engine cover.
Crankshaft front oil seal leak got to be too much to bear - about 100mile/litre engine oil, suspension bushes getting coated & a puddle at each stop - so a new seal has been fitted regardless of the state of the crankshaft pulley boss.
New seal is Payen NB628, 45 x 60 x 9 (shaft diameter, seal outside diameter, seal thickness).
Pulley boss damage -
Seal housing in timing chain case is fine (old seal hooked out easily with a screwdriver) -
New seal on its way in with grease filling the recess between the 2 lips -
Final fitting done using a 3/4" drive 1+5/8" socket & a soft face mallet.
Pulley refitted -
Timing notch made in pulley rim to align with 5 degree BTDC timing chain cover mark (a legacy of early 1979cc CIH engines) to correspond with 5 degree BTDC of the timing ball in the front face of the flywheel.
Then, using a strip of adhesive PVC tape cut to 131mm long, another mark was made 131mm anti-clockwise from the 5 degree BTDC mark around the rim of the smaller diameter front half of the pulley -
This is to check valve timing because the engine doesn't have a camshaft gear support plate & I was worried that my dead reckoning going off the camshaft gear dowel & crankshaft pulley key positions at TDC could have been a tooth out when refitting the cylinder head after replacing the valve springs.
Timing is spot on: dial gauge on number 1 inlet rocker arm above the tappet stopped moving (valve fully open) just as the pulley 131mm mark aligned with the timing case mark -
Peace of mind and with that done I went & found what was making the engine struggle sometimes along with odd noises in the exhaust: one of the Air-Vac connections on the air filter temperature sensor wasn't on right even though it looked ok: it fell off when I poked it!
Engine back together & running: no leaks from the crankshaft front seal -
for the time being anyway...
Cooling problem got sorted eventually too despite the coolant boiling in town traffic first trip out with the new viscous coupling fitted. It was looking like the new coupling wasn't doing its job but I could get it to engage when heated using a hot air gun - fan noise increases when the coupling engages & there's a definite on-off cycling with temperature of the bi-metal coil on the front of the coupling.
There was some head scratching and wondering whether it was time for a re-core of the radiator after all until I tried some Wynns radiator flush after boning up how borax mixes work. One of the constituents isn't too kind to solder so it really is a case of follow the instructions & get the stuff out ASAP.
Nevertheless, it's done the trick & without opening up any of the old leaks again: the new viscous coupling now kicks in at 90-95C coolant temperature and the fan pulls down the temperature so fast that I can watch the gauge move. Not only does the van run much more quietly without the fan being fixed but also it seems that there's a bit more power going to the wheels instead of stirring air.
Another annoying noise was the front shock absorber mounting plates loose in the bottom wishbones: much clack & clatter over speed humps and in potholes along with a decided unsteadiness of the front end at speed. Fixed -
The plates for shock absorbers with an eye for their bottom mounting (CF2) are clamped by the centre bolt more than the 2 rim studs. All it needed was to remove the bottom plates, squash the lower ones in a vice until there was about 1.5mm gap between the upper & lower plates when put together then refit them.
Handling is very much improved now with stopping the back end from vibrating as well & with clearing the vacuum leak on the engine the van is now behaving more like it should. The real test will be whether fuel consumption improves beyond 4mile/litre (18mpg); bowling along at an indicated 70mph on a much lighter throttle opening than before is promising though.
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Sun 29 Aug 2010 @ 02:00
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Anon
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1,000 miles
Not much done lately except tidy up the sill under the side load door & worry about fuel consumption.
Door sill has been filled previously but some of the filler was cracking off. When I levered off the loose stuff I found a tear along the sill but no rot. It really needs the damage cutting out & a patch welding in so that the sill can be straightened properly but for now it's had a fresh dose of filler; finished to undercoat -
Fuel consumption at best has been 4 mile/litre, this with tyre pressures of 40psi front, 45psi rear, which makes the van more like a roller skate on bumpy surfaces even with best part of a ton of kit in the back. Along with this the engine performance wasn't as good as it should be, notably being hesitant when pulling from about 30mph in 4th gear and still a bit breathless in 5th gear.
Change in the weather showed up what was the culprit because the cab was taking ages to warm up; with the bulkhead behind the seats this shouldn't be so. Out came the thermostat for another test, to find that it opens fully at 87C but stays open down to about 65C. A new 88C thermostat that closed again at about 80C brought some improvement but the engine still didn't feel quite right so I tried a 92C thermostat that opens fully at 95C then closes at about 90C.
Only done about 40 mile so far with the 92C thermostat in but once the engine warms up the van now can be driven with a feather touch on the accelerator pedal & will potter along at 30mph with b-all throttle opening. Cab heater much improved too with demist kicking in within a mile or two from a cold start & it's hot enough to reduce the temperature & still have a window open. Fuel gauge isn't dropping so fast either (except after hitting a bump in the road then coming back up again next bump - dodgy connection somewhere that needs finding) so things are looking good.
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Tue 21 Sep 2010 @ 01:09
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Anon
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2,000 miles
Not had much time to play with the van lately so it's been a case of drive it & hope for the best...
On the bad side, the remould 185x14 tyres that came with the van are horrible to drive on (maximum 70mph indicated, about 60mph actual) & one gave up in Preston due to the casing failing. The sooner I can afford to fit a set of decent 195x14 tyres the better methinks.
The exhaust rear section fell to bits on the way to Leicester, first cracking apart at the front of the back box then the tailpipe hit the ground when the box separated from the inter-pipe so I removed the box & threw it in the back of the van. Trip back was horrible - noisy and with exhaust fume getting into the cab if I had a window open. It's been welded up for now while I find a replacement for the rear section & also a silencer because that's been bodged up before I got the van.
Gearbox is a bit weak on 4th gear synchromesh: it needs some help to avoid crunching when changing down, e.g. to keep up with trucks on climbs that are too much for 5th gear like the M62 eastbound on the Lancashire side. Otherwise the gearbox is ok so now I've got the measure of how much to boot the accelerator pedal when changing down it's something that I can live with.
On the good side, the engine seems to have sorted itself out now and pulls well enough, with fuel consumption improving to about 6.4 mile/litre (about 29 mile/gallon) on long trips. However, this is on 185x14 tyres & with the speedo over-reading so it's probably more like 5.3 mile/litre (about 24 mile/gallon) if I've got my sums right assuming that the van should have 195x14 tyres fitted.
The 92C thermostat seems to be right too - excellent cab heater performance especially demist from cold in a few minutes now Autumn is here - and the temperature gauge sits about mid-scale most of the time. Stop-start traffic sees the gauge creep up steadily but it never gets quite into the red because the fan viscous coupling engages & the gauge reading drops down again to about midway all the while I can hear fan noise. It's a bit close to the edge though - from measurements taken when the radiator wasn't doing its job properly, just into the red is about 100C - but I'll worry about that if need be next Summer.
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Thu 07 Oct 2010 @ 20:53
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Anon
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2000 miles! Wow, what a success. Are you keeping her going through the winter? Is this your daily ride in place of your barge now Phil - take care? 
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Fri 08 Oct 2010 @ 07:18
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Anon
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Catch 22 - all the while I'm spending all my spare cash on bits for the van for when I can take it off the road for a mending session the Peugeot that I've got to replace the Volvo barge will have to stay with a SORN on it, and all the while I'm using the van I'm finding more stuff to spend money on...
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Fri 08 Oct 2010 @ 07:55
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Anon
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I guess a Malvern trip is out!
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Fri 08 Oct 2010 @ 08:16
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Anon
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van rebuild
;] Hi phil i have just read you blog on your van, all i can say is thank god you are here. your blog is so helpful to so many me included. Anyway keep up the brilliant work and i hope you have many miles of happy motoring . Thanks phil.
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Fri 08 Oct 2010 @ 10:01
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Anon
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Ed-Don wrote:
I guess a Malvern trip is out!
Heck, no - petrol money for the trip has been set aside for a good few weeks now. It was a bit of a panic when the exhaust fell off but I burned some midnight oil to fix it then staggered into the slave job half asleep for 2 days rather than miss Malvern.
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Fri 08 Oct 2010 @ 19:03
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Anon
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Spedometer fix
With running the 185x14 rear tyres at 50psi for the Malvern trip and finding that the odometer clocked up the right number of miles for the trip but speedometer error still was the same I decided to have a look at the speedometer because the pointer wouldn't always return to the stop pin when the van was stationary -
Someone has had the speedometer apart before: the tabs have lost their paint with being bent up to remove the bezel -
So out came the works for a closer look, to find that there was nothing making the pointer stick & what seems to have happened is that the pointer has been removed then replaced without making sure that there was some bias from the balance spring to ensure that the pointer does return to its stop pin.
Fix was easy with knowing what the error was, 36mph indicated for 30mph actual: move the pointer to 36mph, prevent the rotor from turning then twist the pointer back to 30mph -
Spinning the magnet by twisting a screwdriver inserted into the cable drive square is enough to check that the pointer does return to its stop pin every time.
While I had the works out the odometer got reset, to 2380 miles, this being total mileage travelled since I got the van & assuming that previous attention to the speedometer was to 'clock' the mileage. On CF2 odometers this means withdrawing the spindle that carries the plastic gears -
then refitting the gears one by one, from left to right in the photo, after turning the number drums to the required mileage. Only thing to watch is that each drum number is central in the view aperture as its gear is fitted.
Finished -
after a run to confirm 30mph indicated is 30mph actual road speed.
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Tue 12 Oct 2010 @ 12:41
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Anon
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Very inspirational.
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Tue 12 Oct 2010 @ 17:35
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Anon
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I always wondered from a purely academic view how speedos could be clocked- and what signs to look for! I shall investigate mine for similar signs but Ive always though that ultimately a high mileage on a camper van and good maintainance provides far more pedigree than something that has become a 'museum piece' with no history of worth. I do hope though that we dont suddenly see sub 1k CFs flooding ebay! On this topic, the 1973 Norwegian newspaper a found stuffed into a gap behind some panelling is now part of Moby's history files- I wish I could find more stuff to add to the scrap book!
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Tue 12 Oct 2010 @ 22:49
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Anon
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I never believe odometer readings, even digital ones because they can be altered too, unless there's a service history that tallies & can be checked.
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Wed 13 Oct 2010 @ 09:47
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Anon
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Brake noises
Having sorted out 3 usable 195x14 tyres from 6 that came my way, 2 have been fitted to the rear axle with the 3rd tyre as a 2nd spare with still having 185x14s on the front. The back end has been transformed - handling is a lot better with being able to run 195x14s at 40psi instead of 185x14s at 50psi for the same weight being carried - and there's so little tyre noise now that I could hear a scraping noise from the rear brakes.
The cause, a loose steady spring cap in the left side -
This must have been left in when the brakes were last apart because everything is fine -
Right side is just the same but with no extra loose bits.
Both rear drums have had the wear lip ground away -
This is unnecessary because there's a slot in the backplate for releasing the self adjuster mechanism...
Rear brake hose anchor plate on the rear axle needed a few gentle wallops with a plastic mallet because it had been bent upwards -
Correct position is roughly horizontal so that the hose doesn't bend downwards. Exhaust repair is from last week when the rear section fell off.
Front brakes had a dose of looking at too because the pads squeal once they warm up; pads had been wrongly fitted (they're not identical & have to be paired so that the retaining pins fit easily) & are missing 1 of the 2 spring clips each side. For now they've been fitted as pairs with a smear of squeal deterrent grease on the back of each. When it's time for new pads I want to remove the calipers so that the hub can be removed for cleaning & re-packing the inner bearings so I'll take some photos then to show how the pads should be fitted.
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Wed 13 Oct 2010 @ 13:08
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Anon
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3000 miles Lucas gremlins
The lighting column stalk switch melted at about 9pm and 120 mile from home, leaving me with no dipped headlights -
The blue Scotchlok splice got dipped beam back for the trip home.
Rather than have to find another switch at silly money for that to go the same way with having quartz-halogen headlamp bulbs fitted I decided to fit a couple of relays making use of the still intact main beam contacts -
The 5-pin dip/main relay takes its supply from the blue feed cable. The normally closed contacts are used for dip beam, normally open for main beam; the relay is switched by the column stalk going to main beam position.
The 4-pin flash relay takes its supply from the purple cable and is switched by the stalk flash contacts. With having only the one relay socket handy (used for the dip/main relay) each terminal is insulated & the lot is taped up for now to prevent short-circuits.
Both relays tuck under the dash panel so that the column covers fit over the added wiring. Splices under the heat shrink tubing were made using Solistrand butt terminals.
There's another relay to be fitted yet, to protect the dash rocker switch...
Costs analysis so far
Trend lines (yellow, green) are best fit power functions.
Mile/litre (red) is calculated on a rolling total basis, i.e. total fuel used divided by total mileage at each point on the horizontal axis. Fuel consumption laden to 2200kg presently is about 4mile/litre (18mpg) in urban traffic, about 5.3mile/litre (2mpg) at about 56mph in free-flowing Motorway traffic.
Cost as £/mile (blue) also is on a rolling total basis & includes all costs incurred from day 1: repairs, maintenance, additions, insurance, tyres, road tax.
If labour time was included then the numbers would be frightening...
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Tue 16 Nov 2010 @ 18:35
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Anon
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philbradshaw wrote:
5.3mile/litre (2mpg) at about 56mph in free-flowing Motorway traffic.
There is no way I could afford the MPG Phil LOL
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Tue 16 Nov 2010 @ 18:50
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Anon
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Duh. Should be 24mpg. Must fix the 4 key...
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Tue 16 Nov 2010 @ 18:52
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