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Post by nugget on Jun 27, 2010 20:54:58 GMT 10
THIS THREAD IS THE CONTINUATION OF THE STORY OF THE RESTORATION OF NUGGET'S VAN.
TO READ THE BEGINNING OF THE STORY CLICK HERE[/URL]
[/size] G’day All, ;D      I have started a new thread as the last getting a bit long-winded,  here is a link to the thread if you would like to check progress so far....... vintagecaravans.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=photo&action=display&thread=6534After a funeral and rain on Friday there was not a lot to do   ....  Anyway, today was a good day the front frame is finally rebuilt, screwed and glued back together.....  Woo hooo !!!! ;D ;D As stated at the end of my last thread I like to do things right the first time so this involved rebuilding the front side bottom arch frame ribs (?), but I wasn’t happy with the original wooden ribs .....  They were too flimsy..  So these have been replaced with rolled steel ribs.....  Hope the purest don't hate me. I welded a top cross bar to these ribs and welded centre two ribs to main RHS draw bar, then etch grinded and primed welds ....  I sanded and primer sealed a second coat to front floor board, under front RHS draw bar (water & wood don’t mix, I hate water   )...  I re-bolted RHS draw bar to floor.... ;D  Then added a wooden frame base and bolted to top bar of steel rib frame.... Added three window support braces......  Checked window frames for size and fit, perfect ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D............  Then it was a case of gluing, screwing and bolting together. I used polyuathane wet weather wood glue, great stuff this.... To finish off the day we dropped the motor, gearbox and driveshaft out of the ek....  Any way tired now more picture at s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/Thanks for following Cheers Nugget ;D ;D
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Post by nugget on Jun 30, 2010 22:09:50 GMT 10
G’day all, Well, we are making good progress here, thanks to some free labour ;D ;D ;D.....  It’s a great project to teach him some simple stuff, it has surprised me how much interest he has taken in it ;D.... So with the front frame now fitted, glued and screwed, I have started some work in the interior..... I started by fitting ply for fit to front frame interior. Originally the front ply sheet was crudely cut to fit near A Frame....  So, to alleviate this I chocked the underside of the panel, although this puts a minor space between frame and ply at the bottom......  I have chocked these and the expanding polyurethane glue will bond and fill these gaps anyway (love that glue)......  I am happy ;D ;D with the decision to go with the steel frame at the front this has made the front end SOLID!!!!!! Inside and out even before gluing...  I have cut the new side walls in 1 piece each side instead of the original 3 ....  This will provide a better overall finish with less joins, I will have to alter seats but this will be easy enough. In addition I have made the ceiling panels wider so once again less joins ....  Although it’s pretty tricky because of the corner cut out and (following the original design) fitted the front ceiling panel to fit to the outside frame edge on top of the side wall panels, I needed a mate to help.....  I am going to cut ceiling to line up with internal walls instead of as it was and fit plastic corner edging which I will discuss next ...  I have plastic joiners which give an excellent corner finish and I am fitting these at the moment so will post some more pictures when done (they require some modifications). I was unsure of this and was going to use wooden beading but  ... The plastic does look neat and awesome although not period..... comments/suggestions? So it’s nice to see it going back together (before any further destruction), that’s it for moment more updated pictures at..... s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/Thanks for following, love to hear ideas/suggestions, Cheers Nugget ;D |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2010 6:36:47 GMT 10
Hi Nuggets Your doing a great job there mate. The idea of steel in the front end is also good. Nearly every ply van i have seen suffers from rot down low at the front. Also ply vans can suffer from sag in this area as well due to the curved overhang out passed the floor not being rigidly supported. The plastic moulds make a lot of sense . Yeah they might not be period but are a lot easier to work with than trying to bend timber quad mouilding around curves. Keep at it mate.... you and the young bloke are doing great. Both my sons helped me and the missus work on our first van "Just Croozn" bacl in 2004. The boys where about 19 and 14 back then and it was one of the only projects that they have ever helped me with through to completion. Taught them a few skills they didnt have,,, and a few swear words as well. After dragging home around a dozen vans over the years , all they do now is roll thier eyes.... moan .. and walk away. Keep the updates coming. Reddo |
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Post by nugget on Jul 1, 2010 20:04:24 GMT 10
OOPS!!!! Looks like I have been posting this in the wrong section.  Sorry Firefighter. ;D Anyway folks now I am in the right place I have been checking out others resto's ;D Wow there are some rippers. Thanks for the feedback Reddo LMAO . I'm sure my son will prefer the holidaying side of the van . It's good to hear we can bend the rules a little for a better outcome without upsetting the purists , although I find with the EK it is 100% original all the way, as soon as you modify them they lose value At the moment adding extra frame noggins(?) in the side wall frames that were not in the original design to give the walls extra firmness, especially at the back of seat. Also, I'm fitting the corner edging, so will update photobucket when this done. Anyway, back to it.. thanks for following Nugget |
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Post by firefighter on Jul 1, 2010 21:04:49 GMT 10
OOPS!!!! Looks like I have been posting this in the wrong section. Sorry Firefighter. Nugget .....you have done nothing wrong.......just following up on a suggestion from another member your restoration might be better in members photo alburn Nugget I sent you a PM on why I moved it ? f/f ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by nugget on Jul 3, 2010 19:58:46 GMT 10
G’day all, Progressing along nicely, ;D have glued in front internal panels and front ceiling panel.....  I used plastic edge stripping cornice (I think I will steam timber next time) fiddly to get right.and 45 corners seam flimsy at the moment but hope will firm with some paint I think). But it does seal outer corner edges entirely which is good.....  I have also fitted new noggins on outside front wall frames (I will take pictures next time). Have removed the fridge compressor and prepared area for refit and repair to door hanging frame.... ![]() i1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/3JU![]() i1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/3JUl2010001.jpg It looks like this van has seen a real good time in the early 90’s  .....  Now I know why they needed 13 leaves on the suspension ;D ;D ;D.....  Tested seats for fit and won’t require too much modification to fit , I will put firmer seats on them though...... ![]() i1041.photobucket.com/a ;)lbums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/3JUl2010006.jpg[/IMG]   My young fella pulled out the sink and removed the last of the tiles, wiring and splash back area ready for refit ....  Anyway that’s it for the moment Cheers Nugget ;D |
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Post by hwyman on Jul 4, 2010 15:32:25 GMT 10
Hi Nugget its looking good I had to laugh when i saw what you found under the compressor as your van was on ebay quite a few times and the fist time i saw it advertised a young fella expressed his interest in the van purely for that purpose . The then owner was utterly disgusted and let him have it . If she only new ha ha. hwyman. ;D ;D ;D |
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Post by nugget on Jul 7, 2010 22:24:05 GMT 10
G’day all, ;D Hey, love the story hwyman (Another funny story about this van ;D ;D ;D). What happened with the original e-bay sale was that a young couple from Sydney brought it, but they realised that they couldn’t tow i :-/t they got quoted $2000 to get it home, so I picked it up off the original owner but brought it off the young couple in Sydney, So I rang the first ebay owner to arrange pickup, who said just travel over the mountain from Benalla it’s quicker than going through Mansfield. So towing 16foot car trailer behind the Vt up over the winding steep dirt mountain road , a slight detour up a logging track , past Stringy Bark Creek 3 hours later found it. Loaded the van onto the trailer and they showed me their other two VV’s ;D much better than mine. Took the Mansfield sealed road home. ;D ;D ;D Nice couple who loved their VV’s. They asked me to keep them up to date so will put them on to here hopefully get some pics of their vans ;D.. Well the cold weather certainly slowed things up a bit , and have mainly spent a lot of time preparing ceiling for lining. I had to remove ceiling beading and the cupboards so as to be able to reinsert the new ceiling panel .........    I can cut the new insert to fit in one large piece in the center ceiling panel and cut the skylight out after fitted.... Someone said in my first post that i may find a few surprises 8-)as I go, I had to huntsmen which you would expect but I didn’t expect this one .....   ANTS!!! Just glad they are not the white ones ;D.... I felt like i committed an act of genocide wiping out a whole colony on the little buggers . But wait there’s more... I just tore the next part of panel off the frame there’s another colony , I will post more pictures after the massacre. I removed this light (more ants under it) . ...  I removed the fridge compressor from the van into the daylight and here’s some pics for those interested ...     Not much else to report, but still having great fun, more pics at . s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/Thanks for following Nugget ;D |
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Post by nugget on Jul 15, 2010 7:08:38 GMT 10
G’day V’Vanner’s, ;D The Carnage continues ;D ;D ;D.....  As you can see I have removed the cupboard, fridge and bed base from the left hand side of the van. It was necessary to remove the cupboard and fridge to replace the masonite sheet over the wheel arch, this will also make it easier to reline the ceiling and walls without having to fit around it ...   I removed the fridge inner and rotted insulation surrounding it...    I have found that as I am progressing I’m starting to deviate from the original way in which the frames and lining have been constructed, where I can improve on the original design. Not only the plastic cornice but I have found that if I follow the original design I am often not happy with the end results , for example the window frame outer lining originally masonite and front lower frame replaced with box steel frame. The next fix is the left hand door frame, the original had a cross member morticed into the door frame which exposed the end of the timber  , this was where the water had rotted out the original timber and looked amateurish, I unfortunately copied this on my first attempt ,...  but will be replacing this, if it’s worth the effort, it is worth doing it right the first time . The other side door frame I made my way from the start ;D, I repaired the rotted cross member......  I used a rebated mortice joins on these, so the door frame has no exposed joins in the exposed frame side. I have left this upright off until I finish lining the ceiling and internal walls (easier to install ply )...  Another thing that was bugging me was where I had routed out the bottom edge of the window frames as I had not initially cut these into the timber prior to assembly, so they looked crappy and uneven , so I routed these off and replaced it with angled beading, This gives the edges a even consistency and a professional finish ;D ..   I have cut all the glass beading and have sanded and sealed these with 2nd coat of prep primer, I don’t want water getting into these for the next 50 years .....  These only need a light sand and then I can splash my first coloured paint around ;D ;D ;D, I will then pre-drill and nail glass beading and give them to my mate to glaze for me with 6mm glass....  Like the front frame, I am replacing the back bottom curved plywood frame with steel.....  This has been another area affected by water and rot .  The interior plywood was also attached to the exterior of the frame, I will be remaking it the same as the front as the front..... I took the steel to the local steel roller...   These will be attached to a length of rhs on the topside and a flat steel length for the floor. I have cold gal the top of the wheel arch guard....  Some of the materials used in this van are incredible, check this floor board out ;D ;D ;D :t...  It is 410mm wide and 2m long, in addition all the cupboard doors are all made out of a single piece’s of timber. Timber must have been cheap when this van was made... Anyway folks, that’s all for the moment, more pictures at s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/Cheers Nugget ;D |
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Post by nugget on Jul 15, 2010 10:11:17 GMT 10
PS Please all vote in my poll! ;D |
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Post by nugget on Jul 19, 2010 23:25:31 GMT 10
G’day V Vr’s ;D , I have started on the rear end ....  There is a bit of rot ....     I’m surprised this van hasn’t burnt down some of the wiring has been interesting ......  This is a previous repair job, I suspect itself tells a story about the vans history, will discuss when I speak to the previous owners and have more time....  So it didn’t take much, a good kick ;D......   A bit of sag on the right hand side ...  The end floor board had rot where the bondwood and exterior cladding met the timbe :(r, so I cut off the end 200m ;D :)l....   I took a sample of the floor boards to 3 different timber stores today, 2 of the experts said it was Red Cedar, when I asked if it was western red cedar (imported usually) or Australian red cedar as I knew Australian red cedar is a lot deeper red in colour and western red has more knots than my floorboards I got blank looks , so, I went to the third guy he said it was Oregan which sits better with me , but will take it to the wood turners out of interest, they know everything about wood, they will probably tell me which mill in came out of ;D ;D ;Df..... After my experience with the front I thought no stuffing ;D around this time, work my way from the bottom up, but I started the back frame and have it clamped ready to tack weld as I didn’t have the timber ready to replace the floorboard , so ....    The day has come that I have splashed my first bit of colour about ;D ;D ;D ;D, it gives such a nice smooth finish to my windows, yet, all is not good  ....   Although the picture does not show it there is quite a difference between the car colour and the paint I got. The car paint appears to be a greener tint than the window paint . At the time I was researching my car colours which I researched through the fb=ek holden club I checked my colour codes and even got a picture of a ek wagon wreck the same colour code (argosy turquoise) as mine. I thought at the time the wagon was a deeper blue turquoise than mine and think I may need to look into the car a bit more and go see my car paint bloke tomorrow. A bit sad after spending time researching this properly!! Oh well! lots to be happy about. ;D Other developments, fixed this which was bugging me .... And here is the cold gal guard pic I promised.... So the fun continues, ;D will post again soon,,, More pictures at s1041.photobucket.com/albums/b415/wilfred61ek/Nuggets%20Van%20Resto%20updates%201/Nugget |
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Post by JBJ on Jul 20, 2010 8:22:54 GMT 10
Hi Nugget,
Good to see someone not scared to get stuck into it, that follows it thru to the stage where it can be finished off.
I like your ideas with the steel framing. Once its in there, its going to last a long time.No one can tell whats under there when its finished, so its still going to look original style.
Keep at it, you're going great
JBJ
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Post by nugget on Jul 22, 2010 1:08:53 GMT 10
G’day VV’ers. ;D Thanks JBJ, I’m not scared, just crazy . Did you get my PM? Moving on from..........  My Horror paint story............ The colour drama continues ...... I just want it to match my car ....    I stopped off at my car spray paint bloke where I brought my spray guns, I walked straight in and said g’day, I knew he had the holden colour charts I asked if I could check my colour code for my colour he said I will do better than that,,,,, he mixed up a sample (for free ;D )while I went to the car and got the window frame, came back he spread a smear on his business card (see fabric at end of this post) on my frame over the previous paint, I knew straight away that was it. So to make sure I checked the sample against the car... perfect!? So back to the paint shop where it was purchased ($100.00), I did not choose this shop lightly as I had researched the original rare dulon paint colour, and found the current owners of the dulon automotive paint (I won’t name them) I explained what had happened, they were adamant that they had followed the colour as per the computer code , a big performance was made on the phone about it to some faceless, nameless person (whether it was connected? or to who? I guess , I will never know)about how the colour was wrong on the computer, So while I was waiting they added more colour??? The first sample was still too blue, so waited another 10-15 min, next attempt, nearly there. I have brought it home and made a colour card and am waiting for it to dry over the heater. The frame took 3 days still not dry.  I smelled a rat from the start. When I initially picked up the paint which I had ordered earlier that day, after telling the bloke about doing hours of research, I told the bloke what I wanted and what I was doing with the car and the van then gave him the colour code and left him with it. When I dropped back an hour latter and was served by another person, “here’s your paint she said” I opened it was dark blue. She rang the bloke who said she had to add the white, which she added then sent me on my way with “that’s right now, it will be fine when it dries” with a sceptical mind I took her word, this led me to painting the wrong colour match on my beloved, handmade, old, seasoned hardwood window frames first coat of paint.  Maybe, just maybe, I think they forgot to add the YELLOW.!!!!!!! Arrrggggghhhhhhhh!!!!! What annoys me the most about this whole horror show, is when you know you have been jibbed, you know it, they know that you know and yet they continue to try to pull the wool over your eyes saying, ”we made it straight off the computer” then “you can just paint over it!”, I bit my tongue and accepted the apology/excuse. Of course knowing that this would only show the blue through, which it did. I did not allow for an extra litre of paint and don’t want to use one more extra coat of paint (4) plus 2 undercoat sealer, when I only want 3 max (for window fit and general finish and appearance), also this would force me to buy more paint as I have 3 more smaller windows and exterior detailing to do as well, I thought I would have enough to avoid buying any more of this paint, and avoid mismatches. ;D I have done more than my fair share of painting over the years,(houses, pubs. boats etc) to at least know the difference between half a shade, but these blokes are meant to do this for a job. This has been really time consuming and is testing my patience . I know all of this sounds really anal over the top, yet I guess when you invest so much time, effort and money in to hand making, repairing to and trying to make something special to best of your ability, with hopefully a end result as good or better than the origina :ol. Anyway, that’s my bitch and cry :'(for the day ;D, I’m sure this will continue over the next day or 2 so I shall save some for a later time... ;D So, I guess is to see if and how it dries tomorrow, then make a pest of myself. ;D Other developments, i went out to my mates and got my ej taillights..... ;D  I think they might look good on the back of the van and easy to install...   This may need more thought though... I found some material I like for the seat cushions/matress, but expensive$$$$$$$ With flash.....  Without flash....  It matches the colour nicely without being too over the top or overpowering the paint colour ;D... I will look around for other options though. Any suggestions? This is the timber from the floor board discussed in my last post, any guess’s?   So that’s for the moment. Please don’t forget to vote in my poll ... comments very welcome. ;D Nugget ;D |
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Post by humpyboy on Jul 22, 2010 12:54:55 GMT 10
Gidday Nugget, those floor boards look like Oregan to me from the picture, the material you've found is a good match also, just a matter of can you afford it and if you can't you only need to find a reason to say that you HAD to have it ;D keeping in mind it's only the other half you need to convince.
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Post by nugget on Jul 27, 2010 9:55:06 GMT 10
G’day all, ;D Have drawn first blood...  Wacked my head against the window support. The young fella took great pleasure in taking that pic... ;D ;D I have in the mean time fixed the rear of the main bearer supports, this involved dowel joining new floor boards....  I cut out the last 150mm off the end of each support. Doweled these and glued them in....   I routed the end of these to allow for the rhs croos member and 3mm gap for exterior lining to insert into the top of the end of the bearer...  Cut new joined floor board too length....  Checked back frame for fit and adjusted top bar level to correct height to weld .....  I have also been doing some work on my ek engine ;D ;D. The ek had a bent valves and the engine was a L engine reco (out of FC) . I have a new B (ek) block with original bore size and no wear ;D. I have removed pistons, con rods, cam shaft and crank from the L motor, these will all go into the new motor. Also I picked up brand new head new valves etc ($20) ;D ;D ;D, getting some work done on this though. I will start a tow car thread on this soon ...  That’s all at the moment folks, please vote in my fridge poll ... :DCheers Nugget |
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Post by nugget on Jul 31, 2010 1:59:34 GMT 10
G’day VVer’s, ;D The fun continues, I needed to pull off the wheels and axle so as I can now square the whole frame and remove the sag from the side wall frames before doweling the new rear floor board to the rails and existing boards....   Just a amendment on the suspension, they are only 12 leaf shocks not 13 , just enough to carry a large tank. The wheels are 16’ light truck rims. The axle and brake drums alone weigh about 100kg, busted a few pooper valves trying to lift it. The bottom of the wheel arch has light surface rust but should come up like new with a light rub and gal.  While on my back undoing the suspension, I noticed that 1 of the Oregan boards appeared wider than I first thought....  I was impressed with the first board I measured at 270mm then was amazed at finding 1 at 410mm but wait there’s more, we have a new winner .....  [glow=red,2,300]470mm[/glow] I can’t believe you could buy milled timber at 20 mm thick 470mm wide. Makes you wonder what response you would get walking into the local hardware store now days and asking “hey mate I need some 20mil half metre wide Oregan slabs in 2 metre lengths, any goin cheap?” “Sure mate? How much do you want?” I guess if the market ever falls out of the vintage van movement or I lose interest (not likely) I could make a couple of pretty nice tables out of them. Progress has stalled on the windows at the moment and am still having paint nightmares.....   I guess this has been the only down point in this whole restoration and am far too pi%$ed off to whinge any further about it here. Hopefully it will be resolved next week. But I have received inspiration to persist and ensure that I get right.... i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk317/dorianmode/DS_Sunliner.jpgThanks Dorian. Nice Job. ;D So moving on I have finished off welding the back frame ....  I gave the exposed metal a coat of cold gal. So now the wheels and axle are off, I’m leveling whole frame up so as to be able to lift/jack the sag out of the side frames before doweling the new floor board and back rails ;D . Till then have fun, I am ;D Nugget |
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Post by DC3Td on Jul 31, 2010 14:29:01 GMT 10
Hi Nugget. You`ll probably find that your flooring was cut down from 18" x 1" plank which was very common in the early days (1960s) as we often used that measure when replacing floors in buses. Your refurb is coming along nicely.Certainly got some bulk weight in the suspension though. Does it really need that many leafs? cheers gordon
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Post by nugget on Aug 3, 2010 0:02:54 GMT 10
G’day VVer’s, ;D ;D ;D Thanks for the information on the boards Gordon. It’s great the information that people provide as you go, I guess the further you go the more you discover. It is very interesting that this was a common cut! Did it have other applications in carpentry around that period that you know of? I’m quite surprised with the springs also! Yet they are a solid bit of gear with pressed strapping. I have been wondering to myself why used such heavy springs and they hung the axle” upside down”, it didn’t make sense, neither did the gap on the axle end plate on one side.......  but not the other.....  In addition the axle is also a SOLID piece of steel, as is the whole van (Excluding the external cladding, windows and front and back ribbing). It occurred to me as the whole chassis and trailer axle were very well made using quality materials so my best guess is (and it’s only a guess, I hope the engineering guru’s can help) these were engineered on purpose. I noticed this when looking at this photo........  Apart from the weight, the upside down axle gives a lower centre of gravity therefore giving the van more stability on the road??? But due to this there is less force/energy is dispersed through the top of axle and more force in the lower section of the shocks therefore they were required to be larger??? The gap allows for minor compensation of any tyre alignment issues by allowing minor flex in one end As I said these are engineered on purpose. Knowing the engineering standards in the 50’s 60’s I can’t imagine this to be a accident, and please let me know if I’m wrong! Does anyone know if this was a common design feature for VVs of this era??? The wet weekend forced a bit of indoor work (the pitfalls of an outdoor restoration), so have been rebuilding the drum brakes and axle.  The steel axle I have removed all the surface rust prior to rust guarding and painting. This is a nice lump of metal 8-)and polished up like a mirror and you can tell it is high grade as there are no noticeable imperfections or corrosion.  I gave this a coat of SLS etch primer (brush on) the salesperson said the SLS stands for ”sticks like S%$t” they forgot to mention it dries like c@&p, had the heaters on it all night to keep the steel warm to stop it rusting out.  I pre-painted the back of the brake calliper plate with heat rated calliper paint.... then bolted with new nuts & bolts to the axle.  I have replaced all axle nuts and bolts except for main bearing lock nut as these “Echuca Bearings” are still in excellent condition in what I suspect is the original 50 year old grease.   One of the studs had broken off, so I grinded out the weld and removed the stud. I lucked across a new one of these with the same pattern and length then tack welded after belting the new one back in.   Repainted axle.  I removed all the rust and paint off the outer drum face then linished, cleaned and repainted with calliper paint.   I have replaced the main 1’ calliper bolts for each drum as 1 was broken and the other threaded. I am not sure whether or not to keep the brake pads as there seems to be plenty of pad let 4mm.  However I am not sure if these are the asbestos ones or not? The have a twisted fibre(asbestos) and what seems like brass or nickel flecks in the pad.. .  I would like to avoid machining as not sure if this would be required as there appears to be no warping in drums but am not an expert.  Bolted and welded brake drum plates to axle ;D   So can an one help with suggestions on whether to machine and reline pads or if it’s not required??? Also any ideas on suspension leaf paint??? Appreciate the feedback..... ;D ;D ;D later ;D ;D ;D ;D Nugget |
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Post by nugget on Aug 15, 2010 22:49:48 GMT 10
G’day V V’ers, ;D Look at me, no clothes....  Before putting the back on I needed to take some of the weight out of the frames, by taking the roof off, which I had been delaying as long as possible as this is an outdoor job . So the hammer came out..   There is some primal joy in demolition ;D. A long overdue trip to the tip was in order, it’s nice to have a semi clean yard again. I gave the new floorboard on the back a plane, ready to put back frame on...  Fixed rotted frame....    The polyurethane glue is a bit messy but sands up ok. Checked the back frame for fit ....   I got my brake pads relined .....    Have started stripping the cupboards, as they are painted with old paint I was a bit reluctant to use a heat gun (lead) , so used paint stripper on the first one ...  5 Coats of paint, 4 times stripped, 5 hours ... so ....  5 minutes later ;D ...  So my timing wasn’t too great with taking the roof off with the wet weather around ....  Next house I move to must have a big shed. ;D Not being happy with the rust guard paint (too soft) on the axle, I stripped it again and repainted with cold gal primer and black enamel. I know it’s a bit anal, but ... So slow progress this week, I can’t wait for daylight saving . Happy Vanning ;D Nugget ;D |
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Post by nugget on Dec 8, 2010 22:15:43 GMT 10
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Post by humpyboy on Apr 2, 2011 20:04:53 GMT 10
So Nugget, 4 months have passed since your last post, what's happening now?
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Post by nugget on Jul 9, 2012 18:49:47 GMT 10
G'day V Ver's, I'm back!!!! With some very exciting news! Apologies to those following this post, this will be finished one day, my mates are running a book. I have been delayed due to work and a house reno I did for a mate. Before     After       So, back to the van. I had stalled on progress as I was not happy with the floor and levels. As the original bearers did not have cross bearers, this had caused the sides of the floor to slump with the weight of the walls and water damage. Although I tried to work around this (steel ribbing), sometimes you need to built it to realise it won’t work, additionally it was too heavy (trying to keep under the 750kg mark for rego). As much as I wished to keep the original floor boards it was impractical trying to square up with this slump in the floor, so I bit the bullet and started from scratch. As I demolished the water damaged interior I kept an eye out for any indication as to what make of van it was. As I had found nothing to indicate a model or make I was content in it just being a old bondy, homemade or not it was my bondy and I liked it anyway. Yet, when removing a piece of non original wall panelling I stumbled across this name plate:  As a result I now know this is a 1948-1952 (judging from the advertisement listed in “Down History Lane†on this site) Advance caravan built in Bankstown NSW. Does anybody know of an original Advance caravan out there still in existence? Although I now know what I have, I have gone a bit too far to change my current approach and to take it back to 100% original. This included replacing of the floor and bearers as shown below. I did however use the same size steel to the timber that was originally there. I also uses laminated form ply for the floor and included some cross members to alleviate any wall slump. This will assist when rego time comes and will not detract from the overall look of the van. I fitted the original restored axle, wheels, suspension and draw bar. Now it is built, with the frame on, it gives the whole van a new rigid, solid feel and I will be far more comfortable towing this.       Rebuilt coupling   De-rusted and repaired wheel arches.  Fitted floor.   So, anyone who has read this earlier may have voted on the fridge poll, would you change your minds now knowing this is a manufacturer made van? I welcome comments or opinions on the value of full or partial restoration, and I have a mate who is a refrigeration mechanic that could repair (re-gas) the old one. I lifted the old frame onto the new trailer base. To replace the steel ribbing (which replaced the original rotted curved ribbing), I made up a template a got a mate to cut them out on a CNC machine $50.00, perfect.    I have fitted the new ribbing to ensure seats line up to brace on to and all furniture fitted and rebuilt the rear window surrounds.     The window framing also needed replacing   Plywood has been fitted from front to back but not the internal side walls yet (need to go to bunnings).   The plan is to do these side walls then undercoat the whole van prior to lino and internal fittings. So, that’s where I’m at, I am hoping to spend some more time on it now that the major work is done and I have renewed enthusiasm knowing a bit more about the van. Cheers Nugget |
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Post by cruisindoug on Jul 11, 2012 7:38:09 GMT 10
Wow you have certainly put some work into this van! Will be good once the rebuild of the rebuild is done Every bit of info we get on the origins of our vans seems to make them better aye - its good to have a bit of certainty about what you've got although not essential. If you are after orignal and the old fridge can be made to work, I'd be keeping it (asuming its original - I would have thought it would of originally had an ice box) but as the usual disclaimer goes, your van .... Cheers Doug |
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Post by humpyboy on Jul 11, 2012 22:43:03 GMT 10
Hello Nugget, nice to see your still with us ;D top job on your mates home reno and good to see your back into the van, making some good progress.
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Post by nugget on Sept 16, 2012 19:25:15 GMT 10
G'day V'Ver's, Thanks for the comments on the house( it really was a labour of love) . The rebuild of the rebuild is going well.        It's nice to see the internal ply walls in (although not glued yet) it is great to see the van coming back to it's former glory, (with on ly a few modifications that I hope wont impact on the overall originality of the van too much. Unfortunately the old freon 12 compressor has seized on the fridge. I will go see if I can find a similar old one or I will have to mutilate an older style bar fridge and convert the compressor (easy ) as I wish to keep the tin fridge as it is a original component I think needs to be kept. I'm hoping I can rig this to the original wall cooling system as this is also very odd but inherently original. My mate the fridge mechanic said he would flare, fit and recompresssor a new non freon 12 compressor for me. More hunting to do on this though. Got rid of all the old ply I had kept for templates  Looking forward to ripping into it now with the warmer weather, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel ;D ;D ;D. Building new side windows this week. Cheers Nugget |
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here is a link to the thread if you would like to check progress so far....... 
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, this was where the water had rotted out the original timber and looked amateurish, I unfortunately copied this on my first attempt 
