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Post by trev and carrots on Oct 4, 2004 22:29:46 GMT 10
 more to follow later 
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Post by greggy on Oct 7, 2004 13:59:37 GMT 10
a bit of info on my van:
found in country tasmania about two years ago after 3600 klm search, for a carapark hunter specifically!, It has ALL original features and only suffered from neglect, not modernising.
Mark will post some before and after pics, as this one was a during!
cheers from tassie
Greggy
ps: yes I am going to tow it with the Kombi
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Post by Deleted on Oct 9, 2004 19:52:23 GMT 10
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Post by trev n carrots on Oct 9, 2004 20:55:43 GMT 10
looks great. im about to start stripping paint off an alli van...what did you use to bring this one up so nice
trev
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Post by WILL on Oct 10, 2004 9:32:04 GMT 10
i would love to find out what was used to get the Ali clean on that van our local mechanic has one virtually identical to greggys stored at the backof his yard if you read this greggy can you send me a before and after to billbay@iinet.net.au I would appreciate it as I have talked to rod about coming on one of the runs if he sees your van it may be a motivating factor to get it out and make a start on it
Will
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Post by greggy on Oct 10, 2004 16:43:57 GMT 10
Trev and carrots and will
The first thing I wish I had done to strip all the paint of would have been too pressure wash it, but I didn't have access to one!
What I did do was remove carefully all the lichen with a very soft plastic scraper, like those used to apply sign vinyl, then paint stripper and again a plastic scraper, around the windows i used the finest steel wool I could buy, I bought a spindle to fit a stitched poilishing "mop" or buffing wheel to my Hitachi disc sander, It has two speeds which are handy, then after all the paint was removed, including all the tiny spots that only came off with a thumb nail (quite painfull actually) I applied buffing rouge,available in bar for from industrial metalworking supply stores under the name Orion ( a Browny looking colour not quite the red that the name suggests)
Kerosene was used to remove the residue but some can be left on as it helps protect the surface.
Once that was done a final polish with either "mothers mag wheel polish" or "Autosol" finished with a lambswool buff did the trick.
This is not a job for the feint hearted as I had to stop the job for 6 months as I lost feeling in three fingers of my right hand due to the vibration of the sander with the buff on.
trev and carrots I coulld recomend an aluminium brightener (Chemical) from industrial chemical supplies especially if the van to be stripped is an embossed one, like an early viscount etc.Try your best to avoid one containing hydroflouric acid, as in like the plague, as that can burn the flesh from your bones, and that is no exageration!,you have to neutralise it with lime asap if not before,so leave it alone.
always wear all the recomended safety gear especially the correct respirator, but it will reward you with a good bright finish.
Will , I will email the pics for you tonight.
Ps I would love to find an 18 foot version of my van to reatore.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 10, 2004 22:18:25 GMT 10
Greggy ........some tech questions for you .......your Carapark looks to be about a 15 footer ......do you know it's weight, and what type of brakes it has (if any!)and has the Kombi had any mods to tow the van ......engine or otherwise? Mark |
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Post by greggy on Oct 11, 2004 8:14:02 GMT 10
mark
The only info I have on the carapark is that it was registered as a 1962 model in tasmania , something I doubt, because of the old style wooden flyscreen door, which although restored, has not been reinstalled as it takes up a fair bit of room. If you look at the pics of ernest borgnine (you know who I mean, please disregard the spelling) the carapark next to him has a two piece door witrh a screen centre.
as for the weight , I can only estimate that at the moment, I found a list of carapark weights from 1966 whish put the 14'6" model at 14.6 cwt, a figure that the registration authorities were willing to agree with.
As for the Kombi, it was just near the van so that I could get an idea of the height needed for the tow bar, which I am still to finish fitting, that tow bar is made up of a standard vw bar, with an extra bar from the rear chassis, something that a kombi posseses unlike a beetle,that replaces the rather weak attachment point of bolting to the bumper bar.
As for mods for towing, the Kombi has a 1971 1600 from a type 3 converted back to single port, so that it looks authentic, and has extra torque via thelonger inlet tract,it being a 67 model comes with 12 volt electrics and as it is a genuine PMG van it has been factory retrofitted with a brake booster, also extractors have been fitted by the previous owner. I bought the kombi as a rusty hulk so to speak and spent two years restoring it .I don't forsee any great problems with it towing the van as mostly we only have to take it 42 km to our beach block. I will soom be building another 1965 kombi with alround disks and a 1.9L turbo diesel golf motor, (100hp model not the hot 140hp model) which has heaps of torque by any standard, then we will probably tour the mainland.
As for brakes onthe van, It has very large over ride drums that mean that under braking you can hardly tell that you are towing it. at the momnet I'"m using the truck in the before pic which has an extended port 13B mazda rotary and 3 speed auto gearbox,a Detroit locker diff and Huge 4 core radiator with dual electric fans, so the only problems are keeping under the speed limit and the fuel consumption.
cheers Greggy
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Post by mik on Oct 12, 2004 18:18:25 GMT 10
Hello, new here but very impressed with all that l have seen on this site, particularly your "carapark". l wasnt sure it was possible to still find any of these! l've been a great fan of the Airstream but always prefered this style better. Any ideas on how to find them etc? l'm restoring a 66 xp falcon and want a van to hook up with it. Great job and a great website, amazing to find all of you people here, thought l was the only "oddball" interested in this sort of thing!!!!!
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Post by greggy on Oct 12, 2004 19:28:51 GMT 10
Mik
the only piece of advice I could give you is "do a lot of driving and if you can, go up that street youve been driving past for the last few years, you will never know when or where one will turn up, I tried advertising many times but got no result , also I tell everyone i meet that I'm looking for an old caravan, no matter how silly it makes me feel. word od mouth is everything!
Good luck, and if you find an eighteen footer thats a bit to big for you just let me know where
Cheers greggy
Did I mention that I'd like a gracemuir fibreglass van!
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Post by Deleted on Oct 13, 2004 17:43:26 GMT 10
Thanks Greggy for the tech info. You certainly have the torque factor sus'd  ..........Tassie is rather moutainous, so I was wondering whether a VW engine would have adequate torque to do the job. Large over ride brakes on the caravan are a bonus ....... many of the older vans over here in the West don't have any brakes at all, which presents a challenge when wanting to tow them with an old car with ordinary brakes. I know the power of the 13B mazda rotary, I used to circuit race a RX3 Mazda some years ago fitted with a 12A bridgeport........ it would pull 10000 revs easily.........and fuel consumption .........they are thirsty little suckers, so I don't envy you towing a caravan with a rotary hooked up to an auto box !!!! Mark |
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..........Tassie is rather moutainous, so I was wondering whether a VW engine would have adequate torque to do the job.