Help!!!! Is this a lost cause?

[rtcruiser]

OK, You've seen the good and the ugly (According to one newcastle based member anyway ) of my van. Now for the bad.

A few things I have identified that are going to cause problems with the van and I just need to get an idea of how serious these are going to be and if it will be worth the time and money to bring the van back up to a usable standard.

Given that my total outlay so far has been $0 and that I don't have a lot to spend.

First up is the goose neck. There seems to be a bit of rust around the mounting point. It is the original 2" coupling. I was going to put a new standard 50mm one on. It is a bolt on job but will the spacing between bolt also be difference and will I need new plates welded in to take the new coupling? The rest of the A frame seems OK apart from some surface rust and the Jockey wheel that is on it's last legs


The main problem area seems to me to be the chassis. Again there is some surface rust but the biggest problem area is down the right side where it looks like water had collected in the J channel and has rusted the outer frame. Can this be replaced without taking the whole van apart. The boxed outriggers this is attached too seem to be OK.



Finally what should I do with the water tank. I need to make the van as light as possible and reduce the ball weight. The tanks seem to be made out of copper. I'm sure I could sell these for a bit as scrap or is it better to keep them.



Thanks in advance for your help

[fcdriver]

Hi
The first thing I did with the Pixie was to have the coupling gear replaced by Camden caravans. I have had a van I was towing overtake me some 30 years ago & I have never forgotten it. Its a sickening feeling when it happens. I found that camden Caravans very helpfull even though these vintage vans can cause problems.
When I took our van to be repaired one of the salesmen was reported to say "they don't want us to sell that"..he thought it was a trade in. The funny thing was, the van had to have a not for sale sign on it as they had many enquiries as what the price was. Even though the van was (is) old I have had no trouble getting work done on it. I am not at all handy.
I took the remains of the water tank out. It was stuffed!!!!
I will add a small plastic tank at a later time.
Don,t need a water tank for displaying. The fridge holds the Beer & Diat Coke ;D
Now for the frame, thats where the expert comes in.That I am not Hope all is well. Bruce .....FC Driver

[cobber]

rtcruiser,

Right...now I see the water tank .
Your ball coupling may not look too good at the moment but maybe the tank is up front to put a bit of weight on the ball...makes for more stable towing than if there is no weight on the ball.
If you can get a cheap sandblast on the chassis it can be surprising how good the metal is under a bit of surface rust...sometimes.
Sure....the old girl is definitely worth saving...go for it !

Cobber.

[Franklin1]

G'day rtcruiser,
Firstly, let me encourage you by saying that NO vintage van is a lost cause!! If you want to see some really sad cases, come and have a look at both of my vans... and yet, within a couple of years, both will be as good as new...AND, I reckon I'll be able to do both for slightly less than $50,000 and 27,000 man-hours!!

Your coupling: Measure the distance between the bolt centres and then go to your retail outlet and measure the distance between the holes in the new coupling. For some useful information on couplings available, try these websites for "locally" produced couplings...
www.alko.com.au/vehicle/couplings/selection.html
www.trojanparts.com.au/index.asp?pageID=2145830061

You might be lucky and get the holes to line up exactly, however I would guess your coupling is imperial, and the latest ones are metric. On my van, one hole lined up with the other hole being 6mm out of line. One of the experts on this forum advised me to weld up the hole and re-drill to suit the new coupling, but I've decided to replace the triangle plate, which meant I had to find a boilermaker to do the job, since my straight welds look more like a "Z" . As fcdriver says above, this is not an area for amateurs to muck around with. Ask around, you're sure to find someone qualified to do the job properly for the price of a cold beer. I did.

Your chassis: If the channel hasn't rusted through completely under the J-mould, then you should remove the J-mould and give the channel a good going over with a rotary wire brush in a drill. And then give it a coat of primer/undercoat and enamel paint topcoat(s). Bear in mind that the steel has been under your van for the better part of 50 years, so anything you do to protect it will make it survive ok for the next 50 years (...think Sydney Harbour Bridge). If you need to retain the J-mould, put a layer of butyl mastic between the J-mould and the steel channel to stop water accumulating there. Personally, I would do away with the moulding if possible, as it is really only a water trap.
Hope this helps,
cheers,
Al.

[rtcruiser]

Thanks Fanklin1

I think I will need to get the whole front of the A frame redone. It is plated top and bottom with steel tube between the plates making it very hard to do a simple mod to just one hole.

J channel looks to be in goo nick but I don't think there will be too much steel left once I clean it up. Us this seems to be the main problem and the main box sections appear sound I'm hoping to be able to carefully weld in new angle. I have a friend a few suburbs from where I live should be able to help out. Another friend has managed to replace the sills on his Jensen Interceptor at home so an old van should be no problems

[humpty2]

Was that your friend in the Jensen that visited us at Coledale in 2005??.........us being the V V Mob!!

[rtcruiser]

Don't think it was. It's surprising how many Jensens seem to be out there. Met up with another friend the other day and he had a Jensen shirt on. He apparently also has an Intercepter back in the UK.

What's the chances of knowing two Jensen owners