Dusting off the van

Dragged the van out to tidy all the rust and filler off the garage floor, thought I'd post a few pictures of the van, rather than close ups of welded panels and rusty holes for once.

It is so close to being solid again, just a few small jobs to do before dipping and paint prep. This may be a little further away than I thought as I spent my paint fund on an engagement ring.........

Guess a wedding gives me a goal to get the van finished by.

How time flies by

It’s been a while since the van has been out from under its' cover, everyone who has a car project know how fast time goes by, and in the back of your mind you're thinking 'I must get something done on that car'. All the normal things in life have got in my way, lucky I don’t have kids otherwise I'd never get to see my van on the road. But a major part of garage time has been taken up by my other VW Beetle.

A bent con rod caused by a lost tin wear bolt I dropped in the inlet manifold. Remember to cover your inlets! A good 200 miles of tinkling noise coming from the engine before the bolt finally passed the valve and seized between the piston and the cylinder head.

 

Then a Ford Focus decided to cut in front of me while pulling away from the lights. After I jack-knifed him for trying to push me into a lamp post, I had to get the front of the car repaired. This then led to finding a cracked front suspension beam upper mount, this is probably due to going over too many speed humps in a lowered bug.

 

To top things a rotten heater channel that had stored a puddle full of water from the floods a few years ago decided to break through just before the MOT. This took up the week off that I'd put by to get the van restoration going again. The joys of owing an air cooled V Dub. May be next weekend I'll have some time to work on the van.

Still on going

The van project is still on going but work and exams have taken up a lot of time at the mo, I hope to post more on the project before the new year.PB

OK so its been a busy Christmas as well, so it will be updates in the new year.

Van Restoration Relocation

Haven't had much time to get on with the panel repairs because the restoration has had to be relocated, I was able to find a nice big double garage with power and water, this means I'm now able to work on the side of the van and not just the front and the back. Amazingly, through a door in the back of the garage I found, tucked behind some bushes and an over grown garden a house that also had electricity and running water. My girlfriend was happy to stay there while I get on with the rest of the restoration.

When I originally found the garage and measured it up for the fit, there was loads of room to work, but it was very close on height. I thought I may be pushing it in and out of the garage with flat tires, or having to start another project of raising the roof, and I don’t think I'll be able to keep a roof rack on for long.

The vans trip to its new home went smooth, A few curtains twitch as a rusty heap was unloaded from the flat bed on to the street, Then, what I forgot to do was measure the width of the access lane to the garage. Pushing a van enthusiastically down an ally when you have 6in or less clearance either side and you don't have any breaks is a bit scary.

Having all this room In the garage didn't last long, to accompany the van came all the VW parts I’ve been hording for the last 10+ years (just in case I might just need that old rusty part), gear boxes, engines, tones of engine tin wear, exhausts, front beams and boxes of all the smaller bits. It's going to take some time to clear away the unwanted parts, and sort out a working garage, but in the end it should make getting the van back on the road so much more enjoyable.

Life before its slumber

Although a lot of my stuff stored in the damp garage was destroyed I’ve managed to recover a few photos of the van before parts started being pulled off. It’s amazing what fresh paint on the wheels and badge can do, and a can of primer can hide all sorts of rust.

A trip to Beetle Bash and with the van parked up ready to watch the drive-in movie. The trophy unfortunately isn't for best paint but for the bug push, didn't realize how sticky the drag strip is until I tried to push a bug down it.

The hippy paint job is for a fancy dress party on the Isle of white. I spent £10 on poster paint, and with some help from friends we got this rolling art piece done in a couple of hours.

The Stonehenge took the longest to do, but my favorite part is the sun burst flames. 

The lyrics that stretch around the bus were penned in with dry marker; well that’s what I thought. As I washed the paint off after the weekend trip, I found strategically placed letters in permanent marker spelling out all sorts of rude words!

cleanup

Managing to survive the tow to its new home, the van was treated to a well earned wash to get rid of mould and other creatures living in it. And to get a good look at the real damage, from being shut up in a damp garage for so long.

Unfortunately, because of bad communication for some reason, the garage owners friend living in the flat thought the van had been dumped and decided to leave a message with marker pen. "No 11 Very annoyed get this moved or 999" the problem was soon solved with a message explaining everything left on there front door, in marker pen!

With all that room in the engine bay I'm sure you could fit a turbo in there somewhere, although it may take a bit of time and work before it gets to that. The body and chassis is suffering from surface rust pretty much all over. Its going to take a bit more digging to find out how deep it all goes.

The rescue

In 1997 my  van's MOT failed on a bit of body work underneath. so I hired the garage where I was renting a flat where I could have a go at repairing it. This is where it sat till 2007.

I had to get two other abandoned cars moved plus the unfortunate death of my 72 square back (may it RIP) to finally get access to the vans tomb. Not to worry, anything usable on the type 3 was saved including the IRS gear box and axles.

After 10 years of slumber and with help from some friends the van was awoken from its dreams of mountain roads and sun scorched beaches.

With air still in the tyres and a seized back brake (cured with a large hammer) the van was gingerly towed a short distance to its new future, and without any interruptions from the police or frustrated drivers.