Me Van

Talk about your cars etc here. Keep it sort of sensible and on topic please.
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fried onions
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Re: Me Van

Post by fried onions »

Excellente, I was hoping you'd keep the mechanical wiper drive, no can do fair enough. At least you're keeping it in the family with a Corsa motor, hopefully including knackered park settings.
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Re: Me Van

Post by LynehamHerc »

I did say that I was thick - pre war(?) bedford
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Re: Me Van

Post by I am not Diesel »

You've made a lot of progress from when I last saw it on AS. It's looking good.
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cros
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Re: Me Van

Post by cros »

My old man had a 10 year old 1200 cc Somerset when I was about 6. It looked like a black slug and went like one.
Our first ever weeks holiday was spent in a field outside Scarborough, and to make it more comfortable the old chap hired a 4 berth 14' Sprite Musketeer from a company in Peterborough. This was dragged North behind the wheezy Austin. With mother and 3 kids on board 40bhp was spread pretty thin, and I remember much clutch slippage as the car heaved the lot up a steep incline out of the field and onto the road for home at the end of a wet week.
In 1963 he bought a new Vauxhall Victor FB estate. It was the first motor he'd owned that came with no starting handle, nor any hole to shove one through. He complained to the dealer and was told that the compression was so high on these state of the art vehicles that no human would be able to turn one anyway.
This I now know to be bollocks; the FB engine in my van winds over easily with a socket and the little handle from the set.
I've also discovered from the vauxpaedo site that the company actually gave up the hand start option in the late 40's on their L series Wyvern and Velox, and were the first UK company to do so. Because these ugly bastards were a warmed over prewar design, the new lower full width rad cowl had to somehow accommodate the old tall skinny radiator. They simply mounted it lower down which meant it covered the front pulley.
After all that waffle it just remains to say that the engine runs nicely.
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Re: Me Van

Post by Exiled_Tat_Gatherer »

A green one..... Obviously!
That does look damn sweet sir. Excellent work.... What's the plan? Use a lot or reserved for special occasions?
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cros
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Re: Me Van

Post by cros »

Use as much as possible. My newest motor is a 20 year old k series gaylander, the bar is not set high. PC van is a 1951 model.
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Re: Me Van

Post by Alf892 »

Lovely van coming to life there......and great to see proper bodgerneering getting done using stuff that is to hand
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cros
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Re: Me Van

Post by cros »

The final piece is now just about in place. My diff has arrived in Dartford and I 'just' need to take the engine there which is being exchanged for it. I tried to find a courier to do this to save myself the horrible journey but can't find anyone willing to do it.
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cros
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Re: Me Van

Post by cros »

Here I was at Dartford last Monday swapping a Vauxhall engine for a differential . So far so good. I got breakfast for me and the Mrs in the cafe opposite for £4.60. Total. Alright, it was only beans on toast and a cup of coffee, instant frothed up with those steam pipes like they used to do at most transport cafes, but so far so good.
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Next stop was Witham where I bought a double bass. I've had a couple of these monstrosities in the past, sold the first because I was a twat and didn't recognise that £30 for a carved bodied one was good even back then. The second, a plywood one,, got sold because I realised the superiority of the first. I might have made similar mistakes with when it comes to cars.
Anyway this bass is moderately OK but needs some work, as does my ability to operate it.
Things are not so average on the van front cos it turns out that Vauxhall used a diff from the Velox 6 cylinder car in the 4 cylinder van, and it's very slightly bigger than the Wyvern car one. The Velox ratio is too high, the van too low and the ideal in-between one won't fit. Can't swap the crown-wheel and pinions over, I'm fucked.
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It's back in with the original unit after a bit of scissoring and hole punching. The future looks noisey at over 50.

The next day I finally got to drive the van after nearly 2 1/2 years. It wasn't great. The carb needs replacing, but worst of all one of the weird suspension units is pissing out oil. The oil is brown, so something is very wrong inside as it was normal oil-coloured the day before when I poured it in. The 'Dubonnet' suspension units had been rebuilt long before I got the shitheap; on the outside bushes appeared to be renewed and the axle nicely painted. Now I think the axle must have been left out in the rain with the filler holes open...
I don't relish this job at all, these things have a torsion bar, a coil spring, piston dampers and hundreds of loose needle rollers, the sort of thing you'd expect when a drinks manufacturer does suspension.
On the plus side the ride is very good with the strange characteristic of no dive when you brake.
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cros
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Re: Me Van

Post by cros »

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I finally did a few miles in the old bitch today, though I left the bonnet off to ward against breakdowns. The brakes are disappointingly shit though they might get better when they've bedded in. But they'll still be shit. At 50 it's revving it's bollocks off so a Velox diff is desperately needed. The gears shift very nicely and as already mentioned the ride must have been a revelation for a van (outside the USA that is.)
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That's how it started so I'm a bit happier now.
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