Rosy the Red wReck

[TommyP]

Fuck, another build thread to play catch up with....

Right, so you always see/hear about my white work van as that has had 75%+ of my attention for absolutely months but for those that don’t know, we had a 1.9td first which we are in the process of converting into a camper. We’ve had it about 3 years and she’s called Rosy.

I’d wanted one for years but never got round to it until a summer holiday in 2017 down in Cornwall. There were loads down there as always and there was a northern bloke on the next pitch to us with one. He showed me round it and that was that. We searched, bid/won and collected her within 2 weeks of getting back from our hols.

It was an eBay spares or repair kinda gig as we’d not long bought the house so the purchase budget was about £12.30p. I think we paid £1100? Total fucking wreck as you can expect at that price.

Off to Barnsley to drag her sorry ass back then:


Tucked in on the drive:



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[Greeny gtc]

I think the expression is mad as cheese

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[TommyP]

Thankfully it came with a shitload of repair panels. I think the previous owners (a young couple) neglected her for a while then when they got all the bits together and started, the gravity of the amount they had to do caused them to sell to us idiots.



There was loads more than just these pics but I’ll have to try and dig more out. The drivers side lower centre was stoved in and half an inch thick of filler, losing the body line completely!

All 4 arches, n/a wing, cills crushed from a jack, inner rear arches, holes in load floor, the list goes on. The whole thing was caked in filler and then given a rough respray which was as flat as a witches tit and peeling all over.

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[S49]

And another build thread overtakes ours. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,keep it coming.

[TommyP]

So with the help of a mate, the welding and bodywork was made solid.

Once the welding was done and it was solid again, we set about the inside. Hammershite on the floor, then layers of celotex, foil bubblecrap and 9 or 12mm hardwood ply, can’t remember which but the battens are spaced at 250mm centres so either would have been fine.

No paint but similar insulation with expanding foam in any tricky gaps and thin ply on the sides. Then that 3 or 4 way stretch carpet in hearing aid beige as we wanted it light and airy.

We also used mountains of a rubberised foil tape that I use for aluminium roof lantern installs. It’s used for sealing between glass panes before the hip/rafter compression caps go on. I’ve seen many people use roofing flashband but I just don’t rate it in comparison. The stuff I used is far more flexible and soft and it’s lovely to work with, goes round bends and contours far better than flashband ever could. I got one of my suppliers to send me a box of 10 rolls out, I still have a few left in the shed that I’ll use in the cab when I tear it all out to insulate that eventually.

We want to go to the northern lights in Norway and want the van to be capable of year round camping. We’ve been away quite a few times now in different temperatures and it stays lovely and warm when it freezing outside and nice and cool on those hot sunny summer mornings. Very happy with it. Some people say we went over the top but with the exception of the carpet, I didn’t pay for any of the other insulation materials. The perks of being a tradie.

[TommyP]

I’ve gotta be honest, I was a mechanic for a few years when I was younger so when it came to the electrics, I was totally clueless as they usually are (exceptions apply). So I researched the shit out of it as I knew I’d have to plan for it when putting the interior in. I went to bed studying this for weeks:

After looking at the ready made kits that there are tons of to choose from, I decided that although some were good, non of them were perfect and always had at least one element that just wasn’t quite good enough so I realised it would not only be better to do it all myself from scratch, but I’d end up saving money on the better setup.

I ordered up a load of wire in various sizes, a VSR, fuse board, 20a Paco mains charger, mini consumer unit, various fuses, switch panel and god knows what else.

I also went for the Travelinlite deluxe alarm and central locking kit with the tailgate popper. The van came with barn doors but I got a tailgate for £50 as that’s what we wanted. It wasn’t too bad either which was nice.

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[Jumbungla]

You got any pics of the rubberised foil? Interested as not really seen that before.

Loving this so far.

Especially the "had some help from a mate and got the welding and bodywork sorted".... That's been my life on the van for a year now haha

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[TommyP]

We’ve always since day one, had a mission brief or sorts for the van. We want to be able to wild camp in it for a week so the list of conversion parts also includes:

- Onboard underslung (CAK tanks) freshwater (not sure on waste)
- Diesel heater
- Sink
- Hob
- Pop-top
- Solar panels
- Tailgate shower
- Compressor Fridge

Funnily enough we haven’t covered most of these things on this list yet but it’s still perfectly useable in its current form. Missing the fridge the most and that may be the next purchase.


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[TommyP]

And another build thread overtakes ours. ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,keep it coming.

We’ve had the van since September 2017, the build thread was long overdue.....


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[TommyP]

You got any pics of the rubberised foil? Interested as not really seen that before.

Loving this so far.

Especially the "had some help from a mate and got the welding and bodywork sorted".... That's been my life on the van for a year now haha

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It’s a soft self adhesive rubbery stuff with a thin layer of foil on the back. I’ve never seen it anywhere other than one of my roof lantern suppliers:

This is some of the leftover 30mm ish stuff but I’ve got a few rolls of 60mm somewhere.

It’s goes round corners and contours beautifully. Even the foil stretches just enough to work great. It sticks like shit to a blanket so those stubborn areas where just no other form of insulating material can get to can be sorted too. We have the odd area where it’s the only thing between the metalwork and the carpet. In places like the roof (which we have only used the bubblecrap and this tape) in direct sunlight on a scorching day it’s still cool to the touch and not roasting hot. It really is miracle stuff.

I’ll try and find it online if I can. If not I could try and order some from my supplier. Not used them for a while now as I came away from bespoke glazing but a good mate still uses them a lot so it shouldn’t be too difficult.


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[regcheeseman]

Did you put any bracing in for the tailgate hinges?

[TommyP]

This is before the tailgate went on

Random bits will just come back to me so don’t expect any sort of order to this thread. Amazingly, even before all the welding, we put it straight in for an MOT and it failed on: 1, rear tyres different size across axle (threw the spares on)
2, number plate light
3, headlight alignment

Not my usually MOT place as I wasn’t sure how it’d go and we’d not long moved from south leicester to north Leicester so I took it to someone local. I’ve since found out they are shite but it got me an MOT so fuck it.


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[TommyP]

The windows were on sale at veedub Transporters who are only just up the road from us in Loughborough. I can’t remember for sure but I think we got a fixed side, sliding side, tailgate and fitting kits for about £280 iirc. Was a bargain at the time.


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[TommyP]

Saab 9-5 seats, the most comfortable seat you can get in a T4, FACT:

Jono decided he wanted to do the dash and door cards in ‘Antique White’ which is cream if you ask me or anyone with eyes:All the best paint jobs are done on organic surfaces....I tried to advise against it but got the usual bollocking and “you can do it if you’re not happy with how I’m doing it” blah blah blah. I kept quiet, happy wife, happy life and all that: It actually all turned out really well though to my annoyance as I was desperate to throw out an “I told you so”


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[TommyP]

That post went funny and I can’t be arsed to try and edit it.


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