My entry to van life

[Andburg]

Hi all

thought I would introduce myself.
Just bought my first van, a 1998 t4 1.9td with conversion after cancellation of a honeymoon.

It’s not perfect, few rust scabs bubbling but fits my remit of not being a project.

The wife is busy titivating the interior while I do some bits and bobs.

work done so far;
headlamp loom upgrade
fixed headlight adjusters
clutch pedal reinforcement bracket

to do;
welding, my friend skiddy put the van on a his lift and found a bodged rust hole.
window wind deflectors so I can keep the windows open slightly when sleeping in the rain.
Short shift mod

potentially a tweak to fuelling and boost.

thanks for reading

[Greeny gtc]

Hello welcome and enjoy!!

Don't forget a few gallons of costcos finest cooking oil in the fuel tank

Sent from my SM-G981B using Just T4s

[TommyP]

Hi Andburg! Welcome along. Thanks for introducing yourself and your van. Keep us posted with all developments as we love it.

Bunch of sad bastards really...


Sent from a muppet

[Activ8]

Welcome aboard.
Enjoy the journey with us.

Sent from my SM-G901F using Just T4s

[bigmc]

Van looks good, proper colour as well lol

Sent from my POT-LX1 using Just T4s

[S49]

Ah be ya and a warm welcome from the shire.

[Fruitbat]

Welcome to the forum

[Andburg]

Thanks all, just had my first issue, rear door decide not to release at the bottom.

popped the interior off and opened with a stiff pull of the rod. 20 minutes spent with a brush, degreaser and some sandpaper to clean up the contact plate and the latch and she’s good again.

these old things do like to try us, but at least they’re simple enough to work on!

[arfur fox-acre]

Welcome aboard, thanks for introducing yourself.

[hairyjerry]

evening and welcome

[Andburg]

Thanks for the welcome all, there doesn’t seem to be a diary/readers blogs section so I may as well continue here *mods feel free to move this if there is somewhere better*

Work since the last post....
replaced the cab light with an LED
replaced the speakers with a cheap pair of JVC's from amazon.
spare key with transponder - a bargain £40 at Bellman's auto electrical in Sheffield.

Had our first trip away in the van last week.
steady roll down from Barnsley to cotswolds animal sanctuary - pretty much had the place to ourselves so no crowding to get up close. Booked 2 nights at Hurley riverside park for our first proper trip, electric hook up and hard standing.

Second day was in Windsor to see the castle and for the wife to look at Beatrices wedding dress. Windsor was empty, the castle and the town. We had a river cruise and were the only people on it,
First problem...in the morning on 240v the fridge was warm, was fine at the end of day having spent all day parked and running off 12v so need to investigate that.

Final day we went up to Henley on Thames. Again dead, as we were leaving a guy got out his van to let me know i had no brake lights, so i drive past the double yellow sections and pulled over. OSR bulb fine, fuse fine, nsr bulb..well i cant get to that without tools due to the conversion. I called green flag who turned up shorted past the switch on the pedal and were on their way as they they "couldn't fix". Drove 3 hours home using the headlight switch for brake lights, well until it got dark anyway. parking up at home noticed the van had also developed a hollow metallic rattle at idle..need to investigate.Next morning I took the switch off, opened it up and cleaned it with wire wool and contact cleaner and its fixed. Can't say my review of green flag's service was positive given they could have done this at road side.


Once i had working brake lights sorted I popped down to Skiddy's place to get the hole in my sill sorted.
While we had the van and the ramp for easy access he very kindly did the short shift mod for me.
Metallic rattle is from the Cat, called the guy i bought from as it was under 3 months old and hes a mechanic, hes gonna fit a repalcement FoC. Can't say fairer than that!

Currently done 500miles, with 1/4 of a tank remaining which is about where i expected economy to be.

Still need to look at the fridge issue.....

things I've learn't
1. the old speakers weren't actually that bad
2. dont put the bed down until you've got the port out of the cupboard
3. dont put the bed down until you've got the beer out of the fridge

[Andburg]

Couple of welding pictures, the hole was covered with some plastic crap and packed with more crap including a large shard of glass.

feels good to have some new metal in place and fresh underseal

[Skiddy]

A souvenir pic from the day


IMG_4460.JPG

[Greeny gtc]

At least you managed to use it for intended purpose.
If you want to feel better about hour mpg have a little cooking in the tank ;?

Sent from my SM-G981B using Just T4s

[Andburg]

used to run veg in an old rover 220 SDI i had years ago, I'll do less than 3000 miles a year in the van so I'll stick with costco's premium pump diesel