Bongo tidy up and Vrt!

[Purple Haze]

Hi, hope everyone doesn’t mind me putting this thread up. I am going to write about tidying my bongo up and about how to vrt a bongo in Ireland!
Firstly, vrt which is paying import duty’s from the UK reg camper to an Irish reg camper! I had to get an engineers report to confirm the camper conversion which is €120, for the engineer I had to get it weighted! I got this done at my local weight bridge, it usually cost €10/€20. Then I had book it into the Vrt centre for them to take pictures of it and to give them the necessary paperwork e.g tax book, receipt, etc. The Vrt centre then sent all this information to the main Vrt in Dublin to be assessed by a board to give a price! They decide the value of the camper then the Vrt is 13.5% of the value! Our camper Vrt cost €795.00. So in total it cost €925 from Uk to Irish reg! I hope this helps anyone in Ireland deciding to buy a UK camper as there is very little information out there on how to do it!

Secondly, I looked all over Ireland for the past year for a bongo, I noticed a majority of bongo needed a lot of work due to rust or have been filled and painted numerous times! It was difficult as I was unable to determine the condition of the bongo and how much work they needed! Also it was difficult to find one in the colour that I wanted!
Then I found my bongo in Scotland. It was the colour I wanted! Also it had low mileage, 4wd, a manual gear box and a camper conversion already done! However, I knew it had a little bit of rust from pictures but not till I got it home I realised it needed a lot of work! I only had 15mins to look at it at the docks before I headed back to Ireland!

I have decided to do a bit of a tidy up! I have started to strip the bumpers, light etc off to see how much rust it had and how much work it needed! It has slightly surprised me in certain areas lol however it is all fixable as none of it is structural!
I have decided to try to do as much work to the bongo as I can myself, however I am not a painter or welding so it could be fun or a headache! Lol
The good news it is all external rust damage, not internal damage! I have decided to start from the top and work my way down! The roof and tent was slightly damaged! I tried to find someone to fix the tent but no one was interest or want mental money to fix it! I sourced a roof and tent over in England! Luckily my brother was coming back in a lorry from England and he was able to collect it for me! I decided to spray the hard top roof the same colour as my bongo as the roof was faded and had missing stickers etc. plus the roof had a purple tent to match the bongo too!
Then i serviced the bongo! It got engine oil, gear box oil, diff oil, oil filter, fuel filter, heater plugs, brake pads, tyres, coolant and a new clutch so it is running a 100% mechanical!

[Bob]

Well done.

This will be very useful in the future, thanks for taking time to write it up.

[Purple Haze]

When I got it home from Scotland



New hardtop roof getting sprayed

[Purple Haze]

Finished paint job on roof.

[Purple Haze]

Now for the rusty pics,before I grind and cut..



Front cross member rotten and below headlight brackets are gone too.


Behide front drivers wheel hole,inside wheel sill is 100%

[Purple Haze]

Both back wheel arches and pockets are gone,both inner arch and both sills are like bran new.

[Purple Haze]

New crossmember to old one,some differents

[Bob]

Thanks for the pics.

You'll have a great one once she's done.

[Purple Haze]

Thanks for the pics.

You'll have a great one once she's done.

Thanks bob,I'll try and take pics as I go along,the only good thing about doing this work is that I'll get to know the bongo inside and out Lol

[mikeonb4c]

You've got the right attitude. The Bongo is a GREAT car and well worth restoring so you can hopefully get years of use out of it. Meanwhile the restoration will make for an interesting hobby and great learning experience. And if you're doing it yourself it neednt be ruinously expensive.

[Purple Haze]

You've got the right attitude. The Bongo is a GREAT car and well worth restoring so you can hopefully get years of use out of it. Meanwhile the restoration will make for an interesting hobby and great learning experience. And if you're doing it yourself it neednt be ruinously expensive.

Thanks mick,hopefully I don’t run into anymore hiden surprises along the way,will have to clean all the panels back to the tin,prime,cut,weld,stone chip then wax oil,

[mikeonb4c]

You've got the right attitude. The Bongo is a GREAT car and well worth restoring so you can hopefully get years of use out of it. Meanwhile the restoration will make for an interesting hobby and great learning experience. And if you're doing it yourself it neednt be ruinously expensive.

Thanks mick,hopefully I don’t run into anymore hiden surprises along the way,will have to clean all the panels back to the tin,prime,cut,weld,stone chip then wax oil,

Where new metal is welded in and its on show you'll inevitably need to fair in with filler. The expert (70+ yrs old) welder who does my always starts by brushing resin (not p38) into the seam area. The logic he says is resin is impervious to moisture and p38 filler is not.After that he then uses p38 for filling and shaping. I think he may also use that horrible seam sealer paint mastic in other non visible areas but not 100% certain on that. Oh and if you're new to welding then pm Ady (Northern Bongo) on problems of panel distortion if you apply to much heat. Probably best to do non visible work first to get into practice. Finally,read up on how Sprinter wheel arches need cutting in the middle and a section inserting if they are to match the rear bumper line.

[Purple Haze]

Got my new floor mats and new bumper brackets today,and my wife got me a usb double din player for my birthday today,had to fit it straight away,it will come in handy when I’m doing the work just waiting on a new grinder and cleaning head brush,my old one stopped working.

[Purple Haze]

You've got the right attitude. The Bongo is a GREAT car and well worth restoring so you can hopefully get years of use out of it. Meanwhile the restoration will make for an interesting hobby and great learning experience. And if you're doing it yourself it neednt be ruinously expensive.

Thanks mick,hopefully I don’t run into anymore hiden surprises along the way,will have to clean all the panels back to the tin,prime,cut,weld,stone chip then wax oil,

Where new metal is welded in and its on show you'll inevitably need to fair in with filler. The expert (70+ yrs old) welder who does my always starts by brushing resin (not p38) into the seam area. The logic he says is resin is impervious to moisture and p38 filler is not.After that he then uses p38 for filling and shaping. I think he may also use that horrible seam sealer paint mastic in other non visible areas but not 100% certain on that. Oh and if you're new to welding then pm Ady (Northern Bongo) on problems of panel distortion if you apply to much heat. Probably best to do non visible work first to get into practice. Finally,read up on how Sprinter wheel arches need cutting in the middle and a section inserting if they are to match the rear bumper line.

So mick the wheel arches for sale for bongos are not bongo wheel arches but are for a sprinter?good to know,I’m going to order the pair of wheel arches of one off them bongo sites in the uk on Monday,if I’m stuck I have a good friend thats a welder,I’ll ask him to weld the wheel arches Incase distortion,I’m using his small mig on the rest of the bongo,I know to weld small inch or 2 inch welds to help keep the heat down.iv been practicing on 2mm steel for the last few days,

[Merlot man]

Just looking at the last pictures ......great to see the manual gearstick in a bongo really rare
Brian