rhino-wayne wrote:Will be following your progress!
think I may have a twin Bongo!
If that's not an excuse for a meet, I don't know what is.
Yours got a name?
My career as a mechanic began with this van. I wanted something I could work on easily just to get my hand in a bit with vehicles. I'd never done an oil change until this time last year. After fixing a few of the things last time like the front exhaust section and the rocker cover gasket, I started to look forward to getting the head off at some point. Be careful what you wish for...
My last MOT earlier this year threw up the rear drop link rubbers. I had started to notice noise at the back end so it was no real surprise to me. What was a surprise was that only a month or two later, the front end went and both ball joints and track rod ends were visibly shot, rubbers at least. I suppose that if one thing goes and you don't see to it immediately, then other parts are going to start to fail soon, too. Whatever, they're always going to have to be replaced at some point. I can do all that when the head's away getting tested/skimmed.
The problems with the coolant system have been ongoing since Stourport and are well documented on here. In a nutshell, I'm not (noticeably) loosing coolant but under load, I'm topping out on pressure quite easily and the cap vents. It's done >2000 miles since my first overheat, and only one since and that was merely "warm". I suspect that it is gasket only, it's marginal - the fact that it's still going is encouraging. In fitting a pressure sensor to my header tank, I've now made a right mess (and a poor seal) on the header tank and have never been able to see through it. A bright 12V led wired in behind any header tank is going to improve things quite some, but I hope to replace mine anyway.
The invoice for the underseal done on import was £50 and to my eye, it's there, but incomplete. Billibongo in Fife picked up on the start of the rust on the front cross member, and where I had the sill repaired on the driver's side, it appears no protective nothing was applied when the work was done. Fertan was recommended by mikexgough, it's an overcoatable ferric acid rust converter which can be easily applied with a brush. ACF-50 is a water displacer and thin-film anticorrosion treatment commonly used in quantity on aircraft, boats and motorbikes, recommended by Velocette. It can be sprayed, brushed or wiped on but stays wet so it must be applied as a thin-film otherwise crap will embed itself. This process or some variant thereof is going to be the treatment for every bit of exposed metalwork I find. The schutz is then mainly just for the high-traffic areas. If I'm under there every few months for some reason or another, then I can keep it topped up. It's only going to cost me a J-cloth.
Anyway, it's all a learning curve. I'm just sharing what I'm doing on here in case it helps someone else. "Learn from my mistakes" and all that. None of what I'm finding out about these vans is new, but it's all very satisfying and a bit of fun.
I am eternally in debt to the folk on here who share their wisdom freely, write factsheets, bisect components and get their hands dirty helping other folk.
: (Overheating)